Hot Toys Darth Vader : tips , tricks and any other mods

[paulcarson]

Thank you. It was a very crazy thing to attempt but I'm glad that I took my time with them. I gave them a light coat of satin black acrylic to give them a little more shine.

 

[Anthrapoid]

That's a really good look on the boots.
I like the HT ANH Vader for what it is, and I like the Sideshow ESB/ROTJ DX Vader for what it is; I have both...
But comparing the two, the Sideshow boots look like oversized clown shoes. I might have to trade them out for some HT boots.

Something else:
I bought the Vader/Tarkin set, not the stand-alone Vader. Eventually I found out that the shoulder/chest armors have different paint apps between the HT ANH stand-alone figure, and the ANH Vader that comes with Tarkin. The stand-alone Vader has the correct metallic-painted shoulder bells, but the Vader with Tarkin has black unpainted bells. (the bright silver color is totally wrong on both of course) but at least the stand-alone Vader HAS some paint where it should be.



I'm going to do a re-paint something like this below: (photoshopped test image)



Update: After doing some thinking, and some research, I might have the perfect solution for darkening the bright steel sections WITHOUT the masking, the risks and troubles that come with painting.

I already have a bottle of this liquid product: RIT GRAPHITE DYE for Synthetics.
Formulated to adhere to plastics, (including painted surfaces) with a hot or cold bath process. I ordered an extra set of chest/shoulder armor on ebay, (with the silver painted bells, HT ANH stand-alone Vader) so I'm going to try dying the piece black; dark graphite, actually. Then some fine brush detailing, and a coat of clear acrylic satin, and... *POOF*. Dark, metallic chest armor... I'll post pics.

 

[GodParticle]

So I'm thinking of trying to mod my rogue one head onto ESB vader. A few questions:
1. The rogue one head needs a little ball/peg thingy to fit into it and the neck of the body on ESB(ESB had the peg built into the head). Where can I get something like that and what would it be called?
2. Does the nose plug on the rogue one head need to be moved further back for ESB? I see a lot of people doing that for ANH vaders
3. Would tamiya gunmetal be a good match for the gunmetal on rogue one(thinking of filing out a larger chin grill)?

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

That's a really good look on the boots.
I like the HT ANH Vader for what it is, and I like the Sideshow ESB/ROTJ DX Vader for what it is; I have both...
But comparing the two, the Sideshow boots look like oversized clown shoes. I might have to trade them out for some HT boots.

Something else:
I bought the Vader/Tarkin set, not the stand-alone Vader. Eventually I found out that the shoulder/chest armors have different paint apps between the HT ANH stand-alone figure, and the ANH Vader that comes with Tarkin. The stand-alone Vader has the correct metallic-painted shoulder bells, but the Vader with Tarkin has black unpainted bells. (the bright silver color is totally wrong on both of course) but at least the stand-alone Vader HAS some paint where it should be.

View attachment 428357

I'm going to do a re-paint something like this below: (photoshopped test image)

View attachment 428360

Update: After doing some thinking, and some research, I might have the perfect solution for darkening the bright steel sections WITHOUT the masking, the risks and troubles that come with painting.

I already have a bottle of this liquid product: RIT GRAPHITE DYE for Synthetics.
Formulated to adhere to plastics, (including painted surfaces) with a hot or cold bath process. I ordered an extra set of chest/shoulder armor on ebay, (with the silver painted bells, HT ANH stand-alone Vader) so I'm going to try dying the piece black; dark graphite, actually. Then some fine brush detailing, and a coat of clear acrylic satin, and... *POOF*. Dark, metallic chest armor... I'll post pics.
View attachment 428431

The Hot Toys R1, and ESB shoulder bells are more accurate but not painted silver. The black lines on the Hot Toys, ANH, shoulder bells are sort of shaped like an upside down tuning fork. The accurate shape is more like an eye shape. See below.

Accurate:

Inaccurate:

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Anthrapoid]

Agreed... but I can live with that. The bright silver bothers me more, because it can be seen from the front when the cape is lifted just a bit over the shoulder.

 

[TaliBane]

I seem to recall the HT RO chest armor is a bit smaller than the HT ANH armor - always a good thing.

 

[Rudimus]

Anybody else trim the sleeves at the wrist? Solves the bunching up at the elbows & is covered by gauntlets anyway.

 

[Anthrapoid]

Anybody else trim the sleeves at the wrist? Solves the bunching up at the elbows & is covered by gauntlets anyway.

I'm planning to do this at the same time that I sew the whole suit inside-out to be a bit more snug.

By the way- one reason the armor looks too big is because the top of the shoulder bells are mounted flush at the edges with the chest/neck piece. (with the stupid black tape.)

In the movie, and certain production stills, (but not all) the inner edges of the bells sit UNDER the edge of the mid section, pushed in just a bit. This makes the armor less broad side-to-side, lowers the shoulders by about 3mm, and looks more realistic.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

I’m going to use Velcro for the shoulder bells for this very reason. I’m still going to have a small strip of material that connects the shoulder bells to the chest armor, but for the most part the shoulder bells will just be Velcro’d to the suit. I think it’ll look perfectly normal and increase the mobility of his arms quite a bit. I’m not sure why Hot Toys didn’t do that in the first place.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GodParticle]

Did a whole repaint on the ANH head to get the color pattern right plus the moved the nose(though it looks further out in this for some reason) and lowered dome. Can't really tell much of a difference in my photo, but looks a lot better(rougher lol) now. Wasn't sure on the nose plug color. It looks almost white in a lot of masks I looked at. Looks white in the photo, but it's more a white/silver mix. I'm a modding noob, so this was hard work

 

[GodParticle]

Ok, I tried something different...narrowing the front of the dome a bit. It always looked too wide, so I squeezed on it for a while and manged to bring it in a bit. There's distortion from my camera, but it's a decent improvement

 

[Solo_bones]

That actually looks improved, what do you mean you squeezed it? Did you heat it up first?

 

[D.R.37]

Looks good. I’ve been thinking bout doing this... Dis you do the hot-cold water technique?

 

[GodParticle]

At first I tried a hair drier, but eventually just squeezed the front ends all the way together for a while going back and forth. Might could just take a c clamp and clamp together combined with a hair drier, but I don't have a clamp

 

[Anthrapoid]

We all know the figure is too tall... by about 15mm.
I lowered the dome 2mm, and I can remove another 10 or 12mm from the legs and torso,
but that would almost certainly leave the head looking too large.
Maybe this head-squeezing would help minimize that issue.

 

[Solo_bones]

Ok, I tried something different...narrowing the front of the dome a bit. It always looked too wide, so I squeezed on it for a while and manged to bring it in a bit. There's distortion from my camera, but it's a decent improvement

View attachment 429077
View attachment 429078

You squeezed from temple to temple ANd did the nose mod, right?

 

[GodParticle]

You squeezed from temple to temple ANd did the nose mod, right?

Nah, I just squeezed at the bottom front corners mostly. Looks to have come in around 1/8 inch. Not a lot and I might try a clamp and leave for a few days. Wish I could round it in a bit on the corner, but not sure how. It's really stiff plastic, so do at your own risk. I moved the nose plug back a bit and painted it more white/silver

Edit: Came up with a better idea...some large needle nose pliers. Took it to the corners and started bending and was able to get some of that subtle curve. Think It got pulled in too much? I can always stretch back out. Here's a pic with the left modded and the right the ESB helmet which looks to be the same as the original ANH shape. If you try it, be REALLY careful(use a rag or something to avoid biting into the plastic)

 

[bwh1990]

Nice job, GodParticle. That definitely makes his helmet look a lot better.

 

[TaliBane]

Nah, I just squeezed at the bottom front corners mostly. Looks to have come in around 1/8 inch. Not a lot and I might try a clamp and leave for a few days. Wish I could round it in a bit on the corner, but not sure how. It's really stiff plastic, so do at your own risk. I moved the nose plug back a bit and painted it more white/silver

Edit: Came up with a better idea...some large needle nose pliers. Took it to the corners and started bending and was able to get some of that subtle curve. Think It got pulled in too much? I can always stretch back out. Here's a pic with the left modded and the right the ESB helmet which looks to be the same as the original ANH shape. If you try it, be REALLY careful(use a rag or something to avoid biting into the plastic)

View attachment 429142

You heated it or not?

 

[GodParticle]

Nice job, GodParticle. That definitely makes his helmet look a lot better.

Thanks

You heated it or not?

Nah, after bending on it a while, the plastic got a bit more flexible. The pliers make it really easy to bend. Might take some practice to get a good shape