How to scratchbuild a Boba Fett costume- using cardboard!

Step 2 Helmet

I just finished a seperate instructable for this- it's a pretty good project all by itself:
http://www.instructables.com/id/EB96DTBQ13ES9J6YYX/

This helmet is made entirely from cardboard (except for the visor), is very light when finished and is quite comfortable. It is also suprisingly large- I can barely get most helmets on my head and this one fits with room to spare.

After making my helmet I'll say this- take your time on the paint work as it makes a huge difference in how the costume looks. I printed out a ton of reference photos before painting my helmet. What you see below took about three hours of painting. I ended up drawing all the scratches on the helmet with a pencil first and then painting them in. It could still use a bit more work but for a Halloween costume I'm pretty happy with it.

Comments

[lysa613]

hey your costume is great fantastic job im in the middle of making my own thanks to WOF and those impressive templates. I would like to know what kind of cardboard you used . and how much spacling is needed for armour pieces

[Honus]

The type of cardboard I used is called newspaper board- it's primarily sold at craft stores and shops that do picture framing. You really don't need much spackling- it's just there to smooth out seams and rough spots.

[mcorbin]

wow. looking at all the detailed steps building the helmet.....it's really quite amazing. Thanks for the instructable.

[masterofnoobs]

do you think it would be too difficult to make this out of sintra without using a vaccum former?

[Honus]

You could definitely make it out of Sintra or styrene sheet without a vacuum former- several people already have. Make sure you use Bondo or something similar to help smooth out all the joints.

[JazzyMom]

Wow, this looks amazing!! Just wondering, how would I adjust this to make it for a child? Also, time wise for an extreme amateur, how long would it take from beginning to end?

[Honus]

I would just shrink the print size- exactly how much I can't really say. I would say it would take around a week or so to make.

[whers boba fet gone]

Thats a bummer:( Thanks for the tip on the helmet I'm gonna make it soon and i have a hunch that it's gonna be f****** ausome!!!!!!!!!

-Boba Fett:)

[Jedistruth]

The helmet looks like the one from the movie I'm a huge fan of star wars and boba fett

[HanusBobaFettMaker]

you know man its just...you worked very hard, well and the helmet couldnt be any better, the size is perfect, the view everything...except for that neonish back green! its like dark blue like on his jp and is like green, or satan not neon! I hope you redid that part because it is so nice but has that super green in the back...its like dark grey blue im pretty sure, or lite green of some sort, maybe even a little greyish purple in there sorry if that set you off :/

[Honus]

It's definitely a brighter green color. Here's a reference pic from one of the actual movie costumes.

[HanusBobaFettMaker]

oh oh oh so Honus I see its great just still I think the back is still like neon, im kinda a perfectionist(llol not really) heres the view from the real movies both ROTJ and ESB ESB one was the famous helmet, while ROTJ armor was fantastic, so im making the delux which is ESB helm and ROTJ armor :) heres
site
ROTJ
http://www.tk409.com/images/fett/helmet/ref/2.jpg
ESB
http://www.tk409.com/images/fett/helmet/ref/3.jpg

[bobafett14]

what did you use for the visor and is it tinted.

[Honus]

I used plastic faceshield material and tinted it using stick on window film from an auto supply store.

[rookie13]

When you were painting the helmet how did you make the yellow lines? Did you scratch them away?

[Honus]

I just used a pencil to draw the outlines of the yellow stripes and then painted them in. That's basically how I painted the whole thing.

[rookie13]

When you first started the helmet, how did you put the cheekbone in place? I couldn't really understand the description.

[Honus]

The easiest way to make the cheekbones is to first bend the top section by misting it with water. It's definitely tricky getting it to bend to match the top edge of the lower section. Then I attach it to the lower cheekbone section with hot glue- glue it on the inside helmet face as it will make finishing the helmet much easier. The entire cheekbone section is then glued to the helmet base. This is tricky to fit correctly and will probably require some trimming to get the edges to line up properly. If you have any other questions just let me know!

[easycom89]

When you say you penciled/painted the scratches on do you mean you painted over the first coat of paint with a metallic silver, Dark grey, Green, and any others I missed? It looks as if you actually scratched of the paint how did you get that effect?

[Honus]

I used a pencil to draw the shapes of the scratches and yellow stripes on the helmet. Then I used a paintbrush to paint on the scratches using various colors. No paint was actually scratched away.