Home of the Sovereign Protectors

Hello everyone.

This is my build thread for Kir Kanos.

Updates and new pictures will be continually added as the project progresses. Each thumbnail below can be clicked on for a larger image.

Caveats/Artistic Leeway: Kir Kanos has never appeared in a live action movie. For this reason, there is no definitive reference for the character. The only references are in the comic books. In comic books, the artist who does the cover art is usually different from the penciler for the story inside, who is usually different than the inker, who is usually different from the colorist. Each of these people usually adds their little bit of artistic vision for that comic. That’s why a character on the cover can be very different from the character that’s depicted in the story itself inside. This creates a ton of discrepancies. In fact, armor, clothes, etc. can change design from one frame to the next in the comic. Another problem arises form the fact that the references are from a comic book and not from a live action movies. If you take the picture in the comic book literally, the costume will look like a comic book character or six foot tall plastic action figure instead of looking like the best warriors in Palpatine’s Empire.

With that said, lets get to it. This is a work in progress. I wan’t to have it completed for 2018 C2E2.

Overall Reference: Here are two pics (one from interior of Crimson Empire 1 and Dave Dorman's cover art for Crimson Empire #1). There are a few discrepancies between the two (read above), but between these two images you can pretty much see everything except the back plate armor piece.




1. Gloves: The gloves will be made from red leather to give it a realistic feel. I started by finding a pair of leather gloves that fit well to my hand. I chose a pair of Rugged Wear goatskin leather gloves size Large from Menards. I then deconstructed the gloves into its separate pieces to use as patterns. Picture 1 below shows an example of the original glove and then the patterns of the individual pieces. The cuffs on the gloves do not have to go very high because the armored gauntlets will cover them just above the wrist. I am currently waiting for my leather to arrive.




2. Helmet: This is one of the only pieces that I do not plan on fabricating from scratch. I have read on the forums that this bucket has been approved in the past with no modifications. This is the Rubies Supreme Edition Royal Guard Helmet. It is pretty expensive, but is made of solid resin and fits my head perfectly. I am currently testing the darkness of the visor. At some point next year, I may sculpt my own.




3. Force Glaive: I love this weapon, and I am loving how my version is coming along. The Sovereign Protectors standard is one foot taller than the costumer. I am 6’ tall and the helmet adds a couple inches so to be safe I made the total length 7.5’. Each blade is 2’ long and the center shaft is 3.5’ long. The comic art for the weapon changes almost page to page. The vast majority of the pictures of this weapon being fairly sleek and smaller in diameter than the beefier cover art depictions. The blades are supposed to be able to retract into the center shaft. That means the width of the blades cannot be any larger than the diameter of the shaft unlike what is depicted on a lot of the cover art. Refer to the pictures below for the style that I decided on. Based on the references of the shaft in relation to the hands, I made my shaft out of 1.5” diameter poplar wood. This wood is a bit larger and stronger than the closet dowels, but not as huge as using 2” plus PVC pipe. It fits great in the hand and matches the size references in the comics. The shaft is wrapped in a basket weave type pattern. In the vast majority of all three comics the wrap is brown and not black or silver. Many times the shaft is shadowed with black, but the main color is definitely a brown. I chose to wrap the shaft in died leather to mimic this brown color and emboss the weave patter on it. An antiquing technique will be applied to highlight the weave pattern. The leather will be hand laced to the shaft. The blades are made from 1/4 inch 6061 aluminum stock with a false blade edge, polished and secured to the shaft. Small embellishments will be made to the blades near the end caps to match the art.




4. Gun Belt: The gun belt will be made using a 2” nylon webbing core wrapped in the same leather used for the gloves. A holster will be made to fit the DH-17 blaster pistol. The Sovereign Protectors standard is 2-3 belt pouches. I decided to make one large and two smaller pouches. The cores will be 3D printed and they will be wrapped in the same leather as the gloves with a magnetic enclosure. The buckle will also be 3D printed.



5. DH-17 Blaster Pistol: According to the Sovereign Protectors standard, this is the pistol used for this build. I found what appear to be a pretty clean set of 3D printer files for it. I am having a friend 3D print one to see how it comes out. TBD.

(Pictures coming next week)

6. Cape: Haven’t started yet.

7. Skin Suite: Haven't started yet.

8. Boots: Haven’t started yet.

9. Armor: Haven’t started yet.

Krugor wrote: Caveats/Artistic Leeway: Kir Kanos has never appeared in a live action movie. For this reason, there is no definitive reference for the character. The only references are in the comic books. In comic books, the artist who does the cover art is usually different from the penciler for the story inside, who is usually different than the inker, who is usually different from the colorist. Each of these people usually adds their little bit of artistic vision for that comic. That’s why a character on the cover can be very different from the character that’s depicted in the story itself inside. This creates a ton of discrepancies. In fact, armor, clothes, etc. can change design from one frame to the next in the comic. Another problem arises form the fact that the references are from a comic book and not from a live action movies. If you take the picture in the comic book literally, the costume will look like a comic book character or six foot tall plastic action figure instead of looking like the best warriors in Palpatine’s Empire.

With that being said which version of Kanos are you planning on working on. Usually the best key for this is to pick one source for your material and stay consistent with the build.

All my reference material comes from Crimson Empire 1. Even with that said, some of his stuff changes from one page to another. I will post a picture of the reference pain I am using from Crimson Empire 1 for each item sometime next week. The only main difference right now is in CE1 his gun belt is silver through the whole comic book and the Sovereign Protectors criteria is a red gun belt (which he has in CE 2, etc.). When I post each pic, I will look for feedback from anyone here for what they think and if any changes should be made.

I have added some more reference pics. Let me know what you think.

To break it down here - There are two versions you can do with Kanos - one with the Red belt and bracers or the one with the silver belt and one silver bracer.

Ahh cool.

I just end up making two sets, one red and one silver. Silver set for Kanos and a red set for standard guard armor.

I am already working on two different force glaives (two different color variants) just because they are so cool.

Finished my blades last week and updated the OP with some pics. I think they turned out pretty well. Its hard to see in the photos because of the reflections, but there is a false edge ground onto the edge of the blade. Let me know what you think.





I am working on the wrap now for the staff/grip. In almost every picture in Crimson Empire 1,2 and 3 the staff is a brown color. It is usually shaded in black around the edges. The reference pic below is a good example of how it is almost always colored. I am thinking of wrapping the handle in tool leather, stamping a lattice basket weave into it and dying it black with a black antique finish to highlight the pattern. The one pic below shows an approximate brown color and the other pic shows an exampled of the basket weave stamp. Another option is to use just a straight criss cross stamp to recreate the literal straight lines of the "weave" appearance in the leather and still have the visual depth. What are your thoughts?

Here is my Crimson Empire Force Glaive for my Kir Kanos build.

I have attached pictures below (click to view larger image) along with some reference graphics. Keep in mind that Kir Kanos has only appeared in comic books and does not have a definitive screen reference. His appearance and this weapon change frequently in the same comic book and sometimes from page to page.

Length: This thing is long at 7.5’. The Sovereign Protectors control is “no smaller than 1ft in length taller than the costumer from blade tip to bade tip.” I am six foot tall and the helmet and boots add a few inches.

Staff: The center staff part of this weapon is made from a wooden dowel that fits in my hand in the general size os the references in the comics. Each end has end caps that mimic the general references in the comics. The fins on the end caps change position from page to page in the comic. I chose to put the wider end of the fins on the blade end of the staff. It looks more like cross guards on a sword. Embellishments were added to the end caps to mimic some of the comic references. In the comics the staff is wrapped in a brown basket weave material (the only time it is depicted as black in in the Dorman cover art). I chose to wrap the dowel in thick leather stained brown with a hand stamped basket weave pattern that was then hand punched and stitched. An antiquing black was added to the cracks to give it some depth.

Blade: The blades are made from 1/4” aluminum stock 1 3/4” wide and 2’ long cut to the general shape of the references with a false blade ground on the edge. The blades were then polished. In the comics, the blades retract into the staff so the blades cannot be any wider than the staff is wide. Embellishments were placed on the bade near the staff end caps. In the comic references, these embellishments change every time they are depicted so I picked a design that includes several of the features.

What’s Next: Next year, I plan on making a version of this weapon slush cast in rubber so I can take it into conventions and cosplay shows. Since I had so much fun making this one, I plan on doing another one next year and tighten up some of the details. The blade embellishments and end caps will be 3D modeled and printed next time instead of being hand fabricated. The blades mounts will be magnetic instead of bolts so the blades can be changed easier/quicker.

What do you think?

So far, I have one comment on your build: that glaive is a thing of beauty. Congratulations, good sir.

Wow looking good! Any new updates? Always interested in seeing builds of things you don't often see in the legion.