Flagwaver
Well-Known Member
Leading up to the New Year, I decided to take a step back from all of my other projects and dedicate myself to one specific thing. My entire collection of half-planned costumes, all of the tidbits I have purchased and made here and there, all of my previous attempts are going the way of the Bay of E. The money will be used to fund this project.
First, allow me to say that this won’t be a fast build. If I get it done in six months, then it will be a miracle. As a matter of fact, I am shooting for a timeline of nine months for a more accurate date. The reason is the actual work I will have to put into it. To call it labor intensive is like calling Han Solo easy to catch. Then again, this isn’t for just one costume, either. Well, kind of, but not quite. It’s more for a costume that will wear different costumes to make it different characters.
These different characters will be a custom Jedi, custom Mandalorian, canon Bounty Hunter, and a fun little costume for our annual Base/Garrison/Clan Salvation Army Bell Ringing troop (just for Ewoks and giggles). These four costumes will give me formal costumes in Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, 501st Legion, The Jedi Assembly, and The Dark Empire. However, I will be working on all of the costumes in tandem around the base costume.
I will be posting the details of my builds here, since this is the correct thread for someone to throw an Ewok at me should I do something wrong.
This WIP log, in one form or another, is being cross-posted across the internet. Besides here, it can also be found on The Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, The Dented Helmet, The Jedi Assembly, The Dark Empire, 501st Legion, Jedi Council Forums (TheForce.Net), and the 501st Bounty Hunters Guild. I am criticism driven (at least that’s what my publisher tells me), which is the reason I am cross-posting across so many forums. You don’t have to look elsewhere, though, as it will be the same information posted here.
With that said, let’s begin with the description for the base character. I won’t be posting an over-all sketch of my character, because I’m still working on them. Actually, I just haven’t sketched out everything I want to build yet. Though, I will be releasing a sketch SOON™ for my various costume builds. Rather than posting the details of each costume, I’ll just give a general description of them (to prevent bleeding eyes from a wall of text—too late).
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WOOKIEE COSTUME
First of all, I am planning more of a Wookiee Warrior build, rather than the thinner look of most of the Chewbacca costumers. For that I will be using underarmor and adding padding to the shoulders, pectorals, biceps, hips, and thighs. Not a great deal of padding, just enough to beef the suit out a little while still allowing me to not die of heat stroke during a troop.
The hair colors I am going for are a mixture of 10% off black, 30% light brown, 60% medium brown. I am trying to match the coloring of Dalborra (comic not cover art) with this suit. So, if you have any advice, I’d appreciate it!
The hands will be a pair of Home Depot Gorilla Grip gloves with black-painted acrylic fingernails (sharpened to claws, but made dull for safety) attached. After that, I’ll be attaching a mesh emo glove with latched hooked hair on the back of the hand and wrist.
The stilts will be bucket style in the way of The Wookiee Workshop’s Tarful stilts. Rather than go with the 14” option (which the Tarful stilts use), I plan on cutting my stilts to only 12”. This will give me a bit of a sturdier base, even though I plan to reinforce the Sith out of it. However, at 6’3”, the mask and stilts will boost me to 7’9” tall. That should be plenty of height and keep my arms in general proportion to my body.
The head is actually character-specific for each of the costumes. I plan to make a normal Wookiee head for my Jedi, an over-sized Mandalorian helmet for the Mando, and a head with a built-in helmet and goggles for Dalborra. So, I’ll go into that later as even the Mando bucket has a Wookiee-centric thing to it.
Finally, I will have a thumb-activated mp3 player with a variety of Wookiee roars (ripped from KOTOR and SWTOR, anyone that might be able to help, please PM me) with the speaker built into the center of my chest pads. At the same time, I will have a speaker on my belt made up to look like a translation droid with a mic worn under the mask for ‘translating the roars.’ (Don’t worry, I can talk perfectly fine without moving my jaw at all.)
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CUSTOM JEDI
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I plan to use the Wookiee Jedi Concept Art from Return of the Sith as a jumping off point for my build. However, I will be using it for reference, only. All of the parts will be weathered rather nicely after it is completed.
The head will be a normal Wookiee head with the beard given a bit of a styling. Not quite the dreadlocks of Tarful; more Dwarven, less Rastafarian. But, it will still be keeping with the Jedi minimalistic look.
The tabards will be dark brown in color and end at the obi in the front and rear. It will have a gold (Tandy Eco-Flow color) leather 1” edging and symbols sewn onto the main body in a similar fashion to the Jedi Temple Guards in the same colors.
Below the obi on the front, both sides, and rear, will be a loin cloth style waist wrap. They will be made with a similar construction to the tabards and be the width of both tabards together. The sides will be to the crotch-length of the costume and the front and rear will be to the length of my knees. The sides and rear will be designed similarly to the ROTS concept art loin cloths, but the front will be different. It will have an elongated Jedi Order symbol on it.
The obi will be a standard 12” wide cloth obi. It will be dyed a subdued yellow and weathered. I figure, if Gungi can get away with a subdued red obi, I can get away with subdued yellow.
Over the tabard will be a dark brown leather Wookiee bandolier. It will follow the tabards and have a thinner inner belt holding “wookiee boxes.” It will join with the belt at the waist under a buckle (the design of which has not yet been determined in the front and rear).
The belt will be very similar to a Style A belt in the Generic Jedi CRL. It will include button studs around an inner belt, a pair of leather pouches, a set of food capsules, and a lightsaber hook. Finally, there will be a braid of lighter hair (same colors as mine, but lighter mix) wrapped around the inner belt opposite the lightsaber hook (to symbolize the character’s Padawan braid that he saved after becoming a Knight).
My lightsaber will be more of a short pike than an elongated saber. It will measure almost 23” long. It will have a wood and leather-wrapped shroud and a full 40” blade. I am still trying to decide whether I want a green or yellow blade color (depending on how difficult it is to find a yellow transparent polycarbonate blade).
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LIFE DAY ROBES
That’s right; it’s the bane of Uncle George’s existence! I am planning to make a set of Wookiee Life Day robes for my Base/Garrison/Clan annual Salvation Army Bell Ringing troop. Not just the robes, but also a Life Day Orb! Heck, I might also wear it at Celebration.
Rather than wear a big red fleece/flannel snuggie over my Wookiee, I am planning to omit the body of the suit and just use the mask, gloves, and stilts. Though, I will also belt it so I can have my trusty translation droid for crowd interaction.
As for the Orb, I am planning to make it out of a hamster ball. I plan to fill it with a couple of battery-powered Christmas tree light sets, some waded up diffusion paper, and an mp3 player. Why an mp3 player? Well, it will be playing Chewie roars auto-tuned to popular Christmas Carols! (I know, I need help… serious help.)
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DALBORRA
Dalborra is a Wookiee Bounty Hunter from Star Wars The Old Republic: Threat of Peace comics. He is Imperial aligned and killed a Jedi master with a single punch. This guy is for the TDE and 501st.
His head will be permanently mounted into the podracer-like helmet and red-lensed goggles. Unlike most Wookiees, his moustache will be different. It might not look it in the above picture, but in the comic he has a very un-Chewie moustache. It looks more like Jamie Hyneman. It completely obscures his upper lip.
His armor consists of an orange chest plate, green shoulder bells. He also has a non-leather bandolier/belt with Wookiee boxes and a brown strap over it, I’d say it was nylon strapping. Finally, he carries a blaster rifle and a double-bladed staff/pike.
Oh, and here’s the kicker… HE WEARS BOOTS!!! That’s right, the Wookiee wears boots. So, rather than find size WTF armored footwear, I plan to build a second set of stilts with the boot rather than the fur and toes.
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CUSTOM MANDALORIAN
This will probably be the “easier” of the different costume builds and probably the one I finish first. The reason is that it doesn’t have a head; just a helmet with a latch-hooked shroud inside. It will be ash gray with a hammered metal finish and an oak gold faux-wood overlay. There will also be a yellow girth belt. The vest and belt will be dark brown leather and have the same Wookiee boxes as my other builds. However, he will also have a couple of ryyk blades, a bowcaster, and a Wookiee blaster.
So, what do you think? Comments, questions, concerns, criticisms?
First, allow me to say that this won’t be a fast build. If I get it done in six months, then it will be a miracle. As a matter of fact, I am shooting for a timeline of nine months for a more accurate date. The reason is the actual work I will have to put into it. To call it labor intensive is like calling Han Solo easy to catch. Then again, this isn’t for just one costume, either. Well, kind of, but not quite. It’s more for a costume that will wear different costumes to make it different characters.
These different characters will be a custom Jedi, custom Mandalorian, canon Bounty Hunter, and a fun little costume for our annual Base/Garrison/Clan Salvation Army Bell Ringing troop (just for Ewoks and giggles). These four costumes will give me formal costumes in Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, 501st Legion, The Jedi Assembly, and The Dark Empire. However, I will be working on all of the costumes in tandem around the base costume.
I will be posting the details of my builds here, since this is the correct thread for someone to throw an Ewok at me should I do something wrong.
This WIP log, in one form or another, is being cross-posted across the internet. Besides here, it can also be found on The Rebel Legion, Mandalorian Mercs, The Dented Helmet, The Jedi Assembly, The Dark Empire, 501st Legion, Jedi Council Forums (TheForce.Net), and the 501st Bounty Hunters Guild. I am criticism driven (at least that’s what my publisher tells me), which is the reason I am cross-posting across so many forums. You don’t have to look elsewhere, though, as it will be the same information posted here.
With that said, let’s begin with the description for the base character. I won’t be posting an over-all sketch of my character, because I’m still working on them. Actually, I just haven’t sketched out everything I want to build yet. Though, I will be releasing a sketch SOON™ for my various costume builds. Rather than posting the details of each costume, I’ll just give a general description of them (to prevent bleeding eyes from a wall of text—too late).
----------
WOOKIEE COSTUME
First of all, I am planning more of a Wookiee Warrior build, rather than the thinner look of most of the Chewbacca costumers. For that I will be using underarmor and adding padding to the shoulders, pectorals, biceps, hips, and thighs. Not a great deal of padding, just enough to beef the suit out a little while still allowing me to not die of heat stroke during a troop.
The hair colors I am going for are a mixture of 10% off black, 30% light brown, 60% medium brown. I am trying to match the coloring of Dalborra (comic not cover art) with this suit. So, if you have any advice, I’d appreciate it!
The hands will be a pair of Home Depot Gorilla Grip gloves with black-painted acrylic fingernails (sharpened to claws, but made dull for safety) attached. After that, I’ll be attaching a mesh emo glove with latched hooked hair on the back of the hand and wrist.
The stilts will be bucket style in the way of The Wookiee Workshop’s Tarful stilts. Rather than go with the 14” option (which the Tarful stilts use), I plan on cutting my stilts to only 12”. This will give me a bit of a sturdier base, even though I plan to reinforce the Sith out of it. However, at 6’3”, the mask and stilts will boost me to 7’9” tall. That should be plenty of height and keep my arms in general proportion to my body.
The head is actually character-specific for each of the costumes. I plan to make a normal Wookiee head for my Jedi, an over-sized Mandalorian helmet for the Mando, and a head with a built-in helmet and goggles for Dalborra. So, I’ll go into that later as even the Mando bucket has a Wookiee-centric thing to it.
Finally, I will have a thumb-activated mp3 player with a variety of Wookiee roars (ripped from KOTOR and SWTOR, anyone that might be able to help, please PM me) with the speaker built into the center of my chest pads. At the same time, I will have a speaker on my belt made up to look like a translation droid with a mic worn under the mask for ‘translating the roars.’ (Don’t worry, I can talk perfectly fine without moving my jaw at all.)
----------
CUSTOM JEDI
I plan to use the Wookiee Jedi Concept Art from Return of the Sith as a jumping off point for my build. However, I will be using it for reference, only. All of the parts will be weathered rather nicely after it is completed.
The head will be a normal Wookiee head with the beard given a bit of a styling. Not quite the dreadlocks of Tarful; more Dwarven, less Rastafarian. But, it will still be keeping with the Jedi minimalistic look.
The tabards will be dark brown in color and end at the obi in the front and rear. It will have a gold (Tandy Eco-Flow color) leather 1” edging and symbols sewn onto the main body in a similar fashion to the Jedi Temple Guards in the same colors.
Below the obi on the front, both sides, and rear, will be a loin cloth style waist wrap. They will be made with a similar construction to the tabards and be the width of both tabards together. The sides will be to the crotch-length of the costume and the front and rear will be to the length of my knees. The sides and rear will be designed similarly to the ROTS concept art loin cloths, but the front will be different. It will have an elongated Jedi Order symbol on it.
The obi will be a standard 12” wide cloth obi. It will be dyed a subdued yellow and weathered. I figure, if Gungi can get away with a subdued red obi, I can get away with subdued yellow.
Over the tabard will be a dark brown leather Wookiee bandolier. It will follow the tabards and have a thinner inner belt holding “wookiee boxes.” It will join with the belt at the waist under a buckle (the design of which has not yet been determined in the front and rear).
The belt will be very similar to a Style A belt in the Generic Jedi CRL. It will include button studs around an inner belt, a pair of leather pouches, a set of food capsules, and a lightsaber hook. Finally, there will be a braid of lighter hair (same colors as mine, but lighter mix) wrapped around the inner belt opposite the lightsaber hook (to symbolize the character’s Padawan braid that he saved after becoming a Knight).
My lightsaber will be more of a short pike than an elongated saber. It will measure almost 23” long. It will have a wood and leather-wrapped shroud and a full 40” blade. I am still trying to decide whether I want a green or yellow blade color (depending on how difficult it is to find a yellow transparent polycarbonate blade).
----------
LIFE DAY ROBES
That’s right; it’s the bane of Uncle George’s existence! I am planning to make a set of Wookiee Life Day robes for my Base/Garrison/Clan annual Salvation Army Bell Ringing troop. Not just the robes, but also a Life Day Orb! Heck, I might also wear it at Celebration.
Rather than wear a big red fleece/flannel snuggie over my Wookiee, I am planning to omit the body of the suit and just use the mask, gloves, and stilts. Though, I will also belt it so I can have my trusty translation droid for crowd interaction.
As for the Orb, I am planning to make it out of a hamster ball. I plan to fill it with a couple of battery-powered Christmas tree light sets, some waded up diffusion paper, and an mp3 player. Why an mp3 player? Well, it will be playing Chewie roars auto-tuned to popular Christmas Carols! (I know, I need help… serious help.)
----------
DALBORRA
Dalborra is a Wookiee Bounty Hunter from Star Wars The Old Republic: Threat of Peace comics. He is Imperial aligned and killed a Jedi master with a single punch. This guy is for the TDE and 501st.
His head will be permanently mounted into the podracer-like helmet and red-lensed goggles. Unlike most Wookiees, his moustache will be different. It might not look it in the above picture, but in the comic he has a very un-Chewie moustache. It looks more like Jamie Hyneman. It completely obscures his upper lip.
His armor consists of an orange chest plate, green shoulder bells. He also has a non-leather bandolier/belt with Wookiee boxes and a brown strap over it, I’d say it was nylon strapping. Finally, he carries a blaster rifle and a double-bladed staff/pike.
Oh, and here’s the kicker… HE WEARS BOOTS!!! That’s right, the Wookiee wears boots. So, rather than find size WTF armored footwear, I plan to build a second set of stilts with the boot rather than the fur and toes.
----------
CUSTOM MANDALORIAN
This will probably be the “easier” of the different costume builds and probably the one I finish first. The reason is that it doesn’t have a head; just a helmet with a latch-hooked shroud inside. It will be ash gray with a hammered metal finish and an oak gold faux-wood overlay. There will also be a yellow girth belt. The vest and belt will be dark brown leather and have the same Wookiee boxes as my other builds. However, he will also have a couple of ryyk blades, a bowcaster, and a Wookiee blaster.
So, what do you think? Comments, questions, concerns, criticisms?
