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Scratchbuilt Sith Acolyte (a sad story in need of your help)


kylegilbert

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Hey! I'm new to this forum, I need some help and direction. I've wanted to join the 501st for a while, and I decided to jump right into building a Sith Acolyte Eradicator costume a few months ago. I've been doing some hobby prop making for a couple of years, and I thought I'd jump right in with a foam armor build. I didn't consider that it might not be approved by the 501st.

 

So I built the thing from scratch (other than a Wicked Armor mask and a Holocron saber), and in my opinion it turned out pretty beautiful.

 

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I knew that I'd probably need to make some adjustments, especially to the chest piece, which needed some additional forming, but I amassed all my WIP photographs and put together detailed build instructions on the Instructable website and put in my application for the 501st.

 

So imagine my surprise when I received an email letting me know that my costume wasn't going to work for the 501st. Honestly, I felt a little crushed and annoyed at first.

 

But now, here I am, a humbled version of my former cosplaying self. And I need some help here so that my next attempt doesn't go the same direction as this previous build.

 

I've started a second build, this time using PVC board for the construction material. The chest piece is mostly done, and so are the gauntlets, but when I asked my GML if I was headed in the right direction, he suggested that I post here for feedback.

 

IMG_6644-med-600x450.jpg
 
IMG_6758-600x450.jpg

 

And so, here I am. I would really appreciate your feedback and suggestions.

 

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Typically foam armour builds aren't approved (I say typically as there have been a few exceptions). The 501st wants the look and 'feel' of real armour. So you need to take into consideration if a child comes up to you and asked to touch your armour, you want to be sure in the fact it will feel real to the child. Foam armour doesn't really do that too well. ;) 

When I fist submitted my Darth Nihilus to join the 501st, I was also rejected with suggestions from my GML on how to make it better. So I went back, made the changes and was approved the second time around. Now I'm a costume mentor here! We all learn and take steps to get into the Legion and then continue to grow as costumers. Don't take it too hard, we all have had similar experiences. So far your improved build looks good, but I am not really that knowledgable on the Sith Apprentice, so I can't say for sure how it compares to the 501st standards. 

 

Keep on going! :) 
Cheers,

Nef

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@Ewok Hunter, the only thing my GML mentioned was that it looked like it was made of foam.

 

@Nefthys, thanks for the encouragement and feedback. I figured that the foam must be an issue in general.

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Guest i.Chimaera

Well you are really rocking the new materials :) The details are already looking really crisp and will hold detail over a long time :)

 

Foam is brilliant for prototyping but it does often easily read as foam- it  is a perfectly reasonable material for many costuming purposes but not so much for high scrutiny :)

 

That said, you work in making the foam build is paying off in dividends :) I don't know the 501st guides well enough to know what they want, but so far the new armour dings all the right bells with regard to creating the illusion. So if it helps the ego at all, so far I see very little issue aside from the material (it also affects some scale so you may find your new versions will sit a little differently.)

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Thanks, @i.Chimaera!

 

Now that I've started working with the pvc board, I can certainly see that it will provide armor that will last much longer.

 

And that's a really great point about the armor fitting differently when I switch over to foam. I'll keep that in mind as I proceed.

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For Kyle and everyone else:  

 

I've had a chance to discuss some items with Kyle's command staff and have made some recommendations and possible solutions moving forward, but I want to be sure everyone is in agreement before I post something here.  

 

I think we not only have a fantastic representation of the costume here, but some darn talented artwork to boot.   If we can come to an agreement on a few things, this may be able to serve as a great example to other of use of alternative materials.   

 

Stay tuned for more!

 

Edit+Update:

 

I got a super fast response and now you do too!

 

The first concern with the material is the flexibility of what should be a rigid armor, so:

 

In this case, I'd like to propose a possible compromise for Kyle.    Let's see how much flex the costume actually has.   Perhaps a demonstration of motion for the costume, to see what it does in motion?   Something like bending over to shake hands with a child, reaching for things, ect.   It might sound crazy, but without seeing it in motion I feel we might not have given it a proper test.   Then, if it does flex, perhaps we can come up with some way to reinforce it, I'm not an expert in materials entirely, but I am an outside-the-box thinker.

 

As for some minor spots like the ends of the claws displaying what definitely looks to be cell foam from cutting it:

  

I do stand by the GML on the concerns here.  My recommendation there is some sort of filler, again, I'm not sure what would best bond/fill foam adequately and THEN hold up to wear.   To me that is simply a last step finishing touch that could be remedied (I am hoping).

 

Pending both of these being remedied though, I believe the appearance of a rigid armor, even as a foam would be acceptable, again, it has to look like a hardened piece of protection.

 

As a last note on my suggestion, I do really like what you're doing with your new chest piece.  Whatever you decide, we're here to help you.  Please post lots of pictures, and questions, and if the answers get delayed, please send a reminder, sometimes things to get lost in the shuffle.

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Thanks so much for the feedback and the amazing assistance! I'm very grateful for your help and encouragement. That means a lot. The feedback here has kept me going on the costume.

 

In general, the thickness of the foam paired with the finish actually provides a significantly sturdy set of armor. You can knock on it, but still there's still a bit of softness to it. More concerning, I believe the armor could be punctured while trooping or depressed in packing or transit.

 

After wearing it for a couple of hours on Halloween and walking around the neighborhood, the chest, thigh, and gauntlet pieces have held up well, but even though I've only worn the suit a couple of times, it's already showing slight signs of creasing and wear, particularly in the lower legs, where I've had to push on it pretty hard to put it on. However, I think this could be remedied through additional finishing techniques.

 

In the meantime, I've continued working on my new gauntlets, and I'm convinced that PVC board is going to give me a more realistic looking armor that doesn't have any of the concerns about wear and rigidity. I painted the gauntlets tonight, and I'll be posting pics once they're dry.

 

So, I think I'll keep heading in the direction of finishing my new set of armor out of PVC board and posting images as things progress. I guess, if nothing else, I could sell off the foam armor. :)

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Need to smooth out this paint job and add weathering, but here's some pics of one of the gauntlets.

 

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One thing I've noticed with other Sith Acolyte builds is that the armor is just painted silver or covered with Rub n' Buff. That's what I did with my foam armor, but that doesn't seem true to the source materials. Those look almost black, but they still have a highly reflective surface, and appear silver in the highlight areas. I believe that I've achieved a similar look with this paint.

 

Will post back when I've had time to weather these - probably tonight.

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One thing with painting is good use of edging.  Rememeber that when you clunk things around, it's the high points that scrape.  And the recesses are where you'll never quite clean all the gunk out.

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Ended up repainting a bit, so there was no time for weathering tonight. I do however, have a painted piece of hand armor to show. 

 

To keep from injuring anyone, my plan is to use foam to craft the claws, similar to what I had with my foam armor. 

 

I think that both the hand armor and the gauntlets will look significantly better once I can do some weathering.

 

IMG_6823-800x600.jpg

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I had some time to play around a bit with weathering with acrylic tonight, and I started the process on my gauntlets and hand armor. I didn't get very bold till I was almost done. Lol.

 

IMG_6857-600x800.jpg

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I've finally had a chance to work some more on this costume, and I decided to take on the abs/cod plate. Since this piece has a rubber look to it, I decided to go ahead with foam again. But this time, I added a pvc backing to the whole thing, and I've used some different foam thicknesses.

 

I took this photo during assembly of the parts I cut, to show how this fit together:

 

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And then the image below shows how it turned out after sealing and painting. It still needs some weathering.

 

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I also worked on the belt buckle and the elbow armor. Both are shown before I painted them a few minutes ago:

 

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I added some detail pieces after this photo was shown, but you'll get the idea.

 

image1-800x600.jpeg

 

Once the paint dries and I have an opportunity to weather these pieces, I'll post another update here.

 

I'm dreading working on the leg armor, but I've put it off long enough. Hopefully it will go smoother than I anticipate. :)

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Getting pretty fired up about the progress over the past few days. I put together the torso, added straps, and even tried it on!

 

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Side-by-side comparison with the foam armor:

 

image6-800x600.jpeg

 

Trying it on:

 

image5-600x800.jpeg

 

I also hope to add the rest of the belt, pouches, and detonator over the next couple of days. :)

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This is an incredibly helpful thread! I hope todo something similar. I also like your idea of using a foam piece to connect the cod to the chest. Has your GML given you any feedback on that?

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