My homemade ESB Darth Vader Costume (Finished on page 4)- 501st approved

[Studio 49]

Re: Entirely homemade Darth Vader Costume (Mask in progress)

Sym: I plan to add a mesh for the easier breathing

Hey, I recognise that little fella
I just found this thread today and thought "hey I recognise that"
Great to know people reckon I'm doing some good stuff

Also it's great to see another person building parts from scratch.
Are you planning on trying to join the 501st Legion by any chance?

 

[darthvader073]

Re: Entirely homemade Darth Vader Costume (Help needed!)

Sym: Thanks for the tip. I found a flower pot with the similar curvature. I need to cut it with dremel and we'll see how it fits.

Studio 49: Thanks again for the template. My primary goal is to make it ready for TFA premiere trooping, but eventually yes, I plain to join when I upgrade it a bit.


Some sad news:
Unfortunately, I must postpone the mask and helmet project. Silicone is just too expensive and I can't afford myself mistakes. So until the better times come, the project will be put to carbon freeze. I hope it will see the light of a day someday next year.
However, the show must go on. Though the mask won't be homemade, everything else will

Today I finished painting the shins and sanding the armor. Since the shins are black, they don't look as beautiful on pics as they do in person.

 

[Celtic007]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Chest armour looks great! I wanna try doing that myself one day. Keep it up!

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Great idea about the flower pot ... very clever! Now since your mask and dome are temporarily in 'carbon freeze' you can also post a WTB (Want To Buy) here in the Junkyard and also at the SLD Forum, to speed getting a Vader mask and dome that's been neglected for to long and may be offered to you instead to still be ready before TFA premiere night

Chaim

 

[Studio 49]

Re: Entirely homemade Darth Vader Costume (Help needed!)

Studio 49: Thanks again for the template. My primary goal is to make it ready for TFA premiere trooping, but eventually yes, I plain to join when I upgrade it a bit.

Looking good (unfortunate to hear about old Vader's dome though).
Also great to see you have made an account over on the SLD, welcome to the family... I mean Dark Side

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Just wanted to share with you to where I got with my Vader helmet,
I really hope to finish it someday...

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Updates:
Finally, finally I was able to make a decent shoulder bells. As I said in the post above, I found a hard plastic flower pot with the acceptable curvature. It's amazing how difficult it is to make them look right....
Also, with the help of fellow fans, I was able to find the helmet. It should arrive in the next two weeks.
Now I'm waiting for the 3D printed greebllies for the chest box, and the fabric for the cape. After that the costume should be taking a shape....
Here's the progress

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

You could use a cheap kids skater helmet or a halloween costume helmet like you can get at toys r us.

 

[THXBOY]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Not sure how much feedback you're looking for but there are a couple of easy tweaks I would make. Your shins are way to narrow. Heat them up and flare them out of you can. The shoulder bells present kind of a concave look instead of the rounded convex shape. Maybe you can heat and adjust those as well. This will be important when you put a cape over it. The silhouette will be very off with their current shape.

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

You could use a cheap kids skater helmet or a halloween costume helmet like you can get at toys r us.

Well it's over now haha
But I'm glad this solution worked well too.

Todays' progress: Let there be light!
Belt boxes electronics installed, it's running on a 9V battery. I'm really proud on that small and discrete switch
Now all I have to do is some weathering, which I'm really reluctant to do since I like them the way they are now haha

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Primer on the armor, or multiple layers of primer and sanding, to be precise.
Now I have to wait for the gunmetal to arrive, since it's easier to mask the silver parts with a masking tape than the black parts.

 

[mac3kuby]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Looking great so far. I love this style of building. Make it yourself is always more enjoyable!!!!!!!

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Thank you!
I always prefer that way, and it's incredible how much you learn by doing it too.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

Looks great ... just be aware of sand and dust blown by the wind when you do your final layers and painting outdoors

Chaim

 

[darthvader073]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume

I plan to protect the area with a thin plastic foil sheets, and letting it dry for a day haha

Now I need your help, Vader experts particularly...
Since there's not even one of the brands that supply gunmetal paint in Croatia, I needed to go to the paint mixing shop. I explained everything to guys there, but they said they need the exact RAL code of the color I want.

Now I'm asking you, does anyone know which one could it be?
http://scalemodeldb.com/paintcharts/ral
http://www.ralcolor.com/

My picks for now are:
RAL 7024 http://images.sklepy24.pl/17557382/2642/large/farba-do-frontow-meblowych-ral-7024-polmat.jpg
RAL 7011 http://images.sklepy24.pl/17557382/2635/large/farba-do-frontow-meblowych-ral-7011-polmat.jpg

Thanks!

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume (Need help from Vader experts!)

Perhaps you need to bring this picture along on your smarthphone or so? ... The gun metal seems so much lighter than 7024 or 7011 :wacko



But is all depends on lightening and colour correction :



Here's my Darth Ugly helmet :



Chaim

 

[THXBOY]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume (Need help from Vader experts!)

Well, there are retro schools of thought here. The prop accurate paints are very silver. The screen look for Vader you see above if because of the way he is lit and the set conditions (mostly black floors) during ESB. The silver comes off very dark gunmetal. I always prefer that look to the silver prop accurate paint.

 

[Sym-Cha]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume (Need help from Vader experts!)

Here's that same armor and Darth 'Ugly' helmet under those conditions ... black floor and scarcely lit apart from the flash :



What a remarkable difference these conditions and circumstances make :wacko

Chaim

 

[le1120]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume (Need help from Vader experts!)

Wow, your Vader build is looking amazing! Keep it up!

 

[THXBOY]

Re: My homemade Darth Vader Costume (Need help from Vader experts!)

Shoulder bell should be black btw