Scratch-Built Boba Fett (RotJ Version) - Part 13, Building the Helmet…

spidermanna

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Ok, almost done with these. Hope someone is getting some usefulness out of these. I realized that 1) I didn’t take enough pics of the more critical steps and 2) I didn’t make note of where I got the references from DentedHelmet.com and BobaFettBuilders.com. Maybe next time…

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It took a while to make this little tutorial cuz I was working on this, just for fun. Again, its all homemade (but also not done yet)…

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As usual I started with a tube of 4” thin wall PVC and cut it down the middle with a jigsaw. This is a messy process and in the future, I’d recommend simply heating up the cut line with a heat gun and cutting it. Its less messy and you can do it inside where its warmer. So, I don’t have a massive oven so to squeeze this in my double oven, I had to use the heat gun to flatten it (mostly) and then heat it in sections to get it to fold. Then threw it in at 350-degrees for about a minute so the whole thing was soft enough to roll and subsequently flatten.

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I flattened it against the counter by pressing it down with a large piece of PVC and lots of body weight (which I have loads of). Then I made a template for the helmet. The helmet template is made of pressed project board and essentially captures the bottom oval and the oval that would go around the temple with a spacer in between. I hot-glued heavy cardboard to make the shape.

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Using the same process as earlier (except trimming the big PVC piece down to a manageable size, I heated it up and wrapped it around the form. I used a dremil with a circle cutter to cut the back (if I did it again, id heat it up and use scissors. I will say that PVC is not the easiest or most forgiving stuff to work with and it took about 3 times in the oven to get it right. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to shrink when heated (only causes brain damage…probably).

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Once formed, I drew the lines on from patterns I got from DentedHelmet or Punished Props and cut them out. The upper mandibles were formed using the same process and took some trial and error to get them just right. The cheeks (not shown) were pretty easy in comparison but I did need to bevel them and the lower part of the mandibles to maximize contact points for gluing. Notice how everything is oversized on the top and bottom. That is intentional since its easier to remove that add back.

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The dome was made using the exact same process but with a crap-load more cutting. Not show, but I had to cut and fold each ‘tooth’ and tape them down. I held the base together with a large hose clam which went a round a form piece identical to the one on the helmet form.

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Once everything was glued, I used 2 part poly to fill in the gaps on the underside by pouring it in and sloshing it around until it cured. For the top, lots and lots of bondo and sanding…

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Just for S&Gs, I clamped the 2 parts together to give me the ‘Cinemascope-made for TV version’ of the helmet which looks like something Vader would have. The one on the right is after cutting out the excess and gluing together. The 2 pointless diamonds on the top (seriously, WTF are those supposed to be?) were notched out with a Dremel cutter and hot exacto knife and the infamous dent was added using a heatgun and screwdriver handle.

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Notched out the back for the microchip bit—that part was made separately less I screwed it up. It was a bear to make so I think I actually may have casted a 3D printed version or I may have made it with a bunch of pieces. Either way, its not 3D printed so there wasn’t a lot of sanding involved. The microchip was 3D printed but recast in poly so I could make it thinner and curved it to match the curve of the back. Not sure I went threw all that trouble, but I did…

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I hot-glued little form pieces to hold the headband in place. Headband was made from a thinner type of PVC or plastic that I had leftover from making my deck (its corrugated plastic used to make roofs and whatnot). The holes in the front hold tiny little screws which I added to make the black T-type face shield removable. The back pieces simply hold it in place between themselves and the front band. Again, over-engineered…

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Everything glued into place and final before trimming the base

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These are the screwed in T-Visor holders from underneath. The one on the right is my daughter trying to eat a chicken patty (with the cardboard template visor…

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I did a terrible job documenting the making of the ears. This is actually all that I have. Everything is PVC and for sale signs and screwed in from the inside—really not much to them…

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I didn’t take any pictures of the wand or targeting system but I used a variation of a 3D print as a template and diagrams from DentedHelmet. I also made the dent a bit sharper with bondo since PVC doesn’t like sharp points…

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I bought a combo blinker/light for the viewfinder from a guy on Etsy and made a Velcro/clip to hold the ‘glass gem’ or whatever it is in place. I also added a toggle switch so the light would only come on when I pulled the rangefinder down…FYI, I never use that in the shows…

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I am rather proud of this one. Same trick as I did for the eye pieces on the rifle scope. When you mix clear resin, it is always filled with bubbles. Best was to get rid of these is with a pressure pot but who has one of those. So, I essentially ‘stir’ them with a heatgun set on low and focused nozzle.

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And see, all the bubbles are gone! Then I casted the ‘glass gem’ or whatever it is. I handmade the polaroid viewfinder thing which I was also really proud of until someone mentioned that its not used on the RotJ version of Boba Fett. I guess mine is. This one is screwed down using very tiny screws…

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After cutting out and installing the visor, it looks like this. Next step (and last step) is painting and weathering. Thanks for reading…
 
Using the PVC has worked out pretty well and it’s very rigid and sturdy. Thinking I might make a suit of armor next—maybe Nazgul armor out of PVC—that will be a challenge. I was amazed that the helmet dome formed so easily. As long as I heated and bent in sections, it worked out well. And using gorilla super glue, you can even heat up and bend it at the seams. The back armor is two pieces glued together down the middle and I had to make a lot of form changes. Same with my colonial marine armor.
 
Well that turned out pretty awesome. I've been considering a Jango Fett helmet of either cardboard or EVA, but PVC now seems like an equally viable option. Every time I think I've figured out what I'm gonna do, it gets more complicated!
 
Well that turned out pretty awesome. I've been considering a Jango Fett helmet of either cardboard or EVA, but PVC now seems like an equally viable option. Every time I think I've figured out what I'm gonna do, it gets more complicated!
I initially used fiberglass to make my Aliens Colonial Marine armor---its messy, it stinks, its very unforgiving, but I needed to use something strong because of the light rig mounted over the left shoulder, so when I started on Boba Fett, I initially used fiberglass and I knew it would be a lot of sanding. I'm not sure why I did it, but I threw a PVC sewer pipe in the oven to see if I could form it and it worked (it does smell, and probably off-gasses somewhat), but it worked. I used the same patterns the cosplayers used for the EVA foam and found I could use a heatgun and various forming jigs to make whatever shape I needed--there are limitations, but those can be worked around. If you do opt to use PVC, recommend getting a variable setting heat gun, adapters for the heatgun to focus the heat into a small area, a pair of tough scissors, some gloves (hot PVC burns), and a well-ventilated area. harbor freight has such a heatgun and amazon has everything else. Good Luck!
 
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