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Dark Jedi's Starkiller


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous
I notice you substituted a "D" for the "Y" in the readout.

 

Was there another reference pic that showed it that way?

 

Great weathering.

 

~ BC

 

The readout I was using is shown above. I guess I just made a mistake there :(

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For the buckles...

 

I saw a couple screen shots from the actual game that did not show a black "side-release" plastic buckle on the 3" belt. It only showed one of those funky looking metal clips (adjustment sliders?) in the back.

 

Were I doing this costume, I'd probably get or cut the 3" (7cm) strap then take measurements and sketch up some kind of mock slider that would be stitched or riveted to the strap from the back. Then I'd have my metal fab guy make a couple from aluminum. For both the 7cm size and the smaller one.

 

I certainly wouldn't let a lack of 3" side-release buckles be a show stopper for this costume. I might even look into sculpting the two halves of the buckle and doing semi-rigid smooth-on resin castings, if that bigass buckle becomes an issue.

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Guest Anonymous
Who's gonna see it, for god's sake? I think you're the only one I've seen actually recreate the A'Besh lettering anyway. 8) It's very cool.

 

I guess the mistake can serve as a fanboy detector. :)

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Guest Anonymous

Amazing job! Im going to be starting my first run(I have a feeling Ill need to do it twice) of my shoulder armor this weekend. Because I am poor, I will make my first run out of cardboard and paper mache'. It may not work though. Then I will have to buy bondo. But we will see.

 

Love the Gauntlet! That is amazing!

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Guest Anonymous

Thank you for the compliments everybody. I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel :lol:

 

I dont have anything partuicularly spectacular to showoff, but I have made some progress I like to report.

 

Tunic and Pants

 

After getting some feed back from my previous post, the general consensus was the color should be "as dark a brown as possible without being black" So unhappy that my tunic was very brown I let is soak in dye for 6 hours. I finally got the near black color I was looking for while still maintaining a definite brown when it is in bright lights.

 

So after I makgot the tunic to where I liked it, I realized that if I am serious about 501 quality, I needed to make pants too. Using the bull denium again I tore apart a pair of old sweat pants as a template and sewed my first pair of pants. To get the same color I let them soak in dark brown dye for 6 hours, black dye for 6, and then after rinsing and drying black dye again for 9 hours. I sewed the top of the pants so I could fastem them with a belt. The results are shown below:

 

DSCN4632.jpg

 

Loin Cloth

 

After reviewing my sources I determined the loin colth needed to be a brown wiith a brightness that would make the tunic apear black. After several failed dye experiments I went to Jo Anne and found this:

 

DSCN4637.jpg

 

And with a sample of the tunic:

DSCN4638.jpg

 

 

I dont remeber what it is off hand but I love the color and it flows really well. However, I will need to make it look weathered, so if anyone has a good method to age the fabric let me know.

 

Gauntlet

 

I have recieved the most compliments about this part above the rest of my costume and I thought I was done. However when I was looking at the art on TFU to find the loin cloth color I took a look at the gauntlet and realized there is a bottom half to it. So Today I started making the botom half of the shell which I plan to attach with velcro.

 

DSCN4635.jpg

 

Belts

 

Unfortunatly the strips I ordered from Zelikovitz Leathers & Crafts are not here yet so I really cant do anything with them yet. (I ordered on October 3. I called them friday and they said they would get back to me tomorrow with an update of where they are) So between that and my lack of buckel solutions I will probably not have this done for halloween :(:(:(

 

On the upside I did get my major accessories in earlier this week

 

DSCN4627.jpg

 

Thats about it for now. after the loin cloth gets cut and weathered and I finish the new addition to the gauntlet It is just a matter of belts before I can unvail my full Starkiller!

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Guest Anonymous

How has everyone build building the shoulder armor? Start to finish, step by step. I need to know.

 

I just made my, I cut out the templet out of thin cardboard then I covered it in paper mache'. I then tried to sand it a bit and painted it with as many coats as possible and ..............

 

it looks like crap. Guess Im going to have to live with it, until I can afford fiberglass.

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Guest Anonymous

Fiberglass is not that expensive for this project. you would need one $10 can, 2 packs of glass cloth, posterborard, latex gloves, paper plates, and plastic.

 

How I made mine

1.) make a duct tape manaquin of your torso

2.) using poster board make a base patern for the glass

3.) layer glass like paper mache on the template.

4.) trim, sand, bondo, and finish

 

Ill show the step by step pics tomorrow

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Guest Anonymous

Ok, here is the pictorial of making shoulder armor.

 

First you will need the following items:

1 can Resin (32 fl oz) see pic below

2 packs fiberglass cloth (each pack is 8 ft^2 of fabric)

A small can of bondo

Glasing putty

Posterboard

duct tape

Paper plates

latex gloves

plastic cups (disposible)

plastic spoons

 

Additionally you need these tools. If you are not willing to get them DO NOT attempt to do make fiberglass, well, anything.

Palm sander

Deremel with cut off wheel and Sanding drum attachment

Resporator rated for organic vapors ($30 from menards with 1 set of cartriges)

 

Step 1.)

 

Have a friend make a manaquin of your torso with duct tape. This will serve as a mold for the armor to form on. On the manaquin, draw a rough guide of how you want the armor to look on you.

 

DSCN4452.jpg

 

Step 2.)

 

Make a basic version of the armor you drew with poster board. In order to get the right shape the color must be made froma seperate piece and guled to the base piece. This serves as the foundation for your armor. Note that the armor is held to the manaqin by rolled ductape so it retains its shape.

DSCN4427.jpg

DSCN4429.jpg

DSCN4431-1.jpg

 

Step 3.)

Take the fiberglas cloth and cut it into various pieces and make a small pile of them ( I used 1.5 packs) . Make some smaller pieces that will bend easy around the colar and some larger ones to cover the general flat surface of the armor.

 

Step 4.)

IMPORTANT! You need to do the layering in batches since the resin will begin to harden in about 10 min. For each batch you MUST use a new plate, spoon, cup, and pair of gloves. If you try to reuse anything that came in contact with a previously mixed batch the new one will start to solidify beofre you can work with it.

 

For each batch of epoxy:

Put on a pair of latex gloves!

a.) Pour some resin into a plastic cup. I went with about 1/3 cup for each batch.

b.) Add the recommended amount of hardner (20 drops for what I mentioned above)

c.) stir

d.) pour some of the mixture on a paper plate.

e.) one strip at a time, dip the glas into the resin and smear it so the entire piece id saturated with resin. Then carefully lay on the armor

f.) Repeat until the batch of resin is used up.

g.)Discard the plate, spoon, cup and gloves.

 

Repeate batch procedure until armor is thick and sturdy.

 

DSCN4438.jpg

DSCN4448.jpg

 

Step 5.)

Remove the armor from the manaquin. Using the dremmel, trim and shape the edges as nessecary

DSCN4450.jpg

DSCN4456.jpg

 

Finishing.

At this point it is simply a matter of using bondo to fill in the gaps and a LOT of sanding. You should be able to finish the armor on your own from here!

 

DSCN4459.jpg

DSCN4509.jpg

DSCN4609.jpg

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Excellent find on the belt accessories -- are those cellphone clip attachments?
those are covertec clips, same as the ones used to hold every lightsaber on a jedi in the prequels. he's got four of them running across the back of the three inch belt (the big one).
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Guest Anonymous

So here is the story. I spent most of the summer trying various ideas for halloween with no success, but then when The force Unleashed came out last month I got pasionate about building a Starkiller (training gear version) not only for Halloween but also as an attept to get into the 501 once the character becomes accepted. So in an attept to have a costume ready by Halloween I started working late into the night about 5 nights a week to make my armor, experiment with dyes and fabrics, sewing, painting, weathering, wiring, and everything to make the costume stand out as all the other ones I have done in years past.

 

At the end of September I had everything I needed to do for the costume layed out and the list of places I needed to get materials from. Long story short the only items I could not find locally were the belts, belt clips, and lightsaber. So to be ready on time I ordered my belts from a leather supplyer recommended by the Flagship Eclipse on sept 30th.

 

So around the 15th when they still didnt show up I gave the company a call to point out my lack of belts and the manager said he was going to run a trace and let me know what was going on. After 4 days of not hearing anything I gave the company a call and they said they would ship a replacement via courier this time, and shortly after the cuorier service sent me the tracking information and tracking number. So I was confident I could work on them this weekend. One small problem though. Now the Courier dosent know where they are! apparently they have no record of the package being scaned after arriving there and now they "oppend a case on it". So now I have no idea where my belts are.

 

Additionally injury to insult, I ordered clips last week ( I was waiting to see my belts first before I ordered) and they shipped them via priority mail. The tracking number they gave me indicates the package arrived at the chicago terminal on Wed (2 hours from my local post office) and have not recieved any other information as to where they are.

 

I am really annoyed because I do not have a back up costume, and I spent a lot of time on this one. Granted I can still use it for 501 but now I have 3 halloween partys this week and no costume. To top that off the post office lost my voter card in the mail. I am just fustrated because I made so much progress and now the mail is going to ruin halloween for me.

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Guest Anonymous

I feel your pain, Brother...

 

This is my third SW costume I've been working on. Both my scout trooper and my clone trooper were completed about 2-4 weeks after consecutive Halloweens, both missing my self-imposed deadlines.

 

Shipping issues are the worst though, you can't even say you screwed something up, it's just plain someone else's fault and that sucks. If, in the end, you need a source for belts, let me know, I found one and have belts in hand from two different websites.

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Guest Anonymous

I made my belts from some fake leather material I got at walmart.

 

The rest of the belts are well............. Belts. LOL.

 

That sucks though. At least you'll have it done to join the 501st.

 

Just wear the rest of it without the belts for now. Youll be fine.

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Guest Anonymous

Dark Jedi does not go down without a fight!!!!

 

I'll go into the tale of my order for some other time, but long story short they are MIA. So I went to joann Fabric and got some brown vinil, leathery looking material and wrapped that around strips of various belt material of the appropriate size. To get the right color I wiped black paint (same as the armor, wiped it off and, honestly, I am really happy with the results. So here are some pics:

 

Basic construction:

DSCN4662.jpg

 

Asembled belts with clip:

DSCN4663.jpg

 

Weathered belts:

DSCN4664.jpg

 

Test fit (without 3" belt):

DSCN4670.jpg

DSCN4666.jpg

 

3" belt

DSCN4672.jpg

DSCN4673.jpg

 

Now bear with me some details are not here yet, mostly because this week sucked in terms of assignments, exams, and work. I will post some pics of my "halloween version" tomorrow or sunday and give a more detailed discussion of where I am going with the costume and other vital information to help this character get into the 501.

 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

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Guest Anonymous

Here is me last night in my first full fitting of the costume:

 

DSCN4674.jpg

DSCN4675.jpg

DSCN4676.jpg

DSCN4679.jpg

DSCN4689.jpg

DSCN4694.jpg

DSCN4695.jpg

 

A few prioblems I encountered:

 

1.) the under arm straps on the armor kept coming losse, so I am making new one from vinil like the belts (I have one more party tonight)

 

2.) the wraps frayed like crazy and from these pics look a little too light to me. I am trying something diffrent tonight with a mor gause like material

 

3.) I need to wear the belts a little lower and need to remake the 3" one

 

 

Other than that, I got a lot of compliments about this, especially from people who liked the game. I'll go into details more tomorrow, cause I am in a dash to finish a few last minuet changes before tonight.

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Guest Anonymous

I redid the under arm straps and lowered the blets a bit more. (the way they are bult works out wonderfully because I can adjust them! So here is some more eye candy for everyone following my progress:

 

DSCN4696.jpg

DSCN4697.jpg

DSCN4699.jpg

DSCN4701.jpg

DSCN4703.jpg

 

So now that Halloween is over I can focus on working on perfecting the suit for the 501. Basically, I am happy with the general look of the costume and the coloring and fabrics. The changes I plan to do are:

 

-The wraps will need to be to be sewed is such a way that they do not fray. I will try to create a few samples eventually, but they will be the same fabric and roughly the same color, although I will try to make them a shade darker.

 

-The two 2” belts need to have visible slack on the outside of them with a metal end piece. I will need to make that modification.

 

-The 3” belt will need to be remade so it will sit lower on me and have holes in the two buckle pieces

 

- the blts have some D rings, verticle strips, and a clasic saber hook that will need to be added and riveted onto the costume

 

-While the vinyl works extremely well for the belts, it is terrible for the under arm straps. I will remake this part out of actual leather (probably raid good will for belts again)

 

-The loin cloth needs to be weathered so it looks stained and grimy. Still looking for a good way to accomplish this.

 

-I have a game accurate saber ordered. I am still waiting for it to arrive.

 

-And finally I need to put the holes into the shoulder armor. Due to the implicates of having to redo it if I get it wrong I will be waiting until standards are finalized before I attempt this detail

 

Due to school work and other factors, my work on the costume is going to slow down significantly. However, I am still dedicated to seeing this character become a member of this detachment, and I look forward to sending in an application when the time comes.

 

Thank you everybody for your compliments and support.

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Guest Anonymous

Seriously, not one comment?

 

Here is one last pic that was taken with my roomates iPhone:

 

COSTUME08.jpg

 

The key to the success of my costume is definatly wearing the belts lower, below my rib cage, and remaking the 3" one out of actual leather.

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Guest Anonymous

Looks good, Man! :wink:

But, there's NO lace up boots in the 501st, not even under wraps! :wink:

To keep your material from fraying, hem it behind the fray.

To weather/distress your loin cloth, take a cheese grater to it! :wink: Just make sure you don't mind shredding whatever it's sitting on, either! :lol:

Your leg wraps need to be dirtied up, as well. Air brush some gray or darker brown over them. You can use a spray bottle of paint as well, just don't spray too heavily. Dry in a dryer before washing to set the color, too!

For a quick fix, to dirty up lighter colors, you can use cinnamon. It looks like dirt & smells good, too! :wink::twisted:

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Guest Anonymous

One thing, be more serious in your pics. It may just be me but you always seem to have a smile in the pics of you as Galen. Galen seems to be more menacing and pissed partway through the first part of the game. Just my two cents.

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Guest Anonymous
Looks good, Man! :wink:

But, there's NO lace up boots in the 501st, not even under wraps! :wink:

To keep your material from fraying, hem it behind the fray.

To weather/distress your loin cloth, take a cheese grater to it! :wink: Just make sure you don't mind shredding whatever it's sitting on, either! :lol:

Your leg wraps need to be dirtied up, as well. Air brush some gray or darker brown over them. You can use a spray bottle of paint as well, just don't spray too heavily. Dry in a dryer before washing to set the color, too!

For a quick fix, to dirty up lighter colors, you can use cinnamon. It looks like dirt & smells good, too! :wink::twisted:

 

 

Thank you for the tips, but I am not sure why you think I am wearing lace up boots :? The boots are castume riding boots with a zipper on the inside. I promise you there is no lace on the costume.

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To weather/distress your loin cloth, take a cheese grater to it! :wink: Just make sure you don't mind shredding whatever it's sitting on, either! :lol:

 

QFT!!! She's seen my cooler post-distressing via cheese grater! :P

 

Cheese grater does work wonders for distressing fabrics though. It's what i used to distress my Nihilus stuff.

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Guest Anonymous

When you were out and about in your costume did you find any problems with it?

 

I found that all the wrappings, kept slipping and falling off. I am going to put them all on me and then sew them onto the shirt. I am also going to get a pair of cheap gloves, cut off the thumb and all fingers and sew the wrappings for the hands onto those.

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