1/6 SSC ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader Modification Thread

[Chakaman]

yes!! that's what I am doing.

how did you fit the head? can you show more pics? with indoors light only?

The head is temporarily in place now. I just stuffed some super sculpey in the neck hole cavity. Its holding the helmet in place for now. I will probably make a cast from sculpy, heat it up and place it inside the neck hole cavity. A homemade neck adapter so to speak.

"Don't fail me again.....Admiral."

 

[DarthBakura]

Does that body suit fit pretty well? As in, nothing needs to be cut so the original SSC DX boots and gloves can fit on properly and all that? And do the arms look thicker?

Also, does it completely get rid of the "suction" look the hips have with the regular Deluxe Vader body suit?

Pfft, the real question is... where the bloody hell am I gonna even find the SSC ANH body suit?! xD

 

[McHaleyArt]

Here's what's going on so far...
Everything's tacked or taped down to test fit, shoulder bells are just tucked under the robe to keep them there.
Nothing is painted and polished yet.

As I've said before, I just don't want to buy another Vader figure...from any company! Each time I do, I end up modding the hell out of it and I'm just going to work with what I have, picking up or fashioning a piece here and there. I feel the work makes the figure all the more satisfying and I really enjoy the mod-hobby.

I've been documenting the steps, but I'll wait to list everything until I'm really satisfied with the fit, closer to complete and painted.
Vader stand just over 13.5" and he's got extended ankle pegs...so I can bring it down just a bit if I want. We'll see how the final proportions look.

Here's some quick pics so far...

 

[Sturtrup]

Impressive! How did you do that hands/gloves? Great overall look! Vader!!

 

[McHaleyArt]

Impressive! How did you do that hands/gloves? Great overall look! Vader!!

Cut out the inner SSC glove from the wrist up and replaced with a pleather gauntlet.

 

[Chakaman]

Very nice. Looks great so far.

 

[TaliBane]

That looks great. Did you cut the bottoms of the jumpsuit to provide the glove pleather? I'm doing something similar but more along the lines of Hurricane - using the Dredd pleather gloves.

And is that the Kaiyodo mask and SSC helmet?

 

[McHaleyArt]

That looks great. Did you cut the bottoms of the jumpsuit to provide the glove pleather? I'm doing something similar but more along the lines of Hurricane - using the Dredd pleather gloves.

And is that the Kaiyodo mask and SSC helmet?

I used a pleather from something else that had some nice stiching...I think they're the ends of sleeves (I will check when I list the run-down),
Kaiyodo mask. Shaved/cut down Hasbro helmet.

 

[McHaleyArt]

2nd loose fitting. Better, I think.

 

[agonistes86]

Looks great so far, McHaley. I'm also currently in the process of building my own Vader with kaiyodo, Sideshow, and Vader parts. Just scored a HT bodysuit from TA, will post some WIP shots soon, as well. Haven't started painting any parts, yet, either.

 

[TaliBane]

Looks great so far, McHaley. I'm also currently in the process of building my own Vader with kaiyodo, Sideshow, and Vader parts. Just scored a HT bodysuit from TA, will post some WIP shots soon, as well. Haven't started painting any parts, yet, either.

Yeah I'm in the same boat but realized the HT jumpsuit doesn't include the abdomen/vest part - you buy that separate. Strange they separated it.

I used a pleather from something else that had some nice stiching...I think they're the ends of sleeves (I will check when I list the run-down),
Kaiyodo mask. Shaved/cut down Hasbro helmet.

You mean you sanded down the skirt part of the helmet or something more significant? My Hasbro dome seems a bit big for the Kaiyodo mask (and the SSC DX dome slightly small,) but maybe it's the skirt part.

While I do really like how the HT helmet came out, the Kaiyodo seems more accurate - if only a dome would exactly fit it. Hurricane is making a dome, so will be interested to grab one of those.

 

[agonistes86]

Yeah I'm in the same boat but realized the HT jumpsuit doesn't include the abdomen/vest part - you buy that separate. Strange they separated it.

Yeah, I got both the bodysuit and vest. Was indeed confusing the first time I saw it on ebay.

You mean you sanded down the skirt part of the helmet or something more significant? My Hasbro dome seems a bit big for the Kaiyodo mask (and the SSC DX dome slightly small,) but maybe it's the skirt part.

While I do really like how the HT helmet came out, the Kaiyodo seems more accurate - if only a dome would exactly fit it. Hurricane is making a dome, so will be interested to grab one of those.

My plan is to shorten the SSC DX Vader dome by a few mm, same as matrix69 did. It looks great on his Vader, which I'm basically copying. The new (fine) sandpaper just came in today, so I will be tackling that fairly soon.

 

[McHaleyArt]

Yeah I'm in the same boat but realized the HT jumpsuit doesn't include the abdomen/vest part - you buy that separate. Strange they separated it.



You mean you sanded down the skirt part of the helmet or something more significant? My Hasbro dome seems a bit big for the Kaiyodo mask (and the SSC DX dome slightly small,) but maybe it's the skirt part.

While I do really like how the HT helmet came out, the Kaiyodo seems more accurate - if only a dome would exactly fit it. Hurricane is making a dome, so will be interested to grab one of those.

Yeah. I used a dremel to take down the skirt/sides/under-brow...the whole inner rim. Although it looks really, really nice, there are inaccuracies with the kaiyodo mask (as TooMuchGarlic & Hurricane can attest) and so I matched the Dome shape with the Mask as best I could.

I picked up one of those HT Vader vests as I was going to run the Box wires through between the vest and the suit...but found it to be too puffy. I think it looks great, it just doesn't allow for any sort of muscle definition (which is hard to see as it is). I think the better option would have been for HT to have have thinner arms on the body so they could tailor the arms of the suit smaller. The thin arms + plus the suit would make the arms look more natural.

 

[TaliBane]

Yeah. I used a dremel to take down the skirt/sides/under-brow...the whole inner rim. Although it looks really, really nice, there are inaccuracies with the kaiyodo mask (as TooMuchGarlic & Hurricane can attest) and so I matched the Dome shape with the Mask as best I could.

I picked up one of those HT Vader vests as I was going to run the Box wires through between the vest and the suit...but found it to be too puffy. I think it looks great, it just doesn't allow for any sort of muscle definition (which is hard to see as it is). I think the better option would have been for HT to have have thinner arms on the body so they could tailor the arms of the suit smaller. The thin arms + plus the suit would make the arms look more natural.

Wow - you didn't just sand the skirt shorter - dremeling under the brows is pretty bold.

And I can see what you mean re: the puffiness of the Ht vest. I'm thinking I may cut the bottoms of the "pants" part of the bodysuit and use that pleather as the abdomen section - that way it's thinner. Not sure how much I can cut though. Doesn't seem like they left the pants as long as the SSC ones.

I have the SSC DX bodysuit and I'm trying to think of a way to make it look less like ribbed vinyl flooring. I see what they were trying to do but it was a fail.

I just found a TFA Vader shampoo bottle that has a pretty good sculpt and is the same size as the Kaiyodo. Might post some pics as an ultra (cost me $2) low cost alternative for custom Vader people.

 

[McHaleyArt]

Wow - you didn't just sand the skirt shorter - dremeling under the brows is pretty bold.

I did use a fine sandpaper to smooth the sharp edges a bit after, but the dremel did most of the work.

 

[Jun A]

Decided to do a very minor modification on my Vader. Just planning to lower the dome. Any advice on removing the dome is highly welcome. Please.

 

[zeiss]

I have decided to lower the dome on an extra helmet I got from TA. I also plan on putting the dome on the two Sideshow masks so we have some comparisons. I would also love any advice on how to safely remove the dome.

Edit: oops. I wasn't thinking and posted in the wrong thread. I plan on removing the dome for the HT version, not the SS one.

 

[matrix69]

Yeah, I got both the bodysuit and vest. Was indeed confusing the first time I saw it on ebay.




My plan is to shorten the SSC DX Vader dome by a few mm, same as matrix69 did. It looks great on his Vader, which I'm basically copying. The new (fine) sandpaper just came in today, so I will be tackling that fairly soon.

Here's what i did with the shoulders bells,i sanded a little off the front of them for a more accurate look. The SS ANH bell is on the right just to show how much i took off. At the end of the day it's no big deal as the bells are covered by the cape for the most part. View attachment 239902

 

[galactiboy]

Decided to do a very minor modification on my Vader. Just planning to lower the dome. Any advice on removing the dome is highly welcome. Please.

It's should just pull off with a bit of force. It's only glued around the top of the mask. Mine was actually loose when I got it so it came off on its own.

 

[TaliBane]

Wasn't sure where else to post this but I found a $2 shampoo bottle topper that's a pretty decent head for a background ESB/ROTJ Vader. It's about the same size as the Kaiyodo (which I'm using to build a HT/SSC/Hurricane/Kaiyodo custom Vader) and has a pretty decent/accurate dome sculpt.

I put it on my modded Hasbro "background Vader" body and it looks okay for a cheapo (everything on the body is just the Hasbro except SSC codpiece and gloves.) I spent about 20 mins roughly adding the gunmetal paint, still need to hit the chest armor with high gloss clear - the close-up below shows the head's limitations, but hey - it was $2.