Full Kid Vader Build

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

You've done amazing on this one.  I need to upgrade my dad game!

[PhilBobTheFish]

One of my new favorite threads! Great job, it looks superb! 

[Haso[TK]]

So after a couple of troops this suit has held up pretty well.  The foam chest plate tends to get a bit beat up, so I've started to replace this part with a pepakura cardboard/fibreglass resin piece using the same method as the helmet.  Some trooping pics:

 

And I've started on the first major upgrade...replacement of the chest plate.  I modified the template for this so that it has a better sweep at the back, and a good taper from the neck to the shoulders when looking front on.  For this part, I used 200gsm card, and some thicker cardboard in order to build up the ridges better.  Just used some Bostic paper glue to glue it all together.  I'll put up more pics of the process as I go.

 

These pics are just after I've finished putting the card pieces together, and before layering on fibre resin on the outside, with fibre resin/matting on the inside.  This part should have the same finished result as the helmet/mask:

 

...A much better taper to the shoulders in this version...

 

Edited May 30, 2018 by Haso

[PhilBobTheFish]

Cool! That's looks like it would work. Can't wait to see it finished.

[Haso[TK]]

Being a cold, wet weekend I've spent it powering through the chest armour upgrade, and modded the mask a little bit.

 

The chest armour has now been sprayed with black and gunmetal gloss.  But the process to get there looked something like this.

 

Spraying a coat of primer like in the above pic helps to pick out big areas that need attention.

Then after some further filling and sanding it starts to look more like the final piece...

I used some 120, 240 and 1200 grit wet paper to get it ready for the first coat of primer, then a coat of spray putty, then a coat of black Rustoleum (primer is incorporated into that paint)...

The next day, I masked it off and sprayed two thin coats of gunmetal.  I wanted a bit of a brushed look so painting the black first, then thinly with the gunmetal, helps to get the look similar to the finish of the ANH chest piece, which is the finish I prefer. 

It's not finished yet, I need to hand paint along the edges to improve the finish, then I'll give it a week or so for the black to harden, wet sand the black areas with 1200 grit, and hand paint the black areas, as the masking tape left some minor residue.

 

Also, I modded the neck line of the mask by cutting it with a dremel.  Basically I cut about an inch up at the back of the neck, then tapered it down towards the bottom of the chin, so that it angles more sharply into the helmet more like the screen used ones.

[Bulldog44[TK]]

Wow, now that’s amazing. Great attention to detail. I was Vader as a kid with those cheap vinyl cosmos with the stretchy string face mask back on the day for many Halloween’s. I would have died to have a costume like this as a kid.

[Haso[TK]]

OK....sith just got serious!

 

Meet fun-sized Vader....the newest upgrade to Kid Vader.

 

However, this helmet fits both kids and adults, as it's undersized.  This is the clay sculpt I am working on, and have been for several weeks.  My biggest go to source for this is Bookface's and CSMacLaren's FB page here, I study these pics incessantly and these are true works of art:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/SculptingVader/photos/?ref=page_internal

 

I'm inspired by how these guys make fully integrated helmets and chest pieces, and want to try this for the Kid Vader suit (and of course, I want one too!)

 

Because I've not done this before, the different colours are due to the different oil-based clays I'm using; green is hard clay, red is medium - I needed to order more, but the hard stuff was out of stock.  So I'm learning as I go here.

 

I'm at a stage of refining the shape, then I can finish the details and smooth it out.  This will then be used to make a cast, and then I can produce fibreglass resin helmets from that, but I'll also then modify this sculpt to get ESB and ROTJ versions, with a different helmet for each.  So my son (and I) will have helmets that should last for years as there's plenty of growing space - even I can wear it!

 

I'll also do a chest armour, shoulder armour and shin sculpts over time so that I've got all the hard armour pieces.

 

I'll keep you all posted with progress.  Currently working out how I'll get the helmets sculpted, I need to make the armatures first.

[Frank75139[501st]]

You just keep making it better


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[Thumpy~[501st]]

Wow!  awesome build thread!

[Haso[TK]]

Been a while since my last update, but here's the latest pics of the in progress Vader helmet sculpt.  To rehash, although this is meant for the Kid Vader suit, this helmet can also fit an adult head as it's not 1:1 scale but a bit smaller; still enough to get my head into it...

 

This is the third iteration of the mask, so in these pics it has only been roughed in - the details and smoothing are still to be done.  The helmet is a little more advanced, it's further along in the smoothing stage.  

 

The tusk tubes are just placeholders; they help me to determine the cheek shaping and angles, but the proper tubes will be added in much later.

 

The sculpt will then be cast so that I can make fibre resin helmets from it - this is the ANH version but I'm planning to then make ESB and ROTJ versions, as well as chest and shin armour; for a kid size say age 10 upwards.  I'll then hopefully continue to scale up the molds as needed.

 

I'm also talking with one of the guys in my Garrison to be able to vacuum-form these on his machine.

 

[PhilBobTheFish]

Dang! I don't know how you do it, but it just keeps improving!  

[TheSwede[TK]]

Really great work

[InfinityLord]

Just a question, but did  you make the New Pepakura helmet from Juvito's free ROTS pep helmet file? Because I checked and they looked similar. But I wanted to be sure.

Edited July 24, 2022 by InfinityLord