Work Log #1

 

OK, so this is my first proper cosplay, and while it’s going better than I expected, it’s also really scary. So I’m going to be posting work logs whenever I make progress, starting with this one.

Now, I got a bit excited when I first started actually working on this because it was going so much better than I thought it could, so I sort of just smashed out a bunch of it without taking any photos. So you’ll be seeing the progress from here on, not from the very start, but it’s still a lot of fun and I’ve still got a fair bit to go.

OK, we’ll start with my actual plan:

So my plan here is sort of a halfway point between Boba Fett and Jango Fett. I’m going for the “light armour” category here, which is the style Boba wears, so without all the extra bits of armour that Jango has. I’m also keen on the half cape that Boba wears, so I’m incorporating that too. Jango comes in with the colour scheme and the “clean” look. A lot of people prefer Boba’s “been in every battle in the galaxy” look, but I actually like the super clean look, because it just makes more sense to me. If a bounty hunter was anything like a real life soldier or mercenary, they would need all their equipment to work as well as possible, which means maintaining and cleaning their armour/weapons/gear at all times. Also, it’s kind of like Batman in that a hunter who charges as much as Jango and Boba charge can afford to have their gear remade whenever they need it. Now those of you who know anything about Mandalorian armour are probably thinking “wait a second, Mandalorian iron is actually incredibly difficult to come by, so they definitely wouldn’t be able to just churn out sets of armour whenever they need it!”. But, if you look into it, you’ll find out that both Jango and Boba actually had their armour made out of durasteel. Also, in the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, Boba actually does have a spare set of armour in a hidden stash of gear on Tatooine after crawling out of the Sarlacc Pit, so he obviously has the means and ability to acquire extra sets of his armour.

ANYWAY…

So my point is I love the clean look that Jango has in episode 2, and so my design is basically Boba’s outfit but with Jango’s simple, clean design and a similar colour scheme.

SO

For this suit I bought:

*A navy blue flight suit (Hard Yakka Coveralls)

*A light grey faux leather sheet, cut into a vest shape

*A boatload of sintra, cut into the shape of the armour

*A Jango style belt, bought from eBay

*A bunch of black fabric for the half cape

*A pair of black work boots

*A helmet and jetpack from the amazing NMEProps.com

*A visor from t-visor.com

*PVC piping for the gauntlets

*Black gloves

*Black thigh holsters from Thinkgeek

*A pair of resin cast DC-17s from the amazing THGProps on Etsy

I’ve got a bunch of tools and such too:

*dremel power tool

*heat gun for the sintra

*sandpaper

*Heaps of spray paint

*Heaps of Velcro

*Heaps of super glue

*elastic for the knee plates and stuff

I think that’s everything…

So, onto some progress photos!

So I’ve cut and shaped the sintra, sanded and washed the armour for painting, and I’ve done the majority of the painting.

A couple layers of primer and silver:

Black paint on the back to avoid flashing white plastic when I move/if the plates shift:

and then black on the front of the armour:

That’s where I’m up to now, so pretty soon I’ll be adding velcro to the back of the black plates and onto the vest and flight suit, and the next time I post a work log, I should be able to actually wear most of it!

Very cool.

I’ve also got some ideas for the inside of the helmet, to make it look as technologically functional as possible while maintaining vision and comfort.

So those will be in the next work log, I don’t want to go into too much depth because I’m not sure exactly how it’ll all go together…

Anyway, I’m so keen for this, thanks for reading!