berzerker

Alright, so I took my Nihilus to our photo shoot and this is what came out of it. The lightsaber is a personal creation - sufficient for the time being, though i know not approvable. I had my Darth Maul make-up on underneath as well as my lenses. In the final shot this is apparent. I see myself continuing using blackout makeup around my eyes for future troops and will look to get some all black lenses for the eyes. Submission pics have been taken but are on a fellow trooper's camera. Thoughts?

Complete 209 photo album here: http://s1000.photobucket.com/albums/af1 ... il%202011/

Thanks, Pam. Now, back to work.

Alright, we have a pro photo Shoot this Sunday and I hope to have an approvable DN for that event. Please point me where I need to focus to get there. I used photoshop to enhance the photos to show the contrast required to see details. Hope that helps. Thanks in advance.

Thanks, I knew there would be areas for improvement and hoped my ongoing WIP would bring out the comments and suggestions before my submission. I'll see how I can address those areas.

Hard Parts: Overall, I was quite pleased with the hard parts I received in the costume, particularly the mask. Beautiful. Leather looked good too. The belt lacks the 4th set of studs so I'll get those to complete per the CRL even though they won't be visible under the cloak. Lastly, I liked the crown the previous owner created. It is made of sintra and fits my head well. I found that the crown did not like to stay in place with the weight of the cloak so I made some alterations starting with a rare earth magnet system to attach the crown and the mask. 5 points of contact make for a strong bond that can be broken when needed. In order to ensure the cloak stayed on the crown during duels and general cavorting about, I attached snaps to the back side of the crown to keep it all in place while allowing removal for washing or repair. On the display mannequin I have yet to tatter the cloak and need to find a way to make the knot. I suspect I will fabricate a sewn knot rather than just tie of the ends. My next project...

WIP thread started: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1935

Moving on to the upper half I worked on the outer cloak. Very similar to Maul pieces, just shorter.

Steps 2 was the robes: My purchased robes were too short and lacked volume. It was clear they had to flow and be full and flow-y. Much fabric was harmed in the creation of these skirts. I created each layer separately. The first layer was sewn onto a nylon strap with a plastic clasp (like you'd find on a dog collar - a great dollar store find). Bunching the fabric up on the strap gave the pleated full look I wanted. The 2nd or outer layer was made similarly but a touch shorter and of a near match fabric but one what was a shade off in colour. I wanted it apparent that there were 2 layers and the colour contrast allowed this. A friend sent me this great tutorial on tattering and weathering that he employed on his BH build. I have yet to run it through the wash but I have nearly achieved the look I'm going for. forgive the dog hair - it'll come out when I wash the fabrics.

Last fall I bought a complete DN costume off the 501stforums. Upon receipt I was happy with it but further review of CRLs showed that it had not evolved with current standards. I considered selling it but needed to make it approvable first. In the past few days, while working on this costume, I found a renewed passion for Nihilus and decided I would remake all soft parts, current with the CRL and fitting me properly. This is my journey. First off, I can't sew. I keep telling myself that because I've never been taught. I can work a power tool and build stuff so I figured the transition would be easy. I make my Darth Maul robes from scratch - 3 times. Each time they were better and I picked up a trick to achieve a look I was after. After Maul, Nihilus was going to be easy. I started with the sleeves. The original costume had quilted sleeves using batting between 2 pieces of fabric with stitch lines every 3 cm or so in parallel lines. That would have been the easiest way to go but way to hot and too restrictive for movement. A technique I accidentally stumbled upon with Maul was to make the quilting by ironing a seam, stitching it and repeating the process every 3cm. When I had 14 rows done it looked like this: NOTE: this is the inside of the sleeve the outside has a nice quilted look Measure and cut and a sleeve is done: Still working that inner tunic so stay tuned for more on that.

I got a decent lead on a $40 unit (includes shipping) at the 501st forums. I should have it in hand within 2 weeks and will post a review. I should be done my Nihilus by that time so, if the voice changer works well, I'll post video as well. Now to start my WIP thread.

This seemed the best place to put this topic... Does anyone use a voice changer for their character? I'm building a Nihilus and want an echo-y, dark voice and think the best way to achieve this is with a voice changer. I already use a throat mic for my clone so it would be invisible to the public. I see super cheap, $10 voice changer/amps at costume shops and wonder if they are good enough to do the job. Ideas, thoughts or recommendations are appreciated.