Allfather

Greetings, all. A local guy is wanting to do an IK (actually...a couple are) and I was helping them with the parts when armor came up. I saw a post in a thread last year about Walt's Trooper Factory doing a run of the IK armor and reached out for this guy. Just wanted to drop a line to let you all know that WTF is currently doing IK armor. Some of the parts like the cape "cap" plate seem a bit elongated to me (although I gotta admit, I like that look). But, as it is a costume from a comic that has many, many variations in the drawings, I don't really see an issue with that. One really good thing about his kit is that the shoulders look to be the correct proportions. My first set was ginormous and the current set seem a bit small to me. I may be ordering a set of his shoulders to update my kit. Anyhow, shoot WTF a message if you are in the market for IK armor. He has, as he put it, normal man size, big mad size, and women's size. I have only seen pics of the raw, unpainted pulls of what I assume is the "normal man size", so I don't know if his female armor is shaped differently. His price isn't bad and he offers group discounts if you have a squad of IKs in the making (that would look soooo cool, by the way).

These sabers are really nice. I need to figure out a way to add the D-ring to the pommel to be a bit more accurate, but otherwise a really nice build. Never had a saber with a real board in it before, so it's taking some trial and error to get the blade and sounds just right.

Got the house stuff under control in time to order one of these. Supposed to be here this week

Hopefully, they will still be available in a couple of weeks. With all these house issues, I'm so broke I can't pay attention. No AC and no water really sucks

Nice. Been wanting to upgrade my home made one for a long time now.

Hope he gets the sizing good. Would love to see more avenues to get good armor that isn't ginormous.

Like Chris said, soft parts are tough to find. I wound up making mine, myself. But, the easiest way to meet the CRLs is, as Chris said, using a Vader undersuit and adding the tabbards (most I have seen go this route just attach them to the back of the belt). I'm not 100% on how the Vader top is made, but you may have to add the ribbed collar to fit the bill based on the images available.

At the holiday parade last Saturday, I was dubbed "Darth Santa" while in my Imperial Knight. Kids all along the parade route were yelling out "Santa" as we walked by and one guy said he always knew Santa was a dark sider :P

In the Imperial Knight, I have been called "Santa Jedi", "Viking Jedi", and a Royal Guard. In my old green Jedi gear (my daughter has it now), I was called just about every Jedi name in the movies. I tend to just answer to whatever anymore

Kevin sells a few different sizes and each has it's own look. From the look of Avatar's shoulders, I would guess he got the normal (large) kit. Mine is the medium (the large was ginormous on me) and the chest has a different shape to it...but it fits my frame much better :).

Silly question: what's wrong with your pants? Any leather/leather-like pants should work since both Vader-ribbed and smooth leather have been seen in the comics. I find the old leather pants I use are quite comfortable and not hot at all. As for the sleeves, you may have luck with adding zippers to the cuffs. I wanted mine as tight as possible, so I added some 6 or 7 inch (not sure what I wound up with) zippers to the sleeve seam at the wrist. Allows it to go over my hands then tighten up around the wrist. Zippers are covered by the glove cuff, so not a problem there. Also, not sure if we ever discussed this part, but I wound up using some leather thread and just tied the cap plate to the shoulders. Two small holes and run the thread through and tie inside the hollow of the shoulder. Removes all signs of a connection and can't feel the thread. I like the padding the shoulders idea. Thinking of padding mine as well as some padding in the upper chest to keep the armor forward a bit more (helps camouflage my gut ). I think you nailed it pretty good, man

I get my CA glue from the guys at Eternal Armory. But they are close by for me, so works out. Shipping might cost as much as the glue, though

Thanks all. Hope to get to troop with a bunch of you at some point. A sea of white is cool and all...but a sea of red would be cooler

Sorry, all. I had to break this up into a few posts due to how many pics I used

Saber: I can't afford to drop $800 plus on a saber that I will use with a costume a few times a year. Besides...I like making things . So I took an old Ultrasabers stunt saber with a white LED and added some black o-rings, a sink tube sleeve, an electrical box knockout plug, and a d-ring mounted into a hex cap screw. Some paint and some more hex cap screws and I managed to get the same silhouette as one of the 3d renders I found long ago. Not the prettiest IK saber out there, but I spent less than $100 and got to do most of the work myself. So I'm happy with it And the final product: And protecting Vader (I know...not really canon...but a cool pic none the less ): Once again, hope any of this helps at least one of you guys and gals out in your IK builds. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on anything I may have skipped over or not explained well.