My Kind of Scum!

I had admired this Boba Fett model kit for quite a while, but was intimidated by the amount of weathering on his armor. Similar to his ship the Slave I, Boba Fett's personal armor has sort of the quintessential lived-in Star Wars look. For weathering enthusiasts, these types of projects are a joy but also majorly intimidating. In other words, the perfect project to end last summer's productive run of model building!

As usual, the assembly process was as streamlined and simple as all of the Bandai Character model kits. I decided to keep the molded colors for the most part, and I weathered straight onto the molded plastic before any clear coats. The main benefit of this method, if you use acrylic paints, is that you can scratch away paint marks for realistic-looking wear and tear. All of the silver marks that you see on the green, red, and yellow armor pieces were weathered in this manner. For the grey undersuit, I used a dark grey acrylic wash to enhance the creases and folds as well as give it a slightly dirty look.

The cape options included in the box were pretty weak, so I cut off the cape from my old Black Series Boba Fett figure and glued it to this figure, which was a perfect match and quality soft goods. This looks far more authentic than the weird rubbery one Bandai includes with the kit. I am sure you could find other custom cloth goods capes around the internet as well.

Another enhancement I made to the final figure is the stand. I purchased one of the action bases that are designed for the Gundam figures but work with other Bandai kits because this kit is begging to be displayed in an action flight pose. We never get to see Boba Fett do much action or jetpack flying in the movies, but our imaginations ran wild with the potential of his sweet armor.

Finally, I used a combination of detail painting and decals to finish off the small areas on his wrist gauntlets, jetpack, helmet, belt, and blasters. As you might know from many previous posts, the Bandai decals can be very difficult to work with, so I have moved to painting as much as possible. The only decals I used were for the symbols on his shoulder and chest plates, and the details on his helmet. This kit has become my new favorite of the character models because it just looks so cool. If you can find this kit, I highly recommend going for it. You will be happy you gave it a shot!