Female Han Solo ANH Version (DL-44 Blaster build from scratch)

[annybarros]

Hi guys. So I'm planning to cosplay Han Solo for a local event and for the Episode VII premiere, but a genderbend version, and since I'm spending a lot of my money on my cosplay of Loki, I had no choice but make it from everything that I could found around the house. Hopefully, I already had a blue jeans that work perfect with the one he uses in ANH, so I just bought red satin ribbon and then I painted the lines (leaving a gap of 0,5 cm between each blue and red line) with dark blue fabric paint and then I sewed by hand on both sides of the pants.



For the vest, I took a white jacket that my mom gave me (she actually bought it on a thrift shop, so I not spent a lot in this part also). I ripped of the sleeves and cut the jacket a little shorter. I use both of the sleeves to make all the pockets that are found in the original vest, and them I dye the vest using black dye. Super easy and anyone can do it. I'm really happy with this part because this vest looks awesome, and I actually can wear with in my daily basis which is good to me. And since it had a lot of pockets, I can put my stuff on all of these pockets and I don't have to bother on carry a bag around the event.



And now the blaster. Yeah, the gun. By far, my bigger problem. I'm not a pro at making props, and I didn't have money to buy proper materials, so everything that I'm using for the blaster is stuff that I found around the house. I just search for a good reference pictures of the blaster and the start building up. The main body of the blaster is a sandwich of cardboard and eva foam (1mm and 2mm). Is working well by far. For the gun barrel (I don't know the name lol) I body of a thread tube (I don't know the name either), covered with eva foam and the detail is made of 1mm craft foam. and the there's a pvc pipe, the white part is the cap of a bottle of disinfectant and the cone part is made out of foam. Not the most beautiful thing, but a least looks like the original one (I little bit). I'm still finish the handle of the gun. I'm gonna start the boot cover and the holster soon and I'll post when I finished.

 

[SofaKing01]

Everything is looking great so far! Looking forward to seeing more.

Be honored to have you pose in the cockpit when all her "modifications" are done.

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

Girl Han Solo costumes are always awesome and win. Good luck, looking forward to seeing the finished costume.

 

[annybarros]

Thank guys, I'm trying my best to do this costume and I'm very glad of your comments. Thank you

 

[annybarros]

Some updates on my blaster and the belt. I'm almost finishing the blaster and I'm pretty happy with the result. I glue the handle on the gun and put a screw on each side just like in the original version.. It looks good, I guess. I'm finishing with the last details, mostly using craft foam. I still need to finish the other side of the blaster, but shouldn't take me long. And I'm moving to the belt now. I'm doing the buckles using 2mm eva foam. I did the boot cover too, I'm almost finishing them, so when I did will take a pic.

 

[annybarros]

I'm back. Sorry everybody, I was running out of time these weeks, but now I'm back. even though I'm at the end of the costume, but some issues appeared. So I tried the whole costume for the first time and everything fits perfect, until I sat don't using the holster. The buckle the part connects the holster to the belt could not stand to the pressure and tore apart. The other problem was the "aim visor" of the blaster. I slapped my hand unintentionally and he fell off. Well, I glued the thing using hot glue, so I don't have much to say about that. I reattached with some high pressure silicone that I found on my dad's stuff and it worked well. For the buckle, I redid using the same foam, but now I glue two pieces together with a piece of cardboard in the middle. Work very well too. Maybe it's not the best idea sit down while using the holster, so I'll have to remove it everytime that I has to sit down for a long time. I finished the belt, put all the pockets, the "comlink", and everything.. I still need to put "droid comlink" (I don't know the name, but is the round thing with holes that goes on the belt).. I'm very happy with my job, because I did all of this just looking at pictures, with all the patterns designed by myself, so yeah, I'm proud of myself



And now to my blaster. I'm very close to finish now and I'm very happy with. I put the details on the other side. Here some pictures:



And now, I need some help from you guys. I don't know how to paint the blaster.. Because I found at least three different versions of colors, so I can't choose one by myself. So there's: all black, the handle brown and all the rest black, all black but with the silver part...



I don't know, they are too much for me to choose, so can you guys help me? I'll wait.

 

[annybarros]

Anyone can help help me choose the colors? I really need to start paint my blaster soon...

 

[Timmythekid]

If I recall from when I painted my Rubies up, handle should be brown wood, the flash hider is more of a really dark flat grey steel, weathered even darker, but is still distinct from the black of the rest of the gun. Again by memory, the scope should be gloss black, while the body of the gun, and the scope mount should be satin. Others will no doubt correct me though

 

[QCWolf]

Anytime I see someone build anything from scratch, I'm always impressed. Your build looks really great. Keep up the good work!

 

[newmagrathea]

Well this is what the actual prop from A New Hope looks like, which is the most like the one you are building.

 

[annybarros]

If I recall from when I painted my Rubies up, handle should be brown wood, the flash hider is more of a really dark flat grey steel, weathered even darker, but is still distinct from the black of the rest of the gun. Again by memory, the scope should be gloss black, while the body of the gun, and the scope mount should be satin. Others will no doubt correct me though

I will try it darling, thanks for the help

- - - Updated - - -

Anytime I see someone build anything from scratch, I'm always impressed. Your build looks really great. Keep up the good work!

Thanks dear

 

[annybarros]

Well this is what the actual prop from A New Hope looks like, which is the most like the one you are building.

View attachment 526665

Oh, thanks for the reference. Indeed it looks like mine.. So I'm gonna paint all black, the handle I already painted in brown, so I'm gonna darken a little when I start weathering the blaster.. And I think I'm gonna keep the flash hider metallic silver, it will looks more nice.. But I don't know, I didn't paint the flash hider already, so what do you think? Should I keep it black and do some highlight using metallic silver or paint it silver and then darken with black?

 

[ivanj05]

I wouldn't leave the flash hider black, personally. It will look better with some contrast. You could try painting it silver and then doing a very light black wash over it.

Nice work on the rest of the build, all of that from scratch is very impressive.

 

[chizbot]

I wouldn't leave the flash hider black, personally. It will look better with some contrast. You could try painting it silver and then doing a very light black wash over it.

Nice work on the rest of the build, all of that from scratch is very impressive.

That's what I did for my 4 year old's rubies. (he had to have one once I started my blaster...)

 

[Timmythekid]

That's what I did for my 4 year old's rubies. (he had to have one once I started my blaster...)

Yup, same here - I painted the flash hider silver, then dry-brushed the poop out of it with flat black. Looked fine, but I thought at the time if I ever did another, I'd probably do it in some metalic paint that was not quite so bright silver, and again, weather it down with flat black.

 

[annybarros]

Thanks for the replies guys I'm half way through the painting, so when I finish I'll post here.. I'm painting the flash hider metallic silver and then I'll darken a little with black.

 

[gyoung2993]

Flat black is used by some , but when I built mine years ago , it was painted with semigloss to give more of a metal look , hope this helps....congrats on your build , nice work indeed

 

[RogueTrooper]

Your attention to detail and your passion is evident in your work......well done.

 

[SofaKing01]

I've always been partial to the wood handle and silver flash. But this is your project - do what you think and or like best!

 

[annybarros]

Hey guys, thanks for all the awesome messages, this really makes me move forward on this project and here is my blaster finally painted and I'm gonna do the dry brush weathering tonight and I hope it goes good, because is my first time doing such thing.. so.. That's it.