My Life-sized 1979 Boba Fett Kenner Action Figure Project

[tekk89]

OK, I think I found my final color. It's going to be difficult to get to the original color with rattle cans, but I found this can at Lowes that I somehow previously overlooked; Satin Midnight Garden.

View attachment 1875844

It's still not the best, but I like it more than the Slate Blue as it's a little less "blue" and more grey. The picture is not the greatest, but I think you get the point. It's a little darker than I'd hoped, but I'll take it darker over the blue hue.

View attachment 1875845

I'll repaint the feet tomorrow and start on the other pieces.

As far as matching unusual blue grey metallics/satins/matt/ultra matt finishes. I learned somehow and somewhere that product and costume designers will sometimee use “Powdercoat Professional Touch-Up” paint cans instead of ‘traditional colour palettes’ as it has some interesting qualities that make it more suitable for action scenes: Powdercoat aerosol paints have a secondary hardening agent in it).

Anyway, sorry for the waffling on. TL;DR powdercoat touchup harder & action costumes are… breakyscratchychippy… prone.

So it may be the colour you’re hunting for is in the commercial ranges:

You might find something like; BASALT, IRONSTONE and/or DEEP OCEAN might be or help you to get closer to whatever shade you originally envisioned.

Ill see if I can’t find the powercoat touch up paints I saw in a preproduction behind the scenes doco I watched. If you’re interested?

 

[azheat01]

what would you reckon at the cost of 3D printer “juice” (couldn’t immediately tell or be sure if these parts were Filament or FDM). If you said “0 mistakes or reprints”

What would your raw production cost be?

Ive got no idea when it hits THAT scale, lol.

Every time I print a project like this I keep telling myself to track how many rolls of filament I used, but I never do because I'm always jumping between projects. I think for this one, I'm probably around 15 rolls, plus or minus a roll or two. Not really sure. I buy my filament as refills, so that saves a little money. A safe guess, for just the printing materials, I would guess maybe between $200 and $250, depending on which filament I buy.

 

[azheat01]

As far as matching unusual blue grey metallics/satins/matt/ultra matt finishes. I learned somehow and somewhere that product and costume designers will sometimee use “Powdercoat Professional Touch-Up” paint cans instead of ‘traditional colour palettes’ as it has some interesting qualities that make it more suitable for action scenes: Powdercoat aerosol paints have a secondary hardening agent in it).

Anyway, sorry for the waffling on. TL;DR powdercoat touchup harder & action costumes are… breakyscratchychippy… prone.

So it may be the colour you’re hunting for is in the commercial ranges:

You might find something like; BASALT, IRONSTONE and/or DEEP OCEAN might be or help you to get closer to whatever shade you originally envisioned.

Ill see if I can’t find the powercoat touch up paints I saw in a preproduction behind the scenes doco I watched. If you’re interested?

Good info, the reality is the types of paint and colors they used on these toys 46 years ago just can't be found in a modern, ready-to-use format. At this point it's just a matter of what comes close and what you like. I'm happy with this color, but always open to suggestions. This likely won't be the only version of this figure I complete!

 

[azheat01]

So I told myself a few years ago after finishing my Shoretrooper project that I wouldn't ever use Montana Black / Gold paints again. I just had too many problems with them. Well here I am once again struggling with these paints. Maybe it's an Arizona thing, maybe the heat, maybe they've sat too long, who knows. All I can say is I am done with those paints for good, don't care how great their colors are.

This was my third attempt at painting this piece, had to re-sand it twice. The spatter was ridiculous, as was the finish, felt like un-sanded filler primer. On a project like this I have no intentions of sanding the top coat then clear coating, so I guess these heavily pigmented paints just aren't for me.

I tried everything customer service recommended: shake for 5 minutes, shake for 10 minutes, clean and replace the cap, place the can in a tub of warm water, bring the can to room temperature, place the can in direct sunlight, shake the can while hopping on one foot while facing a southeasterly direction........no thanks. I'm done.

My paint of choice is Krylon, but the color I was after couldn't be found. I found this new brand at Michael's, never seen it before. The color was a little lighter than I was after, but I figured I'd give it a shot. The color is called Extra Guacamole.

It doesn't look quite as light in person, but to be honest, I'll probably go with another color, just need to find one.

Also at Michael's I found this other brand of paint, never used it before, so I bought the color "Volcano" for the knees, shoulders, and gauntlet.

Looks like this company may be trying to appeal to MB customers, so far I like it. Nice coverage, easy to spray, also heavily pigmented but not difficult to use, and they have some great colors.

I just went with Krylon Satin Burgundy for the other gauntlet and will also use that on the helmet.

Also went with a Krylon Blue for the jetpack, a little darker than I wanted, but I think the frustration of finding colors I like got to me a little so I had to make some changes.

But it's starting to come together................

 

[azheat01]

I have so many projects going on right now, but it feels good to make progress on this. The brown color is a little darker than I would have liked, but I had some on hand and just used what was left. I'm real pleased with the body color and the yellow. Getting closer to being done..........

 

[azheat01]

Managed to get just a little more done on this. For the helmet, I didn't want the cheeks and visor to be brown like the action figure. I think at this scale it just wouldn't look right, so I cheated and decided to make the visor black and the cheeks blue. I figured the cheeks could be blue going with the theme that when the figure was made, they tried to stick with colors already in use, and since I used this blue on the jetpack, why not. Just need to let it dry and do the burgundy color last.

Also got the shoulder bells done, really love this "Volcano" color.............

So the color below on the left was the Ironlak color called "Guacamole" that I wanted to use in place of the MG. Once I sprayed this, I realized it wouldn't work because it's much darker than it appears on the can (I forgot to take a color of the test piece).

So, I reluctantly decided to try the MB one more time. I actually used the nozzle that came on the Ironlak can and got a better result. I still don't like the physical texture of the finish, but once this dries I'm going to give it a Satin clear coat. I just need this to work one more time on the the other chest armor pieces and collar piece.

The picture makes this color look brighter than it actually is under this lighting.

 

[JamesM242]

Looking good, azheat01! Thanks for sharing your progress - it is really coming along nicely!

 

[azheat01]

Seems like it's taken forever to get to this point with so many projects in the works, but in the home stretch now. I did a Satin clear coat over all the MG green to keep the finish consistent with the rest of the figure. I just need to finish gluing the arms together, painting the blaster, mounting the jetpack, and finish painting the maroon on the helmet mandibles. I forgot to tape off the section of the chest armor where Fett's LEDs would be (so that it matches the blue of the body), but overall I'm real pleased with how this is looking...............

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

That looks stellar!

 

[13doctorwho]

Such a cool project!! So many figures to make! I'm really jealous...

 

[azheat01]

Such a cool project!! So many figures to make! I'm really jealous...

Thanks! I'm working on my other vintage figures as well!

 

[azheat01]

That looks stellar!

Thank you!

 

[azheat01]

I wanted to share a piece of information while the paint is drying on the blaster and helmet, maybe this will help anyone who intends on tackling this project. Initially I thought maybe I messed up somewhere, because I didn't see any way to attach the legs to the pelvis once I glued the connectors into the leg cavity. There just wasn't enough clearance between the top of the legs and the waist, so I'm glad I tested this before assembling the legs.

My workaround was to increase the size of the leg connectors, I think I went 101% (this will obviously depend on the tolerances of your printer). This way I could use friction to keep the connectors attached securely to the leg cavity without glue, giving me a non-permanent way of attaching the legs. For about $3 I also added the below bolts to apply pressure to the connectors so they can't fall out. It's a bit of an overkill, but I didn't want to risk bumping into this and having one of the connectors dislodge, a leg coming off, and causing the whole thing to fall.

I would love if the original designer changed this from a twist-lock attachment to a post that screws into the leg cavity instead of gluing it in.

Anyway, here's a pic looking down inside the pelvis cavity. Hope it helps...........

 

[azheat01]

I finally finished this guy, not an easy project, but totally worth it. A faithful recreation of a 1980 childhood toy I loved playing with, complete with blaster and rocket firing jetpack, and this one stands over 6 feet tall! I love it...........

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7445454054580636974

 

[13doctorwho]

That is all kinds of AWESOME!! I've never done anything that big, but your work is inspiring. I'm also watching your Luke Skywalker. Incredible work!!

 

[ZeroSum]

Awesome! How far does the rocket fly?
Will the files for this go up in your Etsy store?

 

[azheat01]

That is all kinds of AWESOME!! I've never done anything that big, but your work is inspiring. I'm also watching your Luke Skywalker. Incredible work!!

Thank you! It was one of my more difficult builds, but totally worth it.

Awesome! How far does the rocket fly?
Will the files for this go up in your Etsy store?

Thanks! So the files for this figure are not mine, I bought them from a seller on Etsy. Not to take anything away from that designer, he did a FANTASTIC job, but there are some improvements that could be made in my opinion. So I plan on working with laellee in the future to redesign this figure, but first I have a few others in the works!

 

[JamesM242]

Simply OUTSTANDING! Congrats on a great build!

 

[azheat01]

Simply OUTSTANDING! Congrats on a great build!

Thank you!

On a side note, since I've been asked on more than one occasion what spray paint colors I used, I'll note them here along with where I found them.............

Main Body / Helmet / Jetpack - Krylon Satin "Midnight Garden" - Lowes

Right Gauntlet / Helmet Mandibles - Krylon Satin "Burgundy" - Lowes

Left Gauntlet / Shoulder & Knee Armor - Ironlak Gloss "Volcano" (finished with Krylon Satin Clear) - Michael's

Armor - Montana Gold "Reed" (finished with Krylon Satin Clear) - Blick Art Supply

Belts and Pouches - Ace Hardware Satin "Chocolate Brown" - Ace Hardware

Helmet Cheeks / Jetpack Panels - Rustoleum Satin "Midnight Blue" - Walmart

Rocket / Rocket Plunger & Lever - Behr Gloss "No More Drama" (finished with Krylon Satin Clear) - Home Depot

Blaster / Helmet Visor - Krylon Satin "Black" - Lowes

Obviously not the only colors you can use, but these worked well for me. Hope it helps.........

 

[Darthbauer]

Good info, the reality is the types of paint and colors they used on these toys 46 years ago just can't be found in a modern, ready-to-use format. At this point it's just a matter of what comes close and what you like. I'm happy with this color, but always open to suggestions. This likely won't be the only version of this figure I complete!

Also, another thing you can tell yourself, there were different color figures coming depending on the factory they were produced in. The Taiwan Fett was more blue and had a black belt. So this is a Kenner Fett from your “Arizona factory”