Michael Lee: Cmdr Jun Sato

[Incom-FreiTek]

Hi all,

After the forum got a reboot, I just want to restart my WIP thread here, just so I have a bit of a work-area for the build.

This will be my first RL costume, and not one I believe has been done before by any active member. This will be a slow burner, something I'd like to take to Celebration next year.

Wookipedia page: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jun_Sato

Turnaround Art



Image Dump

Got a good amount of reference here, a full 360, so should be no ambiguity for judges.





































Costume Breakdown

Hair

Black/Dark Brown in colour
Short + slick back
Grey accents on the temples / over the ears

Face

Brown eyes
Heavy contouring of cheeks + tone under eyes

Underlayer

Black in colour
Visible above collar of tunic
Comes a few inches up the neck

Tunic

Tan coloured
Seam detailing on the chest (vertical panels on shoulders approx 9-12, one horizontal below armour piece)
Long Sleeved
Lower part of tunic has a slit in the front,
Left and right side seams

Trousers

Long trousers, tucked into boots
Minimal blousing
Inner and outer leg seams on both legs.

Armour

Chest armour worn over the shoulders
Has a mandarin style collar
4x stripe detailing on the collar
Rank badge on left breast
Separate shoulder bells, free floating form main chest piece, and slightly curved in shape.

Belt

Brown belt
Few inches in height
Small pouches matching colour of the belt worn on left and right
Metallic buckle, with 2 green circles on left side of buckle
4x horizontal detailing (2 front and 2 back)

Gloves

Plain brown gloves
Wrist length

Boots

Brown riding-style boots
No patterning other than small square and top front lip of the boot

[Incom-FreiTek]

Some of my initial thoughts below:

Hair

I have natural dark hair that should be styled reasonably easily close to he ref.
Will use some spray in grey for colour accents.

Face

Will grab some makeup, and teach myself how to contour. May have to recruit the wife for a how-to.

Underlayer

Will probably look at black cotton, and make a high neck t-shirt
Or something moisture managing (on the advice of others)

Tunic

Looking for Cavalry Twills at the moments, ideally with a colour match (easier that dyeing)
Will put a mandarin collar in it
I'll be getting this tailor fit along with my trousers.

Trousers

Same material as tunic

Armour

Exploring 2 avenues at the moment:

a) Teach myself something new, and scratch build out of Foamex/Sintra. Sato's armour isn't too complex. Shaping the shoulder bells looking like the biggest challenge.

b) Comission build (lazy option)- having a poke around a few vendors at the moment who might be willing to take it on.

Belt

Have spoken to Mr. Sandground, will explore this with him.
Belt buckle needs a a thought - the green detailing looks lit to me, could possible use some strips LED's? To be explored some more.

Gloves

Will go custom made - unless someone knows any nice plain brown leather gloves that will go beyond my wrist?

Boots

Bit of a headache with these - Men's plain riding boots don't seem to be a thing. Again, 2 avenues to explore:

a) I have a pair of Fouganza stable boots in black. They are the right shape but wrong colour, paint paint does not adhere well to rubber. Need to investigate more

b) Brown shoes, then make some spats to go over them, to give the illusion of a knee high boot.

Think that's about it - will hopefully keep this reasonably up to date as I go.

[xenadd]

I'm going to repeat some stuff at you that we've already talk about elsewhere so you've got a record of it:

Face: BLEND, my dude! Blending is your friend!

Hair: Hair spray is obviously an option, maybe also consider hair mascara or similar (it got super popular in the late 90's) as that may give you better control to get a more natural salt and pepper effect. There are countless options - hair make-up is becoming big business again - so maybe play around with some different things.

Base layer - as I said, a sweat-wicking sports top may be your friend under that cavalry twill and armour, just so long as you don't go for shiny shiny. Under armour do mock turtlenecks, Nike do a few different ones from mock turtlenecks to roll necks, and there are plenty of other options out htere. Another to maybe look into is UniQlo Airism - I'm not sure if they do high necked things for men but the range is designed to keep you cool. Otherwise knocking something together out of a lightweight jersey will be no bother. But prioritise this layer after the collar for the neck and/or armour has been finalised to match proportionally.

Tunic and trousers - cavalry twill, yay! If you can't colour match it will be very easy to dye to match as it will be a cotton or cotton-wool blend. I think, off the top of my head, that Dylon pebble beige may be a good colour match? Possibly not, but you can do this easy as can be in a washing machine with zero faff.

Armour - It's nothing like as hard as you would expect in foamex to make those compound curves - just make up a card form first to get you pattern, dart it, and once yu have your shape don't get bored of smoothing out those curves like I did. Happy to talk over any of that any time.

Boots - Might be worth looking into something like plasti-dip or some other rubberised paint? There's another brand that I cna't think of right now. I have some concerns about how it would pucker at the ankle creases but worth investigating?

Otherwise, as I pointed out before, he is arguably wearing spats on the turnaround, though it's not as obvious as on pretty much all of the other rebels characters. So using osmething like a chelsea boot and building over that would be perfectly appropriate.

[Incom-FreiTek]

Much appreciated as always Xena!

Pulled colour from the turnaround model, dropping it here for reference:



I have a swatch of cavalry twill which is really nice, but a touch too dark. It is available in natural from the supplier, so I'll have a poke around and see what else I can find, else I'll go the dye route.

[tenebris]

Hi michael

Just to flag up, I've had a quick look and can't find any standards or other builds for this costume.
When submitting a costume with no standard, the applicant must also provide images of their reference material which must include head to toe and front to back images of the costume. As its a Rebels cartoon costume I can't see you having any problems as long as you reference it.

This is from the legion charter:

Costumes eligible for Rebel Legion membership, that do not have written/posted costume standards must include:
1. Two or more images, head to toe, showing the front and back of the costume being created OR a 360-degree head-to-toe turnaround of the character.
2. Additional images may be included to show detail of the costume being created.
3. Resource material may come from any LFL/Disney licensed sources for the character/costume being created.
4. Additional costume details may come from a detailed text-based description, but must have an accompanying visual reference to be considered for creating a Rebel Legion approved costume.
5. For video games: Player generated/edited costumes for game characters (those that are customizable) are not eligible for consideration for Rebel Legion membership.

Anyway great start, I'm always excited to see rebels builds.

If you want some inspiration I believe some past Rebels builds have had ankle type boots and spats. Callus and an imperial gunner off the top of my head. Might be worth checking out the builds over on the 501st Ukg and on the IOC http://www.imperialofficer.com


Once you know how to do it foamex armour is really easy and unlike Vac form stuff, its fairly cheap, so you can have a bit of a practice first.
I would make the collar as a second piece and solvent cement it to the body armour, then fill the seam with a tiny bit of miliput or something like that.

Heat guns for foamex moulding are super cheap:
https://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-enb4 ... 240v/59740

Foamex
https://www.trentplastics.co.uk/pvc-foa ... oam-sheets

Primer, its cheap as chips and not failed me yet when using the matt foamex:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HYCOTE-XUK0301 ... ref=sr_1_1?
ie=UTF8&qid=1516967647&sr=8-1&keywords=hycote+primer

[Incom-FreiTek]

Thanks for the info Empathy.

Did a few quick calculations on proportions against my own height today:



And looking at the seams on the upper part of the tunic:



I'm still very much in the scribble stuff down stage at the moment. Don't see any thread or tools being lifted in anger for a couple months at least.

[Incom-FreiTek]

Some still pulls for reference against some samples I have.

[tenebris]

I think 3 or 4 looks pretty close.

[Jerrick Sunrunner]

It would be 3 for me!

[Incom-FreiTek]

Sooooo, long time no update.

Been a bit quiet on this one, but I've cleared TLJ Kylo with the UKG now, and with SWCC announced, full steam ahead on Sato.

Back to fabrics.

This is number 1 again in natural light. It's damn close.



I think this is consistent with the inconsistent animated lighting and such.



Cheers,
Michael

[tenebris]

the hours I’ve spent matching fabric to Star Wars pics........lighting is always a pain, especially with animated. You literally won’t find a fabric that matches everything. So I think go with what you think look right it’s your build. Personally I think that one looks pretty good.

When I attach my references when I app in I usually say which one I used for colour.

[Jerrick Sunrunner]

Animation is a pain but I’d say you’re on the right lines with the choice of fabric

[Gremlin]

Anyone remember the start of Rebels, when Dave Filoni gave costume breakdowns for the main characters, including Pantone colour charts?

Yeah. That's what we need!

[Incom-FreiTek]

Hi all, just a small bump on this, just to show that I haven't forgotten about it!

I hit a wall, the fabric I'd selected has been discontinued, and I have not had any time to go hunting again recently. Will get on it as a soon as I can.

I did manage to do some prototyping of the construction methods of the tunic so I think I'm covered on that front. In terms of access, I think I'll opt for an invisible zip on the back, as other than that I don't see myself getting in and out of it very easily.

In terms of the rest, someone has said they'll make the gloves for me, so just need to select some suitable thin leather or PU. David is on the case re: belt setup.

I have also sourced some foam board of varying thickness to have a crack at scratch building the armour. Will see how I get on, else I may need to enlist some expert help.

I'm still a million miles away from finishing this (as I haven't really started), but I am hell bent on getting this done for SWCC, as I think it's really the only place it'd be recognised ha.

Cheers,
Michael

[tenebris]

Its always best to go slow and get it right.....

With the concealed zip I think that's a great plan. There is no center back seam, so are you thinking of putting it in one of the 2 shaping seams?

We always use 5-6 mm foamex for Armour, but looking at the detailed refs for this is looks quite thin. So I think playing with the thickness is def the way forward. We have a few members who build regularly with foamex so give us a shout if you need help. I usually do paper templates first, then use cardboard boxes (pull the cardboard over the edge of a table to make it more pliable).

Industrial velcro is the best method for fixing as it sits flatter and it less faff than poppers........there is always magnets, but I've not tried that.

With being recognized, there are so many rebels costumes now, that I don't really think its an issue. We have a little crew going now and it will be an awesome addition.