My Darth Vader WIP

jokerfish

Jr Hunter
I am starting a thread to show off my WIP Vader, but honestly I was not forced to do much of the work, so its not as labor intensive as I hoped it would be (maybe not a bad thing!)

I started with a helmet casting from a 501st member. It was totally raw other than a coat of primer on it. I ordered every bit that fenix props had in stock for the helmet and the chest box, so all I had to do was sit back and wait.

I got the helmet in one day about 2 weeks ago and jumped on my dremel, prepping it to get put together and I got an email from someone selling a suit. I was reluctant at first because I REALLY wanted to build mine the way I wanted, plus what are the odds the other guys would fit, right? Well after discussing price and measurements, turns out I have him by about 15 lbs and everything I needed fits PERFECT.

I have to say I owe him a SERIOUS debt of gratitude, this thing is amazing! I knocked out more than half of the suit in one swipe. I had already purchased machined parts from fenix for my chest box, I am currently tracking down the few switches I still need for it. I also need to rig up a chest box harness, but that shouldnt be too bad.

I will upload a few pics as soon as I can, waiting on my wife to send them to me. I was able to hook a guy up at my local comic shop with my helmet. He isnt exactly rolling in $$$ so he is going to slowly pay for the helmet and parts as he can, its a win-win situation. I will be pricing leather tomorrow, my mother in law can sew like a pro, so I will still get a little of my own work in the suit. I cant complain though, I skipped months of waiting for various pieces, I am hoping to find all the others by the end of the month so I can get it all together.
 
First pic! This was my helmet as it came out of the box
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Boy you aint kiddin about the humidity in Little Rock the last week has been stupid, feels like a steamroom outside. Very nice start and the helmet is night and day from the 1st pic to the 2nd.
 
Took a few pics last night. I have a HUGE rubies body suit on with the chestbox and the shoulder armor, but it made for a few fun pics. I should be finished up by next weekend. HUGE debt of gratitude to the boardies who helped me get this thing together!

Next up Han in Carbonite, then I am doing the Fett!
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CongratsnBro..Looks great! I am doing some mods as well to my rubies suit. Mines not as labor intensive either but I am managing to do some myself : ). The armor just got painted at my local auto shop...turned aout phenominal! I'll post some pics as well. They will be in the thread entitled "ROTS supreme darth vader helmet". I also have the MR helmet and am getting the rubies helmet painted today. I am also in the process of upgrading the inside of the helmet to better match the MR. Great job!
 
Looks AWESOME bro! nice helmet! ;) Im concidering building a Vader myself...we shall see how that goes....cash is the only constraint...but i have some new offerings for everyone not too far down the line, so maybe that will help finance the dark lord!
 
Well, here are a few "finished"shots of Darth Tim :)

I am going to upgrade the bodysuit, tweak the lid a little bit and redo my chestbox now that I have all the parts I need. Its awesome for now though, I would say its about 85-90% of where I want to be. Not too bad for 3 months work!

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The shoulder bells are not on in any of those pics. I couldnt find a way to stick them that would work. I tried hinges, velcro, industrial strength duct tape, gaffers tape...I finally broke out the dremmel and about a foot of mylon strapping and had the mother in law do some quick sticking! Works like a charm now!
 
Since this is the most recent Vader thread, I'm gonna ask my question here...

I'm throwing together a minimal vader costume for my girlfriend. It's not exactly "sexy vader," but far from the "vader couple" photo that comes up on a google image search. I'm taking huge liberties with the chest/shoulder pieces because it doesn't have to be acurate and it's my second from-scratch project with sintra and bondo (I'm rather proud of my first: ROTJ fett gauntlets) and this one had to be done without any templates.

The helmet, however, I'd like to look good (so i can use it later!). I've got the cheap rubies helmet... I know, but accuracy isn't important here. I wanna repaint it, but I can't tell from screen grabs what's supposed to be gunmetal and what's gloss black. The 501st site just says alternate gunmetal and black. I know the neck is gunmetal, the dome is black... looks like cheeks are black, but when looking at photos taken with a flash and dark screen grabs the rest could be either. Anyone got specific details on this?
 
also... has anyone opened up the rubies "voice changer helmet" chest box to see if there's room to cut out the red and blue squares and add LEDs? I'm thinking about doing that too. If there's room in there, it should be just as easy as the two blinking LEDs I threw behind my fett chest piece.
 
Some updated pics, I didnt realize that these were not put up till today!

Me in my first attempt to get approved. **** red switch was on the wrong side
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after fixing it (****** camera though)
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like i said, it's a modified costume for a female... so which movie version doesn't really matter. ESB is her favorite of the 4 it appears in, but I know she does plan on showing the chain on the cape (501st says that's not kosher on an ESB Vader). Looking at all your pictures, it all looks gloss black to me except for the very bottom (under the tusks). Is there a site with clear pictures or a template? Sithtrainingtemple has a graphic that is useless (and hard to find, had to get to directory display because the helmet page is missing). The left and right alternate colors? Is that correct?

VMhelmetscheme.gif


Also, I found Rustoleum Metallic Charcoal spraypaint today. Does anyone use that for the "gunmetal" color? It's the darkest metallic I have seen. I used to do a lot of graffiti, so I know spraypaint, but I don't have much experience with metallic or gloss (they get drippy when you're working fast in the dark on top of other wet paint).
 
MY helmet has the correct paint scheme on it, I just have a dark metalic gray instead of a lighter one. Before I started this costume I didnt realize that it was a 2 tone paint scheme, so I REALLY didn't want it to be super noticeable.

Check out the 501stsithlords.com site and sign up. All of the info you need is there. This is the correct scheme for an ESB vader helmet
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