Sideshow ESB/ROTJ Darth Vader

[Mister Ski]

Hey guys what are the chances my waitlist converts for the exclusive? I jumped on it February 9th, a little too late?

My WL just converted yesterday and I jumped on Jan 27th, so I'd say you have a decent shot at converting. Good luck!

 

[Hollywood]

That ties in with the photo stevenmh posted:

I haven't tried the head on the figure, but it looks good as a decapitated prop.

LOL I forgot about that photo! THanks

 

[morphosis]

My WL just converted yesterday and I jumped on Jan 27th, so I'd say you have a decent shot at converting. Good luck!

man, ive been waiting a little longer than you and nothing

 

[EVILFACE]

Lowered/tilted the helmet back a bit. Don't know if it is accurate or not, but looks good to me. And gave him a proper stand!

 

[Anthrapoid]

Looks very, very good. I've been wanting to tilt my helmet like this; I wonder, can you offer a walk-through of how you did it? I have tried to remove the dome, but it just won't come off.

 

[mr.fan]

My WL just converted yesterday and I jumped on Jan 27th, so I'd say you have a decent shot at converting. Good luck!

ohh sweet hopefully it converts!!!

 

[momaw]

Looks very, very good. I've been wanting to tilt my helmet like this; I wonder, can you offer a walk-through of how you did it? I have tried to remove the dome, but it just won't come off.

I suspect he used shocktrooper_au's method of dipping the head in warm water to loosen the glue and then retilting and letting the blue harden again.

 

[Pixelpiper]

My tilting is going to involve cutting. Must, must cut.

This week I also hope to re-sew the arms on the original suit to make them wider - wish me luck.

 

[Anthrapoid]

Well....... I just used hot tap water to try to loosen the helmet glue, but it didn't work. So, I filled a big pan with water on the stove top, and heated it a bit hotter than the tap would produce; not a lot hotter, just a bit. I held the head upside-down with the dome only in the water, for 15 seconds. I tried to wobble the dome, it wouldn't budge, so I repeated the dipping for another 15-20 seconds. Eventually, the dome started wobbling. I turned off the stove and came back into my work room, and shined a bright light on the head, so I could see what was happening as I pulled it off. The light revealed several tiny circular areas where the glossy black finish was turned matte, and also I discovered a faded-paint water line showing the depth into the water I had dipped the dome. I tried to polish the helmet back to its original finish, but I'm afraid this is permanent. I'll try to polish it again later with some polishing compound, but I think I'll have to repaint it with some shellac bonding paint, polish that, and hope for the best.

Luckily, my extra display dome (a replacement sent from Sideshow) has a perfect finish, even better than the original that came on the helmet head before I spoiled it. So, I ground down the top and front of the mask-to-dome 'hump' until the dome fit on with the perfect tilt I was aiming for, and I glued it on. MAJOR dodging of the proverbial bullet. The head looks SO much better now, and reduced the overall height by 1/8th inch. *phew*

For those of you who are considering the dome-tilt mod, I'm thinking that perhaps a hair dryer on low heat pointed directly at the top of the dome (not too close, alternated with wobbling) might be safer for the black finish than hot water is.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Did the matte/tone difference in the helmet even out yet? It might take a few hours, so maybe you can update later today if anything has changed.

As far as removing the helmet in general, didn't King and others just use force? (not THE force..)

 

[Anthrapoid]

No, the helmet cooled off quickly and the marks remain. The domes are painted, but I wish they were just shiny black plastic. That would make polishing a much easier process. If you scratch the dome, you've ruined a paint-job, as opposed to just scratching plastic which can be easily fixed. As it is now, I'm sure the paint was chemically changed by the heat. I suppose I could try removing the paint entirely with acetone, then try giving it a real polished surface as an experiment.

I didn't want to use brute force, because I had no way of knowing how much surface area was glued together, and I didn't want to crack it or cause whitish stress marks on the outside. I've read here about several people using hot water, so that's the technique I chose. I'm actually glad it turned out this way, because my replaced extra dome is totally perfect.

 

[PJB-1138]

Lowered/tilted the helmet back a bit. Don't know if it is accurate or not, but looks good to me. And gave him a proper stand!

That looks about perfect, EF! I'm planning on doing the same thing, but gonna practice first on my broken-tusked Vader mask that Sideshow kindly replaced.

BTW, Anthrapoid, sorry to hear about the damage you caused to your Vader helmet with the hot water. I did something similar awhile back to some Stormtrooper chest armor that I was trying to reshape, but not only did it lose some of its luster, but it started to melt and lost some of its shape. As I'm sure you noticed, that helmet is only held down just an 1/8" size dollop of glue, so it would have been easier to just wiggle that helmet lose by hand without heating it up.

 

[Wor-Gar]

The normal helmet looks too small on the body so it's no surprise that the Anakin head looks like a peanut. I'm going to use the larger ANH mask and Hasbro dome on my ROTJ figure because the proportions look much better.

And back we go to the ANH version.

Is there a difference between the size of the helmet and mask on the loose pieces versus the all-in-one helmet/mask that comes on Vader in this set?

Also, I was actually thinking of using the dome from this set on my ANH Vader, but it sounds like this won't work after all, is that true?

 

[EVILFACE]

Thanks peps. I rocked the mask side to side a bit and it popped out. The the tab on top of the mask I sanded back and a angle till the helmet sat at the angle I wanted. Then glue!

 

[McHaleyArt]

And back we go to the ANH version.

Is there a difference between the size of the helmet and mask on the loose pieces versus the all-in-one helmet/mask that comes on Vader in this set?

Also, I was actually thinking of using the dome from this set on my ANH Vader, but it sounds like this won't work after all, is that true?

They are the same pieces. The only difference is the bits on the inside that where molded to connect the mask to the helmet. If you took the reveal mask, put it on the lower reveal neck/mask and then put the reveal Dome on top (fashioning a custom attachment) you would have the same head as the other one.

 

[Cavlcade]

I was actually thinking of using the dome from this set on my ANH Vader, but it sounds like this won't work after all, is that true?

I picked up a loose SS ESB dome to use on my ANH mask and I think it looks pretty good.

 

[cking]

This new ROTJ dome does work on the ANH mask but it's still not big enough. The Hasbro dome has the correct width on the upper part (when viewing from the front) that the SS ROTJ just doesn't achieve in my opinion. As I mentioned earlier, the SS ANH mask has better shapes / proportions than the newer ROTJ version too. (I've spent a long time comparing both versions with my full size version that was cast from the Rick Baker molds (a few years before eFX used the same molds for their licensed version). I'll be spending some time on Tuesday to put the ANH mask and Hasbro dome onto the ROTJ body so I'll take some pics.

 

[Wes7]

Hey guys!
I'm brand new here, but there's just a few things I wanted to tell/ask you guys.
First of all, just as a background thing, I'm about to order my last few pieces to finish my ESB Vader replica suit for 501st approval. I actually own the highest accuracy Vader parts possible to own. Therefore, I do know a lot about the ESB Vader, so if you have anything to ask detail wise about this figure, ask away. From what I can tell from the pictures you guys posted, this figure is WAY more ESB than ROTJ. As in, I can only see one thing on the figure that is detailed like ROTJ. And from what I can tell, that one thing that is made after ROTJ is the belt buckle. It looks like the smallest indention on the belt buckle is shaped more like a pill instead of a circle, and the ESB has a circle there instead. Also, many people will argue that the hook on the chest armor is more ROTJ, which is true, but only to a certain extent. There was a hook on the chest armor in ESB, but only in a few scenes. From what I can tell, the helmet on the sideshow figure also even has the indention in the brow like the ESB (maybe not as prominent as it was in ESB, but the dome looks like it is shaped more like ESB).

Now, since I don't own a single sideshow figure, and this will hopefully be my first, here's my question: I can't buy this figure until probably May or June. I've almost finished this costume, but it's costing me $4,000 in total. Therefore, I really don't have the money to buy a $250 figure as well right now, but I can in a few months. Will the probably still be available on Ebay and other sources, or do they go away pretty fast? Like, how long do I have to get this figure before it's gone everywhere (and if there is a slight price increase down the road, that's fine, I'm just curious how long I have to get my hands on one of these).

Hey I'm new here too! And in the 501st myself. ESB Boba Fett. Cost me about $4,500. About to finish an AT-AT driver for Star Wars weekends at Disney and a Thomas Bangalter Daft Punk costume for MegaCon. After that I'm going to switch gears to collecting 1/6th scale. Probably will start with this figure. It's blowing me away.

 

[RinzlerTron]

Hey I'm new here too! And in the 501st myself. ESB Boba Fett. Cost me about $4,500. About to finish an AT-AT driver for Star Wars weekends at Disney and a Thomas Bangalter Daft Punk costume for MegaCon. After that I'm going to switch gears to collecting 1/6th scale. Probably will start with this figure. It's blowing me away.

As off topic as it is, I'm also going to be at Star Wars weekends as Vader and my friend will be Nihilus.
Yes, I hear a 501st approved Fett is more expensive than a Vader.... I still have to wait until June to be approved for the 501st, though I'll have my suit finished by May (I turn 18 in June).

 

[Wes7]

As off topic as it is, I'm also going to be at Star Wars weekends as Vader and my friend will be Nihilus.
Yes, I hear a 501st approved Fett is more expensive than a Vader.... I still have to wait until June to be approved for the 501st, though I'll have my suit finished by May (I turn 18 in June).

When you get approved in vader you won't be able to do the parade in the costume unfortunately. I can't do Fett either. Since Disney already has face characters. That's why I'm making AT-AT driver.