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

[GodParticle]

Ok, think this is what I'm going with. No more messing with this guy. This is my "say it ONE more time" pose lol

 

[matrix69]

Great looking vader GodParticle

 

[GodParticle]

Great looking vader GodParticle

Thanks. Now to try and tackle esb vader lol

 

[Anthrapoid]

To fix the belt buckle disc, I put a steel flathead nail into my Dremel, spun the edge on heavy sandpaper to get the correct diameter, then I spun the face against a lighter sandpaper to create the round reflective effect. I cut the nail head off, and thinned it down to 1mm. I removed the stock HT disc, and glued the new one in its place. It looks great. I wish I could afford to buy that custom-made full steel buckle for $100, but that isn't happening.

 

[bwh1990]

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

Did you try the dye on Vader's chest armour yet? I'd like to know if you got it to turn out alright. If so, I'm gonna do the same to mine.

 

[Anthrapoid]

Did you try the dye on Vader's chest armour yet? I'd like to know if you got it to turn out alright. If so, I'm gonna do the same to mine.

I ordered it from Malaysia, and it's currently in New York, while I'm in Washington State... waiting...
This way I can keep the stock ANH Vader w/Tarkin armor as-is, and the stand-alone Vader armor will be dyed and physically changed quite a bit.

By the way- I'm really glad I couldn't afford the stand-alone Vader when it came out. I had a few other pre-orders running, so...

The new 'w/Tarkin' Vader has greatly improved hand sculpts. I REALLY don't like the velcro glove flaps on the previous release. They're WAY too conspicuous. The new fully sculpted hands are much better, AND they can be polished with a soft Dremel buffing head. I polished a couple hands so far, and it adds a good level of shine. It actually makes the fine simulated leather details more visible, which is a good thing- because the ultra-fine sculpted leather texture is really well done.

(be careful not to apply any pressure on the buffer, or it will scar the surface- let the rotations gently do the work...)

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

I ordered it from Malaysia, and it's currently in New York, while I'm in Washington State... waiting...
This way I can keep the stock ANH Vader w/Tarkin armor as-is, and the stand-alone Vader armor will be dyed and physically changed quite a bit.

By the way- I'm really glad I couldn't afford the stand-alone Vader when it came out. I had a few other pre-orders running, so...

The new 'w/Tarkin' Vader has greatly improved hand sculpts. I REALLY don't like the velcro glove flaps on the previous release. They're WAY too conspicuous. The new fully sculpted hands are much better, AND they can be polished with a soft Dremel buffing head. I polished a couple hands so far, and it adds a good level of shine. It actually makes the fine simulated leather details more visible, which is a good thing- because the ultra-fine sculpted leather texture is really well done.

(be careful not to apply any pressure on the buffer, or it will scar the surface- let the rotations gently do the work...)

That sounds really cool. Can you post some pics of the gloves, I’d love to see how they look.


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[paulcarson]

To fix the belt buckle disc, I put a steel flathead nail into my Dremel, spun the edge on heavy sandpaper to get the correct diameter, then I spun the face against a lighter sandpaper to create the round reflective effect. I cut the nail head off, and thinned it down to 1mm. I removed the stock HT disc, and glued the new one in its place. It looks great. I wish I could afford to buy that custom-made full steel buckle for $100, but that isn't happening.

I'd love to see this. I'm not at the stage where I am looking at the belt yet. I'm working slowly from the top down.

 

[matrix69]

Belt buckle mod using the top of a nail...View attachment 430234

 

[jkno]

Very cool!!

 

[Solo_bones]

Ok, think this is what I'm going with. No more messing with this guy. This is my "say it ONE more time" pose lol

View attachment 429222

This is outstanding! What is the recepie here? That mask!!

 

[Solo_bones]

Belt buckle mod using the top of a nail...View attachment 430234

Vader, spot on!!! This looks so good, Mateix. Is this a HT mask? What’s the recepie on this one as well??

 

[GodParticle]

This is outstanding! What is the recepie here? That mask!!

Oh, thanks haha. It's just the ANH mask/dome repainted, nose plug pushed in a bit and painted lighter, dome lowered and squeezed in a bit on the ends. The chest piece was also roughed up with some paint

Belt buckle mod using the top of a nail...

Very cool...but I refuse to do any more mods lol

 

[paulcarson]

Awesome! Thank you for sharing that. What diameter nail did you use and how did you attach it to the buckle ?

 

[bwh1990]

I ordered it from Malaysia, and it's currently in New York, while I'm in Washington State... waiting...
This way I can keep the stock ANH Vader w/Tarkin armor as-is, and the stand-alone Vader armor will be dyed and physically changed quite a bit.

By the way- I'm really glad I couldn't afford the stand-alone Vader when it came out. I had a few other pre-orders running, so...

The new 'w/Tarkin' Vader has greatly improved hand sculpts. I REALLY don't like the velcro glove flaps on the previous release. They're WAY too conspicuous. The new fully sculpted hands are much better, AND they can be polished with a soft Dremel buffing head. I polished a couple hands so far, and it adds a good level of shine. It actually makes the fine simulated leather details more visible, which is a good thing- because the ultra-fine sculpted leather texture is really well done.

(be careful not to apply any pressure on the buffer, or it will scar the surface- let the rotations gently do the work...)

Thanks for the tips on the gloves. I have Version 1 Vader but I ordered some Version 2 gloves a while ago. Definitely prefer V2 gloves, those V1's were horrendous.

I'm pretty sure you could have gotten that dye from Michael's I'm checking there in a bit.

 

[Yondu_toys]

Has anyone painted his helmet the way they did in ANH?

 

[Anthrapoid]

Has anyone painted his helmet the way they did in ANH?

I painted the opposing plates of the mask only, going to do some touches on the dome later. I used Vallejo acrylic dark gunmetal grey, and Vallejo black, and it's just right. I'll add pics soon in this post.

I'll also post pics of the shined gloves as requested.

Also- I don't know if anyone else has done this, so I thought i should mention it:
I did the nose mod, but I took it one step further. I used my Dremel to round off the edges of the nose plug, so the nose end is totally concave. I used a small round ball-head bit, and CAREFULLY ground-off the flat rim that runs around the edge, then used a different head to smooth it. Then I pushed the nose in and glued it in place, then I used some Testors white putty to fill-in the seam inside the nose, then painted it. It was worth the extra effort- looks very good.

 

[bwh1990]

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:

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Sorry to quote you twice, this dye is available at Michael's craft stores, and I imagine other large craft store chained as well. It's for dyeing fabric, not sure how well it'll hold onto plastic. I'm gonna pick up a bottle and try it on my Vader's chest armour on Wednesday. I've used this for dying a bandana before before and it worked.

 

[TaliBane]

I've heard of dyeing 1/6 hands and the like (ie slightly softer or rubbery plastic,) but I'm curious to see if dye would penetrate hard/shiny plastic like Vader's armor. My guess would be no, but great if it does.

 

[bwh1990]

I've heard of dyeing 1/6 hands and the like (ie slightly softer or rubbery plastic,) but I'm curious to see if dye would penetrate hard/shiny plastic like Vader's armor. My guess would be no, but great if it does.

I think I'll try to do the normal hot water treatment first, if it doesn't hold I'll try just keeping it in a container for a day or two in the dye, maybe that would work.