New Shadow Guard in the works

[Monari]

Greetings from Canada! I'm planning on making a Shadow Guard after having seen Kivas' and Geerts' wicked costumes. I've got the jack boots, working on the flight suit etc, but am wondering if anyone has any suggestions at to the armor? I know that there were a number of people mentioning making custom armor for the costume, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how to go about sourcing things like the backplate and the forearm guards especially.

The lightsaber pike will be a beast that i'll tackle after everything is said and done....

[psujedi27]

I'm in the process of scratch building the armor out of Sintra. I'm also doing a horrible job of posting progress picks. I have some patterns made, and they've been pretty useful.

If you have anyquestions please feel free to ask, I have a good amount of info I can send you.

[Fox5]

You could ask me!
if you can find galactic marine gauntlets without any attachments, cut down the ends that would work. RT mod storm trooper chest plate. cut down the bottom edge looks great. Back plate is tricky, maybe a Tk or a tie back plate, cut out the box put in some sintra backing bondo that smooth and paint would be one way. One guy is trying to mod a jango back.

Oh, black epoxy appliance spray paint is amazing! I tried all different kinds, the appliance just sticks on and drys glossy and durable.

Are you going to make a working saberpike?

[kivas]

Well, personally I disagree with the GM gauntlets as they don't have the proper taper on the front and the back - so - well I suppose If you took those then cut the taper ... I just simply made mine - they do need the taper

Backplate - tk backplate is the best matching shape, I commissioned my from RT without the box then I re-worked it from there. Chest is RT mod on mine

Saberpike - although there is discussion on this as not a requirement - to me it is - Shadow Guard is not one without his pike. I made mine fron scratch and inserted an fx saber - and let me tell ya it's tough enough for 3 rounds of dueling on Halloween with a buddy who was Ploo Koon.

Helmet, again I know for me a sticking point for acuracy was cutting down the sides for more tapered look as per the game. To me it just adds, but again I know it's not required.

Either Way this is a kick butt costume that get's lots of reaction - comfortable to wear except the heat issue in the bucket.

[psujedi27]

I agree with Kivas on most of his points.

I would really like to see the CRL for this have stricter standards. Mostly having the saberpike and the cut down helmet. If we're going for accuracy, let's get it as close as we can.

Just my two cents.

[LuciousTalvloinne]

Tye masses have spoken and I have taken note

[JesterTDA]

Tye masses have spoken and I have taken note

If you're going to do it, do it right It might be a tough costume, but that is where the joy comes in being able to pull it off.

[Fox5]

I wasn't ready to carry my saberpike thats made out of wood for 3 miles around drunk people. It couldve been easily grabbed from my hands. Also for weapons, absolutely not required. http://www.501st.com/databank/Weapons_policy

I know tapered helmet is accurate. There will be problems with shoulder straps and chest plate size. For when I submitted, my GML told me to take off the TK shoulder straps, my helmet rode too high almost an inch up when the helmet rested on my shoulders, and my neck isn't that long. So practical application vs reference accurate. I don't know. If the helmet is to be tapered for my costume correctly, the taper would expose my chest and back armor so I would have to have shoulder straps to look any bit accurate. Otherwise there would be a huge gap between the two. I feel like the helmet would also catch on the straps because of the taper. Just raising concern.

I also caution cutting helmets. Our guard helmets are not made of plastic, many times fiberglass. I know Kivas cut his helmet very well, but measure twice or a dozen times, cut once and miss looking symmetrical will be tricky. A CAD of what the taper should look like would be nice, If tapers are added to CRL. All my references show different shapes, rounded, perfect V, concave convex. In a perfect screen accurate costume, we would be able to turn our heads to look over past our shoulders and the mask would flow with. Not possible.

(Right now without cutting, I like the fact that someday if I want a royal guard I can repaint my helmet, resell it if need be as a royal guard helmet. Who knows how many DP helmets or other royal guard helmets we'll take out of commission because of screw ups of cutting haha my hands aren't that steady and neither is the dremel or saw that I will need to use.)

Everyone has a different body shape and size, make it work i guess.

[MagnaPrime]

I tend to oppose forcing a helmet cut personally. Our helmets are hard enough to come by as it is.
That said I hadn't thought about the issue with the shoulder bells so this might be an instance when I would advocate it as well.

[LuciousTalvloinne]

case by case not everyone's helmet fits the same