1/6 Hot Toys - MMS 279 - Star Wars Episode IV: 1/6th scale Darth Vader

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For those who are interested here's a comparison between the HT suit and the SS version. Both are on the stock HT vader body. For me i still prefer the natural look of the SS version.. View attachment 248998

Very interesting.

Hard for me to choose. I do like the HT suit better in how its realized, but the padded body does look like a pudgy man... whereas the SS body looks better proportioned but the suit looks cheaper to me, with the stitching too obvious.
 
Very interesting.

Hard for me to choose. I do like the HT suit better in how its realized, but the padded body does look like a pudgy man... whereas the SS body looks better proportioned but the suit looks cheaper to me, with the stitching too obvious.

Yes. And for what you see of Vader (legs, part of the arms, center abdomen) HT suit does his job.
 
I like the 'puffy stitching' of the hot toys suit. The rest is fixable.
 
The puffy stitching and the bulkiness of the legs are what bother me most. I find myself hiding the legs as much as possible as they look stumpy (not sure if it's the cut of the suit around the crotch). Seeing a photo like this one below makes me feel like the raised/ribbed texture between stitching is a bit exaggerated too. But again it only bothers me on the thighs, I like the rich black and the upper body looks pretty nice. The arms a bit less so.

eb13ffb6c59ad5cf816f5abfadd0a847_zpsgqjfxpg9.JPG
 
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I think what is throwing the look off is that the leather suit is too new. If it is crumpled up a little to get more folds etc in it then put back onto the figure will look far better.
 
Unfortunately, we don't know how durable the Hot Toys suit is yet. It's possible that the arms were tailored thicker as to not add stress on the material. They might have figured it would be the arms that are posed most often. The Medicom suit was made in a similar way ( padding -wise) and turned out to be a flaking disaster. The top "leather" layer was much too thin. I don't know how much thicker HT's top layer is or if it's a completely different material.
Somewhere in between the Hot Toys and Sideshow suits would probably be ideal.
I think the idea SSC had on their deluxe Vader suit was a good one, but executed terribly. If the tailored it better, with slightly thicker material and thinner, indented stitch lines....maybe.


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Here's how the lens look with the old 'hasbro reveal sculpt' behind them. I cut the eye area out and painted it silver. I think it works pretty good and gives more of a realistic effect when light hits it..
Cool idea, but why not paint it skin colored? The silver effect makes the lenses seem unnaturally shiny.

Cool idea, had though of doing something similar with a photograph of Dave Prowse.
I'm working on finding a new producer for my project, but it includes a Dave Prowse likeness.
 
Not a huge fan of the SSC DX suit. I see what they were going for but it's like an automotive floor mat shaped into a suit.

While I love how creases pass across the SSC ANH suit, it doesn't have any actual "quilts" - i.e. where it's raised/stuffed between the stitches. When you see Vader's suit side-lit you can see that it should have a bit (though not a lot) of actual quilting. The SSC ANH suit is also noticeably inaccurate on the lower arms where it meets the gloves because the stitches are supposed to converge/get closer together (like the HT suit's stitching does) but the SSC ANH stitches continue wide and parallel.

The HT suit does look a little too puffy (and also too "fat" because of the belly pad etc.) but the sheen is the thing that always bothers me about it - it's what gives that shiny licorice look. I've been wondering if some thinned, random dry-brushing of matte clear onto the HT bodysuit might improve the look, along with removing the interior padding a bit.

But yeah - how the HT suit will age is anyone's guess. As owners of the Terminator Salvation Connor will tell you, HT really doesn't do "leather" to last.:slap:lol
 
Does anyone know where I can purchase a loose hot toys Vader belt? Mine ripped a little bit when I was putting it together and it is being held with duct tape. Can't believe what I did. So disappointment in myself lol!
 
Finally finished modding my kitbash SS ESB Vader!

Custom painted belt and chest box as well as shoulder armor







Helmet before and after




(don't mind the shoulder armor in the pic above, it was taken before I finished it)

Just for fun

 
I was thinking ( yeah, I bet you could smell burning too ;) ) with all the good work being done to enhance the figure , should all of the mods , tips, tricks etc be kept in a separate thread ? It would be far easier to navigate and also to find.
 
Cool idea, but why not paint it skin colored? The silver effect makes the lenses seem unnaturally shiny.


I'm working on finding a new producer for my project, but it includes a Dave Prowse likeness.

Painting it skin color won't give the desired effect and can't be seen. The silver paint helps make any light shining through accentuate the 'eyes behind the lens' effect as well as making the amber pop. The previous pics i took i used camera flash to show the effect as it's very subtle and hard to capture. Here are some shots under normal light,again it's very subtle but i think works great when light hits the lens..View attachment 249201View attachment 249202View attachment 249203
 
Painting it skin color won't give the desired effect and can't be seen. The silver paint helps make any light shining through accentuate the 'eyes behind the lens' effect as well as making the amber pop. The previous pics i took i used camera flash to show the effect as it's very subtle and hard to capture. Here are some shots under normal light,again it's very subtle but i think works great when light hits the lens..View attachment 249201View attachment 249202View attachment 249203

Of all the mods this one has the most noticeable, positive results. Now to work up the courage to do it myself.


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Begun my mods... Stressful getting the damn head apart without damage. So far so good I just have to figure out how the hell to get that nose piece out.

Edit, got it out... Impossible to explain how to do this, if you don't know what you are doing a word of warning, don't attempt this the nose mod is not for a novice!
 
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Okay, so just lowered the dome a tiny bit, added some white shiny paper (from a X-mas bow) behind the eyes and sanded the nose plug down a tiny bit. This a before and after (of sorts)--first one is actually a different helmet unmodded.

DSC_0045.jpg
DSC_0051.jpg
 
I was thinking ( yeah, I bet you could smell burning too ;) ) with all the good work being done to enhance the figure , should all of the mods , tips, tricks etc be kept in a separate thread ? It would be far easier to navigate and also to find.

...on the other hand I can't remember the last time I saw anyone post a pic of the stock figure.
 
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