Three New Darth Vader Figures (LAST TWEAKS TO EMPEROR'S DEATH DIO) & Dio Builds For Them 1) Bespin Gantry Scene 2) Force Lightning Killing Emperor Scene 3) Meditation Chamber Scene.

Diana wrote:I thoroughly enjoy your exploration and experiments. I would probably have gone for fewer more precisely placed lighting lines, but it'll probably all make more sense when it all comes together and it's a matter of taste, too, after all. Your techniques are genius as usual.

Since you're German I'd expect no less than perfect functional lightning lines! (I'm not referring to certain infamous insignia) but that your's would make more sense and be more practical, less chaotic and messy than mine; I love German leatherwork! It's always been the highlight and centerpieces on their chopper motorcycles!
So I used the engraver in the end (very new to this) it's like a tattoo machine and I was designing those 30 years ago (went to the Berlin Tattoo festival back then to promote my design too), I think I've got the result I want now, we'll see how the clear UV reactive paint works on a sample area before I commit to that.











I'LL TIDY UP THE FRAYED ENDS AND BORDERS

















I'LL BE REMOVING SOME EXTRA PLASTIC TO ALLOW THE CREST TO GLOW TOO.

That force lighting sure did a job on poor Vader. With the added detail, looks more organic. Glorious effect, especially when lit up from within.
You are going for a more authentic effect than the film, where I'm pretty sure the split second reveal was superimposed by special effects.

GubernatorFan wrote:That force lighting sure did a job on poor Vader. With the added detail, looks more organic. Glorious effect, especially when lit up from within.
You are going for a more authentic effect than the film, where I'm pretty sure the split second reveal was superimposed by special effects.

Cheers! Yeah in the movie it's kind of rough almost 'marker pen on cellophane' type effects even though it was created with CGI in the 'updated trilogy' but you only see it for a split second whereas I'll be looking at this version on a daily basis! LOL. Just about to open the mould, fingers crossed.









I'm doing a mix of the two styles



Love this pic, very Derek Riggs Iron Maiden single/album cover art like:



Grew up on his artwork, love it! There are my renditions of it all over school furniture etc... lol

This is coming along pretty cool. Like the electrical pattern on the helmet.

Stryker2012 wrote:This is coming along pretty cool. Like the electrical pattern on the helmet.

Cheers! Well that's the way it will displayed 99% of the time, I build all these electronic features into my customs then never use them, the batteries run out or whatever.. same old story as HT IM figures lol.

Casting came out fine except for the very top (ironic as that's the only part I could see in the mould!) fixed with hot glue now. Also some red Vinamold got trapped in a few places that took hours to remove under a magnifying lens with picks and scalpels. The batteries in this UV torch are now dying too..FFS.. ordered more, got the UV LED's in the mail, let's hope they're the real thing this time and not just purple!! I removed a section of the mask to help illuminate the crest of the helmet better which I'd dremelled thinner too (both to help with light diffusion). Can't see much of the skull inside the mask but I'm working on that, plan 'A' has gone a bit pear shaped as my 'blue' UV reactive paint turned out to be green!! I painted it over everything THEN found out when it dried! Lids must have got mixed up, very unlike me to make a dumb mistake like that! I'll order some more blue and carefully scrape off what I can.

24hrs passed but takes 72hrs to fully cure so still foggy and pliable, needs exposure to air to finish curing.











Just basic flash removed here











[img]https://i.imgur.com/ROB7bz4.png?1[/img











Torch dying not helping!!





Also not very UV reactive...yet..

Pre scalpel and pick under the magnifying glass





Hot glue fix curing





Post sanding, pick work, scalpel etc...













Mods to improve crest illumination



No skull, just testing crest illumination.

Impressive!

BAMComix wrote:Impressive!

Thank you! Nice quote too! LOL.

So I've been experimenting using a larger plug in mains UV light to check whether it's the batteries or the paint's fault it's green. Turns out it's the paint's but not because it's the wrong colour but unfortunately because it seems to turn to green from blue over time (green being the most powerful glow in the dark colour) I know this because my Spirit Witchking is now green! (under UV light).Hard to photograph but you'll see traces of green very faintly on the helmet pics etc..
I've ordered a sample pack of blue UV reactive pigment to mix in the existing paint or maybe I'll start fresh with clear gloss.
I noticed the hot glue reacts so much better to UV than the resin that I thought "what the hell, let's see if I can cast it in the existing Vinamold mould", it was a risk as Vinamold melts easily. I used plenty of silicone oil as it is hot GLUE I'd be trying in the mould and just squirted it in like crazy! Replacing glue sticks with my teeth and pushing them in with my chest to keep up with the gun's trigger action. First one came out pretty well! Second not so much. You can see how much brighter it is under UV and it's like a light bulb once the UV LED is inserted inside it just as I'd hoped! I'll try it inside the clear one but Think I might be using the hot glue casting instead.



Green showing on the edges, worse irl.









pigment ordered



Casting Hot Glue!





Most of the detail is lost under the helmet and with the illumination anyway.



I'll experiment on the dodgy casting to see if black marker highlighting detail works or not.























UV LED













That's only ONE LED, the torch has TWELVE!

That’s looking pretty cool. It lights up wonderfully.

Stryker2012 wrote:That’s looking pretty cool. It lights up wonderfully.

Hot glue seems to be a great conduite for UV light!

Powering up the 'junk skull' with 3 LED's.











Trying to break up the light with thick 'cartoony' lines around the sculpted areas for more visible 3D.







Trying an LED in the clear resin skull















With mask too, only one LED but still less effective than hot glue.









3 LED's in good hot glue skull, soldered and sealed as I'm going with this







Not much room in the chest for such a big figure!

With mask and helmet, shows the 'power' of the skull and the pattern it creates with the paint and engraving I've done. I cleaned the green stuff off and redid the engraving.































Trying to stop it just being a skull shaped light bulb! lol, ah well don't think it will work as a distinctive skull when covered but it does make a great UV light bulb!

I think it is paying off. The glowing skulls are very impressive, and every successive attempt gets better and better.

GubernatorFan wrote:I think it is paying off. The glowing skulls are very impressive, and every successive attempt gets better and better.

Cheers! It's about as good as it's going to get skull visibility wise unless I can polish the inside of the mask and make it crystal clear but I think the hot glue in the mask would just melt under the friction and make a mess, I'll give it a go though .

That is awesome commitment to testing materials!! The effectiveness of the lighting on Mr DV is looking really cool. I felt quite nostalgic for the old-school moulds, it made me remember all kinds of plaster of paris and giant plasticine sculptures my mum made when I was little, she made puppets and marionettes for a theatre for several years. Hope you are feeling content with your progress!

Tanzenwolfe wrote:That is awesome commitment to testing materials!! The effectiveness of the lighting on Mr DV is looking really cool.  I felt quite nostalgic for the old-school moulds, it made me remember all kinds of plaster of paris and giant plasticine sculptures my mum made when I was little, she made puppets and marionettes for a theatre for several years.  Hope you are feeling content with your progress!

Sounds like you are from a talented artistic family! I should pay more attention to your threads (and that of others) as I'm guilty of neglecting the community since I can't work and browse/read at the same time!

Well tried the polishing thing, cleaned it up quite a bit but it's diminishing returns at this point or level in the build. I redid the black on the helmet since it was looking too transparent (ironically) with not enough contrast to show off the electrical lightning  bolts which I also 'edited' to be less geometric. I got the sample pack of glow in the dark sky blue pigment and made my own mix with acrylic clear gloss and water this morning, painted the helmet and chest armour with it and it's drying now. The blue translucent gloves are back in the acetone as I'm trying to shrink them further since ideally I'd like to use them for lifting the Emperor over his head. I'll re-engrave the lightning bolts on the helmet once it's dry (unless it needs more coats) as it's the best way of getting a white 'flash' finish while it still being translucent when illuminated.

















Love this song!! Thought it was appropriate too!





















Got more of the front of the crest to light up too













You can sort of see the skull in person











Glow in the dark powder under UV



After a few seconds of charge with UV







UV charge again





Across the room during the day but in shadow





Drying



Modded body slightly to fit skull/neck etc..

Cool project!
Luke attached to the ceiling (page 1) looks rather something.
Vader is a character on my to obtain list.

Whoah! That is seriously cool all lit up. Wow!

ukshaun wrote:Cool project!
Luke attached to the ceiling (page 1) looks rather something.
Vader is a character on my to obtain list.

Cheers! (I think?) he is filthy!
I built my 1st Vader out of bits of a Hasbro one and a cheap vinyl kit from ebay over 20 years ago! lol.

THIS IS MY CUSTOM BATTLE DAMAGED LUKE 'CLEAN' 15 YEARS AGO...



 

 



   

AND MY FIRST EVER CUSTOM VADER... EVEN OLDER LOL..





(WHAT THIS ONE WILL BE DOING TOO!)

Whoah! That is seriously cool all lit up. Wow! wrote:

Thanks Mark!

An even bigger improvement with the last revisions. Put together and lit up, it is most impressive, in his own words. Love the robot-like set up you have for holding and drying multiple pieces. And that lit up paint is quite something.

Also, nice glimpse at your old customs.

GubernatorFan wrote:An even bigger improvement with the last revisions. Put together and lit up, it is most impressive, in his own words. Love the robot-like set up you have for holding and drying multiple pieces. And that lit up paint is quite something.

Also, nice glimpse at your old customs.

Cheers! Almost there now! Those are soldering stands lol!

How does Vader get his armour on?!





Re-engraved the helmet for that white lightning look (neighbour's now chainsawing wood just for the hell of it in retaliation because he's a 70 year old child).











Switches and light being changed from ANH to ROTJ



Bit rough in this pic, does improve.



Armour inked blue, then back done in silver.







Initial lightning effects, modded later with engraver as they look like a Christmas sweater right now!







Decided neck needs articulation so had to modify original to fit wires, hot glue etc.. and still at least have one ball joint working.







Took quite a few mods on all parts to get it to work and be the correct height.











MOCK UP





Hands didn't shrink enough but I might be able to use the gauntlet parts (they're back in the acetone) since the ribs are pretty close in size oddly enough.











For post acetone bath comparison.



Now engraved armour



Forgot to repaint the glow in the dark blue...





Transparent helmet structural support.



















Still haven't painted the armour with glow blue.

Ooph, this is going to be epic! Loving the glow effect with the transparent skull and all. 
Say hi to your neighbour for me!

Diana wrote:Ooph, this is going to be epic! Loving the glow effect with the transparent skull and all. 
Say hi to your neighbour for me!

We don't talk to each other, I get on with all my other neighbours but not him, his whole family is pretty bonkers to be honest . Getting there with this build, I need to make some custom shoulder armour as I don't want to waste the nice SSC ANH armour on him plus it would restrict his shoulders too much for the poses I want killing the Emperor.

Don't know who the artist is so can't gredit them, sorry!

Impressive work. The helmet structural support is so neat. And the neighbor chainsawing wood in retaliation -- is that due to you making a lot of noise with the Dremel or engraving pen?

GubernatorFan wrote:Impressive work. The helmet structural support is so neat. And the neighbor chainsawing wood in retaliation -- is that due to you making a lot of noise with the Dremel or engraving pen?

The engraving machine is pretty loud, I put on noise cancelling headphones but the cats are getting used to it lol. It's basically a loud tattoo machine functionally, I bought a Dremel model as their rotary machines are a lot quieter than cheaper makes so hoped this would be the case with the engraver too. I've got super sensitive hearing due to my anxiety issues so it might not be as bad as I perceive it to be but the neighbour's always been a 'tit for tat' type, I shoot my suppressed airguns= he cuts wood, I use a drill or Dremel= he cuts and or hammers wood etc..

Painted the chest piece with glow blue and made some pauldrons from a shower gel bottle and Hasbro bits.





Might add some black milliput now I think of it.







Just glow blue, no LEDs



No glowing blue helmet in film it seems lol! Oh well it's artistic license and a way for me to get the visual of what's happening across better in 1/6

Your inventiveness never ceases to amaze.

GubernatorFan wrote:Your inventiveness never ceases to amaze.

Cheers! Just working with what I have left!

Just his gauntlets (he'll be missing a hand courtesy of his son) left to do then finish up electrics and add accessories like lightning bolts and an Emperor.













He needs to do this which is why I don't think regular pauldrons would work









Shiny black ink



Ignore the glue string there, removed it afterwards



Fully repainted with glow blue.













Lighting Isn't super flattering! LOL.

The Emperor is wearing a custom robe I made for him a long time ago to look more menacing and impressive by himself standing in a top shelf but it's not nealy 'floppy/soft' enough to drape realistically while Vader lifts him. Luckily after searching all my stuff I found a spare Hasbro one that does the trick perfectly (I've used a few Hasbro Emperor bodies in the past to act as dead bodies, one a monk and another a Stargate General killed by the Wraith), most of this Emperor is SSC parts. His feet were a problem though, kept coming detached so I did a mod and gave him new ones, I think the boots must be WW2 German soldier's by DID as they need feet, the inner robe is also Hasbro. Vader's remaining hand is being made of modified translucent blue piggy bank Vader's gauntlet mixed with a wired Hasbro Ultimate Jango Fett figure's blue glove; these will be painted with blue ink and glow blue too, maybe electrics? The stump 'hand' will be made of the parts shown in the last pic and detailed with a soldering iron.

Custom robe display



Thank goodness for my parts hoarding, so I found this!











I'll be painting the Force Lightning with blue ink and glow blue, maybe a bit of white too. More effect pieces will be used to connect Vader and the Emperor.





Feet stuff







Hand needed to be the right size, a left hand, open with a grip option, look like a leather glove and preferably translucent blue... got damn close to all those requirements!!





Gauntlet part needs a size adjustment.



It was more work than just lopping the top bit off! LOL







Needed to carefully trim and thin out the vinyl by slowly scrapping it down with a scalpel.





Stuff for stump!

Very nice progress. Careful with the Hasbro robe. I don't remember any more what it was, but I had a problem with it a long time ago. It either stained or disintegrated or both.

GubernatorFan wrote:Very nice progress. Careful with the Hasbro robe. I don't remember any more what it was, but I had a problem with it a long time ago. It either stained or disintegrated or both.

Interesting, must be UV related (oops..that could problematic for this build!) as it's very elastic so the polymers could theoretically be broken down by extreme sunlight, you're in California right? Having said that it's already 30 years old and still fine (Power Of The Force line, early-mid 1990's I think). If worst case scenario it does start to break up (although it will be in the shade all the time) he is being killed and damaged by his own Force Lightning which must contain high heat and UV content!