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Posted (edited)

Welcome,

 

I'm working on my first costume for trying to join the 501st and am working on Grand Inquisitor (and Second Sister) - hopefully one of them will pass muster for membership.

 

I've been reading through all the other GI builds on here (quite impressive), and those builds, along with a member of my local garrison, have been what inspired me to give it a go. 

 

For GI, I found a way to do makeup instead of the mask, which makes me think I might have a chance at pulling off a decent version. Found a lady on YT that does a walk through on how to do the face paint, so this is what I'm looking to do. Figured if she can paint herself up enough to look like him, so can I (right..??). Everything in the below screenshot from her video, including the neck and armor, is all body paint amazingly. I just need to figure out how to build and seamlessly incorporate an elongated head piece, bald cap style, that would tie in right around the brow. I'd like a permanent version that I could keep painted with the ear covers attached, but not sure how I should go about that part (silicone, maybe?). I think it could look pretty sweet if I could pull it off. 

 

I also picked up some polymorph beads today to start building his teeth. Once I get closer, I'll be getting some yellow with black scelera GI contacts if I can confirm they're actually safe. I wear regular contacts now for vision, but I've never had any experience with the scalera ones. They sure look amazing though. 

 

For the uniform, I'm going for a tailored compression type look, think polyester-spandex blend top (like the stretchy material used in modern day dress pants/golf pants) with equestrian-style riding pants. Hoping that'll look true to his tight and pressed uniform appearance in Rebels. It's a great motivator to tone up the ol' triceps, too. 

 

Admittedly, this is my first attempt at a costume build, but GI (Rebels) is my favorite character from the IP, so I figured it's worth a shot (plus I'm working on Second Sister at the same time as a backup, lol). 

 

I'll be making the uniform, armor and lightsaber myself... so any critiques, criticism, or words of wisdom for a newbie attempting this build are welcomed and appreciated. 

 

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Edited by GrandMoffKK
  • Like 1
Posted

Always happy to see more aspiring inquisitors! 
 

I’d recommend you read through the CRL for this costume if you haven’t already: https://databank.501st.com/databank/Costuming:Grand_Inquisitor

 

The pictures and guidelines in there are usually very helpful in planning out a costume! 
 

regarding the contact lenses, you wouldn’t necessarily have to use Sclera contacts since the Grand Inquisitor really only has a yellow eye color with some red in it, much like any other sith/dark side user. 
 

the Suit/uniform requires the use of a “medium weight suiting material” I used a cotton twill for my suit, similar to a officer uniform, just keep that in mind when deciding on fabric. 
 

prosthetics is something I’ve been wanting to do for this costume for a long time, but I haven’t really gotten around to it yet. 
 

Just let me know if there’s any questions that arises, and I’ll try my best to help you out! 
 

//Malte

 

  • Like 2
Posted

Hey, thanks for responding! 

 

I have indeed been reading the CRL, but wasn't quite sure on some of the terminology, such as 'suiting material'. When I googled it, it showed a host of materials and blends that are considered 'suiting material' to include polyester and polyester blends. I got the idea for using polyblend from my uniforms IRL, which use a medium weight polyblend fabric to present a pressed and polished look while still providing enough flexibility in the fabric to run, jump over stuff, and fight (kinda like the Inquisitor had to do). 

 

Are there defined fabrics that are or are not allowable under 'medium weight suiting material'? Or is it just a try and see if it's approved kind of thing? 

 

That's the kinda stuff I keep getting tripped up over. Sometimes I read too much into stuff, and sometimes I don't read enough into it. Lol. 

 

I'm excited about trying the prosthetics. I'm not big on masks, so I was worried GI would be out of reach without one until I found the face painting guide. Appreciate the tip on the contacts. I saw the Maul ones online with the yellow and red, so I'm going to check them out too. 

 

I'm expecting this to be a long build with a lot of learning to do. Appreciate you guys paving the way. 

Posted

I haven't started my Grand Inquisitor build yet, and have been researching armor creation right now. I have an IOC officer uniform that mets the medium weight fabric for suiting material guidelines. the cotton twill or polyester twill is a heavier fabric than the quilting/clothing fabric that's easy to find in craft stores. It's more like drapery fabric in thickness. My estimation as far as thickness goes, is about three layers of the single ply cotton cloth.  With proper tailoring the uniform should move well enough. It won't be like spandex. Calvary Twill is the type of weave that gives the thickness and sturdiness for uniforms. It was originally designed for calvary soldiers after all. 

 

This will be my second build and there will be a large learning curve for me as well. I'm going to do the Rebels version, but because it is being realized in live action it will look a bit more like the GI from Obi-wan Kenobi in terms of how the cloth sits on the person. If the concern is about the tunic pulling out of tucked in, I'm considering a strap through the legs, as it will be hidden under the pants. 

 

I've also been looking at Agent Kallus's CRL as their basic tunic has similaries. I am considering making him as well to help teach me how to make the GI. Kallus has the color change pattern without the ribbing.

 

If you're able to meet up with anyone in your Garrison with an Officer tunic, ask to see it to get an idea of what the fabric is like. 

 

I am also eager and terrified to try prothestics. I don't want a full mask. I want to be able to move my mouth. 

 

It will be wonderful to go on this build at the same time. 

Posted (edited)

Hey there! 

 

Happy to have some company on this little adventure. 

 

This is all 100% new to me, so I'm having a ball learning as I go. Since this is a hobby I want to do long-term, I invested in a 3D printer last week (no experience whatsoever with 3D printing either), and I have to say it's been well worth it so far. Here's some of the starter pieces of his armor I have printed so far this week. Still some tweaking and post prep work to do obviously, but the rough items are coming along quickly. Also got the boots in hand this week, and think they'll complete the outfit quite well once it's all done. 

 

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I actually have a full officer's uniform in hand I got awhile back that I've been examining. Having enough stretch and elasticity to be able to pull off realistic movements like GI did will be important for me, so I'm taking a lot of time working out the uniform design and materials. This is a general idea of the look I'm going for with a form fitting, tailored uniform. I'm trying to closely mirror the model I'm using. I'd use shirt-stays to keep the top pulled down tight (attaches from the hem of the shirt to the top of your socks). Highly recommend them for a clean look that won't rumple or pull out as you move. They're comfortable to wear all day and very cheap, too. 

 

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As far as the prosthetics and face painting goes, that is entirely new to me, too. I've never worn regular makeup either, so oof, what an uphill battle that is. You should have seen my first attempt at applying eyeliner 🤣 

 

Kallus is a good partner build. I'm working on Second Sister while I'm building GI. Both have unique challenges to them for sure. 

Edited by GrandMoffKK
Posted

That is awesome. Looks like I'll be learning a lot from you. I won't even have a worktable until Janurary. 

 

I feel you with the makeup thing. Never worn make up in my life (a bit of blush and mascara was it when I was younger). Eyeliner was horrible. I'm also planning on doing Grand Admiral Thrawn, so it will be a journey for makeup art. My sister who does love makeup art told me to watch youtube makeup tutorials and I have to admit, I've learned a bit. It will still be so weird to do it on myself. 

 

The print looks amazing. I haven't convinced myself to get a 3D printer. Been looking at them, but can't decide which one is best for me. Was considering doing fiberglass over a cardboard model. A bit more work, but I don't know how many more costumes I'll do.

 

Boots are looking tight. I love the look of riding boots, particularly without the zipper kind. But considering the size of my calf they won't fit well. Looking at crowprops myself for the officer boots. 

 

Can't wait to see your progress. 

Posted

I'm lucky space-wise. I converted a whole bedroom into a workshop just for 501 projects. Lol. 

 

As far as boots, I found this cool video the other day that might be able help to you at some point. It specifically talks about stretching officer boots to fit.  

 

https://youtu.be/VmsmpOqF2VY?si=iS-KPHaAo3RKnRuS

 

  • Like 1
Posted

That is probably the single most helpful thing I've learned today. THANKS!! Somewhere in my leatherworking dabbling this never occurred to me. Yes water/wet forming leather. but never as a way to stretch already formed leather. You have given me encouragement. I didn't want to get boots with zippers, but I was fearing that might be my only option. I'll have to share that on the IOC to help people out. Now I can get a pair of riding boots and use them for several costumes (at least 3 for now). 

Posted

Oh good! Glad I could help pass on something useful. 

 

And as far as the 3D printer, I ended up with the Bambu Lab X1C because it is essentially plug-n-play and has an AI that keeps everything going right. So it makes 3D printing very accessible to a noob like me. 😁

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Okay, after a few design reworks and such, I finally have all the armor and lightsaber printed out (all in TPU) - shown here in various stages of post processing. I built holes in behind the red trapezoid on the chest armor so I can add in some battery powered red LEDs when it's finished. The silver imperial cogs are for the shoulder armor. I have a metal belt buckle coming soon to complete the look once I add the center to it. 

 

For post processing the armor I'm using TPU welding and Bondo for the seams, while using a flexible pasty caulk to coat over and fill the print lines. After all that dries, I sand with 180 grit to get the rough parts smooth, then hit it all with 400 grit. Then I paint it with a flexible paint primer and then a semi-gloss black flexible paint (car wrap paint) as the top coat. This has been working well so far with the TPU, and you can see a before and after of the hand guard. That was my first attempt, and I still have to do the edges and sides to finish it up, but I was pleased with how the paint turned out. 

 

I have most of the leather parts in hand now, too, so just need to build the boot rings and the neck seal to finish those up. Got some very thin leather that I'm going to cut and glue to the outside of a 1/16th inch thick piece of neoprene for the neck seal, and have some 1 inch wide thicker leather straps that I'm going to make the boot rings out of after I polish the leather up to match the finish of the boots. 

 

Soft goods-wise I found a stretch gabardine twill fabric in a medium gray, charcoal gray and red (sleeve stripes) that captures the 'medium weight suiting material' requirement but has just enough stretch to give it that tight, tailored fit I'm chasing. The light gray ribbed fabric shown I still have to dye to match, but it has the perfect size ribs to hit the magic '15' across the chest (lucky find). Now I just need to learn how to sew 😋

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Edited by GrandMoffKK
Posted

Working on the boot rings and found that if you lighten and zoom in on GI's boots, they actually have a design to them that almost seems to hinge (figuratively) on the ankle bone area. So I ended up creating this design to try and mimic the look as much as possible while still keeping them somewhat functional to their intended purpose. Printed them in FlexPLA so they can go on without scratching the boot leather, and they'll sit higher on the ankle as per the look but without impeding ankle movement. 

 

Looking at the CRL, it seems I have the option of finishing the rings in a black semi-gloss to match GI's armor, or wrapping them in leather fabric to match the leather of the boot...? Am I reading that right?

 

They are going on the English riding boots shown in the picture. Figured I'd try to match the leather first, but if that doesn't work out well, then I'd just paint them to match the rest of the armor. 

 

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Posted

Happy New Year!

 

Had a warmer day yesterday, so I was able to get most of the armor primed for final painting once the weather breaks. The colder air is causing the semi gloss to cloud a bit, so I need to wait a little longer to finish them unfortunately. I also setup the LED wiring that will light up the chest armor and the buttons on the left forearm bracer. 

 

Did some redesigns on the belt buckle and boot rings to increase their accuracy, but I did finally get those finished today. Designed these parts myself, so happy to share with anyone that might want the STL files I made. 

 

Chest armor and collar are finally printed and assembled with a rough first sand. I'll be using a flexible filler (for bumper repair) to smooth it and fill any cracks and gaps. I ended up reworking the original design and reprinted the entire assembly out of flex PLA (minus the top back piece which is TPU so it's more sturdy to hold the lightsaber). The print and assembly was quite a task, but the end result should be pretty great. It captures the look of rigid armor, but it's flexible enough that I'll be able to velcro the bottom chest and back pieces to the uniform so that when I twist and move, the armor will move with me just like in the show. 

 

The forearm bracers are a reworked design as well, which I formed to be one solid price that slips on so that I don't have to worry about trying to hide any seams. They're also printed in flex PLA, as are the hand guards. 

 

The boot rings are flex PLA wrapped in faux leather to match the leather appearance of the boots. The shoulder and thigh armor are printed in 65D TPU, so they are super light, but more rigid than the flex PLA in order to give a plate armor appearance. The belt buckle and matching belt loops are printed in TPU as well. The red lights are red translucent PETG, and the white buttons are just white PLA (though I may reprint those in PETG to give a little more heat resistance since they'll have LEDs under them). 

 

Since I have to wait to finish the armor, I'm going to start in on the uniform itself now. The custom silicone headpiece I had made is on its way and should be here mid to late January. Hope to have most everything else about done by then. Just have to work on sewing and facepainting now :-)

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Posted

That is quite impressive. You've done some excellent craftmanship in your build. Thank you for sharing the pictures. inspiration for me to get my space cleared out and this build started.

Posted

Thanks! Having a ball with designing and building the armor. That part has been relatively easy for me to pick up thankfully. Definitely been procrastinating on the sewing part... but *sigh*, I guess I have to get started. I've only sewn by hand before, so we'll see how transitioning to a sewing machine goes🤞 

Posted

I'm sure you will be far better than you imagine. Practice though on scrap. I'm about to unearth my sewing machines from the mounds of moving boxes and start practicing myself. I'm far more comfortable with sewing than I am with the armor portion. Kind of terrified of the armor honestly. 

 

I can't wait to see your silicone headpeice. I'd hate to feel like I'm copying you, but if you like it I would love to know where you got it. That piece does feel like it should be done by a professional. 

 

You work quick. I hope you get it done by your goal date. 

 

I do have a question. is the ankle ring secured to the boot? Or can it hold its position without being attached? I know it is easier to use the riding boots, but I keep seeing this piece as a seperate peice as greaves over ankle boots. I know I'll end up doing what is easier for me, but I'm still in the planning phase. 

  • Like 1
Posted (edited)

Thanks! We shall see. Definitely a good idea to start on scraps for sure. I'm sewing stretchy fabric, which I heard can be especially tricky, so I'm thinking lots of practice is in order. I have to make the patterns too, but I'm following some of the tips others that made GI posted in their WIPs for guidance on that. 

 

For the silicone mask, I went to the same guy that others here used for GI (the one shown in the CRL). I actually got the full mask and a custom version of it, so I'll have the option just in case there's a venue where facepainting ahead of time wouldn't be feasible. 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/238036092/animated-inquisitor-silicone-mask

 

For the boot rings, mine are free floating and stay in place fairly well since they are flex PLA and stretch to fit on the boot. I didn't want to risk messing up the clean look of the boots by trying to add greaves, so I went with the ring alone option. I'm thinking about attaching them in some way so they don't move at all, but I have the problem of overthinking things, which often leads me down the road of ruining something that would in reality be perfectly fine as is. So I think I'm going to wait and see how they do as is before messing with them again. The biggest problem I have with them is the boot gaps from them when I flex my foot cuz I have little ankles. But the ring itself stays in place - it's more the boot that moves, so not sure it attaching them would even work. 

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Edited by GrandMoffKK
  • Like 1
Posted

Good information. Thank you.

Sewing rings like that wouldn't be easy. It's a quilting level skill of peicing things together. And leather is even harder to work with. Sounds like an interesting sewing challenge. But good to have a backup. Like with the mask. Think those mask move with talking if glued in the right places? I'm so used to masks not moving, but that DragonSkin stuff looks like it could. Something to research about the full face masks. 

Posted

I definitely couldn't get the rings to stack right and look even. I was using foam and cut leather strips though. Lol

 

I think the mask probably can, especially since it seems to have been approved a few times over now.  I've never messed with prosthetics or anything like it, so this is all new. Just learning how to use eyeliner has been a struggle, so I wanted the full mask as a backup in case I end up looking like Ronald McDonald 😂 

 

I did splurge on a silicone fx compound so I can practice and add some higher cheek bones and such if needed to complete the look. Plus I got some thermoplastic beads to make his teeth. Makeup wise, I did learn that grease paint is not my friend - especially when trying to layer the red paint over the white. I've had much better results using the Mehron Paradise paints. They have a nice deep red color available, too. 

 

Hopefully it will all come together in the end. Thankfully there's so many helpful people out there willing to share pointers and experience, so I don't have to start completely from scratch in that regard. 

Posted

The only thing I know about layering make up is Try NOT to. I think I watched a tutorial on Darth Maul make up and they blocked off the black so they weren't painting over the red base completely. At least the large portions. Mixing colors on the face is complicated. The Inquisitor looks like it could benefit from blocking to avoid mixing. I know there is a drying capability, but I don't know how it works because I haven't used it yet. I was looking into water based makeup for Thrawn. The makeup fixing powder seems to be the best friend. 

Posted

Hmm...blocking off parts. I never thought about that. That's not a bad idea. Could certainly help with getting the red tear lines straight and equal too. I might have to try that. I have the setting spray, but haven't tried it yet. I had some recommendations to use the setting spray to wet the paint instead of water, and then also to use a bit of baby powder on top of the first paint color before applying the second color. Haven't tried that yet either, but I'm probably going to play around with it this weekend since I got my silicone kit and new GI contacts delivered today. 

Posted

Hmm, methods to investigate and try in the future. Never heard of the baby powder trick. Now I'm curious. something to keep in mind for the future. Good luck with the trial and error. 

  • Thanks 1
Posted (edited)

Finally got just warm enough (in my garage) to try and do some top coats on the armor. They came out pretty good. Still have some spots I need to touch up or turn into weathering. 

 

I ended up adding magnets to the inside of the handguards, and I cut some thin pieces of sheet metal to go inside the glove to connect to. Let's them sit much closer to the top of the glove than velcro would, and if I need to change gloves, I just pop the pieces out and pop them in the new gloves - no adhesives required. 

 

Also, finally settled on a good pair of teeth to use. Ended up with this pair because they actually look realistic. Matching his teeth exactly to the show looked way too cartoonish, so I settled on the realistic look that's a mix between the animation version and the live-action Pau'an version we saw in RotS. 

 

Got some custom contacts being painted that should be here soon, too. They're essentially these, but the guy's making the red part better mirror this image of GI's eyes from the show with the thinner red aura and the red sunburst lines that span out randomly. So these should hopefully add the perfect touch to the final look of costume. 

 

I also revisited the ankle rings on the boots. I didn't like how big they were, so I scaled them smaller/thinner to make them more accurate to the show. 

 

And lastly, here's a photo of the custom silicone mask I had made (this is the raw, unpainted version in the photo).

 

Still making progress, slowly but surely. 

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Edited by GrandMoffKK
Posted (edited)

After reviewing some closeups of the armor from the show and rereading the CRL's mention of the armor having a thickness resembling plate armor, I decided to change up and go for an actual plate armor look. The polished versions, while pretty, still looked really like plastic armor, so I wanted to see if I could make them look like plate metal instead. 


Here's images from the show showing the metal texture of the armor that I'm trying to replicate. Kinda like SAPI plates.  Screenshot_20250208-201343_Gallery.jpg

 

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And under that is how I redid the base layer of my armor using a rubber coating. The chest piece is still just the raw rubber, but the hip plates, hand guards and forearm bracers are all sanded and primed (but the primer hasn't been sanded yet). I'll add the black semi-gloss bumper paint tomorrow and see how the final versions turn out. 

 

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Hoping it goes well, as I'm really excited about the look and improved functionality the rubber base layer provides, such as covering any and all printlines, adding strength to the printed filament, and keeping the top layers of paint from cracking due to the flexible filament used to make the armor. 

Edited by GrandMoffKK

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