My jawa build with blaster and droid caller

Redwillow

Sr Member
FINISHED! See page 2 for final pics:

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Inspired by the jawa blasters and costumes others have made on here, I decided to make a jawa costume for my GF. Naturally, I had to start with the blaster. Constructed of PVC pipe, plastic cup barrel and a wood stock. Thanks to everyone on here who posted info about their own build, which made this much easier.

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This was my attempt to paint the inside of the barrel to look like charred burnt metal.

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After starting the build, I pretty quickly realized I was going to want this to "do" something. I couldn't let all that empty space inside go to waste. So I picked up a red led pushbutton switch and a round plasma light from amazon and integrated those into the blaster. I had to add a separate battery holder to the plasma light And modify the housing some to fit in the plastic cup barrel. I sprayed the inside of the barrel with wet-look lacquer so the blue plasma light would reflect off of it to maximize the effect.

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I wired the red led switch to only light up when it is "on".

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Of course, I couldn't have light without sound! So I also added a sound board and speaker which is housed in the middle section. I made the trigger functional so it runs the sound which is a quick charge-up noise then an echoey blast. The board is a simple radio shack sound module, so I can change the sound on it to pretty much anything. I made some small modifications to it to connect the trigger and ended up replacing the speaker that it came with. The trigger is just made from a small clamp and a clip which I connected leads to and ran the wires through the stock. Pulling the trigger connects the circuit between the leads and sets off the sound. Spent about 2 months on this total, but that was mostly due to the addition of the electronics.

…..pics of the build coming soon.
 
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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

That is some seriously outstanding weathering.
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Thank you! I like to go real slow on things like this and just work on it until I feel like more paint work no longer significantly improves it. I hit that point this week and was able to get clear laid onto it today to call it done.
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Oh heck yes, that's a beautiful piece! :D

I love the little plasma thing inside, it really adds a lot. I can imagine kids going nuts when they see it. Heck, adults will go nuts :p
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Thx for the comments! The blue plasma does def add a coolness factor, it was worth the extra work to add it.

The barrel unscrews from the stock end to access the batteries and sound board. I will try to get some more pics up soon.
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Stunning work! The plasma light is a great idea. Would love to see a video on this.
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Wow! Never seen such good weathering and patina on PVC pipe. Definitely subscribed! :popcorn
 
Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Here are 2 more shots of the finished product.

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Here are a few quick images of the build process.
Fortunately, there was a home under construction next to me, so I was able to snag some scrap 2x6 for the stock and PVC pipe. I used a scrap piece of vinyl soffit to cover the speaker. The holes let the sound pass through, plus i liked the look. I had to heat it up with a heat gun to make it pliable enough to wrap around the pipe. The rear part, I covered with a 50 cent plastic mesh sheet from the craft store that i cut out on a diagonal pattern and used gorilla glue to attach it.

early test fitting and fabrication of parts. I used the stock template posted by someone on here, so thx to whoever that was. Saved me some time and the shape is perfect. I cut it with a jigsaw and shaped it with a sander.
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wiring and testing the light and installing the switch in the end. You can see the sound board, its battery and the original speaker in the upper left corner.
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Cutout for the speaker. This is the replacement speaker, the original one was flimsy and it broke after I soldered leads to extend it from the sound board.
Luckily, a friend had a toy he was throwing out and I got this speaker out of it. This one is much better, you can see the gold colored housing it has which made it easier to mount. On final assembly this was mounted facing up so the sounds comes out of the top.

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Here the speaker is in and covered and the trigger is installed. I ended up drilling some holes through the PVC on the bottom below the speaker so it could pull a little air. I drilled them through the perforation holes so they cannot be seen. This change made it sound even better. It is pretty loud and you can easily hear it from 15+ feet away. Work on the greeblies is starting.
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This pic was taken during the paint process and shows how it comes apart to access the batteries.
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I will try to do a quick video of it for you guys if I have time in the next few weeks.
 
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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Wired the eyes up to test them and made a foam mask to mount them on. I decided to just make my own led eyes instead of buying pre-made ones, so I could make them exactly they way I wanted.

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Next I will try to turn the mask into a hood by adding some fabric to it. The round pieces under the eyes are to shim the eyes out to keep them straight when it is worn.

This is a 1903 pattern bandolier I totally stole on ebay for $50. It's authentic, complete and in really good condition for probably being around 100 years old. It won't even need any weathering.

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Here are a few parts I'm looking at using to make a droid caller from.
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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

Had a request for more info on the parts used for this, so here is a diagram showing the main pieces. All fitting and pipe are 2" PVC.

I had to hit the pause on this project, but I'm hoping to pick it back up in the next few weeks.

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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

I've finally found time to get back to working on the Jawa. I got the mask with led eyes done, ive got my monks cloth and i'm about to start doing test swatches for dying.

I want a deep orangy rusty color, so if anyone has dye formula suggestions, please post them up. I keep hearing 2 rit dark brown to 1 sunshine orange, so that will be my starting point.

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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

got my sound glove done and made some progress on my droid caller from random parts. Also getting closer to a dye formula...next I'm going to experiment with yellow added to Cocoa Brown.

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Re: My jawa build with blaster and droid caller (WIP)

droid caller is finished. I ended up using an apple juice cap, a zip tie, a hair spray bottle and a pill bottle plus some junk from the garage.

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Of course, with the blaster having the plasma light, I had to throw a couple of LEDs in this too..... I realize it's not accurate. I used a 2 cell battery holder that has a tiny switch on the top with some foam around it inside the pill bottle. The entire thing slides out if I need to change the batteries on it.
 
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