Building Darth Malak

[Koda Vonnor]

Work has begun on my next costume.

First to gather an insane amount of reference pix, I got ahold of a KotOR mod that turns your character into Malak. Went out with Carth and found an open area in which to move the camera around. Here's what I came up with. Anyone else researching this costume, help yourself. There are already a great deal more angles and details then previously found from googling.

There will be more.

Here is a sampling:

My first thoughts are these (in no particular order):

- The horizontal rib-folds will have to be put in by layering the fabric, as the ribs are tighter in the torso and legs than in the sleeves.

- The jaw-guard has to "float" and not rest on the hard collar, so it needs to be light enough to wear like sunglasses - clamped over the ears.

- The breastplate is not right-left symmetrical, and will most likely be cast in some semi-rigid material from a hard master.

- Would likely use the same material for the belt.

- The costume lends itself nicely to a bald-cap (it will also cover the Rahm Kota goatee). All the gray head-stripes can be painted on the cap. Most of the cap edges will be hidden beneath the jaw-guard. It can be blended into the face-paint at the temples and across the forehead over the eyebrows.

- The jaw-guard can be seamed at the sides and held with rare earth magnets or some slide-locking mechanism.

I plan to complete this for CV, and will keep the "elephant" parts as small as possible.

Welcome to another cool ride. :cool

~ Vonnor

 

[Darth Mule]

The layered fabric almost looks like it needs to be wrapping of some sort on the arms and legs. Maybe rouching in the torso (Gathering to put it in simplest terms). What are you thinking of using for the material? I think that choice will be what really sells it. Linen would be a more mummy look, while silk would be a bit more sleek. Leather would probably be just badA**, but expensive.

Looking forward to seeing if this one is as fun a ride as Koda which I'm sorry I missed at D*Con. Though I kind of missed everything being holed up in panels all weekend.

 

[desolate]

this will be a great costume once it is completed. i am a big fan of malak

 

[Bowelrock]

Half Robocop half sith

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Chris, the fabric has to be kinda stretchy. I've been looking at some different things. Ideally it would be very thin red-orange stretch fabric I could layer over black, to get that gradient shading.

Still a lot of experimentation to do.

 

[HAL9000]

This costume would look cool if it was red leather / pleather. I'm thinking
about that costume Jennifer Lopez had in The Cell which was pretty cool.

 

[Jayn]

If I were you, I'd make the undersuit out of a heavy unitard. Dye it the base color, then carefully airbrush all of the striations in. I'd make the chestplate and strip of squares out of silicone, like dragonskin or ecoflex..
Looks like a fun project! I'm interested in seeing how you make the rest of it..:thumbsup

 

[darcjedi]

If it helps any, I took the game model and rendered it out in 3dsmax with front, back, left and right views of both the full character and a close up of the head. heres a link to the image if you want it.

-Jeff

 

[Ramiel]

- The breastplate is not right-left symmetrical, and will most likely be cast in some semi-rigid material from a hard master.

Why you said that?
It looks symmetrical to me...:confused

BTW, cool project

 

[Koda Vonnor]

Hal, definitely won't be leather/pleather. Way too hot.

Jayn, I was really looking to get more of the textured effect that the 3D model's skin suggests. More of a random folds or wrappings kinda thing. I think I can get that using 2-way stretchy fabric and elastic thread. Will have to see. Yeah, I plan on using a flexible casting material for the BP like D*Skin, or maybe a brush-in silicone or semi-rigid urethane. It has to be paintable.

Jeff, your a GOD, man! Those renders will definitely help (already been staring at them for like an hour .. lol). :lol Thank you very much!

Ram, if you look at the left edge (right side as you look at it) you can see kind of a dual-strip detail running up the edge. That is not present on the right side. Also, one of the embossed quadrilateral sections (the outside upper one) is cut off at an angle due to the addition of the edge-strip detailing. This is not present on the cape side of the BP.

 

[nogga_nootch]

oooh, this should be good, he's one of my favourite characters.

 

[Koda Vonnor]

What I'm planning is to first make a hard bust of my head and shoulders, then sculpt the collar and base jawguard on that. The base jawguard would be without most of the surface detail, and be in two sections. I would cast a fiberglass hard-model of the sections, and build those up with the detail. I would use sintra or styrene to build up the jaw prongs. and styrene to build up the ridge detail under the ears and around the back.

The 3D model frame is seamed at three places around the ears. I'd split the hard model probably along seams 2 & 3 (see below) and have the rear piece be supported by the ears and cover them to past the front edge of lines 1 & 3. The jaw piece would clip over the rear piece at the ears (and over the ears too) and line up flush at seams 2&3.

Once I have both front & back pieces built up and finish-detailed, I'll make the production molds.

Still mostly speculation at this point.

~ BC

 

[ItsThatGuy]

Bill, I know it will turn out amazing! :thumbsup

I wish I lived a little closer - I'd love to watch you build this - I have no experience with molding anything.

 

[Darth Mule]

Chris, the fabric has to be kinda stretchy. I've been looking at some different things. Ideally it would be very thin red-orange stretch fabric I could layer over black, to get that gradient shading.

Still a lot of experimentation to do.

If you cut your non-stretchy fabric strips on the bias, it will be stretchy. Not as stretchy as spandex, but you will have some stretch. May open up your options a bit for textures.

 

[jediscout72]

Good things come from this one......

 

[jediscout72]

Why you said that?
It looks symmetrical to me...

perfectionist, he is!

 

[Mados]

I toyed with doing this costume for a while, but didn't think I could make the jaw piece light enough. I'll be watching this.:thumbsup

 

[KnightAsylum]

I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.:thumbsup
I just recently started working on a 1:1 bust of this figure (actually using a Sgt Fang Hannibal bust as the base). I am still working on sanding off the hair then I will start on the "mask" for the jaw. Some great reference pics here (better then I have) so thanks to this project for that as well.

 

[jackdoud]

I helped a friend of mine on this costume a few years ago. We got as far as making a headcast then RL got in the way and as far as I know it's been dropped. Interested to see how you end up. :thumbsup

 

[Koda Vonnor]

I'm not planning on rushing this one, mainly due to finances and work issues, but I'll do a little at a time. The last one took nine months and I feel I rushed that. The more planning and discussion, the less mistakes.

Maddy, after seeing how light the Rahm Kota BP came out, I'm fairly sure I can make this light enough. It may be a bit on the thin & fragile side, but we'll see. The rear part would go over the ears and around the back of the neck (like those new headsets you see). It would fit flush to the curve of the head/neck at the hairline. It should also squeeze the head gently at the temples and around the ears so that it's snug and wearable on it's own, and not budge up or down while worn. I will likely have to cheat the depth of the cutouts seen at the ears (make them shallower than canon) to actually FIT the ears in there.

The jawpiece will then clip to the back piece. The weight of the jawpiece should be supported against the back of the head (with the ears as fulcrum points) so it doesn't sag.

~ Vonnor