STAR WARS (Samurai Darth Vader)

[MadBlake]

Okay guys so I've been meaning to get around to this for some time, I took a break from Ronin Boba Fett because I needed to step back and start in this difficult endeavor. Until last night I wasn't even sure this would work, but I finally made a break through. So a little bit of background for this project, about a month ago I started making my Ronin Boba Fett helmet and my fiancé had also made me promise her I would make the Darth Vader version as well. Needless to say the difficulty levels vary from helmet to helmet, I would give my Boba probably 5 out 10 difficulty level but with the with the Vader 9 out of 10. This will probably be the most complicated part for both costumes.

Anyways I was pulling up Reference shots and came to realized there is 2 different version made by Bandai, so I wanted to incorporate both. Here some shots that I've been using.


If you notice One mask has a very dome feature with your average Darth Vader face, but the other helmet seems to have a bit more of a box-like shape on the chrome and very different facial features than your average Darth. So I've decided to stick with the average Vader face, but using the box like chrome giving it at least 1 or 2 features from the other mask.

 

[SofaKing01]

This is going to be fun!

 

[MadBlake]

So now that I have set up my goals and know what my expectations are, I was a little worried heading into this project. At first I was thinking that I would have to buy a Darth Vader helmet and pretty much build around that, but of course I wanted to do it the hard way and scratch build everything. I wasn't sure if I could produce it out of foam, I was having very big doubts about it. I haven't seen to many people try to execute Vader with foam. Trying to find templates was near next to impossible, and I almost gave up hope at one point I wasn't going to do worbla cause that would be too expensive, probably could just buy a helmet on etsy for the price of the worbla alone, and I'm not a fan of Pep. So I just went with what I know best and that is foam (crossed my fingers the whole time).

Started out with some crappy sketches and made some templates.


When I started to assemble the Chrome and fit it to my fiancés head I was very doubtful, at first I thought "I just made a box, very nice looking box but a box non the less"... So I put some filler in and sanded it down, also some more complications had occurred the motor in my dremel burned out and i have to call the company for a replacement facepalm.


When I began to add details on, some of my faith was restored. Because for the better half of this week I was very frustrated having to draw the templates up on my own. Anyways for most of this I plane to have floor matt foam for the supports and large areas to give it good stability on the head and 3mm foam for minor details and small areas.


And Finally the One thing that has bugged me for the past 4 days and had given me so many excuses to not continue and doubts. The dreaded face mask, it seems so simple but just isn't! Anyways had to yet again draw up the templates myself and use some floor matt foam and 3mm foam I'm very satisfied with it, being a scratch build. I know once I cut everything out and begin sanding and detailing and spraying primer filler on it should look a million times better but this came out a lot better than I expected. My fiancé loves it too, my only issue was it doesn't look evil enough haha, maybe if I heat and reshape the eye lid section.



So that's the progress so far, hopefully I can get some stuff done before the weekend. Most likely wont be on here again till next Tuesday, this weekend I will be running a stand at NJ comic expo in my ODST trooper armor and helping my buddy VinXero with 2 panels. So if you see us give us a shout out and say what's up, will be more than happy to chat and geekout with my fellow prop makers.

 

[MadBlake]

This is going to be fun!

Sofa you know we will be coming to visit you and the cockpit in these costumes

 

[jkno]

There is a thread about the Hero Club Samurai Vader helmet here, it could be of some help: http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1117339/

 

[MadBlake]

There is a thread about the Hero Club Samurai Vader helmet here, it could be of some help: http://forum.rebelscum.com/t1117339/

That thread is awesome and very helpful will Definitely be using it for the pics. I've seen the helmet before but its a solid cast, and not wearable :cry also another dilemma is its 500 euro now. Would definitely go over my budget on the helmet alone haha thanks for the link man!

 

[jkno]

You could contact DarthDad there and ask him for more pics if interested.

 

[MadBlake]

jkno yeah definitely will, Already started taking a closer look at the pics hes got and noticed some things on the flaps around the helmet I didn't see before. Do you know if they will be making a Ronin Boba Fett helmet as well anytime soon?

 

[jkno]

No idea, but I would be interested in their Stormtrooper Samurai helmet if released

 

[VinXero]

I don't know this guy, I need an adult.

 

[VinXero]

So now that I have set up my goals and know what my expectations are, I was a little worried heading into this project. At first I was thinking that I would have to buy a Darth Vader helmet and pretty much build around that, but of course I wanted to do it the hard way and scratch build everything. I wasn't sure if I could produce it out of foam, I was having very big doubts about it. I haven't seen to many people try to execute Vader with foam. Trying to find templates was near next to impossible, and I almost gave up hope at one point I wasn't going to do worbla cause that would be too expensive, probably could just buy a helmet on etsy for the price of the worbla alone, and I'm not a fan of Pep. So I just went with what I know best and that is foam (crossed my fingers the whole time).

Started out with some crappy sketches and made some templates.
View attachment 556737View attachment 556738View attachment 556739View attachment 556740

When I started to assemble the Chrome and fit it to my fiancés head I was very doubtful, at first I thought "I just made a box, very nice looking box but a box non the less"... So I put some filler in and sanded it down, also some more complications had occurred the motor in my dremel burned out and i have to call the company for a replacement facepalm.
View attachment 556741View attachment 556742

When I began to add details on, some of my faith was restored. Because for the better half of this week I was very frustrated having to draw the templates up on my own. Anyways for most of this I plane to have floor matt foam for the supports and large areas to give it good stability on the head and 3mm foam for minor details and small areas.
View attachment 556745View attachment 556746View attachment 556747View attachment 556748

And Finally the One thing that has bugged me for the past 4 days and had given me so many excuses to not continue and doubts. The dreaded face mask, it seems so simple but just isn't! Anyways had to yet again draw up the templates myself and use some floor matt foam and 3mm foam I'm very satisfied with it, being a scratch build. I know once I cut everything out and begin sanding and detailing and spraying primer filler on it should look a million times better but this came out a lot better than I expected. My fiancé loves it too, my only issue was it doesn't look evil enough haha, maybe if I heat and reshape the eye lid section.

View attachment 556752View attachment 556753View attachment 556754View attachment 556755View attachment 556756

So that's the progress so far, hopefully I can get some stuff done before the weekend. Most likely wont be on here again till next Tuesday, this weekend I will be running a stand at NJ comic expo in my ODST trooper armor and helping my buddy @VinXero with 2 panels. So if you see us give us a shout out and say what's up, will be more than happy to chat and geekout with my fellow prop makers.

I love it.. and this weekend is gonna be a blast!

 

[MadBlake]

Okay so last week didn't work out the way I wanted it to, with the thanksgiving and the craziness that comes with the holiday I didn't have much time to work on the helmet and post updates. Anyways after Friday I gave myself a lot of time to work on this thing, even though I felt like I was just dremmeling the whole weekend. So I got around to making the back of the helmet that would be supporting the helmet on the back of the head.


Used a latex based crack proof Caulk to cover up the huge seems in the back and sanded the hell out of it to give it a smoother surface. My fiancé was telling me not to worry about he smoothness because it will be covered up by the flaps of the helmet, but I cant help my own critique haha.
Also got to work on the grill for the mouth, this was quite challenging. At first was trying to execute with 1/2 inch floor matt foam but in the end decided to go with 3mm foam, it was just too difficult to cut the 1/2 inch with the small curves involved.


So I ran into some complications first I realized that there are a lot of places that need detailing and filler on the face mask, and it also seems that the back of the helmet is far to tall when I connect the top piece of the helmet to everything else, so ended up having to basically cut 2 inches off the top. All that caulk for nothing lol. Also someone pointed it out to me and I took a long look at it but the eyes look like an anime character with those over exaggerated eyes so I pulled the eye brows down and dremmeled under the eyes as well to make them more round (and evil I guess haha). A lot of adjusting that I didn't expect, but I think it comes with the territory on a scratch build.

Yeah that just didn't look right...


I'll post more this afternoon after I get some work done.

 

[MadBlake]

As promised my afternoon update, so I think I will break down the helmet into 3 parts 1 being the face and top of the helmet which I have completed sculpting, 2 the chin and neck panels, and 3 the flaps that surround the side and back of the helmet. So I managed to get down to home depot on Friday, not realizing it was black Friday it was nuts! Nut they had good deal on primer filler so I couldn't resist standing on line for $4 a can.

So I decided to skip the palstidip process on this one because there are to many minor details that need resolving and the primer filler allows me to sand and add filler as needed to fix little things, unlike plastidip which balls up after it dries and you try to sand. So I applied the first coat, and could already spot several spots I will have to make adjustments and fix minor details.


So I dremmeled the areas that needed fixing and also used a small nail filer to work on the mouth grill, and applied filler to a lot of gaps I had missed previously.


So this week I will start working on the chin and neck flaps and be giving an update by Wednesday, Hope your all enjoying so far.

 

[Darth Rodo]

greetings friend, the designer of this armor was Takayuki Takeya, this is the original helmet 1: 1 he produced a few years ago, te puede servir de inspiración

 

[MadBlake]

greetings friend, the designer of this armor was Takayuki Takeya, this is the original helmet 1: 1 he produced a few years ago, te puede servir de inspiración
View attachment 561237

Amazing Reference Picture will be adding this to my wall! Thanks!

 

[MadBlake]

Alright Mid-weekly update, so thanks to @Darth Rodo and the awesome reference pic above I was able to get a better look at the chin and neck. I got started with that grill under the mouth, quite tedious but I'm a glutton for long and tedious projects. A lot of adjustments and cutting and shaping to get it right. Its not exact but I think it gets the message across to someone.


Hit it with some filler, it was hard to match up and get it perfect but it fits on my fiancés head and for this project that's a win in my book.



Going to start cutting out the flaps and shaping them and punching the holes for the 550 cord. Yet another tedious job , and hopefully my order for custom Midnight blue 550 cord comes in this week "but probably wont". Anyways hoping to have another update later today or tomorrow. I think I will execute the flaps the same way I did for my Ronin Boba Fett Helmet if you guys are familiar with that thread I used 3mm foam and worbla to produce the stability I wanted along with the smooth surface I desired. But I'm definitely open to suggestion, and if anyone has any decent templates for the back flaps of a samurai helmet please post here. I'm still kind of having trouble getting the shape I want.

 

[MadBlake]

So another update, not much was done this weekend with Wintercon, I hope everyone who attended enjoyed. Got to meet a lot of great people and makers alike, and it was quite the honor to meet Jeremy Bullock what an awesome man and legend!
Anyways aside from an awesome weekend I was able to get some work done during the night time hours and I was able to finally finish the entire frame of the mask and helmet! Now all that's left are the flaps under the chin and surrounding the helmet itself, so here is the complete frame with its first coat of primer filler which is only half sanded.

I did get started on the chin flaps, they seemed simple so wanted to test that out before I moved along with the big back flaps. I executed the same technique I used for my ronin Bobe fett and used 33mm foam for the front and combined worbla to the back for stability. So luckily with worbla there is one side that has adhesive that will stick to anything when heated, so it saved me some glue and time.

Pretty satisfied so far, now at first I was going to use a drill bit to make the holes for the 550 cord to loop thru, but I was afraid it would tear or rip at the foam, I ended up using the dremmel which I have a better handle and sturdier grip. It came out better than I hoped though it was a **** load of holes cant wait to start the back flaps haha... Gave it a coat of plasti dip because these will have to be somewhat mendable and then tonight they will get the primer filler treatment.

And the 550 cord should also be come today!!! So excited!
Anyways besides that I know its not really the season to paint because its so damn cold but I do need suggestion on what kind of paint I should use for the helmet. So this where you guys come in. Should I go with a matt or gloss finish should I use duplicolor or rustoleum? Please any suggestions would be great right about now, cause I'm a little conflicted on this haha.

 

[MadBlake]

Forgot to include this is my last post, here is an update of both helmets. Hoping to have both done by the mid January and get started on the torso's for each one.

 

[nathanial91]

Both of your helmets look really cool and i love you technique for doing them!

 

[MadBlake]

Both of your helmets look really cool and i love you technique for doing them!

Thanks Nathanial always a happy to wow someone