Darth Vader Costume...

well, being the holiday season, I'm sure most of us have been more involved w/ that than work on our costumes. The money I spent on Christmas alone will keep me from doing any upgrades for months. The weather is also a factor. Over here in denver we got 4 ft. of snow in less than two weeks. Even working indoors, any thing involving fumes, the windows have to be open .

 

yeah, LOL, i know bout the snow DG, because it stalled out over denver, it only is getting cold here, and no snow.

that storm that hit you was heading directly for us and we were supposed to get snow as well.

but since it stalled over you, we just get rain and cold. supposed to be 30 in the late morning.

thanks for holding the snow up there, lol we had a bad snow a few weeks ago here, dont need another one.

 

Happy new Year every one and have a safe holiday....

I won't be doing much on mine either as Christmas and end of month bills wiped me out too. Plus taking my daughter to the Childrens Hospital 5 times next month for tests and epilepsy treatment is going to cost me a mint. An EEG for her cost $369!!!!!!!!!!

But still, every one have a great New Years!

DarthVaderNut7

 

no insurance?

im really tryin hard to hold on to the 300 i need for portys rots armor, still got it, but ya never know what can come up. and ITR wont be for a couple 3 months, so hopefully i will have the 350 for a lucas A suit then.

i should be set pretty good for vader by that time. thyere right, you always find something to upgrade better.

 

Yes that's with insurance as it only covers 80% of the bill. My ex husband is a snot about paying on the kids bills and since I have custody they send the bills to me that Public Aid and Humana don't cover. So my Vader armor is going to be on hold for a while till I can save up to get more supplies.

I did get $20.oo more twords the neck brace kit I am getting for my larger Reveal helmet and I have the chest armor partialy sanded and ready to paint. THe only problem I have is getting some thing for the chest piece to fit as I am very small.

DarthVaderNut7

 

sorry to hear the EX is a snot. must be hard. maybe this will be a better year for you.

i hope mine will be.

 

Yes it is hard but God and a lot of prayer will get me through and my family is very supportive.

Did any one see the Rose Parade on Monday?

That was SUPER COOL with the 501st!

The floats were pretty fantastic too.

DarthVaderNut7

 

This year was the first year that I have watched the rose parade in some time. It was very good and the Lucas were very good, and with the 501st it was a good showing. It had to be a blast to be Vader for that one.

 

didnt watch it, but i have a link at home that has thestar wars section on video. i will have to download it. slow tho, dialup is a bear.

 

Finally got a mannequin to display my Vader.


My new room mate

[image=http://www.petridish.net/pics/21681/PICT5305.jpg]

 

Looks pretty sweet Rogan! Is that the JB ROTJ you have there? Ive considered getting a mannequin for my Vader, but I don't have the space, and I consider my costume exclusively for actual costuming purposes. When I'm outside the suit, the pieces are safely stored in storage bins.

 

No it is my trooping helmet, the South American Fiberglass, based on the Timeless Movie Props helmet.

 

Rogan, that costume is beautiful.

How much did she cost and how does it feel to wear such a powerful costume?

 

Very nice costume and mannequin. I may try and make one for myself instead of storing my costume in the drawers of my room.

DarthVAderNut7

 

in a couple years when i buy my new house and swap out the old one, i will have enough spare stuff, only need boots, cape and robe, to make a full mannequin vader. and i can get a 6 footer mannequin off ebay for 99 bucks.

just need to pad it up here and there to look right. and make a stand for it.

it'll be a rots like what im using now. and following off what another guy did with his, im gonna hook up motion sensors to the lights, and a saber, with a player that will come on when someone opens the door. and do the breathing and say something like dont make me destroy you,

thats gonna be great.

 

It was quite expansive, as I wanted high quality parts only (Italian lether for the suite, wool for the cape etc.). All in all I paid approx. 3000 USD for everything.

And it is a superb feeling to walk around, frighten small children or just be asked how hot it actually is in there

 

Yeah, i much rather stick with self-made. You save soo much money when you can find little tricks. My suit cost me less than 500 bucks. The single most expensive thing was the helmet, most of that was shipping costs!

 

hey UV, got any recent pics of your vader?

i'd like to see them if you have any.

 

Nothing too special. Only recent shot I took was this test pic from a test fit with the new upgrades:

[image=http://vaderman.sytes.net:8080/img/newvader.jpg]

Not much going on for me to dress up for...if I do, i'll try to get some snaps of it.

Cheers

 

looks good to me UV.

 

Thanks!

 

DarthVaderNut7,

So you're a petite woman who dresses up as Vader? If so, what is the basis of your helmet? The "descended-from-original-molds" prop recasts are generally very big, or are you using a Hasbro Voice Changer helmet or the basic Don Post smaller helmet?

Also could you elaborate regarding the "chest piece to fit". Are you referring to shoulder bells fitting to the chest armor, or are you talking about the armor not being the right size for your torso?

If you are referring to the latter, PM me with your size requirements. I found an easy-to-work-with material that comes in the form of strips of certain widths, so I wouldn't mind trying as an experiment with. I can't promise results because I've never built armor before, so this is a learning process, but if it just so happens to turn out okay, I'd love for you to have it. Based on the width of the material, I may have to make this small anyway. And with some accurate patterns online, I can at least make this to scale and proper proportions.

I'll focus first on the chest armor. The bells are something I haven't figured out yet.

 

Well, my shoulder width is 16 inches wide from shoulder edge to shoulder edge, and from the bottom of my neck to the bottom of my sternum is 8 inches. And I weigh a whole 116 pounds soaking wet.

DarthVaderNut7

 

a def, pad up then for sure.

you gotta get dressed up and take some shots to post.

i gotta see how you look as vader.

 

Will do as soon as I can get my little hands on my daughters Digital camera she got for Christmas! The 16 year old had been dying for a digital camera so I gave her permission to use some of her savings to get one and she's a pretty good shot at taking pictures.

IF I can coax her tonight maybe she'll take some for me.

DarthVaderNut7