Darth Vader Supreme Costume

sheeesh. try again

[image=http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/3238/steevious5gc.jpg]

 

here is a shot of my neck brace in process. still got to add all the nuts and bolts and bits. but i really like how it looked last night. worked great. got a long way to go on all my mods. i won a local costume contest at the midnight video release. i was stoked. hoping to hop on over to the video store today for the release as well.

[image=http://img315.imageshack.us/img315/1229/neckbrace0kw.jpg]

 

Awesome Hummerth, glad you decided to go out anyway. I'm sure the reaction was worth it.

Last night I threw my brother in the Darth Vader suit and I threw on my FX stormtrooper armor and waved at passing cars and met some kiddies our trick or treating. The reactions we were getting! WOW! All of them were appreciated. Thought a few times we were going to cause an accident. People kept slowing down to get a better look. Some honked, some flashed their headlights. Some even stopped to get a photo. A couple of high schoolers even stopped to snap a photo with us. The girls eyes lit up when she approached. You can tell she was a real fan. I have never dressed up in a STAR WARS costume, but I think I just might have to do it again. Everyone was so nice and I got lots of compliments.

We went inside to take a little break, and we got a knock on the door. I quickly threw on my helmet and answered it. It was a dad and his son. The dad said he had just passed by and saw us, and raced home to grab is son to come meet us. The little kid was all excited too. He even commented that I forgot to put on my gloves.

Darth Vader, of course, got the biggest reaction. One dad was more excited than his kids. The costumes paid for themselves last night.

Anyone else have fun?

 

I also concur. Outside needing some trimming what he sent was a very good start and I give him very high marks. My feedback was the best I've ever given out. Best Customer Service ever. No doubts. I got replacement lenses (too late for Friday's big party (I won best costume) but I hot glued the ones I had in. I decided there was no way I could go back to the Rubies defaults... I'd rather look out the grill... lol

However I will swear my life by UnderArmour. I was in costume for 8 hours and when I got out, while I had sweat, I felt fine, and felt fine the entire time. I mean I felt like I was just clothed in normal clothing.

Turns out the troops in Iraq treat UnderArmour like gold. Best stuff ever, and pay 10 times it's cost to get ahold of it locally according to a friend who just came back from a 12 month stint in Tikrit. If you know anyone over there or anyone going soon it would be a great gift.

You would 'think' the 'administration' would do this but it's unlikely, unless Haliburton buys up UnderArmour and then charge 100 time more for it... very sad but true.

 

I had the same issue with weight. I swim 74 laps in the pool nearly every day and the next day my sholders were shot from the strain of the cape. I did tailor mine some (took off about 4 inches on the outer and 2 on the inner). Again UnderArmour rocks the house.

I am tempted to go to my local video store and buy ROTS in costume, but no one will go with me... BOO... I need someone to at least drive me there as I can't easily drive in costume.

Later,

Pavlo

 

Isn't it funny that when you get a group together like the 501 eventually (years) the fun ends and it morphs from some friends getting together to a giant political thing that takes all the fun out of it. VaderPainter's story is what did it for me.

Pavlo

 

I am considering saving up to get a MR Darth Vader Helmet. They will retail for 899, but I figure if I got my MR saber for 80 dollars I can maybe save 30% there... Being a ROTS costume I think a ROTS helmet would be cool. Then it would be 100% ROTS and I could leave the chest box alone.

Pavlos

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the compliments regarding the ROTS appearance.

The costume is great to wear, I've only got to wait a month and I will be wearing it for my 40th birthday bash, should be fun as it's one big fancy dress party.

It is sad that clubs go from something for fun to serious rules and conditions on joining clubs. My friend and I hope to form our own garrison, UK based, but I reckon it will be open to anyone for the forum groups. We want it to be fun, but I reckon even we will have to have some rules, hopefully not as serious as some of the clubs! Anyone in the UK or US thinking of joining a new group, contact me at the hummerth email address, all members welcome.

Some more shots of the day.

[image=http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/972/silverscreenpromo083nz.jpg]
[image=http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/1380/silverscreenpromo074px.jpg]
[image=http://img480.imageshack.us/img480/1549/silverscreenpromo066gi.jpg]

Watched the Vader part of the DVD first, just couldn't wait!

I should get some of my new modifications done this week and the weekend. Don't know whether to add anymore to my boots, they may start to look a bit glam rock if I put too much heel on. I have to get them right before trimming the cape, but I'm only looking at 2" off the outer cape, the inner one is OK.

Have fun with any appearances and will get some better photos tomorrow of mine.

Hummerth

 

Steevious, Where can I purchase a neck brace to mod and what type is it? Thanks

 

Hey hummerth how in the world do you get the little box on ur chest to sit so high!?? im not able to get it to go that high, it basically sits on my waist!!how tall r u?

 

jedd-I

i hand made my neck brace out of several different materials. workign on refining it a bit and finishing it for sure.

hummerth i am all for a "ghetto garrison" . lets keep the FUN in star wars!

 

Over all the costume aint bad to wear the heat kinda sucks but ya get used to it and that cape is heavy after a while the one real issue with it was the way the helmet fit me could'nt nove my head it kept hitting of the shoulder armor any ideas on how to fix that I have broad shoulders and am 6'6" so it's not my size

 

I've read about this problem. My suite has the chest box at the proper location. I think some suits had it placed too low as I've seen posts where it is way low. I am wearing a size Std so maybe its an issue with XL suites?

Pavlos

 

My Vader from Friday:

[image=http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/9263/pavlos120aw.jpg]

I'll post a few I took with my camera after I scan them in. These were from a friends digital camera. The one with my camera came out very well (Canon Film SLR). Guess that's the next thing on my to get list, a digital SLR... The question is do I go for the EOS 20D or the full frame 5D... Probably the 20D as I can't truly afford the 5D...

Pavlo

 

Vader071977 wrote:

Over all the costume aint bad to wear the heat kinda sucks but ya get used to it and that cape is heavy after a while the one real issue with it was the way the helmet fit me could'nt nove my head it kept hitting on the shoulder armor any ideas on how to fix that I have broad shoulders and am 6'6" so it's not my size

You're talking about the neck flare, right? I'm not sure if anyone else posted this (and I'm not going to backtrack 33 pages), but here's a tutorial to fix that... look under modifications

 

Hi Everyone,

Some better pics of ROTS promotional appearance.

[image=http://img346.imageshack.us/img346/1015/rotsdvd010hu.jpg]
[image=http://img303.imageshack.us/img303/7163/rotsdvd028na.jpg]
[image=http://img303.imageshack.us/img303/711/rotsdvd031fo.jpg]
[image=http://img330.imageshack.us/img330/2082/rotsdvd042yt.jpg]

Carreragt3Cup, I thought your pics back on page 33 showing you wearing your costume where great regarding the fit. You must be taller than me, I'm only 5'10", so I have to add height to my boots. The chest box I thought on me sits too high, I thought it looked better on you, in the middle. Where is it suppose to be, towards the shoulder guard? I still might do the conversion regarding the straps, possibly why mine is so high because I do pull it up tight and high.

Vader071977, about the neck piece hitting on the shoulder guard. I wouldn't bother with boiling your mask like in the tutorial Master_Byrd mentioned to change the profile of the neck line. I tried it and for the effort it doesn't work that well. If you strip your mask completely to do modifications then a hot gun can make some difference, which I done on my second mask. The method I used on my main mask, which is in the pictures was to hot melt glue some metal rod in the lower rim of the mask. I added two lengths of welding rod bent round and glued. Once glued in you can force the mask into what shape you want and it will retain it. It pays to have your rods already curved to the shape you want to end up with, then force the mask to the rod as you glue. You will need to hold it while the glue sets. Once your have been all round the bottom it is quite strong and retains very well. Used the same technique on my neck brace.

I have a standard size suit. I think the chest box will look different depending how tall you are, I'm a 'short' Vader so it looks closer to the chest guard on me than on some people. I keep looking at the cape, I think 2" is the maximum I will remove, just touching the floor is fine with me.

DarthGreco, looking at your pic, your chest box is better located than mine, just in the middle. I reckon if I didn't pull the straps so tight it would be lower on me.

Another idea for making a neck brace, mainly the chassis part, which is what I'm now going to try, is to use the plastic flower pots you can get. Get the size nearest the mask width, then cut in half and trim to shape. Because the pot is tapered already it will follow the line of your neck better. I've found some pots at home and am going to try it out. If it works I'm going to use this for the basis of my neck braces. The pots are strong and when covered in material you will never know it was a pot.

steevious, Yeh, I will keep everyone informed about how our new garrison is taking shape. It would be nice if profiles were more filled in, I often look to see where people are based, age and what they do, but most are empty of information, so I don't know whose UK or US based. I can only guess by what people post.

We hope to wear the costumes again when we hand over the cheque to the charity we have chosen, will be great for a photo shoot, possibly visiting a hospital.

Have fun Vadering!

Hummerth

 

well I have just about finished my Kyle Katarn Saber which means I am about to start working on my Vader Helmet. I learn't a valuable lesson while working on the Saber. Dont Rush!! I wont be rushing the paint job on Vader helmet, I did on my saber and had to start again from scratch. I am going to do the two tone paint job on my helmet plus I am going to reinforce the neck line and top of the face mask with some aluminium flat bar to hold the correct shape and to reduce flexing.

I will post progress pics as it comes along

 

Ya I tried the boiling thing and it did'nt work I'll try your Idea thanks Hummer

 

Well i am acually 6'2 and thanks for the compliment, i have always thought your mods were really really good, im quiet jealous. In regard to the box, I believe the box is supposed to sit in the middle like these pics [image=http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bingo275/mayjune05/wpkrotsv7.jpg]
[image=http://web.ukonline.co.uk/bingo275/mayjune05/wpkrotsv5.jpg]

Mine sits a little low almost touching my belt, i would like to have it a tiny bit higher but perhaps its fine were it is. I would have to sow up the openings in the suit and move it up a little higher to accomidate; thats way too much work but mabey ill do it. The one thing i noticed that was largely different from this one compared to ours is the size of the inner robe and the outer cape along with the placement of the hooks for the outer rober(set futher up on the chest plate) which has allowed the robe to sit further back and not come bearing down infront. I have tryed to edit my suit according to these pictures, im still working on it. I will try later to do the sowing, ill see how it looks. Creating holes is easy, patching them up is the hard part!

 

I found a great item at Home Depot for the shoulder bells. They sell foam disposable kneepads for working on flooring for about $5.00. They are a perfect fit and keep the bells up perfect to give you that broad shoulder look.

 

Hi,

Started making my new designed neck brace. Here are some pics of it taking shape so far. About a couple of hours work.

Started of with a standard black 10" plastic pot.
[image=http://img174.imageshack.us/img174/8255/dscf51966ww.jpg]

Got a cheap set of car matts with a good pattern on the face side.
[image=http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/5387/dscf51958xr.jpg]

Cut pot in half and trimmed to my design of brace.
[image=http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/1325/dscf52008fv.jpg]

Car matt stuck on with evostik and trimmed to cut out pot shape.
[image=http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/6193/dscf51993em.jpg]

Here you can see how I use welding rods hot melted on to hold the shape. As the pot is round this helps as well unlike flat cardboard.
[image=http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8646/dscf51985yh.jpg]

The top and bottom tubes are the twist rods you can buy to hold things together, they bend into any shape, This is just the material removed from the alloy rod and used.
[image=http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/7978/dscf51978wn.jpg]

Here it is offered up to the mask checking fit.
[image=http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/5695/dscf52024rq.jpg]

This one will be lighter and more accurate than my first one. I'm also making a masters dental expander to make some white metal versions. A bit cheaper than those ones on Ebay at £300 buy it now!
[image=http://img336.imageshack.us/img336/1245/dscf52034sv.jpg]

won't be accurate completely, but will be a resonable copy.

Hummerth. Hope it inspires you to make your own.

 

Vader playing hoops lol
[image=http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/603/dsc000489mj.jpg]
[image=http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/1710/dsc000468pb.jpg]
[image=http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7272/dsc000475xr.jpg]

 

Halloween was AWESOME! my daughter dressed as princess leia, she is 5, and people loved our costumes. i had so many comments from parents. i had one guy that was handing out candy and ran inside to get his video camera to record me. he thought it was too cool. i had a lady come over asking to look at my boots. . . .i couldn't figure it out. . .my wife thinks she was trying to see if i had high heels on. . . .(i had regular boots. i did have some 2" lifts in the boot though. standing 6'1" and adding the 2" from the lifters and then the boots and top of the helmet, i was one tall bad vader!) it was great. my wife and kids got a kick out of it. my wife was sadder when halloween was over and the costume went back into the box. she said, well, next year. i thought, no, it will come out many times before next halloween!

hope everyone had a great time!

 

Hummerth,

Per the neck brace suggestion:

I tried using some of the edging as seen in the ebay auction post from earlier do no avail. The one I made for my costume for last Friday I made using a plastic flower pot. It was white but I lined it with some black vinyl and it looked good. When I get home I'll check on the diameter and get a measure on the arc and post what I did. Oddly I went to the hardware store to find something that would work better than the edging and happened upon the plastic flower pots. It is interesting to read that others came to this conclusion as well.

 

Don't put it in a box make a mannequin and display it. I will likely build a display case when I get the time. The mannequin I may make or may buy.