Darth Vader Supreme Costume

From what I know it's not exactly like ROTS, which was an actual chain. But I was thinking of saying the heck with it and buying something like that too. I figure my belt buckle isn't RotS, my gloves aren't and unless I happen to have 800 bucks layin' around, my mask will never be either.

 

But it adds to the look so much! even from the back there are no "holes" as I call them in the costume, from every angle the costume looks real! Otherwise they see a head in there, and the illusion is lost.

 

well let me tell you this about the above chain..i have it and it looks good for the vader thing but no good for ROTS...the problem is you can not find a chain that is correct...my new solution was to make my own...LOL...ive got pics at home and will post shortly but to make a quick comment on it i basically traced out the pattern from the plastic version onto some thin guage sheet metal. I added a long connection piece to the end of each link and assembled them together...I then dremmeled them smooth and painted it black with many coats of spray paint...the finished product looks pretty good and it looks much better IMO than the garden tie chain. All the links are very close but when you are working with sheet metal, a dremel and some tin snips its touch to get it perfect. pictures to follow soon

 

speaking on the neckbrace topics...DM, looks much better but dont feel bad...when i got my neckbrace i took a picture of it and took it upside down and never realized it...LOL

here is the picture of mine unattached to the helmet...its from portumac

[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/DSCN0217%7E0.JPG]

 

Very nice neck brace!

I just got my cloak in today and boy does it rock! film accurate wool with the satin lining and leather collar. WOOT

Heres a couple of pics

http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc010859nz.jpg

http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=fullback9nl.jpg

OK, I have figured out I need to mod the neck seal, I figure take about an inch off the top tube and angle it upwards until the bottom of the mask and neck seal align.

Thats a fairly easy fix.

But,...

Look at this photo,

http://img153.imageshack.us/my.php?image=codup0pm.jpg

I did the dome mounting fix to drop the dome ALOT. But its still too high, in looking at the screen shots from ESB. vaders dome looks like its nearly laying on his back. Where mine looks like its way up in the air, unless I really look way up. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

Im playing with carving off some of the D area on the female end of the mount, I hope that will help. But this is really bugging me!

Any ideas?

 

here are some pictures of my homemade chain

[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/normal_chain2.JPG]
[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/normal_chain3.JPG]
[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/normal_chain5.JPG]
[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/normal_chain6.JPG]
[image=http://www.501neg.com/photos/albums/userpics/10199/normal_chain1.JPG]

 

Nice cape DM. Nice chain Sithlord. I was thinking the same thing myself. I just got a garden chain too but would rather have a real chain. Looks like it must have been fun. How many cuts did you get? ;-)

On the neck seal, those are great but I gotta ask, is there ever a point in the OT movies that you can see the neck seal other than reveal scenes? Honestly I don't recall there being any. To me, that reveal neck seal doesn't quite look right on a vader suit. Looks good on the reveal helmet but not on the walking around Vader. Don't get me wrong, I'm probably gonna get one. I'm always like a click away from buying it. But I keep thinking I want to try something. Check this out:

[image=http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7314/ep3screenusedvader77tl.jpg]

This is the EP3 suit on display linked to earlier in this thread. Note that there is a neck seal but not the reveal type. It is more the helmet material. I want to try to make something like that. Not sure how but if I do, I'll post it. I'm gonna have to scout for materials.

Considering too that the neck seal costs more than the Rubies helmet I think, I'm kinda hesitant to buy one if I can make something I'd be happier with. We'll see. I'll let you guys know either way.

 

I agree with Darth Malevelous that the illusion of "Vader" is lost when you can see the back of the costume wearer's neck.

However, the costume can get pretty warm so I am reluctant to seal that area up with a material that will further restrict air flow. Perhaps a light black cloth or breathable material could form the basic shape of the seal and the "doodads" could be attached to it? How about a couple of layers of Black lace suspended between two semi-circular frames? (Vader in Lace? - Woo hoo!!) That way, it would look the part but would allow some air flow through the helmet so you wouldn't melt.

Huzz

 

Thing about the reveal neck seal is that it was only used in the "special" scenes where you vader's head would be shown. Other than that, theres wouldnt be much point in using one all the time when there would be barely any shots of vader's back. Its just a production thing lucasfilm used I guess.

 

Having the neck seal in the reveal scene implies its there, but the costume hides its presence as long as the dome is on. But just like the engine in your car, when the hood was lifted, you saw it. That doesnt mean in the next scene with the hoods closed, that its not. LOL

As far as airflow, the neck seal doesnt affect air flow at all, the wings of the dome grab air, and ironically circle it right into the mask.

All the neck seal does, is for those 3 footers out there, whom have the angle to see, they see the neck seal, and not your neck.

As far as the dome. I have been told the male end of the mount, is 1.5" and the female is 2" so Im gonna do some cutting and see what happens LOL

But I want my dome to be alot lower than it is in the back!

 

The dome height is one of the reasons that I really don't like the supreme helmet. It just simply sits too high & makes you look like a cone head, lol. It seems to need to go back a little & down a lot.

 

Hmmmm.

Can you imagine if Luke took Vader's helmet off to reveal Beldar, who says "Now go my son, and comsume mass quantities".

Nyuk nyuk. LOL!!

Huzz

 

501st membership approved! WOOOT!!!


SL-8582 Garrison Titan


It took me 3 months and over 700 hours to get the Rubies Supreme Ediotn Darth Vader converted from a ROTS, to an ESB now finally done (for now).

Woot!!!

 

Congradulations! and your modifications look great. I think I'm most surprised at your chestbox mods.

 

I wasn't going for the neck seal look either. They look great, but a little too rich for my blood. I just shaped some black craft foam with some hot glue and wire hangers and then made it to Velcro to the back of the mask. It serves it's purpose.

 

Yeah I might try to use the flower pot idea without all the reveal looking stuff put on (or the floor mat) and paint it up with everything else when I get around to painting. Internal velcro connection. Worth trying.

My point on the not seeing the neck brace is that you don't even see those connector pieces on the sides. Anybody who has a neck brace has at least those visible. With the Rubies Helmet high mounting, you can see all of the neck brace. But in the movies, I don't think those connectors are there, ever, unless it's a reveal scene. You know it begs the question, why did they do that brace at all? I guess it was to make it look like the helmet seals for the whole iron lung effect. But seals against nothing apparently.

But anyway, I think the neck brace is cool, just too visible with the Rubies (And pricy). I'm gonna try this. See what happens.

DM... congrats on the 501st admittance. Your suit is excellent. Woo hoo.

 

Well all, I'm finally finished with my neck brace. All of you (including myself) that were sceptical if a bowl, plastic hangers and a car mat would do the trick, I can happily say that it worked. And I'm more shocked at the outcome than I expected.

I have a couple of pieces to put on yet (the silver pieces on the clips that clip to the mask and a touch up job on the paint), but for the most part, I can say that it's finished. I still need to put padding on the back as well so the screws don't jab the back of my neck.

The wonderful part about all of it (and I'm lucky to have found this out early) is that the pieces that clip to the mask have a rubber backing, so it stays EXTREMELY secure to the mask. I mean I've tugged HARD at this thing while it was clipped and it wasn't going anywhere. I had other clips with a slightly different shape on there initally, but when examining the pieces I had, I realized that some had this rubber backing and the ones I initally had on did not.

Everything is bolted on, so it's completely removable but very secure. And the thing fits on the mask PERFECTLY. I know I needn't worry about this thing when I have it on trooping.

Here are some pics:

[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/bracetop.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/braceright.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/braceleft.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/brace.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/bracemaskside.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/bracemask.jpg]
[image=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y152/wynterfire/braceflash.jpg]
If anyone has any questions, I'll be more than happy to help out if you want to attempt my procedure.

I hope you all enjoy.

 

Hey Darth Malevelus, congrats on your acceptance into the Legion. I don't know if your helmet is any different from mine, but like I told you, I didn't do ANY cutting and my dome looks right to me
[image=http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f342/jahborn76/DSC00555.jpg]
I achieved that simply with that tutorial I sent you. I don't know if you want to start cutting just yet. Try working at it a bit more. BTW, that cloak looks great, "she" is working on mine as we speak. How long did it take for you to get it? I'm hoping to get it by July 3rd, since I have a July 4th parade to do.

 

DM, your Supreme is awesome! Congrats and Welcome to the Legion!

DARTH_ANIBAL I love your helmet! I almost can't believe its a rubies

 

vaderfanvr6trbo, thanks for the kind words. As I've said before, your ROTS Vader is probably THE best I've seen thus far!

Jager_vex, WOW!!! That neckbrace is awesome! Even more awesome is how much you were able to do it for. I am going to study that thing to death. I didn't really care to have one before, but now that we see yours, I'm gonna have to get to work! Great, ANOTHER Vader project, lol!

 

Jager_Vex... holy cow, I'm absolutely shocked. You made that out of some stuff you found laying for practically no money. I hate to say this, but do you know how much profit you could make if you sold a couple of those.

 

Hey Darth_D-rock, I didnt like how muck of my neck showed so I took a piece of aluminum trim coil, cut it to shape, bent it, put automotive hose on it and I was going to upgrade it a little when I get time, but it blends in and wont stand out to much. Take a look.http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dawn_kassa/album?.dir=c399re2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

 

SAA22 that's a pretty cool way to do it. Pretty much all you need, to hide the neck I think. I'm gonna try my little scheme first and see if I can make it look like a continuation of the helmet. I might need to use the hose and such to actually seal it tight. We'll see.

Jager_Vex, Nice. Pretty cool for little money.

 

The cape took about two weeks to get done, and it took two days to get the cloak. which would have been the equivalent of an 8 hour drive.

Thanks guys!

I wont rest until every part of my costume is the way I want it. But the biggest issue now is that dome, Im about to go into the shop and see what I can do with it, along with do some modding to the neck seal. Hopefully i can get it looking OT. If I get the neck sela or dome fixed Ill post what I did , and some pics to go with it.

DM

 

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