The Darth Vader Helmet Project.

With this post i want to give an overall idea of what i have done and what i am going to do with my Darth Vader Helmet. 

What i have planned  on one hand it's pretty simple but on the other it's probably a lot harder than i am thinking it will be.... But i have never really let that stop me in the past..... That probably explains a lot about me!!!!

But lets break this down.

Ok back in 2008 when i got my costume i started to mod the helmet. I covered the inside of the mouth vents I hated the fact that you could see my mouth. And i also changed the padding... It was giving me a rash. I also switched out the lenses so i could see... The old ones were just rubbish. I also Cut out and sewed in some lighter material into the back of the jump suit... It was to hot and i need better ventilation. 

now we jump to 2015

1.) Drill 3 hole in the top and so i can screw a nut and bolt to the in side of the helmet. Also add a half an inch of padding to raise the dome so it sits higher on the helmet. This will probably make the dome a permanent part of the helmet, but i can live with that. Also add new Velcro

2.) Change the lenses for better ones and add filler to the gaps.

3.) Change the tusks to something more screen accurate and pointy

4.) replace the mouth grill and vent.

5.) reshape the neck line.

6.) replace all padding 

7.) replace straps 

8.) add a fan.

And of cause clean and then repaint the whole thing in high gloss black. So that is pretty much it, i don't think most of the things i want to do will be very hard.... On a side note i want to look at to get a neck brace to finish the look. 

As long as i take my time that is. But i do need to give this a big push and at lest try to get this helmet ready for painting. Once it's ready for that i can think about the shin armour. And once that is done i can paint very thing. Oh and not to forget i still need to sand and finish the chest armour though most of that is already done it is just the small details that need to be finished. 

Let me know what you think and if you have any advice please leave a comment I would welcome any and all ideas.

  

Happy 2015 and Hope your all your Geeky Dreams come true this year.

I hope everyone reading this had a great Christmas and a good New Years... 

So that was 2014.... the year went by way to quick but it was a pack year with Cons, Movies and all sorts of other geek related going on's... And 2015 is looking like it will be even more busy... Got lots planed for the coming months. Just hope that unlike most of my plans they don't fall apart.... 

I quick update on the Darth Vader Armour.

I am currently working on lifting the dome of the helmet. I have some ideas and will be doing a post soon. But i nee to think if i want to make the dome a permanent part of the helmet or keep it as a two part helmet... The biggest problem i have is that the Velcro never stays stuck to the mask and the dome keeps falling lower than it should be...  

New Years Revolution.

With it being a new year i have decided to reevaluate things nothing to major just looking at little things like what i buy and how i collect and where i can... no... MUST cut back on.... 

And how i want my collection to evolve... In other words i have to sell a load of stuff... and rethink about the direction i want to take the collection.... It's a topic that all collectors must face at some point... I just don't have the room for everything i own and lets face it i don't display most of what i have... and even if i did you would never be able to see it cause "you can't see the forest for the trees..." 

The weird thing is i am actually a minimalist type of person and like to keep things clean and simple... but i have a huge collection of stuff and everything is on top of each other. I have a feeling of constant clutter around me. But i need to trim the fat off the collection... keep the good stuff and get rid of the tat... Well none of it is tat  but you know i mean.

Lets face it i can't go to SDCC with a big debts over my head... you should get that after the holiday not before... 

So to get the house in order and to slim things down i will be selling a lot of things on Ebay, Amazon and trading.... The funds will go into clearing my debts and saving for SDCC... Hell i started with cancelling a load of pre-orders i had on Amazon, Hobby Link Japan and the Forbidden Planet.  

Now i know i wont be going to the 2015 nor the 2016 one but maybe the 2017 or 18 one... But in-between i will be heading to a lot of cons. 

With Star Wars epVII coming out in December and a Star Wars Celebration happening in the US this year i am hoping there be another Celebration Europe in the UK. I went to the first one back in 2007 and i didn't get the chance to go to the one in Germany in 2013. So i am hoping there will be one in 2016 but lets not wish this year away to quickly... after all There is so much to look forward to this year. 

So this is the first post of 2015 and here is to many more... 

And here is to you all hope you will have a great 2015 and thank you for reading....           

Star Wars, Conventions and Christmas is just around the corner....

Just a little update.

So by now i think everyone would of seen the Star Wars Awakens teaser trailer. And if not 

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!!! GO... GO NOW!!!

Got to say it may only be a teaser trailer but what we got was fantastic. It was a lot of rough shots with very little in the backgrounds but there is still plenty of time to fill out the worlds but the overall feeling i got was. Back to Basics. They had real sets and the Stormtroopers were guys in armour. Not like the CGI Clonetroopers from Episode I-III. It looked like you could touch it and i have high hopes for this. Now it should be obverse that i am a Star Trek fan and i really liked the 2009 Star Trek movies that was done by JJ Abrams. For really the same reason i like this teaser... Real sets and what could be done on screen was done on set. And that is what i think was missing from the prequel trilogy. It felt to clean and unreal. So for the moment until i see the full trailer i have high hopes and think things will turn out for the better.  

But the trailer did make me think about my Vader armour. I was originally going to do the chest armour them move on to the helmet.... This was not a good idea, reading online i realized that if i paint the chest armour now then six months later paint the helmet the paint will not match due to different batch's of paint and variances in the mix. So to avoid all the hassel i will paint the all armour at the same time. This means i really need to start thinking of what and how i am going to do my helmet. I will probably do a post next week with my ideas on how i will do what i want. But just remember i am not going for Movie Accurate 501st quality. It's more a case of how i remembered Darth Vader or the picture i have in my head if i think about Vader. 

Why can't things ever be easy... 

But that's half the fun of things like this right... learning new things... riiiiiiight!!! 

Ok so now to the Cons of 2015... 

First up will be the London Super Comic Con (.LSCC.) on March 14-15th. At the Excel Center.

Secondly there's the London Comic Con (. MCM Expo.) on May 22-24th  At the Excel Center.

And then London Film and Comic Con (.LFCC.) 17-19th July at Olympia   

There will be more but so far this should be all for the first half of 2015.

But i am very tempted to get Jeremy Bulloch Costume Photo ticket. A photo with Fett in the Fett Costume... Hmmm something to think about. I think i know what i will be doing a the LFCC.

And finally Christmas is just two weeks away and 2015 is looking like a great year to be a Geek! With Star Wars, Marvel Movies and a whole host of things coming our way. There is a lot to look forward to. 

     

Mecha Month Week Three and Four...

So this is the The end of Mecha Month 2014 and it was good really good... but also sad. And that has had a knock on effect on this years Month... As i could not complete the month. One of the people i had worked with passed away so and a lot of things were put on hold... But this is not why your here so lets Carry on with MECHA MONTH!!!

Week Three Day

17-20 Monday-Tuesday 17-20/11.)

I spent the first half of the week watching Starfleet. This is a great hidden little gem of a show... and one that most people have never heard of. This is a show made with puppets very similar to the Supermarionation show from Gerry Anderson like Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet. But this show was Japanese and it was made by the Legend that is Go Nagai..... 

Yes the man behind Devil Man, Mazinga Z and Grendizer to name just a few... 

He was inspired by shows like Thunderbirds that had a massive following in japan just like the rest of the world. So he went out and made X-Bomber which was then imported to the UK as Star Fleet. 

I watched this at around the same time as another Gerry Anderson show was on TV called TerraHawks. 

TerraHawks opening

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZC9B0YJ8W8

Anyway back to Star Fleet. It's a story about the crew of the Spaceship X-bomber and and the three pilots of  the Mech Dai-X. and we follow them in their adventures as they fight off an alien invasion of earth. It is we worth a watch and like i said above a real hidden gem... Also Brian May from the band Queen and  Eddie Van Halen did a cover of the theme. I have posted this link before but it is such a great little song that i need to share it with everyone....

Brian May & friends Star Fleet project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7GFU5ncKhU

we jump a few days.

Week Four 

Day 24-29 Monday-Saturday 24-29/11.)

For the final week i went big and i mean BIG... i had just recived the Bluray of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Ultimate Edition this is a six disc set that has all 26 episodes and the 2 movies. This is the first time in the west the Movies have been released. If you have not seen this show then go out and watch it... it is that good. It's a homarge to classic shows like Getter Robo and is full of GUTS and IF YOU BELIEVE THEN ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE kinds of stuff in it. It feels like a 70's throwback but with modern animation and style. And the music is some of the best i have heard in a long time in an anime The opening is amazing... it grabs your attention from the start and you know everything you need to by the end of the song.

Gurren Lagann opening full

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNQvLECht08

So remember "Mine is the drill that will pierce the Heavens"

Day 30 Sunday 30/11.)

So for the final day of Mecha Month 2014 i when straight to an old friend the classic Gunbuster.

This was the show that gave Gainax it's big break. i can not stress the importance of this show. so i sat down and took a look at the Gunbuster Movie its an edited down version of the 6 part OVA. And if you have not seen this again go out and watch it. it's one of those shows that every Mecha Fan needs to see. It's full of Heart and Sprite. 

So that's it for Mecha Month. I am annoyed at my self that i didn't keep my promise and make time to build those model kits i got just to build over the month.... But i guess when i do get round to building them it will give me a reason to do a post about it. And as for next years Mecha Month... i wanted to have a theme... So for the time being lets say Comedy.... 

There's a couple of shows i have that i have not watched in a few years...   

And finally the other day a little trailer came out on line... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erLk59H86ww

Can not wait till December 2015

Ok there is a lot of Youtube links in this post.... i feel so lazy. Sorry about that. i will try to do better next time.