Hopefully this is the right place to post this! Pretty much all year my son 4 had been talking about wanting to be Boba Fett for halloween, and since we have set a tradition of making his costumes this turned into something that I should have known I would end up doing...an insane project! Yes I went overboard! We went as low budget as we could using fabric on sale or used items, the cost of the 3D printing materials and paints I could not change sadly and were the biggest expense!
I have justified it in my head that I want these to be a display piece afterwards that he can keep his whole life (after me of course ha ha), or at the very least the helmet and jetpack could go on the wall/shelf.
The helmet only got the broad strokes of paint done (silver chips basically) due to time constraints but I plan to finish that for display.
The Plan:
I started this thinking I would maybe print the helmet and make the armor etc from EVA foam, but since I never really worked with that before I wound up just printing everything. I used a combination of Rafal's 3D models and a Gamebody model and photos to create my own 3D models that would suit the awkward proportions of a 4 year old vs an adult. Lots of filler primer, sanding, and hours of time later...
The Helmet:
This was certainly the hardest challenge as a toddler's head is more cranium than an adult and so the eyes sit lower, I spent a lot of time trying to balance the look of Boba Fett's helmet with functionality for my son to be able to see. I had to make the T a bit larger and the dome was taller than on an adult but I think I got a decent balance for it. Started with a 3D model, then a paper mock up to test the fit/scaling, then printed it all out. Opted to use a black plastic mesh as the visor for halloween so that he would be able to breath easily of course, but mainly so it would not fog up in the cold air. Started off wanting to mask and do the paint properly but it was taking too long so I just masked for the silver and topically painted some of the other colours (mainly just the concrete on the back right now). Made it a bit larger than necessary so that it will maybe fit him a little longer in case he wants to play Boba Fett around the house or something.
The Jetpack:
This was printed in 2 main large parts, then some smaller detail parts. Decided to make the fins on the rocket functional for no real reason ha ha!
The Armor and Gauntlets:
This took a couple versions to get it to fit the shape of his body reasonably, all held on with velcro!
The Rest:
We were able to find some bluish fabric that seemed close to the ESB colour that was on for half price and my wife made his "flight suit" from a pattern for some pajamas, and we added the thigh pockets. Made a flack vest (with built in neck seal) from a turtleneck we got used for $1. I found some used suede boots for $4 that I repainted and added piping to. Cape was some heavy fabric that was on sale. Wookie braids were some sort of silky rope that we disassembled and my wife braided up. Ammo belt was an old leather coat I got used for $5 and cut up/glued to some foam blocks. Girth belt was some rope I found then sewed to some pieces of the leather. Gloves were some cheap grey kids glove that I painted with some white fabric paint.
The Electronics:
Not that I needed electronics but, I needed electronics ha ha! A good friend did them up for me based on my specs/requirements and they add a little pizazz to it all! Had to make some changes to the chest display to (4 digits instead of 5) to try to keep it in scale based on the components available. The rangefinder has a white LED inside that lights up as well.
Assembly:
Fortunately everything came together without much problem, this would have been a disaster since it wasn't till the day before that we actually got all the parts on my son at the same time ha ha!
The Final Product:
Currently I am most proud of the jetpack because, as mentioned, I still have not finished all the paint on the helmet. It was quite funny to see him in it the first time all together because it actually came together really well. We're not going to be going for the "out do ourselves every year" motto, we'll have some costumes that am sure are "boring" simply because I am sure our son will pick things that I am less interested in but we'll still try to make his costumes fun and hopefully something he can have as keepsakes.
I have justified it in my head that I want these to be a display piece afterwards that he can keep his whole life (after me of course ha ha), or at the very least the helmet and jetpack could go on the wall/shelf.
The helmet only got the broad strokes of paint done (silver chips basically) due to time constraints but I plan to finish that for display.
The Plan:
I started this thinking I would maybe print the helmet and make the armor etc from EVA foam, but since I never really worked with that before I wound up just printing everything. I used a combination of Rafal's 3D models and a Gamebody model and photos to create my own 3D models that would suit the awkward proportions of a 4 year old vs an adult. Lots of filler primer, sanding, and hours of time later...
The Helmet:
This was certainly the hardest challenge as a toddler's head is more cranium than an adult and so the eyes sit lower, I spent a lot of time trying to balance the look of Boba Fett's helmet with functionality for my son to be able to see. I had to make the T a bit larger and the dome was taller than on an adult but I think I got a decent balance for it. Started with a 3D model, then a paper mock up to test the fit/scaling, then printed it all out. Opted to use a black plastic mesh as the visor for halloween so that he would be able to breath easily of course, but mainly so it would not fog up in the cold air. Started off wanting to mask and do the paint properly but it was taking too long so I just masked for the silver and topically painted some of the other colours (mainly just the concrete on the back right now). Made it a bit larger than necessary so that it will maybe fit him a little longer in case he wants to play Boba Fett around the house or something.
The Jetpack:
This was printed in 2 main large parts, then some smaller detail parts. Decided to make the fins on the rocket functional for no real reason ha ha!
The Armor and Gauntlets:
This took a couple versions to get it to fit the shape of his body reasonably, all held on with velcro!
The Rest:
We were able to find some bluish fabric that seemed close to the ESB colour that was on for half price and my wife made his "flight suit" from a pattern for some pajamas, and we added the thigh pockets. Made a flack vest (with built in neck seal) from a turtleneck we got used for $1. I found some used suede boots for $4 that I repainted and added piping to. Cape was some heavy fabric that was on sale. Wookie braids were some sort of silky rope that we disassembled and my wife braided up. Ammo belt was an old leather coat I got used for $5 and cut up/glued to some foam blocks. Girth belt was some rope I found then sewed to some pieces of the leather. Gloves were some cheap grey kids glove that I painted with some white fabric paint.
The Electronics:
Not that I needed electronics but, I needed electronics ha ha! A good friend did them up for me based on my specs/requirements and they add a little pizazz to it all! Had to make some changes to the chest display to (4 digits instead of 5) to try to keep it in scale based on the components available. The rangefinder has a white LED inside that lights up as well.
Assembly:
Fortunately everything came together without much problem, this would have been a disaster since it wasn't till the day before that we actually got all the parts on my son at the same time ha ha!
The Final Product:
Currently I am most proud of the jetpack because, as mentioned, I still have not finished all the paint on the helmet. It was quite funny to see him in it the first time all together because it actually came together really well. We're not going to be going for the "out do ourselves every year" motto, we'll have some costumes that am sure are "boring" simply because I am sure our son will pick things that I am less interested in but we'll still try to make his costumes fun and hopefully something he can have as keepsakes.
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