collection showoff! - Video Tour - last page

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

I was at my parents' house the other day and I saw someting in their curio case. My Alien model! They kept it on display after all this time! By "time" I mean that I got this in 1993 so I was... 12!

I remember I was at a giant flea market in upstate New York and I saw this wonderful model up for sale. I begged my parents to get it for me. (I was really a brat)... Thankfully they gave in.

Now that I'm older, I can actually appreciate the model: It's a old Halcyon model. I'm not sure how accurate the model is but the builder actually modified it and totally improved it in my opinion.

1) He opened up the egg and added a scratch built facehugger (the facehugger is removeable)
2) He opened up the mouth and added the tongue - he even added drool.
3) The tail is modified so it's a bit more curly
4) the hands are modified so that the fingers are more spread apart.

Look - the builder signed the base for me. Back in the day I thought I was getting the autograph of someone famous.

Here's what this model looks like regularly

 

[Tom1971]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

You are only 29.:angry:angry:angry:angry:angry

Yep, I'm sure of it,....I hate him

 

[Anti]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Kid. The first 6 months are easy. Once she starts moving . . . watch out. Those little Starships are going right in someone's mouth . . .

 

[Anti]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

Oh, and keep the kid away from that Ceti eel. Although . . . . those eels are said to make one susceptible to suggestion . . . hmmm . . . "clean your room."

Hey can you send me some eel larvae?

 

[apokai]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

Un-be-lie-va-ble!!!!

My wife would kill me for that!!!

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

I got these great new eyeballs for Yoda from propcollector today. I couldn't wait to pop them in.

I think they're a great improvement.

The old eyes and pics can be found here: http://www.therpf.com/f9/how-not-treat-your-props-but-how-fix-them-too-93752/

 

[Mockle]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

No really Im going to go cry now... Its all Amazing...........:$

 

[Simmon M]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

It's always a treat when you post Thomas. The new eyes on Yoda enhance an already incredible replica. It's hard to fathom that this is the same figure that took a nose dive off of its pedestal and was smashed into a thousand pieces. A strong testament to your restoration skills!

Keep those pics coming! :thumbsup

 

[Alan Castillo]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

Congrats on your child Thomas

Now, a brother is needed ... I volunteer myself for adoption.

Man, your collection is something else again !!!! :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

Did you get the adoption papers I sent yet :lol

I love combing through this thread !

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

This is going to be my longest single post ever... because I have finally (almost) finished the newest and greatest piece for my collection; ANH DARTH VADER!

Thanks to many wonderful members here on the boards that made this all possible. I started gathering parts for this last September, and the final pieces arrived this Friday.

The pieces were all "prowse sized" and they fit perfectly together with almost no work whatsoever. It was really incredible how so many pieces could come together from so many different people so seamlessly. It really shows the precision of this board and the quality of work.

So here's my list of parts:

Helmet: (temporary) SPFX v2
Chest armor: GH ANH (from Cookiemonster)
Chestbox: Screencast (from Vadermonkey)
Codpiece: from Vadermonkey
Leather 3 piece suit: made by TMP (from Germanbat)
Robe and capes: made by Rheinone (from Germanbat)
Belt: Gino boxes, red washers and aluminum knobs. Lights and mesh are original parts. (electronics installed), Real WWII belt (from Germanbat)
Boots: ebay
Shins: GT Shins from Vadermonkey
Gloves: from Darth Niob.
Mannequin: Poseable from Tom Spina

So here is a post on how to assemble a Darth Vader display with some of the most accurate pieces available. Think of it as a behind the scenes inside look at what the heck I do when my kid is napping...

Okay so here are some close up pics of some of those amazing pieces.

Screencast ANH chestbox from Vadermonkey (By the way - Mike has been one of the MOST approachable vader guys that I have ever met. We still talk to this day). This will be upgraded with the actual found buttons from Mr_Sparkle (thanks for making a few of those available to us!)

and his amazing cod piece

close up of the belt and the three piece leather suit. Again these were from Germanbat. Many people on the Batman forums know him for his amazing Batman collection. I lucked out because he apparently has other wonderful props too.

So for those who haven't put together a lifesized display or a vader here's how to do it...

First - put on the pants:

then put on the top half clothes

Don't be afraid to get into random sexual positions with your mannequin - Brings whole new meaning to "loving your props" eh?

Robes - don't mind the ginormous batman mannequin over on the right side. That's only a mannequin that I use to hang my hat (or panther armor.. well y'know). Actually after putting these two mannequins together I realized that it's a perfect height for ANOTHER Darth Vader. Can someone say sequel?? :love

chestbox and belt

did I mention the mannequin was fully poseable? heh heh

Slap on a helmet. The helmet is temporary. I have a more accurate helmet awaiting this display but I wanted to be sure that this mannequin could actually hold the weight of all this clothing and armor. Last thing I want to see when I go down to my lair tomorrow is Vader laying face flat on the ground... The paint job is pretty damn incredible on this vader though.

Add a saber

AND I'M DONE! (well, sort of - there is going to be a lot more adjustments to be made.. but I think that's good for a weekend's worth of work.) Enjoy the pics. and Thank you ALL! I kind of liked the force choke pose -but I always dreamed of having a vader holding a saber. SO I just went with both. I may change it up in a bit after I think about it.

 

[kurtyboy]

Re: Collection Showoff- taking a break... hah - who am I kidding

That looks pretty amazing!

Also, wondering where you got that flexible mannequin. It looks a million times better than the ones available in the UK (which collapse under too much weight).

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

thanks kurtyboy! yea the mannequin was from Tom Spina. I picked it up in the junkyard last year. It's really funny because I got the mannequin first before I got most of the anh parts. It was a gamble but vie come to realize that a really good mannequin or display base is really important to showcase the prop. I'm going to slowly go back and once again upgrade all of my displays.

 

[Darth Niob]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

Hi,

excellent stuff. What a great Vader. What helmet are you going for? Can you post some more infos or pics of the mannequin itself please? Height? Did you bulk it up? Is such a mannequin still available? Sorry for all the questions but i have problems to get the right mannequin for my Vader at the moment.
I love the chestbox ....looks amazing.:thumbsup

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

Thank you Darth Niob - and thanks for the gloves )

Here is the pic of the mannequin when I first received it:

Some additional padding was needed on the front of the chest just to make the chestbox stand out a little more. The height was approximately 6'7"

I'm not sure if the mannequin is still available. Contact Tom Spina here:

TomSpinaDesigns | the RPF

He's a great guy to talk to and does some amazing work.

I've purchased several mannequins for various displays and none have the right shape. David Prowse has such a strange shape, he almost looks like an alien.

 

[Darth Niob]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

Thanks for the infos mate and again...congrats to this great Vader.

 

[Simmon M]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

That turned out extraordinarily nice Thomas! I'm so envious of your display. That you amassed so many s/a parts in so very little time is an impressive feat in and of itself.

Your Vader must be massive compared to some of your other life sized displays.

So when do you start building Palpatine? Sith always come in two ...

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

Thanks Si! Yea well, again, if it wasn't for the gracious help of many here on the board I wouldn't have been able to do this.

It is a massive life-sized figure. Before my ceiling was too low so I could never make a truly accurately sized vader. Is it weird that I came home and asked it if it missed me yesterday? :lol

Ah yes papa palpatine.....perhaps perhaps... I may have to get all of these batman armor pieces out of the away first and now that I have the "vader bug" I kinda want to do a ESB :wacko

Any comments about poses or about the vader itself? I kinda like this one but anyone have any others they think would work? I'd love to hear from some vader guys to see if I got things right.

 

[Darth Niob]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

What i would correct is the position of the legs. They are a bit too far away from each other ....its more like the look of an action figure.
Also i would correct the position of chest armor and helmet...there is too much space between them. Maybe a problem of bulking up the mannequin.
So very few to change and it looks perfect.:thumbsup

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

Got it. Thanks for the comments.

I notice the neck issue now. It is too far apart. It's not a padding problem exactly, it's just because the robe set is SO heavy it weighs down the armor.

I guess more chest padding would help.

I will also shift the legs a bit. I have to weld the foot base together as one broke (totally my fault) when I was trying to put this together the first time.

 

[ave4uevoli]

Re: Collection Showoff- Forward Charge! ANH Vader pg 7!

ack - so busy at work - can't type anything.. but look - ooooooo so pretty.