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View Full Version : From apprentice to Sith Lord all by 10/31/08



Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 10:07 AM
So I may be jumping the gun here a little bit, but who cares! Work is boring and I had to do something!

I plan on making this a WIP thread for my Starkiller(aka Vader's apprentice), Sith Lord version, costume that I'm doing for halloween and for whatever Cons, fan films, live performances, Major motion picture role(please please please!)

So here is the ONLY reference pic of this costume that I've been able to find, besides one picture of a dude from some Con in England. He was in a big group shot with the 501st. I've scoured the 501st site looking for him and he is a ghost, nowhere to be found. Anyway here it is....

http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q414/lordleximus88/apprentice.jpg

Pretty friggin sweet huh?!?

I'm going to make the hood and cape out of some sort of wool with a red silk lining.

The Vader-esque torso piece will be made out of genuine leather.

I haven't decided if I'm going to make or buy a belt, I've never done leathercrafting before so it might be fun to try.

I'm going to make all the armor pieces out of either sheet metal or styrene and craft foam. Probably Wonderflex for the boot coverings due to its ease of use.

The "skirt" will be a similar material to the cape with the under piece being silk most likely.

I already have the gloves, boots and pants picked out and i will buying them when I get paid Friday. I will post pics of them when they arrive.

Any suggestions are welcome, can't wait to start putting this together!

Progress pics to follow....

Malaki Skywalker
07-23-2008, 10:26 AM
Nice, one problem though, thats was what they originally wanted him to look like lol

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 10:31 AM
Oh I know, this was the Sith Lord version before they revamped it to the hardcore S&M version with the mask and spikey armor.

Personally as far as a costume goes, I like this version better

Plus my decently sized gut won't look very good in this get up...

http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q414/lordleximus88/2008-04-03-SithLord001b.jpg

Black is slimming ;)

Wolverine
07-23-2008, 10:36 AM
That's an EU Sith, did you try the 501st EU site, the flagship eclipse?


http://www.flagshipeclipse.com/


http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 10:45 AM
yes I sure did and I got nothin! I went through the whole roster, plus Starkiller isn't even listed as an approved costume yet, but the pic I saw he was clearly standing with a large group right infront of a large 501st banner.

Malaki Skywalker
07-23-2008, 10:58 AM
I nicked this one off of Drichar ;) That should help with the costume :D

http://forums.thecustomsabershop.com/album.php?albumid=2&pictureid=59

Hasid Lafre
07-23-2008, 11:10 AM
Shoulder pads look very mando ish.

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 11:10 AM
This is the pic I was talking about, it's the same dude Malaki

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irms/964818519/in/set-72157600954360727/

Malaki Skywalker
07-23-2008, 11:19 AM
This is the pic I was talking about, it's the same dude Malaki

http://www.flickr.com/photos/irms/964818519/in/set-72157600954360727/

Ah lol I met the dude (And neophyl :D) at a local Star Wars event (National space centre) And its a pretty impressive costume, I would have no idea how to go about the armor (thats if you want it metal of coarse). :cool:

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 11:53 AM
Yeah it looks pretty impressive and with him being a member of the 501st I would never doubt that it is.

Doesn't mean I can't make one as good or better.

I've worked with sheet metal in the past and my metal cutting skills have only gotten better (Thanks TCSS!!) so I'm not too worried there.

I'm hoping to have a slightly less *shiny* look to mine, I want it to look clean, but not polished.

sekrogue1985
07-23-2008, 12:15 PM
body size is always an issue when you do a custom of some badass who is so physically fit that well yeah...gut or no gut it'll still look killer on ya

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 12:18 PM
Alright so a little spying on the 501st forums and I found the thread about the guy in the pictures. Him and his wife made the costume at the request of Lucasarts for the convention to promote the game. There is also a pretty detailed list of materials he used...might come in handy eventhough I have most of the materials chosen already.

http://flagshipeclipse.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=682

Thats the link if anyone else cares

Barmic Rin
07-23-2008, 12:19 PM
He ain't so tough!!!!

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t78/barmic_rin/Commandovssith.jpg


Better, more alive pic at CE:
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t78/barmic_rin/13072007756-1.jpg


Hope these help abit dude!

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 12:41 PM
LOL I love that first one!

Thanks everyone for all the help. It's so nice to have connections across the pond!

I'm so excited to get started on this...HURRY UP FRIDAY!!!

Stevegel
07-23-2008, 12:51 PM
Be your own Sith... In my case i just take off my shirt. lol
their there for life.
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/stevegell/255077.jpg
http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o68/stevegell/430111.jpg

Drichar Deis
07-23-2008, 01:01 PM
Shame I didnt know you before going to CE Barmic, wouldve been good to meet up!

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 01:26 PM
Sek for the record I'm 6'4" 210lbs I have a pretty slim build, just got a little extra round the middle. The wife's pregnant, sympathy eating is not a myth!!

I think with a few crunches and a little will power when it comes to fast food I should be able to be a fairly menacing Sith Lord. The height helps alot!

Barmic Rin
07-23-2008, 02:24 PM
Shame I didnt know you before going to CE Barmic, wouldve been good to meet up!

You probably saw me there, I was wandering the hall enough!!!


Lex, i'll see if i have anymore pics of him.

(For the record, I didn't take the first one, though I wish I did!)

Steve, very cool dude!

Darth Leximus
07-23-2008, 02:45 PM
Thanks Barmic that would be appreciated.

I was reading through his materials list and the brief descriptions of how he made everything, and I have to say I have a few areas where I could take this costume further than he did...

He used pleather for the cowl that the armor attaches too...mine is going to be real leather (already have more than enough!)

He bought the shirt and altered it...mine will be made from scratch (pattern and all) and again will be made of real leather.

All his armor plates are made from 3mm styrene and made to look metallic...mine are going to be actual metal.

Let me be perfectly clear in saying that in NO WAY am I saying that his costume is sub-par. It is absolutely fantastic and is definately a high benchmark to achieve. Plus being the first...as far as we know to do it with only 1 reference pic which is an artist rendering and not even a hi-res one at that...AMAZING!

I've also found some a few awesome pics of his saber...although I'm fairly positive it will be impossible to make into a functioning LED saber. I'll post pics when I get home from work, PB is not letting me log in to upload the pictures from work.

benny
07-23-2008, 02:57 PM
that picture on the 1st post is bad ass!!!! jedi are awesome, but there is something about a kick ass sith that is just so much more impressive!! hope the costume turns out!!

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 08:48 AM
Help please

So as I mentioned before I'm going to be using sheet metal to make the armor plates for this costume.

Now I've worked with sheet metal before, but it was just scraps that I had in my garage from the previous owners of the house so I have NO IDEA what kind of metal it was or whether the same type will work for this project.

So my question for all the metal workers out there is, what type of metal should I use for this? I need it to be about 3/16" thick and able to be shaped slightly (for the shoulder pieces) without needing a wheel to roll it on. Also I need to be able to cut it into shape without needing a plasma torch.

Any suggestions??

Voice
07-31-2008, 09:11 AM
I've not done much metal working, but from what I've done, and the discussions I've had with friends who have, the options that fall within your limitations are:

Mild Steel or Stainless Steel

using:
a ball peen hammer, and an anvil, and a *good* pair of tin snips or sheet metal cutters

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 09:36 AM
That's kinda what I'm thinking as well. I'm actually starting to rethink using metal for this. It seems like it's gonna be too much work for the small areas I need to be armored.

Keep the suggestions coming though, I'm off to research alternatives

Malaki Skywalker
07-31-2008, 09:38 AM
Try some Mando armor, I know there are odd pieces on ebay thats look pretty close :cool:

Arm on Fire
07-31-2008, 09:41 AM
I would just use Wonderflex and paint it with krylon fusion
http://www.cosplaysupplies.com/wonderflex/wonderflex.html

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 09:43 AM
Thanks malaki, but I really want to make it myself, whether I use metal or something like styrene. I really want this to be something to be proud of and buying pieces of it off Ebay would not make me proud. The only things I'm buying for this costume are..

Boots

pants (using baseball pants)

gloves

Everything else will be handmade by mineself.

The gathering of materials will start next week so I hope to start the WIP shortly after that.

sekrogue1985
07-31-2008, 12:35 PM
Sek for the record I'm 6'4" 210lbs I have a pretty slim build, just got a little extra round the middle. The wife's pregnant, sympathy eating is not a myth!!

I think with a few crunches and a little will power when it comes to fast food I should be able to be a fairly menacing Sith Lord. The height helps alot!

OUCH...sympathy eating hmmmm I'll watch for that when that time comes I hope not too soon though... :P

ya know that costume will rock. I'm finishing up getting what I need to repair my jedi costume. New boots mainly. Should all be done next week. THe wife is laughing at me...

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 12:52 PM
My advice Sek, when the time does come....just eat everything in sight man, it makes them feel better when you are gaining weight right along with them. you don't want those hormones to kick in and her start berating you for being all skinny while she looks like a whale!

Arm...I have some wonderflex on order to do my buddies Anakin TCW armor. It's just so damn thin I would have to multiple layers to give me the thickness I'm looking for. i will play around with it though and see what happens.

ArkaiHalon
07-31-2008, 01:01 PM
[quote=Darth Leximus;94798]My advice Sek, when the time does come....just eat everything in sight man, it makes them feel better when you are gaining weight right along with them. you don't want those hormones to kick in and her start berating you for being all skinny while she looks like a whale!
[\quote]

Just be careful. when my wife was pregnant, i went from 195 to 230

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 01:03 PM
well my wifes been pregnant for a little over 3 mos and i've gone from @200 to 215 so extrapolate that out...and I'm lookin at 245!!!! I gotta start workin out!

sekrogue1985
07-31-2008, 01:57 PM
My advice Sek, when the time does come....just eat everything in sight man, it makes them feel better when you are gaining weight right along with them. you don't want those hormones to kick in and her start berating you for being all skinny while she looks like a whale!

Arm...I have some wonderflex on order to do my buddies Anakin TCW armor. It's just so damn thin I would have to multiple layers to give me the thickness I'm looking for. i will play around with it though and see what happens.

I would totally TCW my costume up be seeing how i really don't have the money at this point...well i do but INDY GenCon is coming and I need money for that and my wife just about killed me when I almost bought that new Falcon toy the just came out and she's still trying to win me an Anakin ROTS hilt I love that hilt so much IDK why maybe cause it was the first MR i had but the blade broke and my friend bought the hilt from me so he could have the board.

Obi-Dar Ke-Gnomie
07-31-2008, 02:43 PM
I'm a real scavenger. I'm always finding stuff at scrap yards, garage sales, etc. I recently found some aluminum cookie sheets at the thrift shop. I cut the ridges off so I would have a flat sheet to work with. Something like this would be perfect for making those armor pieces. It's thin enough to work easily into the shape you want, but rigid enough to stay where it's put.

Darth Leximus
07-31-2008, 02:50 PM
Obi you are a genius!!!! Why didn't I think of something like that. I'm gonna hit up walmart and grab some $3 dollar cookie sheets and dremel it up.

This is exactly why I posted this question here, I knew that someone would think of something that was so simple and obvious that I was just overthinking.

I thank you sir....problem solved!

TorLinWaDur
07-31-2008, 04:46 PM
check this pic out

http://a510.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/100/l_ad369df4bc2eda6a87c65af6b7558a6d.jpg
08 International Comic Con San Diego, taken by me, on July 26, 2008

Darth Leximus
08-01-2008, 06:42 AM
That's sick! I was thinking about doing that version at first, but I decided to go with the warmer version. After all this is mainly for halloween...in chicago...so it's gonna be cold, probably raining, so the "Ultimate Evil" version in the above picture just wouldn't work.

Could be in consideration for a Con or something like that in the future.

Drichar Deis
08-02-2008, 06:05 AM
That pic by Torlin reminds me of the Dark Eldar out of 40K.

Darth Leximus
08-26-2008, 01:13 PM
OK so there's been some financial hiccups and some other projects (started some Mando armor just for the hell of it) that have taken my attention away from this, but I have the final design done and I'm going to sit down and work out some sewing patterns over the next few nights. Hopefully by my next paycheck I'll be ready to go buy fabric and start this bad boy for real. I have all the armor pieces figured out I just need to go get supplies and make them as well.

Question...in the picture in my first post (which is what I'm trying to replicate as near perfection as possible) you should notice that the leg portions of the boots have strips of grey on them. Now the dude from CE that did this costume really went overboard here, he did something like gluing strips of styrene to a piece of suede or something and then velcroing it and strapping it to his boots. Honestly I think it looks like crap and almost ruins an otherwise perfect costume. So I need another solution. In the pic it doesn't look like those grey pieces are something thats on top of the boots, it looks almost like his boots are just striped that color. So if i do add something on top of the boots it needs to be thin and form fitting so it doesn't add to the bulk, or I need to find a way to just color the boots that greay color and leave black stripes in between panels. Any thoughts??? suggestions???

Hasid Lafre
08-26-2008, 02:30 PM
I would get some sintra, the 6MM kind, use a heat gun to shape it how you want then get some tape to hold it and put it in the freezer. But yeah the shoulder bells look like boba style and the collar piece looks familure to.

As for the weight, Iam 6'1" and 265lbs so I got a fair bit of weight to lose myself. I just hope the supliments help like teh tv says they do.

Darth Leximus
08-26-2008, 02:42 PM
Good luck with the weight man, from my personal experience those supplements dont do jack, but that may have just been me. I've already lost 5 lbs since that post so I'm on my way.

As for the boot idea I'm still not sure. I'm thinking I might do some sort of soft material that I can attach to the boots so it moves and contours with them. I really don't want something bulky stuck to the boots or to have them so rigid that they are uncomfortable.

You're right on about the shoulders, I'm gonna use the same templates I used for my mando shoulders. the chest plates I'll just draw up a template myself since they are fairly simple.

Darth Leximus
10-02-2008, 09:58 AM
Alright, so finally there has been progress!! I bought all the material for the cape and skirt. I've torn the lining out of the coat I'm cannibalizing for the leather upper parts and cut the sleeves off. I've also cut out my armor plates for the chest and shoulders and will be doing the boot tops tonight. I will take pictures when I'm done with that. I went with the cookie sheet idea and it turned out great! I'm gonna spend some time sanding and buffing them to give them a better finish, but they cut easy with the handy dremel and bend and retain shape very well. I'm starting to get excited now that I can see it starting to come together. Hopefully the sewing will start next week.

Darth Leximus
10-16-2008, 04:29 PM
Ok still nothing major to report, but I do have some pics of the armor plates

Heres the chest and shoulder bells

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4249.jpg
sorry they are sideways but whatever


and the boot tops

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4250.jpg

I've also dyed leather straps to use for the belt and boot straps, but I couldn't get a good pic of them. I cut strips of For Sale signs and painted them with Aluminum spray paint for the shin coverings on the boots as well. The soft parts are all cut out and should be sewn over the next week. So it all should be done fairly soon!


Just for kicks here are some pics of the gauntlet I'm making for my buddies training gear costume

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4251.jpg
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4252.jpg

and the module I made to make it light up

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4253.jpg

Darth Leximus
11-01-2008, 11:47 AM
Ok here are a couple shots of the costume. There will be much better and cooler ones later, plus some detail shots of all the different pieces of this get up.

Me and my mini master
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4413.jpg

My 2 brothers, me and mini vader (aka Lexi)
http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn234/lexxicon88pb/100_4422.jpg

Lord Dottore Matto
11-01-2008, 12:09 PM
Came out great bro! LOVE the mini sith lord!:p

Darth Leximus
11-01-2008, 12:20 PM
Thanks man, now its time to start the Sith lord workout program before Con season starts up again!