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[Arden Fisk]

Hai guys.  For some reason I'm wanting to do an Open Seasons deathwatch mando.

I decided to do a scratchbuild on this because A. nobody really sells these and B. Falin's OSDW helmet isn't quite close enough to how the comics look for me.  I used my own artistic interpretation of the design; considering the darned thing looks different in every panel it's drawn in, this is the closest I could get while still making it a functional bucket.

Anyway, most people post new pictures of progress every few days/weeks, but not I...  I'm done with this thing, so you get to see the whole process in fast forward.

First, I made a card stock mockup.  The pattern was eyeballed, so I unfortunately don't have any templates.  The dome is a temporary placeholder until I went out and bought a hard hat to use for the permanent dome.


I installed the hard hat dome, and coated the whole shebang with fiberglass resin so it would keep its shape through further work.


I thoroughly fiberglassed the inside (fiberglass cloth and resin) to about 2 mm thick.  Though this SOUNDS thin it's actually very strong and you really don't need to go any thicker for the needs of a costume helmet.  Then I used a dremel to cut out the T visor.


Coated the exterior with bondo.  This photo is the aftermath of two bondo applications and spot putty (the red spots) was used to fill in any residual holes.  I have a mouse sander, which is the BEST TOOL IN THE WORLD if you plan to scratchbuild using this method.  Hours of hand sanding is chopped down to about 30 minutes-- as long as you apply the bondo appropriately in the first place (meaning, thin, controlled, and not glopping it on like whipped cream)


I bought some large 'dragon claw' steel spikes and bolted them onto the brow.  One thing that bugs me about Falin's OSDW helmet (love ya, Falin!) Is that the spikes are molded into the dome rather than free-floating, as they are in the comic.  I also wanted them to be strong enough that they could get whacked without cracking, breaking, or falling off.  Because they're steel and bolted onto the frame of the helmet, anything that could snap them off would pretty much destroy the whole bucket, lol.  

I also added some sintra panels onto the sides and back-- both to give ti depth and to replicate some of the appearance of the comic helmets.  They don't have traditional Boba earcaps at all, but they do seem to have raised areas (again, it's drawn differently every time) so I again used some artistic interpretation to come up with something that looked good.

Anyway, below, the silver basecoat has been applied after three coats of primer.


Finally, we have the finished bucket.  I obviously still need to install the visor, but that'll be the basic black, so just use your imagination.  Weathering was done with a combination of additive and subtractive weathering, and the blackwash was done with siebring's leather dye wiped on and dabbed off.

[Kelan Ord]

Hum... Ok.. This, is a thing of beauty...! Seriously, fantastic work...! 

[Dar'manda]

Nice work.  Those things always had a corny looking face...but you did a great job putting that helmet together.  How many total hours of work was that?  I like the use of the spikes instead of those weird "wings" in the comics.

[Remo Jadd]

Nice work Arden  .

[Nickel]

I like the use of the spikes instead of those weird "wings" in the comics.

A few of them are drawn with spikes rather than wings.

Looks good! Maybe I will eventually finish mine.

[Hondo Karr]

Nice work Arden!

[Jerek Darr]

So THIS is where you have been hiding! Nice work.

[Arden Fisk]

Nice work.  Those things always had a corny looking face...but you did a great job putting that helmet together.  How many total hours of work was that?  I like the use of the spikes instead of those weird "wings" in the comics.

I *still* think they have a corny face, lol.  But I always thought they were kinda neat at the same time, as long as you dull down some of the crazy sharp angles they have in the comics.  (And, yeah, do the more understated spikes rather than the weird wingy-thingies) I probably will finish the full suit...eventually.

And I think I've got about 20 hours in this thing total, spread out over 3 weeks.

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

awesome job Fisk!


I still like it with the longer mandibles tho.

[Niabi]

Awesome looking Bucket

[Runi Kom'rk]

Beautiful work Arden as always

[Mom2Mando]

Gorgeous work.

Thanks for saying you've spent 20 hours.  I am still halfway through a scratch build.  It encourages me to hear that from someone experienced.  Gives me more hope.   

[Nirob]

Great work.

[Kel Toi]

Brilliant scratch build.

[Arch]

You did an awesome job bringing this thing to life! It looks magnificent.

[Arden Fisk]

I added some more brown weathering to spice things up.  You can also see the greens a lot better in these photos:

[Kilstar Starfall]

wow

[Kelan Ord]

I'm not even a fan of this type of helmet, but I've said it and I'll say it again: This is a beautiful, beautiful bucket...!! 

[Niabi]

I didn't think this could get better and then you go and do That.  Tis a awesome Buy'ce Love it.

[Kel Toi]

Great job, Weathering is brilliant.

[Ohl'd Vart]

Excellent work, Abby...will we see it at C6?

Rob

[GreatSkyRiver Falco]

real cool.

[Arden Fisk]

Excellent work, Abby...will we see it at C6?

Rob

That's the plan.  The one place in the world where someone might actually recognize me as being from Open Seasons, lol.

[Ohl'd Vart]

That's the plan.  The one place in the world where someone might actually recognize me as being from Open Seasons, lol.

Sweet! I'm looking forward to seeing it! 
Rob

[Calo Ordoa]

What, no golden swirleys? 

Joking. The thing looks great.... For Death Watch.