1/6 SSC ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader Modification Thread

[zeiss]

Next I popped off the helm and replaced it with the Hasbro one, to me it looks a bit better because its a tad larger than the SS stock one. Over all I'm pretty happy with the result.
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Katkuru, did you have to modify the face mask at all to fit the Hasbro helmet?

 

[Pixelpiper]

Weird. You wrote it was a fools errand to bother with changing the suits over because you "couldn't see any difference". I responded by saying that I didn't think I was a fool and I'd be changing the suits over as soon as my ROTJ Vader arrived because to my eyes, the ANH version is a much more accurate looking suit (as can be seen in The Fiend's comparison pic).

Ok, I went back and found the post. You took it out of context then and now. A "fool's errand" means something is a waste of time, and in the context of my post I made it pretty clear that in those examples I was replying to, the suit change-over was a waste of time. There are MUCH bigger problems that should be addressed first before changing over the suit should even be considered. The height, the neck length and the helmet being the three primary concerns. Thin arms being a fourth, but admittedly that can be solved with the suit swap more easily than not.

So while I'm fan of the suit and do agree it's more movie-like, it doesn't mean it's not a waste of time (and resources) doing a swap in some cases - even most cases perhaps. If you're looking at the figure closely on a regular basis or handling it in person, there's no doubt you'll see an immediate difference. If you have it on a high shelf or at a distance, it's not going to be something that noticeable and certainly not to the level of a height, neck and helmet fix (or even just one of those).

Yu also have to admit TheFiend's images make for much better examples of what the old suit brings to the table.

In my case, if I had a spare suit on hand, I might do a swap IF the height and hamlet mods work out well. It would be icing on the cake. But I wouldn't go out and buy one for crazy money - I wouldn't even go out and spend crazy money on a different body to try and address the other issues. But I do have to address them, so it's going to be the saw and glue for my Vader.

 

[katkuru]

Katkuru, did you have to modify the face mask at all to fit the Hasbro helmet?

I did dremel the top part of the mask a little to get it to tilt back a bit more.

 

[zeiss]

Do you have any pictures of how much you dremeled? I think the Hasbro dome looks better in your pictures compared to the standard dome.

 

[mosaicsquare]

Holy crap! All this science into making the perfect Vader. This reminds me of circa 2008 when TDK suit Batman came out and all of you guys were dremeling the **** out of the body and stuffing stuff into the Medicom head sculpt to put together the perfect Batman. Makes me feel like a horrible fan because I pretty much Vader out of the box posed him and threw it onto the shelf.

 

[Rambler]

I wouldn't worry about it. Our OCD is just not as serious as others.

 

[zeiss]

Makes me feel like a horrible fan because I pretty much Vader out of the box posed him and threw it onto the shelf.

I wouldn't say it makes you a horrible fan at all. I would say it makes you lucky

 

[joebizz34]

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!!

 

[weaponslayer]

I know this is a long shot but does anybody have an ANH Vader suit for sale? If you do please send me a PM thanks!

Also can someone please explain in detail how exactly you do the ROTJ dome mod? Because I'm really afraid of ruining the head by trying it. I'm pretty new to customizing so I'd really apreciate the help guys, thanks!

 

[Wor-Gar]

I've got the Hasbro electronic Vader here (I got hold of a new one so I could use the Hasbro dome if required on the ROTJ version) and the suit actually has a "silky" appearance. It looks good in pics but in person, I wouldn't use it because of the silky effect.

Oh well, good to know, thanks for saving me the trouble.

 

[Pixelpiper]

The Hasbro suit's pattern is also not to scale - the "stripes" are far too wide, very toy-like - even compared to the pattern moulded onto the Kenner 1978 Vader.

 

[katkuru]

I see your Schwartz is as big as mine!!

Lol, it's exactly as big as yours

 

[Pixelpiper]

Just did a complete tear-down and posted some body length images in the main Vader thread. Just in case, in stock form, he's 13 7/8" with everything properly fitted in its socket and squished as much as possible.

So now I can see that the neck socket seems very each to shorten - it doesn't even have an insert in it, so it can be trimmed a little at the bottom and if necessary the interior (bottom) hole drilled a little bit deeper. I'll have to consult a few more clear and bright reference images from the movies, but I'm pretty confident that his neck armor is a little too long, so I'm hoping I can shave that a bit too, which will hopefully still allow good head movement.

To help with all this, and to get him even shorter, the first thing I'm gong to do is to shave a bit off the top-most edge of the superior trapezius (the shoulder portion of the body that surrounds the neck). This will let the shoulder armor sit a tiny bit lower to allow the neck shortening while maintaining range or movement. I'll probably tackle this with a hand-file because I don't need to remove very much material. Should be doing this within the hour.

 

[shockwave]

I put the ANH suit on him last night.

This should give you a good idea why his arms look so skinny while this was never a complaint with the ANH version, even though arms are almost the same in diameter.



The new vader body is nearly the same size as my modified ANH body.





Here's the new Vader body with just the ANH suit on.[/B]



And here's VADER!











Even the gloves look better with this suit.

TheFiend,

Your custom looks amazing indeed!

 

[Pixelpiper]

Done modifying the traps. BTW, I (obviously) didn't have the suit on when I did the filing and sanding.



I filed down far enough to reveal a tiny gap showing through to the inside of the body. Prior to starting I marked the area to be filed by placing a piece of masking tape to create a line dividing the trapezius in half, from left to right when looking from the front.

 

[Pixelpiper]

The neck post has been cut down 1/8" and drilled out 1/8", plus I trimmed the front lip of the neck mask and also the underside of the neck socket under the helmet, to make the whole thing fit better on the shoulder armor. That brings the height down to about 13 5/8" - the rest is going to have to come out of the legs and torso to bring him to 13 1/4"

 

[Solo_bones]

Nice Pixelpiper! Got and pics of the work you've done on the neck post, helmet/mask?

 

[Darth_Calibrate]

yay broken tusk

scumbag ss
hot toys prices

<scumbag steve pic>

neca quality control

 

[Pixelpiper]

Nice Pixelpiper! Got and pics of the work you've done on the neck post, helmet/mask?

I need to sand the roughness from the neck post and then I'll take a pic. On the neck armor I'll try to get an image that shows the result - unfortunately I didn't take a shot of the "before" state where I marked a cut line in marker on it. But I'll have a chance to do it again, since I'm getting a replacement head and will end up having to destroy this one anyway.

 

[Solo_bones]

TheFiend,

Your custom looks amazing indeed!

Yeah, it really looks great with that suit. I'm really dumbfounded why they changed the suit.