1/6 1/6 Hot Toys - MMS 452 - Star Wars: Episode V ESB - Darth Vader

[generalgrevious]

Starting to mock up my display for ESB Vader. These are custom snowies partly using HT recasts, I have another 2 regular HT snowies.

The cape has a bit of thickness on the shoulders due to the layers - I may try to get everything to bed down more to lower the shoulders just a touch, may be able to get him to look down a bit more too. Most 1/6 Vaders seem to want to look up a bit, though Vader does do a lot of that in ESB.

This is the tweaked nose and retouched mouth.

Tali what all did you do to the nose and mouth was it difficult to do

 

[GMan022]

Starting to mock up my display for ESB Vader. These are custom snowies partly using HT recasts, I have another 2 regular HT snowies.

The cape has a bit of thickness on the shoulders due to the layers - I may try to get everything to bed down more to lower the shoulders just a touch, may be able to get him to look down a bit more too. Most 1/6 Vaders seem to want to look up a bit, though Vader does do a lot of that in ESB.

This is the tweaked nose and retouched mouth.

Who made those bases and name plates? They look great, especially Vader's.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[generalgrevious]

I have been working on mine. I gave him a custom body using the combo of both the RO and ANH vader bodies. I put the ANH arms and torso rubber ( chest part) on the RO body as the articulation is a lot better then the stiff ESB body. and used the legs from the ANH to give him that shorter look. repainted the mask painted the mesh under the chin silver as I believe that`s the color I kept seeing in different videos and photos. take a photo soon once I`m done messing around with him.

 

[canofhumdingers]

Is this a paint defect or is that little smudge at the bottom of the the helmet meant to be there? I hope it's the latter..

I just opened mine today. I barely had time to get the batteries in (what a chore!) and get him on the shelf for now. But I noticed a very similar splotch on mine in EXACTLY the same spot. And I too wondered if it’s a defect or intentional.

ALSO:

How on earth are you guys getting the belt down over the top of the cod piece?!?! I TRIED and TRIED but the belt is SO tight I don’t see how it can be done!

 

[davejames]

Hard to tell exactly what you did Talibane, but the mask does seem to look a bit better there.

And I can't say I've ever had much interest in the Snowtroopers on their own, but they do look really damn cool next to Vader like that.

 

[TaliBane]

I just opened mine today. I barely had time to get the batteries in (what a chore!) and get him on the shelf for now. But I noticed a very similar splotch on mine in EXACTLY the same spot. And I too wondered if it’s a defect or intentional.

ALSO:

How on earth are you guys getting the belt down over the top of the cod piece?!?! I TRIED and TRIED but the belt is SO tight I don’t see how it can be done!

Mine has it too, and I saw it on a couple of other pics. Seems to be a small slop of undercoat over the final gunmetal spray. The good thing is, it's not really noticeable in most light and angles.

I don't think it's supposed to be there - but who knows, HT has done some weird "super accurate" defects like on the ANH Vader helmet and the thumb print on the stormie armor. I haven't seen that blemish on the ESB Vader helmet prop, but it's possible. The fact it's somewhat consistent across at least a half dozen says it might be intentional, though doubtful - probably just a machine error that affected a few hundred.

And re: my Vader helmet, I extended the nose downward by roughly a mm. The stock nose is too small and the mouth too big. This mod doesn't 100% solve the issue, but it brings it much closer to accurate by making the nose more prominent and the mouth a bit smaller. I also straightened the tusks.

I am still considering pulling the helmet halves apart to sand down the upper half so the tusk rails are even - get rid of that pronounced "bump" on the rail where the two halves meet.

And re: my stands, I made them (I still may paint the tops white or create a grate/snow pattern on the tops.)

 

[Calcifer]

I guess it is actually super hot toys detail,it's here in the promo pics..

 

[supersphinxman]

I just opened mine today. I barely had time to get the batteries in (what a chore!) and get him on the shelf for now. But I noticed a very similar splotch on mine in EXACTLY the same spot. And I too wondered if it’s a defect or intentional.

ALSO:

How on earth are you guys getting the belt down over the top of the cod piece?!?! I TRIED and TRIED but the belt is SO tight I don’t see how it can be done!

Regarding getting the belt to sit over the cod piece, another member mentioned a few pages back to move the small battery pack that is located in the rear to the vertical strap on Vader's backside as opposed to where it originally sits horizontally. It worked for me as I was initially spinning my wheels trying to do the same exact thing.

 

[generalgrevious]

Mine has it too, and I saw it on a couple of other pics. Seems to be a small slop of undercoat over the final gunmetal spray. The good thing is, it's not really noticeable in most light and angles.

I don't think it's supposed to be there - but who knows, HT has done some weird "super accurate" defects like on the ANH Vader helmet and the thumb print on the stormie armor. I haven't seen that blemish on the ESB Vader helmet prop, but it's possible. The fact it's somewhat consistent across at least a half dozen says it might be intentional, though doubtful - probably just a machine error that affected a few hundred.

And re: my Vader helmet, I extended the nose downward by roughly a mm. The stock nose is too small and the mouth too big. This mod doesn't 100% solve the issue, but it brings it much closer to accurate by making the nose more prominent and the mouth a bit smaller. I also straightened the tusks.

I am still considering pulling the helmet halves apart to sand down the upper half so the tusk rails are even - get rid of that pronounced "bump" on the rail where the two halves meet.

And re: my stands, I made them (I still may paint the tops white or create a grate/snow pattern on the tops.)

so how did you do that mouth and nose job details.

 

[rayeknor]

Mine got that same neck smudge too, same spot. Now I'm curious

 

[generalgrevious]

I never bother to look as I repainted the whole mask I did not even look at any qc issues.

 

[punisher1974]

Mine has the neck smudge also.

 

[davejames]

No dark smudge on mine, but the paint is a bit rougher in that spot.

 

[canofhumdingers]

Hmm, I moved the battery box for the chest lights before I even tried to lower the belt, but I still can’t get it over the codpiece...


Also, HOW ON EARTH do you swap out the arm for the light-up saber arm?! The instructions make it look like you just pull it right out of the sleeve, but mine will NOT fit. It’s not even close. I’m pulling way harder than I feel comfortable and I can see the stitching threads along the sleeve bulging under the pressure. The arm is way too fat to fit through the wrist hole in the sleeve, even with that little slit in it.

I’ve tried to find a YouTube video that shows someone doing it to no avail. One guy did a jump cut from regular arm to light up arm and said it was surprisingly easy... wtf?

 

[TaliBane]

I guess it is actually super hot toys detail,it's here in the promo pics..

Yeah, it is definitely in the proto pics and seems visible on every pic I have of this figure I've collected on here and youtube. It is 100% definitely intentional, not a paint error.

I couldn't see anything looking at ESB prop pics, but there does seem to be something in that area on the ROTJ prop helmet in that area. The sculpt is ROTJ, so maybe the paint app is too.

so how did you do that mouth and nose job details.

I guess I should have posted this in the mods thread, but this shows the new nose with a red line showing the bottom of the old/original nose.

EDIT: You can just see a slight reflection where the light is hitting the original bottom of the nose - it's just slightly above my red line level, so the original bottom of the nose was actually a little higher than my red line level shows.

I made a styrene insert and glued it in and repainted the whole nose. The HT paint app on the nose is bit spotty anyway.

I repositioned the tusks as well, but ugh - look at those joins in the tusk rails further back. Really want to pull the helmet apart and fix that (it's where the two helmet halves didn't quite seat properly when they glued it.) the gap/bump's better on some, worse on some - mine's somewhere in between.

I never bother to look as I repainted the whole mask I did not even look at any qc issues.

GG, you wild man.

 

[generalgrevious]

the mask was to dark. it all looks the same no definition between light color and dark color they just washed together

 

[TaliBane]

the mask was to dark. it all looks the same no definition between light color and dark color they just washed together

bolas de acero, amigo.

Post some pics (I guess in the mods thread) You mask/sprayed or hand painted?

And yeah, the nose mod was pretty tricky. Very delicate, and also trying not to get superglue where it shouldn't be. ESB Vader has no room for error because he's so clean. But after I did it, the mask suddenly "popped" to my eye to suddenly look like ESB Vader. It was actually the first time ever that I've felt like a 1/6 Vader looked like a screen Vader shrunken down. Even though I'm still working on the HT ANH helmet (I know these helmets so well...) I think I like the ESB sculpt better overall.

Mine's also on a new body with a SSC jumpsuit. And the SSC chestbox is just easier to deal with. One switch and you're done.

 

[generalgrevious]

some of these pics makes the head to large on the body some seem like we got lord helmet instead of lord vader. Tali. did you put your vader on a new body

 

[Wor-Gar]

some of these pics makes the head to large on the body some seem like we got lord helmet instead of lord vader.

Vader: What do you mean?

 

[TaliBane]

some of these pics makes the head to large on the body some seem like we got lord helmet instead of lord vader. Tali. did you put your vader on a new body

Mine's on a new body, also with a SSC jumpsuit (not a fan of any of the HT jumpsuits to date - licorice.) The arms are also better proportioned. I think mine's just over 13 1/4" which feels about right next to the Snowies. I'd prefer a 13" - 13 1/4" Vader, but that's just not going to happen with these slightly oversized HT helemts and chest armor. Yeah, Dark Helmet.

And the SSC chestbox is just easier to deal with. One switch and you're done.

Vader: What do you mean?



View attachment 427845

Try putting the HT RO chest armor on a muscle body. It's like a skinny teen in oversized shoulder pads.