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

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Maybe HT should do a " build or customize your own Vader " collectible :panic:

what hot toys gave us was a decent looking vader but he wasnt accurate with a few things. to be honest theres only a handful of Hot Toys figures that dont require some customizing for them to look accurate.
 
Here is my custom made Darth Vader Belt , well lets call it rebuilt Hot Toys Vader belt aye...

I replaced the cheapo weak Belt hot toys gave us. within 2 days of owning this guy brand new the flaming belt tore at the buckle.

I tried to glue the belt at the tear but it was still weaker then tissue paper.

I went to my local sewing and material store and they had rolls of thin Vynil Leather so i purchased some.

All i did was copy hot toys design of the buckle, cut a strip with an exacto knife of approx 9mm. and about the same length as the Hot Toys original.

punched a hole in the right hand side of the belt approx 1.5 cm in from the end ( check length when attaching the buckle first ) and glued the buckle socket in. I glued the square buckle on the left side. I then test fitted the slider boxes to make sure , then worked out the correct distance where the sabre hook should be. glued on some spare buttons and fit vader perfectly. i can unbuckle and pull the belt with force and it doesnt break.

1915682_1063379320350902_8902624370724971620_n.jpg


12672101_1063379270350907_4520508199125932977_o.jpg


12719472_1063379317017569_8057874547388531959_o.jpg


11696614_1063379377017563_8118305369830155152_o.jpg


https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12923270_1063379367017564_2004743351941373354_n.jpg?

[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12923270_1063379367017564_2004743351941373354_n.jpg?oh=13f1a378008c6c9d444ef845ec25f1e8&oe=577C4796&__gda__=1469293743_a75fd17e90dfe5b6a5dc029391a54f53

Looks great!
 
Here is my custom made Darth Vader Belt , well lets call it rebuilt Hot Toys Vader belt aye...

I replaced the cheapo weak Belt hot toys gave us. within 2 days of owning this guy brand new the flaming belt tore at the buckle.

I tried to glue the belt at the tear but it was still weaker then tissue paper.

I went to my local sewing and material store and they had rolls of thin Vynil Leather so i purchased some.

All i did was copy hot toys design of the buckle, cut a strip with an exacto knife of approx 9mm. and about the same length as the Hot Toys original.

punched a hole in the right hand side of the belt approx 1.5 cm in from the end ( check length when attaching the buckle first ) and glued the buckle socket in. I glued the square buckle on the left side. I then test fitted the slider boxes to make sure , then worked out the correct distance where the sabre hook should be. glued on some spare buttons and fit vader perfectly. i can unbuckle and pull the belt with force and it doesnt break.

1915682_1063379320350902_8902624370724971620_n.jpg


12672101_1063379270350907_4520508199125932977_o.jpg


12719472_1063379317017569_8057874547388531959_o.jpg


11696614_1063379377017563_8118305369830155152_o.jpg


https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12923270_1063379367017564_2004743351941373354_n.jpg?

[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/v/t1.0-9/12923270_1063379367017564_2004743351941373354_n.jpg?oh=13f1a378008c6c9d444ef845ec25f1e8&oe=577C4796&__gda__=1469293743_a75fd17e90dfe5b6a5dc029391a54f53

Looks really good
 
I've changed the armor to the sideshow v1. I am going to repaint it. Thoughts?

ef0d0ff3487421f2ab3438c9242359b9.jpg
It's the SS v2 you need to get the armor from. The v1 is all sorts of not right.


Is the Hot Toys shoulder armor superior to SS? I was just going to use SS as well.

Superior to SS v1? Absolutely! Superior to SS v2? Not so much.
 
I finally have enough parts to start modding and kit-bashing an ANH Vader.

So far I'm using:

SSC, ANH - body suit, shoulder armor, gloves, codpiece.

Hot Toys - head sculpt, body, chest box, (need to find belt), boots, shin armor.

Iforigno - cape and tunic.

Here's a couple quick pics with most the parts bashed, but with no modifications yet.



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Sent from my Motherbox PING PING PING PING PING PING PING PING

Some of you are going too overboard with the modding, these Vaders are looking scrawny

 
Some of you are going too overboard with the modding, these Vaders are looking scrawny


Customizing/modifying is one of my favorite aspects of collecting.

He's actually still too tall LOL. It's the lens of the iPhone, it distorts images more than folks realize.

I'm going to try using a Hot Toys Roadblock body I have. I love the proportions, and the height is perfect, it's just that his shoulders are enormous and don't fit into the Sideshow ANH body suit. I'm going to swap the arms or maybe just the shoulders with the stock Hot Toys Vader arms. That should do the trick.
 
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Customizing/modifying is one of my favorite aspects of collecting.

He's actually still too tall LOL. It's the lens of the iPhone, it distorts images more than folks realize.

I'm going to try using a Hot Toys Roadblock body I have. I love the proportions, and the height is perfect, it's just that his shoulders are enormous and don't fit into the Sideshow ANH body suit. I'm going to swap the arms or maybe just the shoulders with the stock Hot Toys Vader arms. That should do the trick.

Yeah, I picked up the ANH SS suit and found the same issue. Shoulders wouldn't allow the suit to close up and I also thought the legs were too baggy on the stock HT body. I'm gonna go through old threads to see what the best results were with the old SS ANH Vader, but so far while I prefer that suit I'm not preferring the fit and having to track down another body has slowed my motivation for the moment.
 
I don't know...the end of the indentations on the SS v2 are flat and not rounded at all. Hot toys or Kaiyodo looks the best in 1/6, IMO.

It is so very easy to make the corners of those U shaped indentations round, as well as making the transition between the raised center ridge and the grey bars in the middle rounded rather than straight, and add a return edge around the whole armor, so it isn't so thin looking. So very, very simple mods. Shape wise it is more accurate than the Kaiyodo and definitely more accurate than the HT. Whether it would look accurate next to a scanned prop scaled down is uncertain since I do not have a SS v2 to compare with.
 
I believe it's just a ball joint so it can bend side to side as well. I think the shin guards (how they're shaped around the top of the foot) cause that side to side restriction.
 
His ankles can only bend forwards and backwards, right? No side to side?

The joint is like a bigger wrist peg, but getting it to turn so that side to side movement is possible is such a hassle due to the way the peg entering the foot is angled, it's just not worth it.

Also, what are you guys doing that's causing you to rip the belt? I've had mine since January and I have no issues.
 
Sideshow hooked me up with a replacement belt. I had to pay the shipping but I was okay with that. I will keep the one I fixed on Vader and just keep the replacement in the box in case I ever need it.
 
I really don't like modding my figures, so which Vader would you guys recommend between the SS and HT unmodded? Sorry, I'm being lazy and don't want to read through the thread:monkey3
 
I really don't like modding my figures, so which Vader would you guys recommend between the SS and HT unmodded? Sorry, I'm being lazy and don't want to read through the thread:monkey3

I don't have the SS Deluxe, but on my reading of this thread, HT is definitely the way to go.
 
If you're cool with the price go HT. They're both a bit futz needy out of the box as Vader is a complexly built character/figure but the most important part for any figure--head--wins with HT but by a long shot and the rest is either a toss-up or HT also wins out on.
 
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