The Brotherhood of the Sith-Darth Vader Costume

[supertrogdor]

very well done, Neo, i am impressed, and again that is a fabulous job on the saber

[LAN-ED-TUL]

well my hook makin process is comin right along. i made a set with regular cotter pins, the kind you stick thru a collet nut and bend the ends around the nut, or one end over top the shaft end.

i flattened them out, turned it over so the flat side was outward, and usin a flatbar of steel i had, formed it around that, and squeezed the other side together so they came back together in the middle.

thus making a rectangle shaped head cotter pin. they turned out pretty darn good. in fact almost exactly the shape of the rubies hooks.

i used a cotter pin size that had the width very darn close in size to the rubies hooks.

i also tried my hand at making the loops that bolt on. it worked, but wasnt happy bout the threads showing on the top, and i tried a dremel, but being that they were hardened steel studs, didnt grind off very well.

but i got the basic down, and next week im getting a tap and die set and a 3 /32 stainless round stock rod. remake the staple shapes again, but this time use the die to make threads on the ends to bolt them on with.

this will leave me with a much nicer lookin loop on top.

i will try for some pics of the pins i made soon if anyone wants to see how they turned out, or i can wait and remake the staple shape rods next week and take pics of both sets.

if the new rod loops turn out like i think they will those are what i will use, cuz they will be alot more stable, secure, and anchored much better than just the single hole for the pins method.

[ti-el_terall]

Watch out for sith world. I sold my chest armour that had a HORRIBLE paint job, and my rubies shins. Hes now selling them on ebay for a ridiculous amount of money compared to what I sold them for! The armour is going for $80 when I sold it for $50. Not good at all.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

to follow up with TI on sith world. just from all the reports from others i have read about them and their stuff. i would stay away from them.

i have heard the stuff they have isnt good quality, and you can get ripped off easily if your not aware of it.

update on hooks:

well i tried a pice of stainless rod 1/8th and a die to thread the ends.

didnt turn out like i hoped. the stainless rod was way too hard to cut, and ended up chipping chunks of the die off. so a 6 buck die is junk now.

i done a lil experiment, i took a nail and tried to thread it, it worked, but of course the dies damaged, but it did cut it easily compared to the rod.

and i test bent it to see if it would work, of course it bent just fine, the rod when i bent it, cracked on me.

so im thinkin i will get another die, and a few nails like the one i tried, which was 1/8th diameter, and try again, with a good die. from the testing i did, i beleive this will be the ticket.

not knowing till the armor arrives how long to make the down sides that thread, i will just make them long, thread them, and just dremel off the excess at the install time.

i think the nail i will use, cuttin the threads on it will be strong enough to work just fine, and still give me the result i was shootin for with the rod.

either the nail, or i will try and get a regular steel rod.

[Wolverine]

Not putting you down bro, but your making this way harder then it has to be.

If it's the "glassing in" of the straight pin your trying to avoid, just remember that Bondo would work just as good.

Also, you could merely duct tape it in place too, the idea of covering it in something, is so it doesn't scratch your mask....That's all, been there, done that, the straight pins work the best, believe me

I'm just tryin' to save you some work, and heartache

ALSO -I haven't forgot about you, I've been dealing with 3 bad sellers on Ebay, so I've been filing all the proper paperwork, and swimming (upstream) through the proper channels, trying to recover over three hundred bucks, so bear with me bud, and I'll get your chain shipped out to you.

[Do-Clo]

Lan if you are looking for something that will hold strong like fiberglass but easy to use get some fiberglass/bondo. It will mix like bondo but it has fiberglass mixed in with the bondo and when it sets up it is rock hard. I have used this on my Vader fiberglas mask to repair the neck line and to extend one side of the mask to make the ends even so that when the neck brace is installed it will be straight. Not that I spend much time these days working on costume stuff, too busy building sabers.

I have decided to focus on a Nihilus costume to join the 501st, they are pretty rare and the great part is the costume is cloth so it will be cooler here in the heat. It will take sometime to do the costume right but I am in no hurry. I have decided the add some armor to my Darth Technous costume, the details are classified but when I get everything together I will post some pictures. I need to find a set cheap set of Vader shin guards that I can rework to get the shape I want for the shin armor.

Wolverine sorry to hear about your ebay troubles, there are some real low lifes that rip people off.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

i know guys, but im getting fairly nice results so far. its not costing me much money either, so im ok in that regard. and im still waiting for armor anyways, so i have the time to kill.

i made a fairly nice pair of staple shaped loops from the nail. and used a 6/32 die to run threads on the ends.

i think i will try with a lil smaller diameter nail, cuz the ones i used this time were just a tad big around.

its not that hard to make them, and only takes me round 15 minutes to bend and thread one up.

i also did do up a pair of the cotter pin loops, that look very similar to the rubies design.

i will post pics later of how they look, after i make one more set of the nail loops threaded for bolt on loops.

reason i wanna make another set, is the diameter of the nail on the untouched part that makes the loop on top, just looks a lil too fat to me. and im strippin off alot of metal with the die till it starts cuttin threads anyways.

so i will try a lil smaller diametet nail.

if they turn out the way i want, theyll look like they were factory made almost.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

well, i made up a set from the original stainless rod i got. i tried it again and went slower with the threadin process. and they turned out pretty nice. i shot a coat of black paiint on them also.

im gonna use a piece of sheet aluminum i have that i made a spare saber hook from, and cut a small piece to use on underside to aid in the reinforcement of the hooks when tightened up.

also heres the pic randi sent me of my armor, its not the best pic he took, but oh well.



the bells will have to be mo8nted by me as theres no hardware for them. i figure velcro or if i can find the right hinge so they work right i will try that.

if i do a hinge thing i will give the bondo fg thing a go. thanks for that tip do-clo.

that might be my ticket if i have to go the way. or even use it to secure a couple nuts on the armor and bells, and use bolts and a strip of leather to attach them.

[LAN-ED-TUL]

well armor should be here today. its in tulsa on the truck. also i remembered a ways back when i did a swamp boat model, i used a fg stuff on it and it worked really well. i think the resin stuff was the same, but the fg mat was lighter.

so i looked at hobbytown online as we have one in tulsa, they got several weights of fg cloth. so i might just go with the fg routine afterall. i might have to lay on 2 layers of the cloth stuff, and the resin. but i remember i could work with that easily. its the heavier weight mat that gives me fits.

[Wolverine]

LAN,
I'll shoot ya a PM later when I get home from work, I'll get your chain ready to ship off to ya Bro.

The mess with PayPal & Ebay is finally over, 3 bogus auctions, and some $320.00 later, the good news is, PayPal came through like gangbusters, and I recovered all of the money I lost to these scammers

Some unrelated advice for buyers on Ebay, if your looking at iPods, pay attention to the seller's feedback, and tenure on Ebay.

Some simple things over looked can screw ya.

A public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood Wolverine