Wow. time flies

Would you believe my last post was October?


things are still moving at a steady but slow pace. I figure i will post every few days on an aspect of the costume that I have been working on.

The mad dash to Halloween i referred to last time went well. Helmet is DONE.. for now.

Eye Lenses done, for now. Need to put up my pics of THAT experience, as its quite the project!

Boots worked for halloween but i have rebuilt them and they are really awesome now.. So heres that..
The whole project is documented on my FLICKR page..

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29458463@N08/sets/72157628933936183/

LAST MINUTE MAD DASH!

So here i am in the last minute mad dash for Halloween!! Eddie Came through with a beautiful paint job on the helmet, chest, and shoulders last weekend, and now I have to get all the little silly details done! For some of them I can 'cut corners' for for Halloween but ultimately i must do them properly. 

To Do List

1. Mask - Fiberglass in the magnets which correspond to the magnets that are in the helmet bucket.

2. Buy black SCREWS, NUTS, and 'soft' WASHERS for mounting hardhat innards to mask.

3. HOT GLUE the Lenses into Mask (for halloween, may attach differently later)

4. Cut out, PAINT BLACK, and HOT GLUE grills into Mask face and chin.

5. Buy a black BALACLAVA for my head.

6. Buy & wire up 12 volt BATTERY BOX & wire CONNECTOR

7. Wire up fan (already purchased) & wire CONNECTOR on to it.

8. Pad Underside edges of Chestplate with FELT on edges (To protect shoulder bells from Scratches) attaching with spraymount and Shoe goo at edges?

9. Attach Shoulder Bells with ???? (Help!!)

10. Try on Helmet and Shoulders, Pad under shoulders to appropriate height with THICK FOAM

11. Reglue Chest box pieces (the hot glue they were attached with originally Fell off!)

12. Attach Saber Belt Hook with CHICAGO SCREWS

13. Reglue Strap of one of the ABS Shin armor. (Arrived glued very lightly)

14. Cape - NECK CONNECTOR and Maybe VELCRO to Chestplate (Help???)

15. OPTIONAL for halloween: Get the old iPod and a speaker hooked up to do breathing noise.

 

SHOPPING LIST
-------------

6 x Black screw
12x soft washer
6 x black nut
1 x Hot Glue Gun and gluesticks
1 x Semigloss Black spraypaint
1 x Black Balaclava
1 x 12 Volt Battery Box
1 x Set of SMALL male and female battery to fan connector
1 x sheet of black felt
1 x can of spray mount
? x Stuff to attach shoulders bells???
1 x decent sized sheet of think (1 inch?) foam.
2 x Chicago Screws long/wide enough for belt hook and thick leather belt.
1 x Cape Neck Connector (Get from Patrick??)

 Gonna be an interesting week. I think I'm taking friday off work to finish up!

The Painting has begun!

Thanks to Eddie for getting the painting started. Check out the pics of sealer/primer..

 Everything Laid out and prime/sealed...

Oops! a crack appeared.

Hopefully this will fix it.


Out of necessity and geography these photos and Paint work are all done my Eddie W, a fantastic painter who has done a lot of vader masks.

I chose NOT to paint this mask myself because after 8 months of work i didnt want to use it as my canvas to 'LEARN' to paint well. I am confident I could learn but i would not want to practice on something i am so attached to. Also Eddie has a real shop where moisture and temperature issues are going to be regulated far better than in my garage!

Its getting cold out and the temp and moisture are an issue for paint spray.

Where have I been forever? WORKING on the helmet

 So, I don't remember if I mentioned this in the last post. But Here I go.. I REMOVED the mask/helmet mount and rebuilt it from scratch.

This blog was more 'instructional before, but now it's more along the lines of "Lets get this DONE"..

So here we go this is the first bit. I coated the top of the mask with tape, and then put a huge blob of Evercoat inside the helmet. Then positioned everything as i wanted it.

 Here it is inside drying.

 Ahh.. N52 Neodymium Rare Earth Magnets. These suckers are STRONG! I will be using them to attach the top of the helmet to the mask. I experimeted with the thin (1/16") ones but I ended up moving to (1/4") ones because they have to work between thick sections of plastic and fiberglass.

Here are the pieces.. The new ones here are the parts from a hardhat. These are from a reasonably priced, standard consumer grade hardhat. Easily replaceable. I'll probably buy a few spare hardhats of the exact same model for future use.

Here we can see the rough shape of things inside. I have embedded the magnets into the evercoat. I'll be putting fiberglass in here so that the magnets don't pull out.

 Another shot of the same thing. Very ugly looking right now but its really effective.

 Here we see the magnets on the inside of the mask. these are not 'attached' or 'glued' at all. They are just holding by their own strength.

 Here is (whats left) of the hardhat, attached to the mask. There are three screws on each side but only 2 in place in this photo. This part of the hardhat contains the parts into which the 'comfortable, adjustable' padded part that goes on your head attaches.

 Same thing as above, Inside view..

 Same as above, but with the comfort, adjusting part of the hardhat attached. It's quite comfortable to wear.

 Quick shot of the Whole thing

 Inside with all parts.

 Here's the inside with the fiberglass layer covering the magnets, and the whole thing painted.

 Same as above, Different angle.

 Here's the most recent 'head shots' of the 'semi-completed' helmet. Very very close to done.

 Other side. The helmet sits a tad high right now. I may have to sand down some of the 'mount' on the top of the mask. Its important not to sand down too much from the inside of the helmet, because the Fiberglass keeping the magnets in must maintain it's integrity.

 Helmet sitting a bit too high, but otherwise I am liking it.

 Same thing tilted back a slight bit.

 A really nice view in my opinion. This really looks to me like Vader.

The back of the helmet. Saved for last cause its kind of dull.

Quick Update

Previously my neck and helmet were too long. I had made them a bit longer. Which in the case of the neck was fine but in the helmet it really didnt need to be longer. It was more about mounting it at the proper angle. the back was too short because the helmet was up too high and tilted too far forward.

 I'd Like to thank D.S. from 501st Sith lords for invaluable assistance in reworking my helmet mounting and fix.

Since my last post i have actually removed the mount in the helmet and modified the mount in the mask heavily.

Here we see red lines indicating where i need to work on the shape of the 'nose'


Currently trying to determine the RIGHT TOOL for this job. dremel seems a bit heavy handed. i may have to do it by hand with files.. ugh.

 Here is where i need to do a bit more cutting to make the edges of the helmet closer to the movie...

 A Side shot of the needed cut.

The back. looking pretty good really.


SO thats the update. THis has become much more a document than a tutorial at this point. Doing this is rewarding but the effort is incredible.

Helmet Mounts (Both sides) Installed

 Here's the mount inside the top of the helmet. I may reinforce this with a bit more fiberglass just for durability.

 Helmet Mount at top of mas

Here's the mask being put into the helmet. There is still some wiggle room. its not a tight fit. I will be putting Neodymium rare earth magnets in to make it fit securely after painting. (Also the painting will add some thickness which may tighten it up a bit!)

The Eyes! Amber Lenses, With Black Metal Mesh behind them. You can't see my eyes when my head is in the mask. You CAN see the green masking tape holding them in temporarily though in this pic.

Front View. I'm pretty happy with it.
Rubies mohawk - Fixed.
Rubies Different Height Cheeks - Fixed
Rubies shallow Eye sockets - Fixed
Rubies crooked looking teeth - Fixed

Rubies warped inward face - Fixed
Rubies Weird Neck - Fixed
Rubies incorrectly placed 'tearducts' - Fixed
(I may do a bit more dremeling on my 'tearducts')
Rubies Super 'thin' plastic - Fixed

Rubies helmet angle - Fixed

Side 3/4 view..

Just another view

Seen similar view before but i love the lighting on the eyes here

You may be able to see i have begun working on the indentations on the front of the mohawk where the brow is supposed to go 'underneath' it.

Inside of the back of helmet. could Use a bit more smoothing but part of that is where i sanded and didnt prime.

A second new post in one night? Helmet PLACEMENT

Sneak Preview... Note the helmet and mask are just TAPED TOGETHER.  i *N*E*E*D* FEEDBACK on how they look before i set the final fiberglass. This is ESB Empire Strikes Back Style.  Does the Helmet Sit right on the Mask? Opinions PLEASE!