TOPIC: Kylo Ren & Knights of Ren (Kouri's WIP)

Realized I had a write-up on the lightsaber, but never documented progress on the costume. Well, working on that now:


[May 2016 - MegaCon Orlando]


[May 2016 - MegaCon Orlando]


[Repainted Helmet - August 2016 - Tampa Bay Comic Con]

Most of the soft parts ordered from different costuming retailers. Modifications on the way to meet basic 501st approval.

Inner Tunic, Mid Coat, Outer Robes, and Belt from an XCoser v2 set.

Helmet is a modified Black Series.

Boots are the typical Walker boots.

To Do:

Outer Robes:
[*]Let out shoulders, take-in waist
[*]Last coating experiment didn't shine as desired - will attempt heat press

Mid Coat
[*]Take in waist, hem length

Under Tunic
[*]Remove collar
[*]Remove sleeves and reattach to separate layer (for range of motion - already meets basic approval with a tucked collar)
[*]Pipe neck and shoulder lines

Cape
[*]Fray fabric edges
[*]Permanently stitch into appropriate shape

Belt
[*]Repaint buckle sem-gloss black
[*]Re-position buckle to hide seam
[*]Fabricate & Attach Saber Clip
[*] Replace thin faux leather with thick, non-buckling leather

Helmet (Complete)
[*]Gut & Weld Black Series Helmet
[*]Replace plastic visor and cheekholes with black mesh
[*]Repaint worn black and weathered chrome

Neck Seal
[*]To be ordered

Gloves (Completed)
[*]Generic leather gloves for basic approval[

Boots
[*]Replace straps
[*]Replace front ribs
[*]Detail heel

Lightsaber
[*]Hilt constructed
[*]Electronics installed
[*]Unstable Blade effect

That's very impressive Kouri! Great job!

That looks less like cosplay and A LOT more like an official Adam Driver guest appearance! Wow!

I saw you at tampa bay comicon. The costume looks even better in person.

Whoa I was at tampa bay comic con with my wife and daughter! My wife also went to Orlando megacon and got a picture with a guy in a kylo ren outfit just like yours...might have been you! Heres the picture of my wife with the kylo ren at megacon orlando-




Is that you by any chance? That would be a small world if so.

Also here is my wife and I at the Tampa bay comic con. We were standing in the outer lobby with the giant windows so lots of daylight was pouring in and made our sabers look terrible in the pictures. It stinks we got most of our pictures out there and the few pics we got inside had our sabers looking really badass. Oh well.



Here my wife has her new champion Oracle with a Mint Green blade (that doesn't look like mint green at all in the picture) and I'm sporting my new beefy big "sith" style saber that I put together through the ASP pledge program. Its freaking huge but I love it.

jbeem wrote:
Sorry, not me. My saber had a pointed tip, and I had the hood up all day at MegaCon.



Also, I was only up that Saturday. For TampaBay ComicCon, I was just there the Sunday.

SadiraOrphesu wrote:
Thanks a bunch! But it's not just about looking the part - sound plays a big part. Here's a bit of info on the voice changer.

First attempt used a generic desktop mic, RoboVox app, and an Aker portable amp. Kind of muffled.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BF6k48-sngy/

Second revision uses the Aker mic with a separate power source, guitar pedal pitch shifter, and two Aker amps. Much clearer.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGPwIokMnvr/

Took some time today to machine a belt clip.

Not an exact replica, since I wanted this clip to take a covertec thumbscrew I'll be using with the hilt. Just need to grab some chicago screws to mount this to the belt.



Also means it'd easily accept a Templar, if I ever decide to purchase a dueling hilt.

Chicago Screws came in over the weekend. Covertec clip mounted to the belt. Just need to paint and weather it.



Not shown, but some aluminum supports inside the belt to keep the screws from pulling through the material.

Holds the saber up just fine.

Forgot to photograph the painted clip... BUT MAKING PROGRESS WITH LESS THAN A WEEK TO GO UNTIL THE NEXT CON.

Finally made a set of unstable blades. Painting this week to help filter out some of the orange:



Also wired in a headphone jack so the saber audio can be wired into my portable amps. Now you won't only see this saber from across the convention hall - you'll hear it, too.

Just about wrapped up fabrication on helmets for three of the Knights of Ren. Painting this week.



Also responsible for arming all of the Knights, so starting off with this delightful dish of Thermal Detonators (which also need painting)

Kouri wrote:
ooh, what did you use to make those helmets? Curious because I'm currently tossing around some ideas for a cosplay for PAX next year.

Also great idea widening the eye ports, I know from my Revan helmet that it's pretty damn hard to see out of those slots when made identical to the source material.

Kouri wrote: Super Bass!

Badass!

How did you make the unstable main blade? Is that the soldering iron to PC method? That thing looks amazing!

Helmets are constructed from EVA foam. 1/4" (6mm) craft foam sheets for the bulk of the build. Thin craftfoam (2-3mm) and 3/8" (10mm) floor mats for detailing. They weigh almost nothing, have enough flexto slip on and off without much trouble, and still look like solid plates in photo.

They started out as a modified Darkside Starkiller helmet model. Adjusted vertices to match up with the concept art.



And then I flattened out the files in Pepakura Designer to make some templates:



Though after the first helmet, I simplified a few parts to make the build cleaner and easier.

I've also got a 6mm camping mat on order to chop up for next time around so I can build with fewer seams.

~

Unstable blade is just a custom-built 41" thinwall with lots of hot glue. First pass was short strokes running from emitter-to tip, mostly parallel with the blade. Second pass was lots of back-and-forth to make jumping "sparks". Glue really dims the blade, though, and since I've already sanded down the blade to diffuse, I'm going to try reducing the amount of diffusion film inside to try and brighten things back up.

Exhaust blades are the usual icicle lights, but sanded, lined with diffusion film, and stage-2 glued for sparks.

Awesome idea on the headphone jack and the blades look amazing.

For the sound, is this similar to what Naigon is working on with his Sound Hive or Saber Swarm?

Not really similar to the Saber Swarm system, no. That's a wireless audio system that relies on:

1) An Igniter board with a ZigBee wireless audio daughterboard, along with either:

2a) A custom-built wireless receiver using the Saber Hornet and another ZigBee module or

2b) A PC with a ZigBee module and the Saber Hive software.

~

That said, after this con wraps up, I'm planning on retiring this hilt and building a more accurate crossguard from a modified BS Kylo, stuff it with an Igniter, and build a belt-mounted Saber Hornet module without speakers that'll hook into the amps in my voice changer. That way I can use the saber as a remote to pump the TFA soundtrack through the speakers, along with saber battles with another wireless Skywalker hilt.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/1553748611608080?view=permalink&id=1694727960843477&ref=m_notif¬if_t=group_comment_reply

U see this yet? Looks like the Phoenix run just affordable....

Saw it, but cautions until I get some dimension. I'm wanting a giant Prop-Shop-dimension'd hilt. For now, modifying the BS seems like it'd get me closest to screen-accurate - I can remove the handle shroud and re-detail for accurate diameter, extend the handle and exhausts some, and re-paint.

But keeping an eye on things just in case.

~

Also, got everything base-coated yesterday. Lots and lots of black.

Hemets drying:



No time for an accurate blaster rifle build, so painting a NERF Longshot black:



And a base coat for the thermal detonators:



Don't have a picture, but also prepped a costume flintlock for repainting as Surplus' slugslinger.

Also not pictured, but painted the unstable blades to double as dayblades.

Awesome as always!

Thanks!

For anyone wanting to build their own helmet, I've gone ahead and uploaded the PepaKura PDO I designed. Same scale I originally printed these at (I think it should be brought down a bit - but plenty of room as-is for learge-headed folks with glasses, hahah).

Should work fine with 1/4" (6mm) EVA foam. Probably enough room to use the 3/8" (10mm) floor mats, if you really want to.

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=42697790415528617608

Awesome, I might take a stab at that!

I was thinking about buying a Revan mask/helmet for an eventual cosplay, but I assume something similar would work for that too.