A Costume By Pete Hickey

How do you build a better bounty hunter? We asked our very own correspondant, BodyHammer, AKA Pete Hickey, deep in the process of building one himself to chronicle his efforts. Much like a hamburger, the bounty hunter costume has many complex layers, some of them meaty, some more like lettuce, and then then, of course, you have cheese. What we really mean to say here is that each bounty hunter should be unique. Here’s our man in the field’s take on the whole thing…

Hey all, BodyHammer here with a little blurb about the costume I’m building this year for Celebration V, and of course Dragon Con. I started my bounty hunter costume about a month ago, and let me tell ya, it’s not as easy as I thought!

A lot of painting, sanding, testing and, of course, the headaches and getting upset. Good thing I gave up drinking before I started this project! Ha! Everything seemed to go swimmingly at first, I went on the internet, made a few orders, helmet, vest, gloves. Painless, right? NOT! Being a Bounty Hunter is tough business

Then my gauntlets arrived, and I had to re-adjust my vest so that I could get them on. Then I realized that they were absolutely way too big for me, so the sanding and trimming began. Being a perfectionist, I couldn’t just leave it alone, so I had to edit it further and try to MAKE it work. Eventually I realised I was spending way too much time with the gauntlets when I had so much else to do. So, I ordered a smaller pair. They should hopefully arrive in a couple of days, when i’ll have to sand and paint again. So as of the writing of this article, I am finishing up my knee pads and my extra guns. I finished the back plate last night, and the cape is being weathered as you read this. I still have a lot to do on it, although the large part of it is finished, and I’m happy with the outcome so far.

 I will keep you all posted on the finalized product. A special thanks to CON*Tourage of course, also my Mandalorian Merc friends for all the help, guidance and just for being really neat and cool to a newb and of course any one else that I missed for the kind words! Visit me on Facebook for more pics of the costume.