Sol's Darth Revan WIP (updated with Submission pictures)

[Guest Sol]

It's still about three weeks until my armour arrives from Rob at MyWickedArmor--but my saber arrived today so I figured I'd get this show on the road and start on my modifications. The model I ordered for Revan's saber was the 'Shock', namely because the emitter looks about as spot on as any non-commissioned custom saber I've seen on the market. The pommel will need to be replaced (Is need to strong a word? The CRL doesn't have a clear cut 'it must be this' only that the emitter and pommel must be gold or copper. Can anyone clarify?). I was originally thinking about doing a powder coating for the paint...but I didn't get the easy disconnect for the electronics inside and I don't want to risk ruining them with my zero experience in working with that kind of stuff. So for now I went with some Rust-Oleum primer and spray paint. It'll probably chip, but hopefully it'll work for the time being.

 

((For reference in case anyone can spot something I don't see about meeting CRLs here, I copied and pasted this from the 501st CRL. I'll be portraying Darth Revan from KOTOR I))

501st approval:

• 
  If the costumer is portraying Darth Revan from Knights of the Old Republic, a single lightsaber is used. If the lightsaber includes a blade, the blade is red.
  If the costumer is portraying Darth Revan from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, then two lightsabers are carried. If the lightsabers are bladed, one blade is red, and the other is purple.
  The hilt midsection is silver, with the emitter head and back pommel sections showing gold or brass in color.

 

Here's the Ultrasabers 'Shock' model hilt with the emitter and blade detached. I probably won't do any work to this aside from replacing that pommel.

 

I forgot to snag a picture of the emitter before I taped it up and got it primered, but it was fully silver beforehand. The top and bottom of the emitter section on Revan's saber is the same silver finish as the hilt so I taped that off and just hit the center. And stuck a little bit of electric tape in the hole for the retention screw so I don't end up getting anything in the grooves.

 

Here it is after a few hours of drying with the rust-oleum gold treatment. I'll let that dry for a good 24 hours at least and then I'll get a shot of it dried and reattached to the hilt.

[DarthBrute]

The Custom Saber Shop has some excellent stuff for replicating Revans saber. And they do powder coating too. I will be turning my current saber into Revans second saber and building a custom saber from TCSS.

[Guest Sol]

I'll have to take a look at their stuff. I hadn't heard of them before now. I'm actually considering trying to craft my own pommel end (the kind of gear ball that extends from the end of his saber pommel) but I'm worried that if I use EVA foam or clay that the materials would just look too different even if I give it a decent paint job. For now I think I might just go with the archon pommel from Ultrasabers (looks similar to your arbiter which I couldn't find) for now and just upgrade that bit as soon as I find the means to do something better.

[DarthTagion]

I'll have to take a look at their stuff. I hadn't heard of them before now. I'm actually considering trying to craft my own pommel end (the kind of gear ball that extends from the end of his saber pommel) but I'm worried that if I use EVA foam or clay that the materials would just look too different even if I give it a decent paint job. For now I think I might just go with the archon pommel from Ultrasabers (looks similar to your arbiter which I couldn't find) for now and just upgrade that bit as soon as I find the means to do something better.

 

TCCS has a similar pommel available.

[Guest Sol]

I was actually just looking at that. Is there any reason you'd pick one over another?

[DarthTagion]

I think the size proportions are a smidge different. It falls into that gray "as close as possible" thing. And as a non-mandatory item, going to non-canon events and such... Probably would be passable.

[Guest Sol]

Yeah from what I can tell the pommels sold by TCSS and ultrasabers are a little bigger than the little gear looking tassel bit on the end of Revan's. I'll keep an eye out for something that I could fasten to the base of the pommel, but until then I'll probably go with either that TCSS or ultra sabers pommel.

 

Edit: you know, an Obi-Wan AOTC pommel looks pretty similar. They're not exactly cheap but I wonder if that would pass. If not I'm starting to seriously consider using clay or maybe even wood to craft one and then bondo it to the bottom of the pommel. Thoughts?

[DarthTagion]

I might be mistaken, but I believe the sound tends to come out the bottom, so depending on what you choose, make sure you have slots for that if you are including a sound board.

[Guest Sol]

I actually went soundless for mine. The price aside, I figured the novelty of *zhwoooom zhwoooom zhwooom* would ware off after a few hours of trooping =p So as far as that goes I'm in the clear.

[Guest Sol]

Alrighty so with delivery day 1-2 weeks out, I made my rounds and gathered up all the last minute supplies I'd need to start making my modifications to my Revan kit. In lieu of making a whole new thread for the kit build, I figured I'd just transform this one into a full WIP. So here goes with the base supplies and some overviews of the modifications I'll be making.

 

First things first, to get back to my saber WIP--the initial gold paint dried waaaaaaaay too light for me. Revan's saber accents are somewhere between gold and copper, and the way the paint dried, even after a few coats, was more like a light gold. So that had to go. After shopping through a few stores, though, I couldn't find anything exact. So I picked up some metal surface 'rich espresso' and 'worn penny', mixed them together, and came out with a colour I was pretty happy with. So ultimately I went from this:

 

[Not so good]

 

To this:

 

It's a little on the dark side (ba dum tish), but I'm a lot happier with it than the gold. After I'm done crafting the pommel I'll paint it up the same colour and be good to go. Once the paint dries I'll reattach the emitter and take a pic of the saber with the blade in and lit up.

 

I'll have to wait until the armour actually gets to me before I start sewing on this, but for Revan's shirt he needs a line of horizontal piping going across the chest just above the breastplate. And the shirt itself needs to have a high collar. So for the base I picked up a black snowboarding turtleneck from Paul Glenn ($25 on sale, so not bad) and some premade piping from Jo-Ann's. Once I can mark off exactly where it needs to go I'll zig-zag sew it in with a machine.

 

 

[Mock up of around where the piping will go]

 

After talking to some other folks on the Flagship Eclipse forums whom are also working with a MyWickedArmor Revan kit, it's basically been determined that as great as the craftsmanship is on the armour, there are just some parts that have got to go. The twelve rings Revan has suspended from his ab plate come stock as keychain rings, so to replace those I got two sets of these drapery rings. I'll remove the aligator clips and bend the wires so that they can be epoxied in and dangle the rings down. Following Darth Brute's build for this bit.

 

 

Another big thing that they're wanting to see changed from the main kit are the four small rings that are used to attach the cloak to the armour. Right now they're the same small keychain rings as the ones that hang from the armour. I've read that they will approve a Revan without changing them, but the stipulation is that you change them as soon as you can find something better. I ordered four of these (as per Darth Brute's recommendation) and will replace them before submitting for approval: http://www.buckleguy.com/b6915-5-8-nick ... olid-zinc/

 

I'll also be replacing all of the standard straps with elastic, including the straps on the mask, to make the armour a more form fit kit. From what I understand the cuirass is attached with velcro right now, but I'll be switching that out for snaps. I've heard velcro doesn't really stand the test of time.

 

For pants I picked up some black Asics compression pants--which are ridiculously hard to find in this season. Especially in Arizona. Boots are a WIP right now. I found a pair on Amazon that look pretty decent here: http://www.amazon.com/CAP100-Medium-10- ... W9B6&psc=1 What do you guys think?

 

Looking forward to getting the hard parts so I can get to work. Only a few more weeks and I'll be able to submit for approval. Can't wait to start trooping.

[DarthBrute]

You may be uncomfortable in a full turtleneck. I bought this mock turtleneck and it isn't as light as I would want it to be but lighter than the one I was using. Remember it is supposed to be a mandarin collar style so you will have to fold the turtleneck to the inside.

 

As far as the boots, those look like they could be good to go. I am a little worried about them being imitation leather as far as trooping is concerned. Trooping is a lot more rigorous than just halloween walking around. And 911costume is pretty much just halloween stuff. Search google for German Jack Boots and look for full on leather ones. Look for ones that do not have the irons on the heel or the toe.

[Guest Sol]

Crap and that's totally the same exact one I was going to buy before I got mine. I was worried the mock collar wouldn't be high enough but from looking at yours that's not the case. How does it fit? Pretty true to size?

 

And yeah that's a good point. I'll look around for something like that. Definitely need it to stand up to the beatings of long troops. Thanks for the advice.

[Guest Sol]

Ordered some parachute cord, bookmarked a spot to pick up a pair of German Jack Boots next paycheck and am ordering my mock turtleneck to replace my full one (though I've considered just modifying the neck and trimming it down. We'll see if I have the patience to do it lol). Now it's just a waiting game for the stuff to get here.

 

So with the paint dried and me finally satisfied with how it looks, I reattached the emitter and put it all together. I'll still be crafting the gear tassel looking piece that Revan has on the bottom of his saber, but from what I've been told on the Flagship Eclipse forums my saber's good to go as is.

 

With the emitter reattached

 

LED on with the blade plug in

 

And a few blade in artsy shots

 

 

((that's my sheet of ABS in the background. Gonna use that for a mando kit here soon))

[Guest Sol]

So there were some things that needed immediate changing before I really put on the Revan armour to give it a test drive.

 

It originally came with these *very* flimsy birthday present ribbon attachments between the chest and back plates that you had to tie together. Which would have been a pain in the shebs to tie over and over and over, and they probably would have broken eventually.

 

And the rings around the waist were all these keychain rings with I'm not even sure what kind of stringy rope holding them up.

 

Replaced the ribbon tie-strapping with nylon and attached them from one to the other so I could wear it like suspenders. Attached additional velcro (and will later attach snaps) to the B grade velcro that it came with.

 

And replaced the rings with alligator clip shower curtain rings. Pried the alligator clips off, bent the wiring out so they would be straight and voila.

 

It also came with these mini keychain ring clips for the four cloak straps at the top of the chest armour. I was able to find a replacement for the larger clips, but after buying several others that *looked* smaller, I haven't been able to find ones of the right size to fit into the bottom spots. Those will be replaced ASAP.

 

I haven't taken pictures of the padding and adjustments I made to the mask, so I'll have to put them up later (pressed for time this morning and for pre-PCC). So without further ado, here are my submission pictures for Revan:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[en-zozallow]

One thing you will need to change as i also had to get it approved was the Big Ring in the in game reference it hangs lower than what MWA has placed it

 

 

you want the top of the ring to be the only part that is on top of the armour and the rest of the ring should hang just infornt of your private parts

 

 

just like this

 

[Guest Sol]

Yeah I think even if it passed that was one thing I wanted to adjust. I just didn't know how to go about doing it without ruining the cuirass. How did you add length to yours?

[en-zozallow]

Very carefully remove the plastic silver covers try not to damage the leather straps. Once you done that cut the straps at the middle of the area that was covered by the silver plastic cover you just removed. Now measure where the ring should be and glue the silver plastic back working like extensions . The missing leather is then cover by the silver covers

 

If you did damage the exposed now leather straps use acrylic balck and silver to re paint it and bob is you uncle

[Guest Sol]

Awesome thanks, Alan. I'll get on that ASAP.

[DarthTagion]

Your hood will need to come down too, the point should sit just above your visor, it 'will' obscure some of your already terrible vision. Alan's signature picture is actually a great representation of where it ought to sit.

 

You could afford to bring up your red sash and hakama a little just so we can see barely the top of your foot, also makes for less of a tripping hazard.

 

Otherwise: What Alan said.

[DarthBrute]

Yeah I think even if it passed that was one thing I wanted to adjust. I just didn't know how to go about doing it without ruining the cuirass. How did you add length to yours?

 

If you look on my thread I did a tutorial on how to extend the straps and replace the rings there as well. You will have to get some thin metallic silver leather or similar colored material though. I would go into it here but it is a long post. That is towards the end.

[Guest Sol]

Taken from a con, but what do you guys think about the length of everything? Pulled the red tabbard and the hakama up, dropped the BOR down. I brought the hood down a little, but looking at it now I'm guessing it still needs to be lowered a bit more?

 

[DarthBrute]

Looking really good man! You are going to want to make sure you pull the cowl down some more over the mask for your submission photos. The "point" sits a little high. Be sure to have a good primper that can help you look perfect for your submission photos as well.

[Guest Sol]

Thanks, man. Your WIP helped a ton throughout the process of fixing this kit up. I appreciate all the tips and step by steps. I'll probably get it thrown on tonight and take a new round of submission pictures and put them up here just in case. Also, I should probably take a shot of it just for the sake of things, but I took your advice on that turtle neck and hemmed the neck down to make it a mock turtle neck. You are like...Sifu Revan when it comes to this build lol

[DarthTagion]

Really I'd just want to see a shot of you with the hood in the right spot. Would want to see sides and back and maskless just for the sake of it but fix-wise, just the hood from what I can see at the moment, would definitely be happy to stamp this one quickly.