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TeaJay
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Posts posted by TeaJay
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Thank you! Assisting Nina with updating the CRL next
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I was approved this evening! Wooo!!
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Alright! Here are my photos that I will be submitting. I'll pass these along to my GML who will coordinate with Nina and the LMOs. Any questions or comments please feel free to provide feedback!
FULL ALBUM (Including reference images): https://imgur.com/a/EBBox8A
REFERENCE IMAGES:
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Nearing the finish line for submitting photos for this one. Almost 100% happy with the cowl/hood. One last thing I plan to do is add small fishing line weights to each side of the hood to get a more straight/boxy shape on the left and right.
Excuse the bad lighting and dirty mirror. Just wanted to take a quick photo to show the layering of the neck portion of the cowl/hood.
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I've fixed the shoulders and tightened the elastics around the waist of the skirt. Here's an example of how subtle the chest armor is, when I've taken a breath in and then exhale...
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I've just tried on the full costume after making the initial modifications. Based on the first fitting, I've already identified things that need improved or adjusted to keep the costume's components in place while moving around.
- Cowl/head covering rear section needs a way to stay in position to keep the rear of the shirt/cape area hidden. It stay in position quite well, but wind, leaning over, etc. will cause problems.
- Cowl/head covering front neck opening needs slightly adjusted and likely a way to keep the front in place to reduce it moving around.
- The black under-mask has managed to get white paint rubbed onto it from the outer white mask. Clean up the white spots and buff the shine the will be reduced due to cleaning.
- Spray the white mask with a matte clear coat spray (inside edges) to reduce paint rubbing off onto the black under-mask.
- Adjust the shoulders of the cape and add velcro onto the shirt and bottom of cape to prevent the cape from drooping too far over shoulders. (Test fit shoulder look a little high too)
- Add additional velcro to waist of skirt so that it can be fitted tighter.
- Add velcro to front of shirt and inner section of the chest armor foam to prevent it from drooping/sliding down.
- Simple Suit Up Issue -- Make sure that shirt sleeves do not bunch up when putting on leather gloves to reduce sleeve wrinkling effect.
I may think of some other items, but these will need addressed. Once completed I will take new photos. But in the meantime, here's some from the initial fitting....
I'm not a huge fan of the "chest armor" you can see it very subtly in this first photo. I will likely need to raise it some, it looks like its on my belly, but that is due to the skirt being too loose and I had to hike it up a bit.
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Spent 3 hours sewing for the cowl/head covering. Just need to iron everything one more time and try it on. If I'm satisfied with it all, I'll be taking photos to post up. I will be busy with other things the next few days leading up to Christmas. Hoping to have photos around then!
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Hoping to finish up the last bit of this costume this weekend. Fingers crossed! It's been a busy few days for my wife and I, so I haven't had time to tackle this as I need her help with a few steps.
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I've finished adjusting the cape height to just barely miss touching the floor while wearing my boots. Once the cowl updates are completed, I will be ready for the first full test suit-up. During that suit-up, I'll be looking for places to hide an Aker speaker for the voice glove audio.
Just a few more things to tackle:
- Adjust stock WA cowl/head covering to mimic in-game model. This will need some stitching to be removed and reattached with pinlocks in specific locations.
- Re-iron the cape one more time to add subtle pleating.
- BONUS: Wire up and hide sound board, buttons, and aker speaker
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I've started working on the lower section of the cowl. WA's stock cowl is a great start and I really enjoy the simplicity, yet sharp look of the "cat ears/crown" that comes standard. The one change that needs to be made is the opening of the lower section. The stock solution lays in a more circular pattern based on how it is sewn. Which is very close, but just not as straight and open as I'd like:
So I've split a center seam and will be adjusting how it lays around the neck area. Here's the initial seam removal, I continued onward for another 2 inches.
Here's a quick shot of how I want the upper and middle portion of the cowl to lay. The plan will be to tuck and sew/pin these corners into the inner section of the cowl. Once those are positioned, the lower fabric will be bunched into sections and pinned into place (using pinlocks) to mimic the folds in-game.
Sorry for the slightly blurry photo, it's a bit hard to see in that mask.
I still need to do some work on the cape to bring it up off the ground a bit more as well as finish my chest armor that will be attached to the inside of the outer tunic. My goal is to finish this up by the new year.
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19 hours ago, wilson5710 said:
Looking fantastic TJ! Can't wait to see it completed.
Thank you!
I had some time last night to knock out these two items.
- Upgrade stock WA elastics for the waist of the skirt and add sewn velcro.
- Attach new strapping to mask -- sew velcro onto elastic and glue elastic to inside portion of white mask.
Hoping to have this done before end of the year, we'll see.
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The updated remaining To-Do list is:
- Finish trimming outer tunic chest padding to conform to my upper torso.
- Attach strapping to chest padding to secure its position on my body.
- Upgrade stock WA elastics for the waist of the skirt and add sewn velcro.
- Attach new strapping to mask -- sew velcro onto elastic and glue elastic to inside portion of white mask.
- Adjust height of cape -- measure and re-hem lower portion of cape to just touch/barely hover while wearing boots.
- Adjust stock WA cowl/head covering to mimic in-game model. This will need some stitching to be removed and reattached with pinlocks in specific locations.
- Add velcro to upper head/crown of balaclava and add velcro to the inside of the cowl/head covering to keep the "cat ears/crown" in constant correct position.
- Re-iron the cape one more time to add subtle pleating.
- BONUS: Wire up and hide sound board, buttons, and aker speaker for Nihilus' Sith Language -- sample
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As we all know, Nihilus doesn't speak Basic. So to stay true to the character and keep things immersive, I've recently picked up a "sound glove" loaded with voice lines clips of Nihilus from KOTOR II. This glove kit arrived today and I've already started to modify it. The placement will be around my lower inside forearm and the battery pack, etc. will be concealed in the inside bicep portion of my inner tunic/shirt.
I either plan on running the wire to a speaker out of the bottom of the shirt towards my waist hidden by the skirt or out of the neck hole and hidden by the hood/cowl. My goal is to identify which option hides the speaker the most and use that solution.
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On 11/15/2019 at 7:22 PM, DarthValkyria said:
Pleats are the devil, man. At least you're keeping up with it!
They absolutely are! Slow and steady.
I've got the rest of the effort laid out on what needs accomplished. I need to get out to Jo Ann Fabrics to pick up some specific 1" black elastic that I apparently cannot purchase at my local AC Moore, Michael's, or Walmart. It will be used to replace the elastic band around the waist of the skirt for some added thickness. The stock one from WA was a bit too thin for my liking and would cause some sliding/lowering of the skirt. A thicker waist band will keep it up on my skinny butt a bit better.
I will also be using the same 1" black elastic to "upgrade" the stock WA elastic on the mask.
The nearest Jo Ann Fabrics is about 30 minutes from our house and with Thanksgiving fast approaching, I will likely not resume the build until we return from visiting family. So the build will resume at the beginning of December.
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Quick update, no exciting photos. I've ironed 5 pleats per side all the way down the cape. I've cleaned up the stitching detail on the upper portion of the outer tunic so that the stitching detail reaches to where the hood meets the outer tunic. I've started test cutting foam padding for the upper torso "armor/buffness". Once I get the design scaled to fit my chest, then I'll begin brainstorming the best way to keep it attached under the outer tunic. I'll definitely post pictures of this once I get the cape length corrected to my height with boots on.. It will likely be early next week.
My day job has been all consuming as of late and I've picked up a side project that has a hard deadline of end of year., but I won't let that slow me down too much on this costume build!
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I've taken a few days off from building this. Should be getting back into the groove later this week. My pin locks and pins have arrived. I'll likely lengthen the stitching details in the upper section of the outer tunic, then reattach the cape and measure cape length to floor to get it properly hovering just off the ground.
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7 hours ago, WickedArmor said:
Nicely done! Looks like I'm too late, but the paint I used for the forehead detail is Rustoleum 2x flat black base and Rustoleum Metallics silver metallic. I look forward to seeing everything come together.
Thanks Rob! I took photos of the original color that you used and went with a Testors silver metallic, which turned out a little bit lighter. I'm tempted to darken it up just a little more than how it turned out; but from the various in-game screenshots, it sometimes looks silver and sometimes looks like a metallic gunmetal gray. I also went with a black base on top of the white spray paint before I applied the silver.
I will be adding the straps back onto the mask soon; I'm on the fence about a 2" or 1" elastic band with sewn elastics to secure it in the rear.
From my original To-Do List, I still have a few more things to tackle:
-- outer tunic chest padding (it appears to only be around his pectoral muscles, it makes you wonder if this is meant to be padding or if Nihilus just has a buff upper torso)
-- shaping/cutting of padding
-- attachment to body rather than outer tunic
-- cape to outer tunic connection
-- iron the 5 pleats per side all the way down the cape to give shape
-- mask updates
-- Swap out the mask attachment method using wider elastics.
-- re-attach cape to outer tunic ensuring that the cape barely misses the floor. (This step may require some additional sewing)
-- adjust hood/cowl to lay/gather more like the in-game model. Will need to pin/tack down hood in specific locations. (additional pin locks and pins have been ordered on Amazon) -
Thanks! I'm nearing completion of the mask. I've brought in the upper silver detail as mentioned above and have nearly completed painted. Just a bit more clean up and then attaching strapping.
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Here are some photo updates of the mask repainting process. This is to cover up the apoxie sculpt, re-coat the exposed polyurethane near the top of the mask, and move the red details inward by 1/4" on each side.
This is prior to the white paint being applied. The apoxie sculpt has be sanded down.
Three coats of flat white w/primer were applied and pencil marking the outline of the new red detail locations.
Red details painted. The edges of the red will be cleaned up a bit tighter to reduce any "fuzzy edges" that the model paint brush may have caused.
Things are progressing well. This has been one of my main reference images for the mask along with others in previous posts above. It looks like I need to go back and reduce the width/thickness of the lower tier/section of the upper portion of the mask, here's an image to show what I'm referring to... it looks just a little too thick.
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Thanks Rob!
Your KOTOR 2 Nihilus mask is extremely close to the in-game model, but I definitely see the likeness from the box art hybrid with the in-game one. Frankly, it is the closest one I've found anywhere online. With just a few minor modifications, it is even closer. I highly recommend to others wanting to do a KOTOR Nihilus to start with WA's mask as a base if they do not want to make one from scratch.
The hood does have quite a bit of wrinkles at the base on the in-game model. I still think the hood you've provided can be adjusted to simulate how the base of the hood wrinkles by using additional tie tacks in specific locations; it will likely not be as many, but it should come very close. I was tinkering with it just the other day. The selection of fabric that you currently use is nice, I could see a heavier weighted cotton being used in the future, however that could hold in quite a bit of smell if it's warm outside. Lots more washing if you went with something heavier weight.
I also want to give you some props on how you do the "cat ears"/"crown" portion of the hood. It fits so well and looks very sharp.
What is the color and vendor of the gray/silver paint you use on the mask or do you mix it? I like the color and would love to continue to use it once I repaint.
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Last night I spent time adding additional "shape" to the skirt. The stock WA skirt only has a few large pleats at the top that are sewn into the obi. In-game, Nihilus has some folding and creases on the skirt. As seen here:
It doesn't look sewn, it seems to be just gathered or pleated.
I took the stock WA skirt which looks like this:
And spent a few hours with my wife, folding, ironing, and starching over and over again to get a more creased effect. Here's some in-progress shots and the after:
Mimicking a video game model's clothing is extremely different than recreating real-world costumes, as many of you here at TFE already know. I'm currently happy with this result, what are your thoughts?
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Hey Keever, I actually decided to do digging on the obi this afternoon while it was on my mind. I posted about my findings here: https://www.theflagshipeclipse.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3175-kotor-ii-nihilus-build-and-game-vs-current-092019-crl-comparison/&do=findComment&comment=33222
While these aren't specifically stated in the CRL, based on the source material it looks like the obi should be able to have some flexibility due to how different body positions of the character can effect the height appearance of the obi.
Just my two cents.
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Since a fellow member was interested in the height of the KOTOR 2 obi (https://www.theflagshipeclipse.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3352-question-about-the-obi-in-the-crl/). I started doing more digging this afternoon and was able to snag a screenshot (same one found on wookiepedia) of where the obi appears to be approximately 1.667" ~ 1.75" inches in height (again, give or take 1/16" based on pixel scaling). In this specific screenshot you can see portions of the obi either more visible due to the position of Nihilus' torso or it could be a stretching of pixels on the texture model based on its position. As you look towards the right of the photo, the obi begins to narrow or be hidden by the outer tunic... and the left side shows a much wider appearance of the obi:
Due to how the obi can appear different heights/thicknesses in different scenes and body positions, this will likely need to be given a range when written up in the CRL. If we had to nail something down specifically, I would say that the obi height should be allowed the flexibility of 1" inch and 1.75" inches.
Another interesting note, look how flat and almost concave Nihilus' upper and center chest looks like while he's in this position.
Also, here's a great high res video of the conversation leading up to the fight scene and combat in HD found on youtube -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KqbWKWUhUk
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Glad I was able to reduce the lament...
The obi and skirt research is on the docket for research once I finish up the mask and upper body. I just finished up more of the cape tonight and made a post about it.
I personally haven't been using the current CRL for my build. I have strictly been sourcing in-game images of Nihilus in KOTOR 2 on the PC unmodded... and applying modifications to a Wicked Armor KOTOR Nihilus. There's quite a handful of changes needed.
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