Topic: custom from scratch mando bucket

[spudafett]

this is a wip of a cardboard and bondo mando bucket helmet.  I got the templates offline somewhere... it's a fett costuming forum but I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head... anyways... printed out the templates and then cut out each part out of 24pack coke boxes and posterboard.  I used elmers glue, hot glue, and super glue to make it all stick... then gave it a good coating of BONDO autobody filler and sanded it smooth.




I've since put the parts together and will get a better pic of it.

I need to find a suitable material to make the visor out of... currently I don't have a clue as to what I could get cheap/free that might work.  The idea of this project was to make a realy cheap but still nearly accurate/recognizable full scale prop.

[Reconsgt]

Good use of inexpensive materials.  As for a visor, Hobby Lobby sells sheets of thin tinted plastic for about 2 buck an 8x10 sheet, you can also get a piece of scrap lexan and use auto window tint over it.

The templates most likely came from the Mandolorian Mercs or the Dented Helmet

Here is a link to the Mando Mercs template section
http://mercs.firespray.net/forum/index.php?action=ezportal;sa=page;p=1

[spudafett]

AHAH it was dented helmet~!  I knew it had a cool/obscure name that I SHOULD have remembered! lol

I have since replaced that black rangefinder stock with a 1/4" sheet styrene piece.  The rest of the rangefinder is something else I've never gotten around to figureing out how to configure/make.  I had templates for it but didn't like the way they said to put it together.

I've aways thought that having a digital camera in the range finder would be cool, with a set of controls somewhere else on the costume..

I also came up with a jet-pack idea which utilized a compressed air chamber in the center and an electric selonoid valve to launch a foam mock up of the rocket... I have blueprints for it somewhere but never made it.

I did make a prototype backpack though that had an air chamber routed to a hose piece on my costume's gauntlet which was hooked to a blow-gun valve which could shoot foam nerf darts! it sucked though cuz after 3 shots it ran out of compressed air and you had to recharge it with an air compressor... if I could find a cheap hand pump or a tiny air compressor that could run on a battery then we'd be rockin!

[DocOutlands]

12vdc air pump that plugs into a cig-lighter.  Mount it inside your pack with a couple of lantern batt's wired to give 12 volts.  Should work.

[spudafett]

see I was thinking the same thing doc... I actually have one of those but could never get it to run off of just regular old batteries... I need to grab some of those larger lantern batteries and try that for sure.

I think it'd be awesome to go out and be able to have an actual launching rocket on your costume!  as well as launching darts off your knee pads and stuff like that. 

[DocOutlands]

Hm... I'll try setting up a couple of those batt's and rigging the air-pump to them.  I *know* you can run an air-mattress pump off a lantern-batt instead of 4 D-cells, but I dunno if that would give ya enough pressure.  One of my buds wants to reengineer Nerfs with stronger springs...

[spudafett]

reingineering the nerf guns is fun... but you can make an AWESOME nerf dart launcher using pvc pipe, an air compressor and a modified sprinkler valve... 

I took an old nerf wildfire (the gatlin gun style nerf gun that shot 20 darts by use of a compressed air chamber) and removed the old rubber air bladder and hard lined it into my air compressor via a blow gun attachment... it would shoot all 20 darts in a fraction of the normal time and almost 3 times as far!

[beige-4]

by the nerf recon that could be used as a blaster

[Tamer]

Hey now this is a sweet project, don't know how I missed it. expect to see it on the fp soon.

[spudafett]

I got the thing painted the other day with a base coat of drab olive green... but then my sister's cat's knocked it off my shelf and the rangefinder and side pieces broke off.  It'll have to have some major repair to be fixed....    amazingly the bondo covering over the top dome didn't crack or break at all! 

I still need to get a visor in this thing...

[clonemedic96]

looks good so far spuda, cant wait to see the mando master in armor!

[Clonehead]

Spud, I have no idea why I haven't replied to this thread yet but this project looks very cool. Man, you have to get this  bucket together for sure. It's your destiny.

[Phatty]

Any updated pics yet of this bad boy?  I wanna see it on your head!

[Squirepec7]

sounds great Spuda can't wait to see it finished!

[spudafett]

I havn't worked on it for a while... unfourtunately my sisters cat's nocked it off my dresser and broke part of it...  the side detail on the left fell off and the rangefinder stick broke in half...

I've never found a good material/pattern for making the actual rangefinder.  I might get around to finishing this eventually.  I got a layer of olive green spraypaint on it and it looks realy good.  I was afraid that the imperfections in the bondo on top might show up... but they didn't when I painted it.  if you look closely it looks dented and pitted, but I think I'm going to do something different than a screen accurate boba anyway so I might just make all those pits look like dents...