Darth Vader Supreme Costume

BDV,

Congrats on your first troop my man! I know guys that have been trooping for years and never had the opportunity to meet David let alone troop with him for three days! Nice pictures!

I have quite a few troops under my belt and I am still finding things I can tweak and do better the next time. And the pain you feel is quite normal. All pain and NO gain, right? But at the end of the day when you finally sit down, relax and drink a few beers, it all feels worthwhile and you can hardly wait for the next event.

Looking good my Sith brother!

 

Good to hear I'm heading in the right direction.

BTW can someone explain the FX luxeon conversion?

Also, how do you guys clean (and prepare) the Rubies cape and inner robes? Dry clean? Iron?

 

go to thecustomsabershop.com and you will find everything you need to know on luxeon and other saber info.

on my cape, i use woolite for dark clothes in the washingmachine, on the gentle cycle, and your choice of hang dry, or dryer. if dryer, run on the least heat cycle, but its better to hang dry it.

 

***** RPF REGISTRATION - NOVEMBER 1 *****

Hey guys,

I heard from a buddy of mine over the weekend who is a moderator over on THERPF.com. He tells me that they are having a new member registration period beginning on November 1, so if you are interested, do check it out.

Fabulous pictures you guys!! Wow, do I wish we had big events like that here!! Those are incredible Vaders.

Lan - cool on getting the little Batmobile. Did you know that many folks are having trouble finding them? I shipped some off to a fellow in Oregon last week who has been scouring all the local stores all summer in his town without finding a single one. I seethem every time I go to Wal Mart! I didn't know there was a 1/8 scale car - it must be pretty big!

I bet you didn't know about the little die cast Darth Vader cars (the car's body is shaped to look like Vader's helmet) that you can get at the Disney theme parks?!!

Huzz

 

my bad, i meant 1/24th scale batmobile the 66' model tv series one. its from johnny lightning, i also got the munsters car from them too, in 1/24th scale.


didnt know the new hot wheels BM was hard to get? i seen it the other day when i went in and they had alot of HW's hangin on the racks. i grabbed around 9 cool loooking HW's i liked, from 2007 new models line.
and the BM was one of them i grabbed.


now how would i know bout the vader cars at disney pal? i havent been there since 94' lol

 

Hey Lan!

The Johnny Lightning car is one I'm very familiar with - I'm a big fan of their now defunct Polar Lights model kits line. The 1/24 car that you have is very similar to the 1966 tv show car, but if you compare the two, they are not the same. Licensing issues with the studio and George Barris prevented a model of the TV car until this year.

Man! I knew I shoulda bought more of them Vader-mobiles when I was there in May! They also have a Storm trooper car.

Here are the three of 'em:

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02051.jpg]

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02052.jpg]

and: (drum-roll please)

[image=http://i148.photobucket.com/albums/s23/daveyvader/DSC02053.jpg]

Back to costuming!

Huzz

 

I love that Vader car!!!

 

Awesome photos Black Death!!! I'm really green with envy! lol

 

I got into a debate with a coworker about how 2 mp3 players would behave hooked up to a singly amp/set of speakers via a y adapter. He believes only one signal will be played while I believe both will be played (why would the amp care?). We're both bringing in our mp3 players to test this tomorrow (ack! I have to run to radio shack during lunch). Can you tell me if both play at the same time?

 

Yes they do!! I was a little skeptical at first but the breathing and voice clips play just fine out of a single amp and speaker. Let me know how it goes!

 

Seduced-what kind of shoulder armor is that?

 

It's a Rubies with an automotive paint job. I also permanantly attached the shoulder bells and replaced the chain.

 

\\\\\\\\\\



i dunnno there Huzz, it looks exactly the same as the 1/24th scale JL car i got. i will have to pop off a pic of it to post up soon.

 

Hey Lan!

If you look at the Johnny Lighning you will see that it has a flat rear bumper, whereas the Hot Wheels car has a rocket exhaust and two drag chutes.

The Hot Wheels car has three rocket tubes behind the seats but these do not appear on the JL. Also, the Hot Wheels has bubble windows behind each front seat, these are missing on the JL.

And the Hot Wheels car has an arch from the front windows to the back windows between the two seats and a police light is mounted on it. There is no arch on the JL.

Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed!!!
Nana nana nana nana.....
Huzz


By the way, is everyone planning to suit up for Halloween? I may not get my armor painted by then, but I hope to get the cape attachment finalized using Seduced's cool method that he posted on the SLD!!

 

Is it the basic gun-metal grey paint? Because I'm hesitant to use mine because it looks too dark. But your's looks right.

 

The paint was custom mixed so it doesn't have a name and you can't buy it off a shelf. Mine is probably too dark to be honest. The guy that sprayed my armor thought it would come out lighter than it did when it dried but no big deal. In fact, the only reason I haven't upgraded my armor to FG is because I love the paint job so much on my Rubies. I'm told all paints look darker in their liquid form but lighten up when they dry.

 

Jakel - if you don't already know, the colors to look for in Duplicolor are T100 Universal Black and T177 Gunmetal Grey. Don't for get to start with their scratch filling primer.

If there is a store in town with Duplicolor paints that has those two colors, you may be able to find one or two that are in-between them and that way you could approximate Seduced's color scheme.

Huzz

 

Rubie's finally came. I wore it around my apartment for about an hour. Whoa. I know it's not screen perfect but wow.

I have some audio questions for you guys with mp3 players. Where do you put your speakers? I'm trying to find the thinnest travel speakers that run off batteries. Do you put the speakers in your helmet? Does it get too loud? Does under the shoulder armor work well? Can people tell it's coming from your upper chest if it's not in the helmet?

Also I went to Radio Shack and they only have the 40mm fans. How did you setup your powersupply for the fan? Did you use a project box? Will a 9V battery sustain a 40mm fan (rated for 12V)?

Finally looks like I'm going to have that seamstress hemm the cape and robe an inch or so. Anyone know the clearance of the robe and cape from the ground on Vader?

 

get a JBL ontour speaker. they sound awesome. fans, i just wired up a 12 volt power to mine insdie the mask.

i have a MR ROTS lid, and wired 2 4AAA packs in for the fan. before that, i always used a 9V batt. so yes you can use a 9V batt for a 12 V fan. it just wont spin at full speed. alot of folks run them like that. i stick a piece of velcro on the batt, and insid ethe mask outta the way, and the switch someplace easy to get to and outta the way.

youll probably have to change the 9V out every day if used more than 1 day at a time. i know i did. my 12V setup should almost last 2 days of troopin.

 

Lan is right. If you're going to use speakers, use the JBL On-Tours. They sound great, and they can easily be concealed under the robe next to the chest box which is where I have both of mine sitting. They cost about $45.00 on Ebay.

Vader's cape is supposed to come all the way to the floor however, if you plan on trooping, or doing much in it at all, you'll want to have about an inch or two clearance so you or anyone else doesn't constantly keep stepping on the cape. That's very annoying, and it will pull your armor into your throat.

The fans I have I purchased from a place called Trik Toys (www.triktoys.com). They already have the switch, and the 9 volt battery connectors installed. They cost me about $29.00 and he sends 2 fans.

Both of my fans are installed in my MR helmet like Lans. I have one pointing outwards, and one pointing inwards on the grill area for cross ventilation. I have Velcro attaching the 9V battery out of the way, and I hot glued the switches into place and out of the way as well. With the Rubies helmet, you'll have plenty of room for that. We have a lot less room inside of ours.

As for attaching the speakers to the costume, you'll have a few options as everyone is different. Lan did his different than mine, so take which ever one you like the best.

I used sticky back Velcro and Super Glue to attach the Velcro to my chest on my suit. Then I Velcroed the underside of the speaker, and I just stick it onto my suit. The wires to the speakers, I run underneath the robe underarms and onto my belt where I have all of my electronics attached.

If you're worried about using Industrial strength to Velcro to attach the speakers, don't be. These things won't go anywhere unless someone hangs on it. Even when I'm suiting down, I have a Hell of a time disconnecting it because it's on there so well.

Hope this helps ya!

 

For the breathing, I just use one AAA powered external mp3 player speaker, which is just slightly bigger than a 9V, velcroed to the armor, where there is plenty of clearance. It's wired via headphone extension cable to the other side, where the player is velcroed.
I keep it speaker-against plastic, so my body won't muffle it. Actually, it reverberates throughout the plastic. I asked several people to guess where it was coming from; none knew and guessed the mask. It's half cranked for volume.

 

Fix the neck flare. It's an easy fix, just takes a bit of time to get it right, but easy and worth it.

I worked on paint prep and priming most of the weekend. Things are starting to take shape. Need to finish paint prep and priming by next weekend so I can spray color.

Regarding the mouth/chin grill. I've been unable to locate and acceptable filter to take a grill from. If anyone has a part number for a filter that would make an acceptable mouth/chin grill please post it.

Also, with regards to the belt boxes. I have a new belt, but I'll have to fix the boxes in place. What is the proper orientation of the boxes? Where should they be in relation to the inner robe? seduced, are you happy with the placement of your boxes? I could use your pictures for reference.

 

Can someone post pictures of their JBL On-Tour system mounted in the costume. I can't visualize this from the descriptions alone.

 

On the mouth grille, I just went to Walmart with a picture of the screen used grill (see below) and went through a handful of air filters until I found a pattern that was close. I couldn't find an exact match to the screen used pattern even after looking through a wide variety of filters at a handful of auto parts stores, Target and finally Walmart. All I know is that it was a Fram brand air filter. Just start opening boxes (they aren't sealed) and check them for a decent looking pattern. I've also included a pic of my Rubies next to the MR lid so you can see the grill comparison. As you know, the MR lid is an exact match to the screen used.

I am quite happy with the placement of my boxes. I put mine on where I felt it would look the best in relation to the proportions of my body. I didn't want them too far back on the belt so they would be hidden by the cape but I also didn't want them right up against the belt buckle.

Suit up with everything but your helmet on and hold the boxes up to your belt until you find a good looking position. Make sure your cape is in the position you would normally have it and just get a feel for how the boxes look and adjust accordingly. That's what I did. Mine aren't as far back as the screen used (below) but my cape isn't as far back either.

[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/HeadFront.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/100_0570.jpg]
[image=http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y286/wjlane/cap001.jpg]

 

Anyone having trouble getting logged in over at the SithLords Detachment? They have changed their format and my old username and password won't work.

Huzz