Cryoguns' custom 1/6th Darth Vader

[Cryoguns]

Hey guys-

I figured I'd better post this one before the Sideshow ANH version gets released and everyone has an awesome Vader This is the one I had made a couple years ago with the assistance of a few other very talented customizers.

My plan for right now is to keep him and upgrade a few parts once Sideshow's is out. I'm not aiming for any specific movie from the series with this Vader, but rather picked among the elements of all and incorporated what I liked. If he leands more towads any of them, it's ANH - the lightsaber, helmet paint scheme, and robes were all taken from that film.

*****

The breakdown:
Body - Hot Toys caucasian body modified for height and BBi G3.5 wristposts.
Gloves - Sideshow civil war gauntlets, modified and repainted.
Chest armor - salvaged from a Screamin' Vader vinyl kit recast, repainted.
Shoulder armor - repainted Medicom Vader's.
Chest box - Medicom Vader's (no mods)
Belt - Medicom Vader's modified with a leather belt.
Codpeice - custom made from layered craft foam and covered in pleather.
Boots & shinguards - Medicom Vader's (no mods aside from DML boot inserts)
Head - Hasbro electronic Vader, resculpted slightly and repainted.
Helmet dome - Hasbro electronic Vader.
Helmet mask - - Wax Murderer's custom resin helmet kit. "Extras" added from various materials at per Wax's detailing instructions (wires, mikes, tusks, etc).
Bodysuit - Eggbreaker's custom Vader bodysuit.
Robes - D-Art's custom Vader robes & cape.
Lightsaber - Hilt is all scratchbuilt, blade is from a SS Maul saber.
Stand - Sideshow SDCC Anakin/Vader's.

 

[Cryoguns]

CONSTRUCTION:

Here's some early pictures of Vader as a WIP. It was a project that had been kicking around on the back burner for years, as I initally toyed with parts from the Hasbro 14" electronic Vader, parts from the Kotobukiya Vader, and a recast kit from the Screamin' Vader (which was a waste). With finally finding someone to make a good proper custom bodysuit, this project has ground forward after years of being idle.

So how tall is Darth Vader supposed to be? According to the database at StarWars.com, he stands at 2.02 meters. This works out to 6ft 7.5in (David Prowse stands in at 6ft 7in per IMDB, so this should be correct). As far as 1/6th scale is concerned, this works out to 13.25 inches in height. Now I have a place to start.

Well, I needed to begin with a body that was the proper height. I know a lot of people were using the Kanamit body and modifying it, but I've never been crazy about Sideshow's Buck body. The Hot Toys TT body had a nice build and articulation, and was a little on the larger side of 1/6th bodies. However, it still wasn't tall enough. My solution was to use a razor saw to split the Hot Toys body in the abdomen and thighs. Once that was done, I cut some donor sections out of a BBi G3 body and glued the whole mess together with plenty of JB Weld. Since the gauntlets I wanted to use did not support the Hot Toys wrist posts, I cut the figure at the forearms and added the forearms and wrist joints from the same BBi figure. This also had the benefit of adding length to the arms to keep it more closely in scale with the legs.

In the next picture, I have added Magic Sculpt to strengthen and fill out the Hot Toys body. This got rid of a couple unusual bumps in the thighs where the BBi spacers differed from the Hot Toys sculpt. Also added some beef to the biceps to help fill out the suit made by Eggbreaker.

Since the entire body is covered, I didn't worry about making it pretty, just bulky and smooth.

A height comparison with a kitbashed Indiana Jones that I've been tooling around with almost as long as my Vader project. He utilizes a shorter height DML body.

The outfit is still a mockup at this point. The bodysuit is by Eggbreaker, gauntlets from a Sideshow Civil War figure (Custer?) that still need to be modified, unfinished helmet by Wax Murderer, Hasbro belt (will be replaced with a custom one), and Hasbro electronic Vader inner robe (will be replaced once I can find someone willing to sew a new cape and robe for this figure).

The chest/shoulder armor, chest box, and boots/shinguards are from the Medicom figure. The codpiece is also from the Medicom Vader, but is much too small to use and will be replaced.

Anyway, you get a good idea of the overall height of the figure in relation to others. This Vader is actually a little taller than I had aimed for, and stands around 13 3/8" tall. I think it looks good, even if slightly taller than proper 1/6th scale. I have got some DML soles to add a little height in the boots, which I can remove if I need to adjust the height slightly.

This shows the belt and codpiece which were after being finished. You can also see the scribed lines in the right gauntlet (left wasn't started yet).

 

[Cryoguns]

Pictures of the helmet after being painted. I used Tamiya spraypaints for this one:

 

[Cryoguns]

Pictures of the helmet interior after detailing:

And the resculpted and repainted Hasbro Anakin 'reveal' head from the 14" electronic vader. The yellowish look is far more severe due to the lighting in these pictures. The bottom of the head was masked off where I had painted it black, just in case the head was posed in such a way to allow the skintone to peek through under the neckbrace:

 

[Cryoguns]

Pictures of the ANH style lightsaber after being constructed. The blade is removeable.

It is shown alongside a Sideshow Anakin saber for reference:

 

[shocktrooper_au]

Looking great so far, I would only say he looks a bit thin at the waist at the moment but you have solid figure there

 

[Cryoguns]

And the final figure:

 

[Cryoguns]

Unmasked!

Alongside the original Hasbro head...

And Vader the pimp!

 

[shocktrooper_au]

Wow turned out well, luv the slumped shoulder look, reminds me of a lot of Promo pics of Vader

 

[Venomous venom]

awesome man.....

 

[barryo]

the force is strong with this one..........


somebody had to say it..

very damn nice cyro !!

 

[galactiboy]

That is really, really nice work. I'd say definitely one of the best custom Vader's I've seen.

How did you "Scribe" the gloves? Looks really good, definitely a custom to be proud of

 

[Cryoguns]

Glad you guys liked it

To 'scribe' the gloves, I used a scribing tool similar to this one. It's designed more for styrene model kits, but was able to use it on the softer vinyl gloves with a bit of work:

https://www.megahobby.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3731

 

[mkcc30]

:eek Thats freakin' AWESOME!

 

[bobamike]

wow! that is nice cryo! that is up there with Glenns awesome vader creations.
again that is sweet dude!!!

 

[Voorhees27]

That is some fantastic work man, one of, if not the best Vader custom ive seen to date!

 

[Mooncat]

Its a fantastic improvement over the original base figure, absolutely well done

 

[KBA]

That is one awesome custom. A truetype Vader. Amazing!