My Vader pics

Not trying to steal away any of avaron's thunder (nice work, by the way), but I just wanted to post some of my pics and get some feedback as well (CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, please). Before the link, I'll tell you what you'll be looking at when you get there. The 1st 4 pics are from the Ep. III premiere. This was my first outing in costume. The 2 after those are from the DVD release with my lady and my son. The "helmet-off" and "helmet-on" pics are my 501st submission pics, these are the most recent. I value all your opinions because I know there's alot of talent here on these boards. Just thought I'd also mention that the chestbox I'm wearing on the Ep.III premiere pics is completely home made (if you can make out the aurabesh under the coin slots it says "home made Vader"). I scrapped that for my current chestbox, but I kept my belt (also home made, though I'm thinking of redoing now that I have more experience) and my codpiece ( also home made). Here's the link:

http://gameworldweb.com/DarthAni%20Web/index.htm

Thanks for your input!

Great job darth, i am impressed welcome to forum and good luck with the 501.

Looking good! Now, you need to start replacing things one piece at a time....

Sweet suit!

Looking Good!!!!

Cool, love the little Yoda there too

Nice work

Nice job.

Impressive... most impressive.

That's a great home built suit. Now to nitpick.:P I would have removed that metal nose piece on the helmet as it really does look odd when you did so much good modding to it. Is that a GT chest armor set? I would drop the shoulder bells down a bit on it, if you can.

Looks like you are on the right track for an RotJ suit though. You will find plenty of folks here to offer up advice and things to change if you are shooting for accuracy. Right now, the suit is great and the only ones who would be able to pick out the differences would be us geeks.

excellent job on the rubies helmet if thats what it is

Thanks for the input everyone! Qui-Gonzalez, Yes, it's GT armor. I wanted a very imposing silhouette, so I maybe got a little carried away with how high up I set the shoulder bells. I see what you mean though, I think I will drop them a bit The nose piece, I kind of painted myself into a corner on that one. I never covered up the little hole that it goes in, so I just popped it back in after the face was all painted. Anybody have a suggestion on how to do this now and paint that inside part silver WITHOUT having to redo the whole face? I am going for a certain degree of accuracy, but I'm only 6'4" in full gear, so I won't be heartbroken if I'm not spot-on, screen-capture accurate. I also am using this for trooping, not display, so it's function over form. This was my first try ever at doing anything like this, so now that I've got it all put together, I'm going back and trying to fix all the little details I may have missed. I've also gained some more experience and confidence, so I think if I had to start all over again, I could do a better job. That's why I'm probably going back and redoing the belt. Anyways, please keep the feedback and nitpicking going, I do appreciate it!

By the way, the little Yoda is my son! And yes, that is the Rubies' which I think is an EXCELLENT project helmet. I like how sharp the facial features are as opposed to the DP Classic Action.

The problem with going back and redoing the belt is you will then have to redo the cod. Big ole can of worms there. If nothing else on the belt, the belt boxes need to be taken in a bit. They are a bit too long. You will find some great ball park measurements here for belt boxes and buckles.

Comeon all you trooping Vaders, help the guy out. He asked for "nitpicky".

Had an idea for fixing that nose. You could bondo/putty up that hole and brush in the silver color. It's a nice, small enough area that detail brushing wouldn't hurt.

What kind of paint would you recommend? As for the putty, should I go with auto-body type stuff or craft quality putty?

Pretty damn nice! Your boots look a little thick. And I feel those pics aren't a good set to truley tell you how good the costume is. From what I can tell it looks AWESOME! I'd like to see it up against a very light background.

Originally posted by DARTH ANIBAL@Jan 6 2006, 10:24 PM
What kind of paint would you recommend? As for the putty, should I go with auto-body type stuff or craft quality putty?

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The auto body putty worked excellent for me. I would surely recommend it.

Very nice Vader....the modifications you made are very good. The way you carry it off is also really good...that's 50% of a good Vader and you've got that 50%.
Of course now comes the obsession with making constant improvements .

,

Thomas

Originally posted by SithLord@Jan 6 2006, 11:35 PM
Of course now comes the obsession with making constant improvements .

,

Thomas

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Thomas,

A very true statement. It has been an obsession with me and continues to grow even more so. I find myself constantly thinking about ways to improve my costume.... then I look in my wallet and quickly remember my limitations.

A very true statement. It has been an obsession with me and continues to grow even more so. I find myself constantly thinking about ways to improve my costume.... then I look in my wallet and quickly remember my limitations.

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Good point but it dosen't hurt to take parts of your favorite vaders from ANH to ROTJ and mix and match them as well what ever makes you happy. As for me i want to make an ANH reveled helmet.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! It really is good to hear from people who have spent a long time in this hobby and know what they're talking about. Yes, I am pretty much obsessed with the constant improvements. The man I once was, "gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader".

Hey, Qui-Gonzalez! I was actually going for ESB Vader, what about the costume makes it look ROTJ? Did I miss something?

Looks great, nice job!

Originally posted by DARTH ANIBAL@Jan 8 2006, 01:36 PM
Thanks for all the feedback, everyone! It really is good to hear from people who have spent a long time in this hobby and know what they're talking about. Yes, I am pretty much obsessed with the constant improvements. The man I once was, "gone he is, consumed by Darth Vader".

Hey, Qui-Gonzalez! I was actually going for ESB Vader, what about the costume makes it look ROTJ? Did I miss something?

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Cape hook...I am petty. I totally missed the middle button between the switches.

Visible cape hook, hmmm, very good. I'll just pretend like I'm somewhere-between-Episodes-5-and-6-Vader. I still have to finish modding my chestbox to ESB "specs". Good observation, though!

Like someone else posted...make the suit to make YOU happy. Kids and fans who see it won't be as nitpicky as we are here over the tiny details. That kind of enjoyment is worth it to me.