Yodamann's 2013 Halloween Costume Contest Entry: Han Solo ESB

Yodamann

Well-Known Member
So as you can tell from my title, my Hallowe'en/Comic Con Costume this year is ESB Han Solo.

While not 100% handmade, I have put work into everything except the boots (and pants, time permitting).

The jacket was sewn based off of the pattern sold by Dawn Anderson. I had no problems with this pattern; I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to make an ESB jacket.

The shirt was a bit more of a problem. I was able to hunt down an appropriate pattern on eBay, but, much to my dismay, it was too small. My breakthrough came when I saw that a lab coat my brother had kicking around had a collar that would make a pretty good mandarin collar. As I am currently working on my degree, procurement was merely a matter of waiting until classes started in September. I bought a coat that was a couple sizes to big so that I could get the "double breasted" type shirt. I had to flip the collar down about 3 cm, and cut about 30 cm off of the bottom. The breast pocket was taken off during the Doctor Who episode "Voyage of the Damned". They did a good job affixing that pocket; it took the whole double length episode to take it off.

Anyway, the pants were a bit of a trouble to get a hold of. I guess I was looking at the wrong time of year, since I could not find brown pants to save my life. I lucked into a pair at a garage sale for all of $2! AND they fit!

For the holster, I used some pleather that I got at a different garage sale for $.25! The pleather and pants were pretty much the only places I caught a break on prices. On most everything else I had to pay retail + an arm and a leg shipping. To get a pattern, I used a picture of another guys's WIP holster and scaled it up in MSWord. I did the same thing for the buckles. The pattern "pocket" where the gun sits is from a picture of the costumebase holster, again scaled appropriately in MSWord.

The gun is a Rubies ANH gun that I painted over the last couple weeks of summer. I know a guy who works in Rona, and he hooked me up with a sweet deal on the paint.

The boots were bought from this site. They were the cheapest I could find of that particular model, but with shipping still came to about $80.

The belt was an eBay purchase. All that was needed was taking the middle prong off.

The buckles on the holster required a bit of ingenuity, if I do say so myself. I took an exacto knife to the lid of an old plastic cream puff container, and covered the resulting shapes in metal tape. I then sanded it to get a bit of wear on the buckles.

The bloodstripes might not happen in time for Hallowe'en... I was going to buy patches online, but with shipping they rang up at $56. That was unacceptable. If I have time to make it out to Fabricland to get some yellow thread, I will sew on some yellow bias tape.

As to my skill before starting? I took sewing lessons as a wee lad, and I took sewing in Junior High (Middle School). Last year I made a TNG Seasons 3-7 uniform jacket, and the year before that I made a not very screen accurate Jedi Costume using this site as a guide. I didn't have too much experience spray painting or even buying things online before starting this project. Hooray for learning!

That's about it for my costume! Thanks for viewing!





Hey guys! For my town's Comic Con, I plan on going as ESB Han Solo. I've got the Falcon Jacket from Dawn Anderson on the way, as well as a DL-44, but I still have a couple of problems.

First, I was wondering if anyone had a pattern for a holster. I have some (fake) leather from a garage sale, but any googling I do just has people saying they used a costumebase as a template. Since the point of making my own is NOT to buy one, I was hoping someone here could give me a hand, also known as a printable template.

Also, I was wondering about the shirt. I checked out Rebel Legion, and while they had a wealth of reference pics, there wasn't anything in the way of patterns/buying instructions. So I was wondering about any patterns/tutorials you guys might know of.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!
 
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Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

So I ordered a Rubies Han Solo DL-44 off ebay. I know it is from ANH, but for my purposes, it will be good enough.

Here were my supplies:
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That's a brown coloured primer (saving on spray paint), the gun itself, and sanding supplies. I also used a can of compressed air to blow dust off the gun prior to priming.
Hard at work:
44PLLblh.jpg

After a coat of primer on one side:
IXCyOHoh.jpg

After that dried for a couple hours, I flipped it over to get the other side:
lkslD9uh.jpg

Looks almost like weathering... I'll keep that in mind.

And finally, the other side is primed:
rIbyqsph.jpg


That's all for now, today or tomorrow I would like to get some progress on the jacket. Also, I got McCalls 7760 off a very helpful ebay seller, so the shirt should not be too much of a problem. As a side note, brown pants are surprisingly hard to track down.
Thanks for viewing! And feel free to comment!
 

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Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

I made a full leather holster 10 years ago--might still have my patterns. PM me with email, so I can send once found.
As far as the blaster--you're better off making one from a Denix or airsoft for accuracy.
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

I made a full leather holster 10 years ago--might still have my patterns. PM me with email, so I can send once found.
As far as the blaster--you're better off making one from a Denix or airsoft for accuracy.
Thanks for offering the patterns! On the topic of the blaster, I'm not going for complete accuracy, at least not at this stage. This is kind of a half budget build. Full accuracy is just too much money and headaches...

I really look forward to watching your progress with this project! BEST of Luck to you! :D
Thanks for the support!
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

Updates!
The jacket is being cut out. All the twill is done, but I still have some interfacing to get through.
hadj7aW

Using a picture of the "y" part of the holster from another build thread, I made my own pattern. I imported the picture into Word, zoomed the page until it was the same size as a real piece of paper and blew up the picture until the thin parts were about 2 inches wide.
OJeRanK.jpg

KnqQnLk.jpg

A cardboard mockup. I ran out of cereal box, so there isn't actually a "pocket" for the blaster. C'est la vie I suppose.
ALXI1Xb.jpg

Finallly, a "test" gun I had been doing. I got a Dollarama version of a DH-17 (Rebel fleet Trooper blaster) and thought I could test out the paint/clear coat on a gun that didn't cost $30.
FecwfhB.jpg
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

I'm back! Sorry for the lack of updates! But I have been working!
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The pockets laid out on one side
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Sewing those selfsame pockets on
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One side done
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Pocket flaps: these took a while. Loads of topstitching on this jacket...
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The gun is black! I took the tape off today and...
zqPat9P.jpg

Not too much bleed! I used "Frog Tape" since I didn't want to reapply the tape after every coat. Although it said it was recommended for Latex paint, It worked pretty well with spray paint.

Also, it seemed that brown pants would be the hardest thing to find for this build. I had a breakthrough there at a garage sale this morning... brown pants IN THE RIGHT SIZE! So that's one thing... I also bought a labcoat to use as the shirt. I have to remove a couple pockets and shorten in, but on the whole, it should be easier than making (or finding) a more accurate shirt.
I'll try to be more regular with the updates. Thanks for viewing!
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

A scrap of bad news: When I clear coated the DL-44, it seems to have stuck the battery cover onto the gun. Oh well. I guess it won't be making much noise anytime soon!
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

I have some updates! Sorry for the comm silence...
Anywho, here we go!
Hr5YZgL.jpg

6KooBmh.jpg

The Jacket looking like a vest
F2QUiXF.jpg

All done! It fits too!
R2OMAxK.jpg

For the shirt, I used a lab coat that I bought at the University for $20. The collar works pretty well as a mandarin collar... but it was a bit long. And so I had to flip it down and sew it to be shorter.
The bottom of it was about a foot too long, so that also had to be hemmed. Alas, I forgot to take pictures of that.
ArgtakM.jpg

Using the leftover fabric from the lab coat, I made a test holster bit. (the pattern is a correctly scaled pic of the costumebase holster)
5Ty0gne.jpg

Finally, here is some tracing I did for the holster. The pleather I am using was quite the find; I got it at a garage sale for 25 cents! To top it off, there is even enough to do the main holster, and maybe some pouches, if I feel like it.

That's all for now, but I am hoping to get some work done today... ie. get some velcro on the shirt (so it stays closed) and get the soft parts of the holster mostly finished.
 
Re: Han Solo ESB WIP

Some more updates! Long weekends!
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This is how my holster started out this weekend... still a lot of work to do...
szn8Xtv.jpg

And now, it's mostly done! All I NEED to do is get the buckles going... thinking of cannibalizing one of my brother's old computer cases. I know it's not exactly screen accurate, but it'll do! If I have the time, I'm thinking I might add a couple of the pouches.
 
Well... it's done!



for now...

Anywho, onto the pictures!
First, some final progress pics:

sNiLZF0.jpg

The front buckle in progress. I used a plastic lid from a container of cream puffs as the base. The shiny part is some sort of metal tape.

MNgPieZ.jpg

Both buckles finished! I sanded the tape a bit to get a nice "used" look to them.


And now, on to the finished product!

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Front view... the buckles turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself!
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Standard picture. Not much to say

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Shoot first... always shoot first.

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Lookin' good!

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Proof and stuff
 
Dude, your hard work and effort have DEFINITELY paid off in spades!
GREAT job!

The finished product looks fantastic and you definitely know how to strike the proper Corellian pose.
Congratulations and CHEERS to you!
 
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