Thank you for letting me join this wonderful place. I love to share my collection of Star Wars props and costumes. I'll start off by showing off the prized piece in my collection. A full complete ANH Darth Vader costume on a Prowse sized mannequin.
I started this project in 2020 with my first piece being the helmet. It's a DJ from Mike Warren. He is the go to for accurate lineage Vader helmets. The DJ is a cast from the mold off of the original helmet or known as the Rick Baker mold. Mike was lucky enough to be chosen to reproduce the DJ cast. The armor is also from the Baker mold and produced by Mike. Mike is a vet of the Vader community and has been able to finish both pieces as accurately as possible which includes adding in details the DJ casts(helmet and armor) were missing(from cleaning up prior to the community preserving being a thing)
The shin guards were cast off the pair from the MP, Movie Poster, suit which like the DJ came from the Baker molds. Rick Baker molded the helmet, armor, shins and chest box to produce pieces for touring suits to promote the film back on 1977 with The MP suit being one of those tour suits. The MP helmet has been confirmed to be the helmet used in the ESB promo poster.
Everything else was recreated to be as screen accurate as possible to preserve the history of the original costume since for the most part doesn't exist anymore. It's much like Ford's Theater. The interior of the building is a recreation since the floors collapsed in 1893. They chose to recreate it to preserve history.
The cape was heavily modified to be accurate. The ANH cape is 1/2 circle and composed of 4 panels. It has a strip of corduroy running down the front edge to keep the liner from bunching out. It was made by Kelly Jo before she retired. The suit was made by Custom Props with modifications I requested. The suit was tailored to the available measurements of Prowse. I had to ask for the lines on the arms not to touch the back seam on the sleeves. They should all run parallel. The vest was changed to be made in panels to reflect the seams that are on the front. They can be seen in the high res photo of Kermit Eller modeling the costume at Don Post in 1977. They are not seen once the robe is on but I chose to recreate every detail to preserve this costume. Cod piece is designed be Enes but he retired and passed his patterns to Dark Lady props who I purchased it from. The complete belt is from Fenix Props and they did an amazing job at accurately replicating it. The chest box is from an Etsy seller who no longer sells it. Its the only accurate 3d printed box I have seen on Etsy. It has the correct box shape. The sides have a curve that makes the back bigger then the face. Every other chest box maker I have seen on Etsy and eBay makes it like a literal box shape with flat sides. That's incorrect. The weathering on all of the boxes are real scratches in the paint and were replicated to match the scratches seen in the Don Post Kermit Eller photos. All scratches were intentional. The gloves were made by Fenix Props and they were designed by me and by friend who used the screen used gloves as the model. They went for auction a few years ago and the auction has really nice high res photos. So I helped Fenix update theirs to reflect the screen used as much as possible. Lightsaber hilt is the MPP replica from Roman Props.
Some pictures. Enjoy!
I started this project in 2020 with my first piece being the helmet. It's a DJ from Mike Warren. He is the go to for accurate lineage Vader helmets. The DJ is a cast from the mold off of the original helmet or known as the Rick Baker mold. Mike was lucky enough to be chosen to reproduce the DJ cast. The armor is also from the Baker mold and produced by Mike. Mike is a vet of the Vader community and has been able to finish both pieces as accurately as possible which includes adding in details the DJ casts(helmet and armor) were missing(from cleaning up prior to the community preserving being a thing)
The shin guards were cast off the pair from the MP, Movie Poster, suit which like the DJ came from the Baker molds. Rick Baker molded the helmet, armor, shins and chest box to produce pieces for touring suits to promote the film back on 1977 with The MP suit being one of those tour suits. The MP helmet has been confirmed to be the helmet used in the ESB promo poster.
Everything else was recreated to be as screen accurate as possible to preserve the history of the original costume since for the most part doesn't exist anymore. It's much like Ford's Theater. The interior of the building is a recreation since the floors collapsed in 1893. They chose to recreate it to preserve history.
The cape was heavily modified to be accurate. The ANH cape is 1/2 circle and composed of 4 panels. It has a strip of corduroy running down the front edge to keep the liner from bunching out. It was made by Kelly Jo before she retired. The suit was made by Custom Props with modifications I requested. The suit was tailored to the available measurements of Prowse. I had to ask for the lines on the arms not to touch the back seam on the sleeves. They should all run parallel. The vest was changed to be made in panels to reflect the seams that are on the front. They can be seen in the high res photo of Kermit Eller modeling the costume at Don Post in 1977. They are not seen once the robe is on but I chose to recreate every detail to preserve this costume. Cod piece is designed be Enes but he retired and passed his patterns to Dark Lady props who I purchased it from. The complete belt is from Fenix Props and they did an amazing job at accurately replicating it. The chest box is from an Etsy seller who no longer sells it. Its the only accurate 3d printed box I have seen on Etsy. It has the correct box shape. The sides have a curve that makes the back bigger then the face. Every other chest box maker I have seen on Etsy and eBay makes it like a literal box shape with flat sides. That's incorrect. The weathering on all of the boxes are real scratches in the paint and were replicated to match the scratches seen in the Don Post Kermit Eller photos. All scratches were intentional. The gloves were made by Fenix Props and they were designed by me and by friend who used the screen used gloves as the model. They went for auction a few years ago and the auction has really nice high res photos. So I helped Fenix update theirs to reflect the screen used as much as possible. Lightsaber hilt is the MPP replica from Roman Props.
Some pictures. Enjoy!
Last edited:
❤
