Darth Vader Supreme Costume

Finally!

After months and months of painstaking attention to detail, hard work, a lot of love, and many tears, I am finally finished with my costume, and even though it was a Rubies when I found it, it isn't anymore! Unfortunately, I have to let it go, but the good news is, that I can pass it on to somebody just in time for Halloween! Ironically, I only wore it twice, but it was carefully handwashed!

Please check it out and let me know if you are interested! Please PM me if you have critical feedback, comments, etc. I could use the help!

Heavily Modified Supreme Darth Vader Costume

 

Greetings everyone. I first posted on this forum a few days ago. I've been reading and rereading this thread.

Thursday I received my budget Rubies Vader Supreme Costume. I paid $351 + $22 shipping off Ebay for the Vader Supreme and it came with an MR FX vader saber to boot.

Now I need your help. I've read about all the mods, and I want to run my plan by the experts regarding what I intend to do with my Rubies between now and Halloween. I really want to blow my kids socks off so here are my two main goals:

* spend as little money as possible.
* make modifications that will suspend their disbelief.

From what I've read so far it seems like the following will make the most difference:

A. Paint the helmet, chest, boxes and shins.
B. Replace the belt with a dull leather 2" belt.
C. Replace all plastic that should be aluminum. Belt buckle, rods and thumb screws on the boxes.
D. Replace lenses so I can see out of the damn helmet.
E. Install fans in helmet.
F. Go with an AG LOK chain because it's a cheap and necessary mod.
G. Make red switch light up.
H. Get a JBL On-Tour setup (need help finding pictures of this installed)
I. Replace the screen in the helmet.

So, that's the plan. I'd like to hear everyones advice on which mods I may have missed that would be necessary to suspend their disbelief and what mods should be removed because of expense or time constrains.

Here are some questions I have:
1. What is the proper paint colors. I've seen Dupli-Color mentioned as well as Krylon Fusion. Here: http://www.501stsithlords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=942 They mention using the Valspar Black and Black Pearl. I went to Walmart and in the toy/model section they have the Valspar 'special' (Kustom Kolor) paint in Black Pearl and Base Black, but I'm not sure if Base Black is gloss black. They didn't seem to have any other black. Which paint should I use to be as accurate as possible? If I'm going to paint it I may as well do it right. Also I notice some suggest sanding between coats, but it would seem that if you just apply your coats at the proper interval, you really wouldn't need to sand in between. (plenty of sanding during prep, primer/fill, but not when applying the finish coats and clear)

2. I noticed this tutorial for the painting the helmet: http://www.imperial-fleet.com/vader/ is this the preferred method?

3. So the belt buckle will cost $22-23 + shipping. Where can I buy the rods and thumbscrews? Does anyone sell all the aluminum parts so I can save on the shipping?

3. I saw I can get new lenses for $11.90. That seems like a fair price.

4. Where can I buy screen to replace the screen in the mouth of the helmet. Do you paint it black or what? I can't tell from the photos.

Thanks in advance for the help. I'd like to hear opinions about where I could save some money, or if there are any mods you would recommend given my goal, or any mods you would not recommend given the time frame.

Let me know. Thanks.

 

Lan, thanks for the reply.

Do you have any comments regarding my plan? (good ideas/bad ideas)(points A-I)

Any suggestion on what order to do the mods, and which ones you feel are most important?

I would say paint everything then replace all plastic with aluminum.

Do which of these thumb screws would be more acceptable:
Sunbeam: Screw Head Width: 12mm (0.47 inch) in diameter Screw Thread Width: 3.3mm (0.13 inch) in diameter
http://cgi.ebay.com/SUNBEAM-ANODIZED-ALUMINUM-THUMB-SCREWS-SILVER-10PK_W0QQitemZ160134465492QQihZ006QQcategoryZ51064QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Thermaltake-Silver-Aluminum-Thumb-Screws-10pcs-A2382_W0QQitemZ6892412952QQihZ013QQcategoryZ51064QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

After re-reading:
http://www.501stsithlords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=942

After doing some more research, and checking out:
http://www.coastairbrush.com/products.asp?cat=488

I think Kustom Kolor (Valspar) Base Black AE100, Black Pearl AE106 and Clear Coat AE113 would be the way to go. I think these are laquer, I'll have to find out, then make sure I use an appropriate primer/filler.

 

Definately paint the helmet before Halloween and later on the chest and shins. I don't think it is necessary to paint the chest and belt boxes.

When you use a 2" belt, you'll find out that it will not fit in the brackets behind the belt boxes. Look at the picture below to see what I did. I had to cut out a middle portion of the Rubies brackets and cut slots in the belt. Make sure you've got everything lined up right before you start cutting the belt especially equal distance on either side of the buckle. Once completed, your boxes will always stay in the right position and you'll have the accurate 2" belt look.

Add some regular black window screen behind the grill to hide your face. You may need two or three layers. This is especially important because you will no doubt be asked to pose for pictures as you're walking around and the flash will light up your face inside the helmet. Put some screen in and test it by taking pics with your helmet on.

The Trik Toys lenses are okay for a quick fix but you will be able to see so much better by opening up the eye sockets and mounting a pair of acrylic lenses from the inside of the mask.

Absolutely buy some new, accurate leather gloves! The Rubies are crap!

You're on track with everything else and Lan has given you some good advice. Choose your mods carefully and be sure you can finish them in time for Halloween, especially the painting.

I would replace as much plasitc with aluminum as you can. It really makes a big difference. The first link of thumbscrews looks pretty good. Whatever looks good to you is what matters.

The helmet will draw the most attention so I would work to make it as good as you can before Halloween. Then, I would get some better gloves since you'll be shaking a lot of hands. Next, make sure your audio is good to go. People want to hear the ominuous breathing. DON'T use the Rubies breathing device! It makes Vader sound like he's hyperventilating and has a cold. I have a ton of excellent voice and breathing clips if you need them. Use an MP3 player setup and mount a nice quality speaker in the grill of your mask. I would then upgrade the chest box and belt boxes / buckle with aluminum parts. Save the armor and shin painting for another day.

I have a lot of pictures I can post for you if you need a visual aid, just let me know!


[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0562.jpg]

 

seduced, thanks for the reply. That exactly the type of input I was looking for.

I was going to start with the shins, to make sure I have the paint technique down before I move onto the armor and helmet, although I will be preping the helmet as early as possible.

Can I get the mp3s from you? If so, let me know how.

I would appreciate it if you could give more insight on exactly which speaker would be best to mount in the helmet and how to mount it.

Also, the original rubies screen in the helmet is terrible, can you reccomend a screen accurate screen/mesh for the inside of the helmet, and what color it should be painted.

Thanks in advance for the advice.

 

PM me an email address where I can send you the sound files and I'll get them to you right away.

When you do the shins, be sure to fill in the little divot located in the middle of each shin. The same thing you would do for the divot on the top of the dome and the extra nose ridge on the mask.

One thing you should seriously consider before you paint your helmet is the type of lense modification you eventually want to end up with. If you go with my previous recommendation by dremeling out the eye sockets and mounting tinted acrylic lenses from the inside, you want to cut the eyes out before you paint, then mount the lenses. If you just go with the Trik Toys lenses, then it wouldn't matter when you paint. The acrylic lenses make a BIG difference though!

I started off with a clamshell type portable speaker / amp system from Radio Shack (Catalog # 40-1441)

I removed one speaker from the case, mounted it in the lower grill and placed the amp on my belt in the case it comes with. You'll need extra wire to run to the speaker and I used mini-plugs so it would make life easier when I need to remove my helmet. Here is an older pic that shows my speaker mounted in the lower grill. You can see I added a few layers of window screen along with the more accurate grill (more on that below):

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0364.jpg]

Here, I covered the speaker with black felt for a cleaner look:

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0389.jpg]

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0563.jpg]

A pic of my acrylic lenses mounted from the inside:

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0566.jpg]

I searched everywhere for an exact match on the grill screen and just couldn't find one. So what I did is take pic of the actual screen used helmet grill and went to Walmart where I went through just about every Fram air filter they had until I found something close. I wish I would've wrote down the part number but I didn't. It shouldn't be too hard to find though as there were plenty of that pattern used on their filters. Mine are unpainted but the actual color of the grill should be gloss black.

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0569.jpg]

While your out buying air filters, I'd recommend the following pics to upgrade the screen in your belt boxes. I overlapped two pieces of the filter screen and hot glued them onto the back of the stock piece.

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/DSC00367.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/DSC00366.jpg]

Of course you could just avoid all of this and buy a Master Replicas helmet!!!!

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0570.jpg]

 

yep a MR would solve it. lol

your limited time wise on the big H day. so just pick fast mods you can do.. the lenses from trik toys is fast and easy. so i would go with that as a first quick fix.

if you dont have time to do the repaint on the lid, then a really good polishing with armor all high gloss will shine it up nice.

one other fast fix you can do is rip out that metal nose insert, fill the divot hole in, and hand paint the area back with silver paint. pretty easy and quick.

any other mods to the lid, will take you too long, and best saved for after you do the big H day. but those 2 are down and dirty quick.

for my hyperdyne i use 2 jbl ontour speakers. if you can snag one off ebay, in time, do so, any mp3 or player or the unit i have or the V2 vortex, benefits greatly from a jbl ontour speaker.

after the big H day, you can start in on the remaining mods to lid. what i do is do some modding, if i have to let it sit for any time, then i work on another part.

so kinda plan your attack strategy. on the chestbopx, theres a guy selling accurate light kits for ALL boxes on ebay. i have the rots one. i already replaced the side rods with SA metal 1 piece rods. i also got black square frames and red/green perpex lenses from porty to put in place on mine, and the only thing i need is the metal coin slots, which you will need for yours too.

lots of carefull dremeling on the box front to remove the slots, any tabs left after removing old plastic parts and such.

the buckle, get a SA one, a new leather belt, and you can do seduced plan on the boxes for the big H day, that would be pretty quick to do, but afterwards consider makin them from scratch. boxes from online store i got mine from, lenses, red globe, knobs, thumbscrews for each box, leds, and you have a pair that look like mine do, and bright too.

replace the cod with a LA leather one, it has box notches that mine fit perfectly into. keeps the belt aligned better.

shins, later, do the ripp off of the material and install webstraps in its place.

armor, sand and repaint it, or buy a good rots fg armor from Randy of sith planet. it will be a porty fg armor.

aglok chain installed after repaint, or before if you get it and have time to undo the hooks and put it on there, if not do at repaint time.

gloves, you can do that right now, get them from SA, and you might have them before H day. make sure theyre his 2nd run and not 1st run gloves. everyone can thank me for the 2nd run gloves, cuz i supplied him with all the info pics he used to get them done.

boots, if you dont have them, off ebay just use costume boots for a quick fix. they run bout 35 to 40 on ebay. they zip up the sides. later you can get leather ones done, as i plan to do sometime.

so you see, theres a few things you can get done before H day, and then you can delve more into doing other things afterwards.

one other thing you will find out, is the rubies suit is a SAUNA suit, if you dont wanna die in that thing, i suggest after H day, investing in a LA leather suit like mine with the mesh panels built in it.

if you can locate a phased cooling vest, like i did, you can wear it under the suit, it helps some to keep you cooler.

oh, one other fast fix for the lid, is the fan install, get one that will fit in the grill area, and a switch and batt pack or packs, youll need one for certain or youll be dieing in there.

well, that gives you a bit of direction to go, happy modding, once you start down the dark path of vader modding, forever will it dominate your destiny, and consume you!

 

The very first thing to do should be popping out the red and green lights and switching them. Super easy.
Then, I used industrial velcro to secure the box to the suit: lose the suspender straps.
Replace the belt and the grill. Those are the easiest and most noticable mods.

Anyway, I did the mp3 speaker/breathing in the grill and it made it superloud in the bucket and I lost my lower grill vision. So now, it's all in the shoulder armor. It's really loud to people but not me and no one can guess.

 

that depends on if he got the earlier version or the more recent version. the first ones were reversed, and the 2nd was right.

mine was a first run, so i had to flip them around.

 

seduced, can you go into detail about the acrylic lenses? Are they flat or curved? Where did you get them? How much did they cost? What were challenges in getting them mounted properly?

Lan (and others), why is the "metal nose insert, fill" mod a good idea? I don't understand the benifit or how it makes the costume more accurate. Please provide details.

For those that use jbl on tour speakers. Where do you have them mounted, and how do you have them mounted?

As far as the shins go, what is the recommended method of removing the material on the Rubies shins? Also, why not just velcro the shins to the boots and skip the "webstraps". Do I have to buy new "webstraps" or can I just use what came with the Rubies armor? I guess I don't understand the term "webstraps".

Also, do you tuck the 1 piece suit legs into the boots? Did you have to modify your boots to do so?

 

On the acrylic lenses:

The first thing I did was dremel the eye sockets to remove the ridge that sits on the back of the stock lenses. You'll need to fill in the old slots where stock lenses snapped in. I then traced the opening of each socket onto a piece of paper and cut them out. Make the outlines about a half inch bigger in diameter so they overlap the eye sockets.

I used a small sheet of clear acrylic and traced the eye socket pattern onto the acrylic and cut each eye lense individually.

Next I put each lense into a toaster oven one at a time. You could use anything that works but I used two small tea cups to hold up the lense on each end. There shouldn't be anything underneath the middle of the lense so when it gets hot, it will start to sag in the middle. When the lense starts to heat up, you will see it start to sag slowly.

For the next part, make sure you have some gloves on or have a high tolerance for pain! When it looks like you are close to the curvature you need, quickly remove the lense and place it behind the eye socket where you intend to install it. Apply pressure behind the still soft lense and it will conform to the curvature of the eye socket. Keep the pressure there until it cools enough to hold the shape, usually only a few seconds.

Once you've done the same for the other lense, use some regular car window tinting and apply it to the inside of your lense. I don't remember the percentage of window tint I used but it was pretty dark. Remember that you will need to see at night so don't get something too dark. When done, hot glue in place.

All in all, not very time consuming, cheap to make and the results look good. The only issue I had was getting the window tint on without any air bubbles getting stuck underneath. You only have a few seconds to wring out the bubbles before the adhesive dries so you must work quickly. I had to redo the tint on one of the lenses twice. No big deal though.

I went this route for my lenses because the fan made bubble lenses are not accurate to ROTS.

 

Rich - welcome to the board. I see you've made it past the sentry at the front gate:

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02022.jpg]

So, in that case, you're in! That's actually my five year old Friday night on his way to a costume / birthday party. That's the Rubies clone trooper costume and the Rubies Adult stormtrooper helmet. Yup, its the right size for a 5 to ten year old, but seriously undersized for an adult. But what the hey - that helmet is kinda cool and the little fellow loves it!

You've got "Da experts" helping you there in Seduced and Lan, they'll give you great guidance. As for me, my suggestion is to look at EBay seller SithArmor for his ROTS gloves, belt buckle and ABS shins. If you are planning to buy anything, do it fast so you'll have it delivered before Haloween.

Seduced - here are some pictures of my Porty neck brace next to the Master Replicas one from my lid.


Upper edge to upper edge:
[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02028.jpg]


Lower edge to lower edge
[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02030.jpg]


The upper edge is about 2 1/4 inches shorter on the MR:
[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02032.jpg]


The lower edge is about 1/2 inch shorter on the MR:
[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02029.jpg]


And here is my initial attempt at a ROTS chain. The flash on the camera makes the paint finish look rougher than it actually looks to the eye:

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02026.jpg]

and

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02024.jpg]

I made that by cutting out the square links of an aglok chain and joining them together with 4 inch cable ties that you can find at Radio Shack. The ties are pulled tight enough so the links are close together but still have room to flex. Then the excess cable tie material was trimmed away and a dab of CA glue applied. Pained with Krylon fusion gloss back. The chain is attached to the armor with lobster claws that I bought at Michaels. They are tied to the chain with heavy black thread and painted with flat black water based model paint. The lobster claws make removing of the chain a snap.

It looks pretty good in person. I dunno if I'd consider this my final kick at the ROTS chain but I think I may be onto something.

Am I the first guy on this board to attempt a home-made ROTS chain? Gee whiz, there must be a prize or something for that. I know! A steak off that BBQ hiding in the corner of Seduced's patio will do nicely!!

Huzz

 

Thanks for the pics Huzz! I appreciate your time.

And I must say that chain looks AWESOME!! You just gave me another project to work on! How did you secure the lobster claw to the chain link?

 

Hi Seduced!

Thanks for the kind words! The lobster claws are tied to the chain with a heavy thread that I also bought at Michaels. I can't find the original label on the thread to tell you what kind it is, but I found it in the sewing part of the store. Its sold in "loops" of thread and packaged up to look something like shoe-lace packages. Its reasonably strong thread and can withstand a good tug.

Oh by the way, when you trim away the excess cable tie, you will be left with a plastic loop and that small square block on the end of the cable tie that it locks into. Although its a small block, it is large enough to prevent the chain from laying flat on the chest armor. Fortunately, you can trim away about half of the block with your snips to let the chain lie flatter. If you trim away more than that, the loop will probably pop open.

The lobster claws are Westrim Crafts 14mm lobster claws and come in a package of 10.

I suppose its a good thing I've got the flu this weekend. Otherwise, I would have been outside doing chores and stuff instead of resting up and monkeying with the chain.

I just remembered - I was going to ask you what type of MP3 player you have. You mentioned that it has large buttons that make it easy to select the appropriate Vader sound.

Thanks!
Dave

 

seduced, what thickness of acrylic did you use? What did you use to cut the lenses? Where did you end up buying the auto tint from?

 

Thanks for the info Huzz! I hope you get well soon.

The MP3 player I use is a Curtis brand model MPS515. I bought it at my local exchange here on base so I'm not sure where else you could find it. I did see a pink one on eBay that ends in about 4 hours.

As you can see, the play/pause button is the only button that sits on top and is in perfect position when the player is in your hand. The player is very light too, maybe not much more than the AAA battery it holds! It's 512 MB and I paid $25 for it.

I have one that permanently loops breathing and the other one is in my hand for on-demand voice clips. I use a Y-adapter mini-plug to feed both players into one amp. I removed the speaker in the amp pictured and installed it in my lower grille. The amp connects to the speaker via the picuture mini-jack. When I don't need it, I just let it go and it swings behind my butt. When I need it again, I just reach around and there it is. Very discreet.

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0572.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0575.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0577.jpg]

 

Thanks Bill!

That looks to be a very practical set-up! I like it better than what I have now!

Dave

 

The acrylic I used was 1/8 of an inch thick and I used a jigsaw to cut it but I'm pretty sure a Dremel could do it as well. The window tint can be found at any auto parts store even Walmart.

 

Rich,

When you carefully remove the lenses from your Rubies lid, you could use those to trace out a template for new lenses.

Also, have a look at how the lenses mount into the helmet. There is a big ridge that runs around the perimeter of the lens opening; the lenses mount against that ridge and are held in place by three tabs that fit into three slots in the eye openings.

Now here's the thing. Even if you keep the stock lenses, you can trim away a lot of that ridge to open up the eye opening and improve your range of vision. Just keep enough of it for the lenses to sit against and of course do not trim away the slots for the lens tabs.

Huzz

 

Thanks for all the input everyone. I hit up Home Depot and Walmart today.

I got the following to start:

* acrylic (cheap stuff $7 for a small sheet that will allow me to try as many times as needed to make proper lenses)
* Valspar (Kustom Kolor) paints. Base Black AE100, Black Pearl and Clear Coat.
* primer for Valspar (Kustom Kolor) paints. From this thread: http://www.scaleautomag.com/sca/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=59165 I found out that the proper primer to use for Valspar (Kustom Kolor) is Colorplace at Walmart and it only costs 97 cents a can.
* PC-7 epoxy for filling helmet, shin defects
* sandpaper
* black screen
* industrial velcro

I was not able to find:

* an adequate 2" leather belt. suggestions on where to find one would be welcome.
* AG LOK

I still have time to find both of the above and there should be plenty of time to order from SA. If anyone could PM me with a way to contact SA other than EBay I would apprecaite it.

Also, how do you guys pack your armor for storage and transport, in particular the painted items? Do you put them on a display mannequin?

Ok off to sand shins so I can practice some painting tomorrow.

 

not bad Huzz, but no, your not the first. i have a tutorial from another TFN member here that made a metal link chain.

 

I could only find a 2" leather belt on eBay. I bought mine there from user name bobkitchner. He has all the sizes so check him out.

You can find AG LOK here: http://www.midwestvineyardsupply.com/ProductList.asp?categoryid=3&subcatid=52&cat=AG+Fast&Type=True If you scroll down, I think the cheapest they have is 150' roll for about $11.

I use the plastic totes you see at Walmart to haul all of my gear. I use a seperate one for my helmet and it's padded with foam. I keep all of my painted parts wrapped in plastic while in the totes.

I used to have SA's email address but not anymore. Just use the "ask seller a question" on one of his auctions and he'll respond through his email. That's how I got in touch with him.

 

seduced, thanks again, you've been a real help.

I have a shin question. Lan says to remove the fabric sides from the Rubie shins and put on webstraps.

Removing the fabric leaves some plastic (past the point where the fabric is sewn to the plastic), this does not look natural and will have holes in it.
Do you guys cut this strip of plastic off the sides? If so, what do you use to cut the plastic?

As far as the webstraps how many are needed? For example, on my kids Vader action figure Vader has 4 straps.

What do you use to attach the straps? Hot glue?

Can someone post or send detailed picutres of their shin modifications.

I know most of you probably have SA shins, but I'd like to modify my shins just to get use to working with the Rubies plastic and the PC-7 epoxy and Kustom Kolor paints.

Also, since you have to buy AG LOK in 150' rolls, does anyone have some AG LOK they can send me?