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

I've seen a few acolytes that have a rounded shape to the pauldrons, and I'm really digging the way they hold the robe, so I decided to 3d model a set tonight. I've started them on the printer, and I'm desperately hoping that I got the scale right. We'll see in about 24 hours.

I made some minor changes to the chest plate, and it's nearly ready to paint. I'll be including photos soon. 

Sanded down the detonator and the pouches once those were printed and gave them a first coat of primer. Feels good to finally get some momentum on this again.

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

After a long break, I'm finally picking back up on this build, and I'm starting completely over, with the exception of my mask and a Vader's Vault acolyte saber that I picked up a couple of years ago. Just finished sewing a new robe out of some seriously heavy material, and I've started printing DO3D's acolyte armor. 

I've also just finished 3d modeling the belt components that weren't included in that package (see the attached image). If anyone here is interested, give me a shout on my page. I've also made a tutorial for strengthening the 3d print, and you can also find that on my Facebook page.

I'm committed to finally making this costume happen at the level it deserves. And I'm going to finish it before summer.

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

Hey, @Darkravage! I've not heard any specifics on that, but I have kind of stalled out on my build. I'm so close to being finished, but I got sidetracked selling Rey props on my Etsy Store. Crazy life.

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

Thanks, @ForestFire!

 

Finished up the detonator over the weekend and the shoulder armor last night! This leaves only the lower legs and boots. 

 

 

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

Thanks, @Nefthys!

 

I forgot that I haven't posted here in a while. I've finished up the gauntlets, elbows, hand armor, and thigh armor! 

 

[Sith Acolyte Build (Mynock's Den Armor)]

Dang, this kit is so seriously nice.

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

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

 

 

Side-by-side comparison with the foam armor:

 

 

Trying it on:

 

 

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

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

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:

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

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.

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

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.

 

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

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.

 

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

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

 

 

 

 

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.

[Sith Acolyte Armor - Mynock's build - Completed and 501st Approved!]

Mynock, your work here is seriously amazing, and your progress photos have been incredibly helpful. Thank you for your posts and your website.

[Jersey Acolyte build (MyNock kit)]

Congratulations! The costume looks amazing, and your photos and backgrounds are seriously great!

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

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.

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

@DarthTagion! I've sent you a private message with his info. Thank you for your assistance!

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

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.

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

@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.

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

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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