1/6 SSC ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader Modification Thread

[Yodasodabo]

Man, I already started looking into getting a kaiyodo kit because of you and I'm not even a vader freak! Stoked to see yours done!


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[eczamurai]

Also, too much garlic thanks for your suggestions, I have removed the eyelid mod.

 

[generalgrevious]

I just bought the kaiyodo darth vader so what gun metal paint did you use on the sculpt so I can look for it

 

[eczamurai]

I just bought the kaiyodo darth vader so what gun metal paint did you use on the sculpt so I can look for it

First attempt: Humbrol gunmetal grey.

second attempt: GW mythric silver with black mixed untill I liked what I saw.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I believe Humbrol offers two gunmetal greys. A light and a dark one. Or maybe I'm mistaken with Testors... been a while.

For ESB you can spray the gunmetal first and then lightly paint the black with a brush. If you are using clear coat anyway, you might as well just use flat black, as that covers better and with a thinner application and shines right up when shot with a coat of gloss clear. I did that with my own Kaiyodo once... before I bastardized it before getting into laser scanning. I have a near complete Kaiyodo Vader that I'll never finish. Because I cut up the arms to do the arms at belt pose and never finished, I had to cast new resin arms. Also tried to rework the chest armor a bit, but never finished, but it is more accurate than the standard kit look.

 

[eczamurai]

I believe Humbrol offers two gunmetal greys. A light and a dark one. Or maybe I'm mistaken with Testors... been a while.

For ESB you can spray the gunmetal first and then lightly paint the black with a brush. If you are using clear coat anyway, you might as well just use flat black, as that covers better and with a thinner application and shines right up when shot with a coat of gloss clear. I did that with my own Kaiyodo once... before I bastardized it before getting into laser scanning. I have a near complete Kaiyodo Vader that I'll never finish. Because I cut up the arms to do the arms at belt pose and never finished, I had to cast new resin arms. Also tried to rework the chest armor a bit, but never finished, but it is more accurate than the standard kit look.

Post a pic of the repaint please. Interested to see the result! I'm considering doing it the other way around because it gives it a more metal appearance with brush painted silver. Whereas I feel the black should be really clean. But maybe your pictures can sway me into another direction!

 

[PJB-1138]

Well it's nothing compared to the recent efforts made on here, but I went ahead and did that simple helmet modification mentioned at the beginning of this thread, of lowering and tilting back the existing SSC helmet, and wow, gotta say it seems to make a HUGE difference. At least to me.

Suddenly I'm a whole lot happier with this figure.

View attachment 155697

View attachment 155698

I admit I was tempted to lower the helmet over the eyes even more, to give him that extra-sinister ANH look, but decided I better just stay with the ESB/ROTJ look instead.

Nice work, DJ. After all the disappointment around the Hot Toys Vader, your photos are a nice reminder how good Sideshow's efforts were afterr doing these minor tweaks.

After modding the helmet on my ANH Vader, I never got around to modding my ROTJ one yet. What did you use to grind everything down? And could you post some photos of what the head looks like without the dome to give us an idea of how to get similar results?

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The ESB isn't brush painted. It's fully spray-painted.

I did my Kaiyodo paint up a long time ago, before I really got into prop collecting, so around 2006, so it's fairly off. And sorry for the small pictures, as I only had a crappy webcam at the time. Can't take new pictures as I stripped the paint and cut open the face mask to sculpt a more accurate face mask and never finished. This belongs to my first Kaiyodo kit - not the one with replacement arms.

 

[davejames]

Nice work, DJ. After all the disappointment around the Hot Toys Vader, your photos are a nice reminder how good Sideshow's efforts were afterr doing these minor tweaks.

After modding the helmet on my ANH Vader, I never got around to modding my ROTJ one yet. What did you use to grind everything down? And could you post some photos of what the head looks like without the dome to give us an idea of how to get similar results?

Thanks! I actually only had the one head to work with (since this was a pretty barebones figure I got off ebay for $120 that had no extra head), and had to pry the helmet off after soaking it in hot water first. I didn't take any pictures unfortunately, but basically there's a thick square tab on top of the head that fits into a slot in the helmet, and that tab has to be dremeled completely off. And you also have to sand down the edges of the slot a bit as well (and of course all the while you have to be extra careful not to break the tusks on the mask or scratch up the helmet at the same time).

I also shortened the neck a bit as well, to get rid of the gap under the helmet (and also to make him a tad bit shorter). And then I padded the torso and arms as much as the costume would allow (which unfortunately wasn't much).

I'm still debating whether to shorten the legs as well, but given the large size of the armor and helmet, I'm worried it might throw the proportions off a bit too much. Since they were clearly designed for a taller figure.

 

[eczamurai]

Looks really well painted Garlic! Impressed. Too bad about that Kaiyodo dome, looks so off haha!

 

[eczamurai]

Redid his eyebrows to your scan as much as possible. Thanks for that!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

I'm just wondering. Since you are pouring so much work into redoing the eyebrows, why not fix that error right on top of them on the brow, making the bulge into the correct inward curve above the eyes? That area was basically the only thing that needed reworking on the Kaiyodo eyes.

How extreme are you planning on going with the modification, because the cheeks could be made more accurate, as well as the chin. I can help you with reference pictures of those areas to pull out the cheeks and chin a bit.

 

[eczamurai]

I'm just wondering. Since you are pouring so much work into redoing the eyebrows, why not fix that error right on top of them on the brow, making the bulge into the correct inward curve above the eyes? That area was basically the only thing that needed reworking on the Kaiyodo eyes.

How extreme are you planning on going with the modification, because the cheeks could be made more accurate, as well as the chin. I can help you with reference pictures of those areas to pull out the cheeks and chin a bit.

I kept the eyebrows of the kaiyodo as they were, basically only changed the eye shapes this time. The only thing that truly bugs me about the kaiyodo is the asymetrical mouth thats turned the wrong way. Don't see an easy fix for that so I will leave it. The rest isn't worth the effort for me, I'm not that much into Vader as I am into Fett. But I know Vader well enough to see Sideshow's is wrong. HELL! Even my girlfriend saw it, and she hates star wars.

First thing she said when she saw Vader: Oooooh i like the lights. Whats up with his dome/mouth?

I was very proud lol!

 

[eczamurai]

I might actually include that curve now LOL. I cant unsee it thanks to you. XD

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Well, the bulge above the eyes will be hidden by the dome. You really won't see the error once the helmet is complete, so it's really not such a big deal. The cheeks and chin really doesn't need fixing, as the stock Kaiyodo LOOKS like Vader enough to not need it. It will make it more accurate, but... it can't also make it look wrong if not done right. It really isn't such a big deal.

Btw: it's important not to go too light with the gunmetal. It really should be dark, so it reads as light hitting a black surface.

 

[eczamurai]

Sculpted the small bulges. Opinions?

 

[TaliBane]

Woohoo... back on track! Go Eczam... facemask's looking good

 

[eczamurai]

Woohoo... back on track! Go Eczam... facemask's looking good

I agree. Going to try and head the facemask and see if i can bend it the other way around.

 

[eczamurai]

YES. I DID IT.

Looks perfect to me now.

 

[PJB-1138]

Thanks! I actually only had the one head to work with (since this was a pretty barebones figure I got off ebay for $120 that had no extra head), and had to pry the helmet off after soaking it in hot water first. I didn't take any pictures unfortunately, but basically there's a thick square tab on top of the head that fits into a slot in the helmet, and that tab has to be dremeled completely off. And you also have to sand down the edges of the slot a bit as well (and of course all the while you have to be extra careful not to break the tusks on the mask or scratch up the helmet at the same time).

I also shortened the neck a bit as well, to get rid of the gap under the helmet (and also to make him a tad bit shorter). And then I padded the torso and arms as much as the costume would allow (which unfortunately wasn't much).

I'm still debating whether to shorten the legs as well, but given the large size of the armor and helmet, I'm worried it might throw the proportions off a bit too much. Since they were clearly designed for a taller figure.

Thanks for the advice. How did you shorten the neck? That and the padded arms and torso really brought your Vader to the next level.