Hot Toys Darth Vader : tips , tricks and any other mods

[TheClient]

Old thread, but I’m on a Vader kick and I’ve been hyper-fixated on kitbashing my own ESB Vader. I’m not looking to do any repainting, re-buffing, or re-sculpting, just putting together the best parts to make something that looks better proportioned than the stout stock Hot Toys from ESB.

I have a spare set of the costume and a Roadblock body on the way from ebay. I understand that I need to switch out the arms with those of a Vader body. Are these arms easy to remove and re-attach? Or will tools be required? How worried should I be about breaking the body?

Another question, how does the ESB chest armor compare to the other chest armors by Hot Toys? From reading this thread it sounds like the ANH v2 from the Tarkin 2-pack has the favorite chest/shoulder armor, but I cannot find one parted out.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

Old thread, but I’m on a Vader kick and I’ve been hyper-fixated on kitbashing my own ESB Vader. I’m not looking to do any repainting, re-buffing, or re-sculpting, just putting together the best parts to make something that looks better proportioned than the stout stock Hot Toys from ESB.

I have a spare set of the costume and a Roadblock body on the way from ebay. I understand that I need to switch out the arms with those of a Vader body. Are these arms easy to remove and re-attach? Or will tools be required? How worried should I be about breaking the body?

Another question, how does the ESB chest armor compare to the other chest armors by Hot Toys? From reading this thread it sounds like the ANH v2 from the Tarkin 2-pack has the favorite chest/shoulder armor, but I cannot find one parted out.

You can probably use a mostly stock ESB Vader as your base. The Roadblock body is great. The arm swap is not very hard at all, you just need a small phillips head screwdriver, and some pliers, or a hobby knife (depends on your approach) for removing the rubbery, skin-like upper torso from the Roadblock body, and use some superglue to close up and reattach it once the arm swap is complete. A thin fat-suit may help to fill out the waist as well. You will also need to cut off the ankle joint of the roadblock body, and drill into the ankle to attach the Vader feet. This also helps to get the height more accurate. I have explained some of these mods in this thread.

 

[IndyMOS]

Has anyone tried replacing a HT R1 pants and shirt with the ESB pants and shirt? Since the R1 figure is taller, I’d like to know how they fit. Thanks in advance if anyone can help