Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

[The Clone Emperor]

Back in the end of last year I mentioned that co-author and character designer Jan Duursema is using my likeness for the Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg for the Dark Horse Comics' SW Legacy series. At the tyme Jan prophesied that I just may want to make the armour my character is seen wearing.

Now, I am just about there;

I've begun to assemble a gallery for the project; Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg

I am hoping to finish assembling the suit as I have it to date for Dragon*Con 2007, after which I will have more images and updates to share.

Be well,
Thomas

ps
This is not a sales thread. I am still working on this suit, and I'll need some practical experience wearing the armour before I can even consider reproductions. I really just wanted to share the excitement.

 

[SmilingOtter]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

Beautiful work!

 

[weaselflinger]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

Very nicely done Thomas. What material is the armor cast in?

 

[boushhfan]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

Looking great, would like more information on what you are using to create the armor.

Cheers

boushhfan

 

[desolate]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

looks great man i hope to see you at DragonCon. good luck with everything..

 

[SmilingOtter]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

Saw it today. As good as the pictures are, it looks even better in person!

 

[The Clone Emperor]

Ikgk Wip

I suited up a mannequin in my Imperial Knight armour (wip) for the ACME prop party this weekend;



This gave me a chance to inspect the amour's presence and assembled details.

Now one week out of Dragon*Con, I have found some nice images of myself as Ganner Krieg. (Over 500 images to sort through on my own camera and I have but a few images of my own suit, those in the occasional shot with a friend.)

This image is from Scott aka "Aviator Vader";


And these are from the flickr account of "Patcave";





I don't consider the suit finished. I'd like to resculpt and cast the right upper bell for better alignment, then make master molds of the entire suit of armour to produce a production quality piece.

I plan to turn my own sabre hilt, and work with a local custom boot maker to complete the bootwear. I will need to retailor the undersuit.

Ideally, this set of armour should not be worn. It is made of bondo and fibre glass, painted red. It should be used to make master molds from which more managable, light weight gel-coated pieces could be pulled. I hope to do just this. But, wearing the wip "masters" gave me valuable experience in just how the pieces worked together, and what I can improve.

Be well,
Thomas

 

[obi1kenny]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

Big congrats my good man! (pat on the rear end!!!)

:cool

 

[Geniepants]

Re: IK Ganner Krieg, A Legacy of my own

I got a picture of you, too. Feel free to use it at your leisure.

An incredible suit, to say the least!

 

[The Clone Emperor]

Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, WIP

Good afternoon,

I wanted to share images that friend my Patrick Riley took of my Imperial Knight suit this weekend for the 2007 Rebelscum Halloween Costume Contest;

This tyme around I have added paint detailing to the armour to help "pop" the contours. I am attempting to perfect the armour for next year.

Be well,
Thomas

 

[ItsThatGuy]

Love the changes! Love all of your work, Thomas! Great Job! It was good to actually see it in person at D*C!

 

[oculus1857]

Love the changes! Love all of your work, Thomas! Great Job! It was good to actually see it in person at D*C!

I have to second that. I meet you while you where heading off to take your place in the parade. You where very nice to myself and my friends as we looked in awe of your hard work.

I'm not the biggest of 'Star Wars' fans, but your work was off the charts awesome. Stuff feels and looks like it could stop a bullet. Hope to see more work from you in the future.

 

[bubba fett]

Amazing work, just like everything else you have done!

 

[Drakonnen]

Re: Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, WIP

Simply Amazing. I hope you decide to reproduce it!

Congrats on making it into the GFFA too.

 

[Korbanth]

Re: Imperial Knight Ganner Krieg, WIP

freakin awesome...its what I wanted my IK set to look like...

 

[The Clone Emperor]

production notes

Trooping with The Midwest Garrison at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, in promotion of the Stars Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit; (Photo by Trent Thorton.)

I truly did not expect to see this thread resurrected. Thanks fellows for the support.

I wanted to address the inquiries I have received about producing this suit for others. At the moment I have no means to do so. The costume I wear now is technically a "hard master"--and it weighs a bit too much for comfort.

I'd like to clean up the armour further, adjust the way the shoulder joints meet and make well-considered points for hardware attachments. It is my goal to then create proper production molds. Not because I want to "cash in" on my labour, but because I want the experience of creating something professionally.

When I come to that point I will have to face the decision about offering copies for sale. I am conflicted at the thought:
1. It would break my heart to see this recasted.
2. Whereas I have designed this to fit my body proportions, I would need to make special modifications for others--I consider that another challenge that would be a useful experience to address.
3. Finally, I am not a costume producer by trade and I am not set up at home to produce fibreglass work on a production scale (My neighbors complain about the fumes.) It has taken me over a year to come this far. For much of the effort I have had to travel to use my friends studio just to do the work. I would need to address my own production system in order to make such a venture viable both for interested costumers and myself. (In the end, I'd be surprised if interest went higher than ten suits world wide.)

For anyone who has been interested, I thank you for your support in this work in progress. I am anxious to develope the other costumes I have in progress, but I intend to see my Imperial Knight armour through to completion.

Be well,
Thomas

 

[boushhfan]

Congrats Thomas,

A great costume, and good to see you out with the 501st having fun.

Regards

Boushhfan

 

[Last_Chael]

I think your armour is just amazing! It's so great to see the armour as a real piece of work after staring at the comics for so long!

I fell in love with this armour when I first saw the cover with the three IK's and managed to get enough interest amongst my friends to put together a group. We're actually the ones who commissioned the IK ultra saber But it seems our armour effort has stalled a bit, but hopefully we'll be inspired by your amazing armour and get back to trying to make ours! Of course I have the fun job of being the only female IK in our group, so I get special armour!

 

[Got Maul]

You look great buddy. Truly a professional job there man. Great job Thomas !!

 

[The Clone Emperor]

Still going strong

I'd like to share a neat update on this project;



As a precursor to the second Legacy story arc involving the Imperial Knights, Ganner Krieg makes an appearance in the twenty-third issue. Just over a month before, per artist Jan Duursema's request, I sent in a number of stationary, combat, and piloting poses in costume.

While my physical appearance had served as the model for the character, this was the first tyme my actual costume was used as reference by the artist. I find Jan's completed line art transformation of the images to be magical.

Be well,
Thomas