Dark Empire : Luke Skywalker

Black Falcon FX

New Member
I’m going to have a go at the ‘Dark Empire Luke Skywalker’, specifically the Dave Dorman cover versions.

After looking at the various reference images I have decided on an approach.

This will be a slightly different interpretation from what I seen from other people attempting this build and also from the Battlefront II skins that have been made.

The elements that I can use from my Vader are as follows:

Boots, Shins, leather pants, leather sleeves.

I have the 3 piece leather suit which means I don’t have to have the extra layer of leather on the body.

I also have a Master Replicas Luke ROTJ lightsaber although I am looking at other more accurate and durable options.

I could just use my Vader belt set as well but I feel that this is not quite right based on the illustrations.

Initially I’m going to use a ROTJ 2” leather belt together with a new buckle design combining the Vader and Death Trooper elements with a couple of extra details.

The boxes are also something which I am going to re-work. I’m going to use slightly smaller boxes to ROTJ Vader to better fit the smaller Luke scale. The light and button detail will be roughly approximated from the Dark Empire 2 #1 cover as this is the only image which shows the belt box.

I have a set of black gauntlet gloves which are a nice compromise between Vader’s and Luke’s from ROTJ. This may change depending on what else I can find.

The main difference from the previous builds is going to be the upper body soft parts and cloak.

Most versions have gone for a standard cloak with a high collar shoulder cape over the top. Possibly with the Jedi style cross over tabard that Luke wore at Jabba’s palace.

I feel that there should be a mandarin style collar shirt and then the shoulder cape is actually part of a half sleeve, layered, open fronted jacket with the cloak attached to the back of the high collar which can then either worn behind the shoulders or pulled completely over the front as in the Dark Empire #2 cover.

I have bought 2 Kung fu training jackets in 2 different sizes. The smaller one will be the shirt. The larger one, the basis for the outer jacket.

The wide closure panels on these jackets are reminiscent of the Jedi crossover robes.

Both will need the toggles removed. The shirt will also have the sleeves completely removed effectively making it a waistcoat, then it will need a new hidden fastening to keep the front closed, possibly Velcro.

The outer jacket will have the sleeves shortened and then the high collar added. This will be in a sateen material which will also be used to make the cloak. It may then have a couple of Velcro panels to keep its placement with the inner shirt.

As with Vader these layers will be tucked into the belt to also help maintain positioning.

The cloak will be attached to the base of the high collar, possibly permanently, maybe with Velcro for ease of packing separately. The cloak will generally sit behind the shoulders but will have enough width so that it can be pulled over to the front.

Finally, I am severely ‘follically challenged’ so the final piece will be a suitable wig.

I've attached the reference illustrations that I am using along with my initial parts that I have.

Dark Empire Tri Detail.PNGDark Empire #2 Detail.JPGDark Empire II #1 Detail.JPGDark Empire II #1 Details.jpg

Dark Empire Luke WIP-Leathers.jpgDark Empire Luke WIP-Boots.jpgDark Empire Luke WIP-Shins.jpgDark Empire Luke WIP-Codpiece.jpg

Dark Empire Luke WIP-Gloves-a.jpgDark Empire Luke WIP-MR-Saber.jpgDark Empire Luke WIP-Kung-fu-top.jpg
 
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Dude… this is EXACTLY what I was going to do this year!!! But our annual halloween event with my town is canceled so we aren’t celebrating

Please keep us posted with your costume, I’m seriously interested in seeing the end results!!

I found a cheap vader one piece on ebay, it had like a soft control box on it too, I was hoping to cut it off and use that. I was going to 3D print that pearl looking belt buckle he wears too

If I had some sewing skills, I wanted to make the costume exactly like the action figure


944438D1-9DA8-43BC-A2D0-0265D8FF268F.jpeg
 
Dude… this is EXACTLY what I was going to do this year!!! But our annual halloween event with my town is canceled so we aren’t celebrating

Please keep us posted with your costume, I’m seriously interested in seeing the end results!!

I found a cheap vader one piece on ebay, it had like a soft control box on it too, I was hoping to cut it off and use that. I was going to 3D print that pearl looking belt buckle he wears too

If I had some sewing skills, I wanted to make the costume exactly like the action figure


View attachment 1502899
The buckle is a tricky one as it is different in almost every picture that shows it.

I've started adapting the Death Trooper buckle that I make and adding a few details to approximate the version on the DE II #1 cover.

I may try a couple of versions and see how they look.
 
I was going this route with out the cod piece and this weird belt buckle, I honestly like your belt better

F4F00027-FC00-4DFB-BC27-14C064D7B8F1.jpeg


This setup reminds me of the cone heads space traveling suits lol



230C8AB2-2B76-430F-94E5-82180E37E83D.jpeg

My plan was to use this cheap suit off eBay and cut the box off the chest, hopefully it wouldn’t look too bad with it removed..
ADFFCD73-E645-4609-9A77-DDCCC38356F5.jpeg
 
I also wanted to 3d print his blaster and his antique lightsaber. They really used a Mcquarrie early style lightsaber design.. I gotta twist a buddy of mines arm to do this as his next run
6D94621D-4C85-4204-925D-AF95C8A20295.jpeg
 
Here are my buckle variations.
The first is uses a modified Death trooper buckle to fit the proportions from the DE II #1 cover. I added a couple of Vader element (Slots and Disc).
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Buckle-a.jpg
The second is based closely on the Vader ROTJ buckle. This is more similar to the DE #2 cover.
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Buckle-b.jpg
The final one is just an idea of what could be on the DE Collected Cover and Issue 1 of Empire's End.
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Buckle-c.jpg
 
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Following this build too!!
I am having trouble figuring out the upper part of Luke's outfit from the cover.
Looks like Luke is wearing a Mandarin collar shirt and then some sort of tabard/tunic with really big sleeve and high collar outside.
Also about about the cape, are you sewing the cape into the outside tunic/jacket?
 
Following this build too!!
I am having trouble figuring out the upper part of Luke's outfit from the cover.
Looks like Luke is wearing a Mandarin collar shirt and then some sort of tabard/tunic with really big sleeve and high collar outside.
Also about about the cape, are you sewing the cape into the outside tunic/jacket?
Yeah, I’m going with the leather sleeves from my Vader followed by a sleeveless mandarin collar shirt and then a high collar, short sleeve outer tunic.
Similar to the way my Vader cape attaches to my armour, I’m going to use either Velcro or snaps around the base of the collar on the outer tunic and then on the collar of the cape. Should be secure enough and easy to pull apart for storage and cleaning.
 
While I'm waiting for the cape material I turned my attention to the belt and boxes.
I have a variety of parts from the Vader belt sets that I produce so I thought I could combine a few elements.
I still have a couple of Telefunken tape machines which I use the speaker mesh for the ANH Vader so I thought it would be interesting to see what other bits could be used. I eventually went with a couple of the buttons along with the speaker mesh. I combined this with some ESB/ROTJ silver knobs and a red panel light. Finally I chose some led rocker switches.
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Telefunken.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Box-parts.jpg
 
For the boxes themselves I decided to go with a couple of my early prototype Wookie bandolier boxes.
These are made in a very similar fashion to the Vader ANH boxes, folded aluminium.
Overall these match up quite nicely with the only image of a box which is seen on Dark Empire II #2 cover.
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Boxes-01.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Boxes-03.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Boxes-04.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Boxes-05.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Boxes-06.jpg
 
I decided to go for a bit of a hybrid for the buckle. Mainly the design from the DE II #2 cover with a few cut out slots.
I also decided to use the traditional buckle hook system that was used for the OT filming on Vader's belts.
Dark Empire Luke WIP-Buckle-05.jpg Dark Empire Luke WIP-Buckle-06.jpg
 

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