Carolina Garrison

Greetings all,

My name is Tom Tilmon. I live in Wilmington, NC. I have been building my Kylo Ren since November 2016. Much of my build has been posted on SLD, and I have great feedback from them over there. I am nearing completion of this project, and basically just need boots, gloves, and touch-ups. Boots and Gloves are on the way.

Here is my build:
Helmet: Black Series modded heavily.

You can see the thread from my build, and more pictures: CLICK HERE FOR HELMET THREAD ON SLD

Boots: I have Imperials on the way.
Gloves: I have Endorfinders on the way.
Belt: Sam Salazar.
Saber Clip: JJ Industries.
Tunic: Sewn by me, in black Duck Cloth. Pleats, sewing, the whole mess. All handmade.

Thread on SLD: Tunic Thread Click Here

Sleeves: Sewn by me, in black duck cloth. Pleats, sewing, the whole mess....all handmade.


Thread on sleeves on SLD: Click Here for Sleeves Thread

Surcoat, Capelet, and Hood: All Dawn Bright templates, done currently in Monk's Cloth. Hand sewn by me. Not yet coated; however, in the next few weeks probably updating to Luke's cloth....aka Apprentice Weave. The outer parts are all easy after making the tunic and sleeves.



There is a lot more that has been done, but here you can see many of my components.

I greatly look forward to your feedback so I can modify as needed. These are not submission quality photos, they are selfies, with a smart phone on a timer. I will be contracting a real photographer for submission photos. I'm excited to be here, and basically, doing a 501st Stormtrooper has been a dream of mine for years. So, I eventually want to build a TK, but for now, I am fully obsessed with Kylo Ren!



Tom

Hey, *high five* for sewing those sleeves yourself mister!

Thank you! Sleeves are being disassembled tonight to add in a few more pleats on each sleeve to make sure I don't have any issues with CRL compliance. So, I get to sew them up again. This is twice they've been apart. In the end, they'll be absolutely right when I'm done. It has been a lot of work, but the tunic....nothing worse than the tunic. That was a lot of sewing down pleats.

Took two hours tonight to take sleeves apart and fit in new pleats. The bonus of that work is that I have 35 pleats on each sleeve, and a couple of the "added" pleats covered up some faux pais! So, they'll be even better. I'm probably going to try and tighten the upper arms just a hair more. I already had to unzip them to get out of them, but they tell me over at SLD that one of the killers for submission is loose sleeves. I think I'm gonna sew them in, pipe the edges, and go to bed.

Tomorrow I go to JoAnn's, I just got a coupon text. I need 2 new zippers for sleeves, speaker cloth for my visor that you can see through under flash, and some more thread so I can finish my new midcoat this weekend. I also need some dye to fix some issues on surcoat. Little chores now, the end is in sight. I also got a message tonight that my gloves shipped out! So, they're on the way. All I need are boots, and these fixes, and I'm ready to submit to the Garrison. The fixes will take me awhile, at least 2-3 more weeks of sewing machine work. I'll take a break from sewing machine to work on Jawswap/on new Black Series/Disney meld project. I modded my BS with Disney faceplate, but was told to scrap it and start anew, and so I will.

I thank any and all for the feedback, and I'm excited to begin this journey here, if I am accepted.

Tom

Great work. Kylo looks like a fun character to dress as. Glad to see you on the CG forums now. Welcome!

Looking forward to having you as a CG member.

Question - what do you have in the "eyes" of the Kylo helmet? Lense material?

Black pantyhose. After taking these photos, I'm chenging to speaker cloth. You can see my eyes with flash from camera. So, this weekend I'm either changing to speaker cloth, if JoAnn's has it, or doubling the pantyhose. It's been a struggle there, and a balancing act between vision and obscuring eyes from camera.....

Tom

Also. Joann's...sign up with every email address you have. (In addition to TEXT coupons)

Welcome! Kylo is a fun build. Looking good so far! Love those Star Wars pants under the costume! Totally to the CRL.

yeah, the pajamas were trying a stab at humor in a moment of triumph, after a difficult day on those sleeves. So, what I actually will have on underneath on my legs is a bit of a wink too, but I'll save that puppy for later.

I'm a bagpiper, so usually, not used to wearing drawers while performing. TMI.

Yeah, as far as JoAnns, I'm on all their mailers, texters, etc. I saved 50 bucks on my trip today with all my coupons.

Tom

silverBoyd wrote:Great work. Kylo looks like a fun character to dress as. Glad to see you on the CG forums now. Welcome!

Looking forward to having you as a CG member.

Question - what do you have in the "eyes" of the Kylo helmet? Lense material?

Alright, found some new Rayon at Wallyworld last night. You can see out of it, but not as good as the pantyhose. Flash isn't penetrating this material. Both shots taken with a flash in the face at close range. I'll do another experiment tonight.


Other progress: seam ripped the tails off my surcoat, the right side was not floor length, and the left side was barely there on one side. So, I'm making new rear skirting panels for my surcoat. Problem is, I have to dye the material first. I cut out the new panels, in rough draft, and they are in the dye bath now. While that is doing its thing, I'm working on a midcoat. I'm trying to make my midcoat in "StarKiller Base" style, except for the distressed material part. Its black flannel. Seeing how that turns out. May go for Starkiller too for the summer. The full Kylo Ren is HOT.

Will try to take some photos of the progress later on.

Tom

Just a reminder that the midcoat is now completely optional for Kylo as the CRL was updated last week. By all means go for the full thing if that is your plan, but just wanted to give you an FYI since there are a lot of people who started a Ren and haven't seen that the CRL has changed.

Yep, I know midcoat is nixed on full Ren. I'm pretty active on SLD, so I knew the CRL change was coming. I'm building it in anticipation of seeking approval for SKB too for when it's warmer. It's hot down here in NC. Plus, when the weather is cold out, it gives another potential layer to add on, and the outer surcoat looks better, more filled out with the midcoat. Plus, I already have the material.

Almost done with it, just a little bit of sewing left on it. Will take photos hopefully tonight or tomorrow.

Tried to take pictures with camera, details didn't turn out. Here are pictures taken by phone, not much better but you can see the SKB details that I put into my full midcoat. Give me Dawn's material, and I can do an SKB midcoat in a day. Now that I've perfected the methods, I can repeat it quickly.
Front:



Back with pin pinches at scapula and pleats below belt on same line:


Too tired to finish the surcoat repairs. Will try that tomorrow. Fixed helmet eyes, padded helmet, made midcoat, dyed rear surcoat skirt panels. That is enough for the day.

This is one heck of a project!



Tom

Thomas , what's up buddy? Glad to see you posting. I'll check up on you on SLD.

Thanks for all of your help Jason! I'm hoping to be ready to submit by mid-late March. I still have a lot of little projects to do, and also still waiting on my boots from Imperial, which may not be here until mid-march.

I might end up replacing all my outer fabric, which is fairly easy work, just expensive. Tonight I finished fixing my surcoat.

Projects left to complete:
1. Glue and fix all internal seams on surcoat and hood.
2. Glue and fix all internal seams on tunic and sleeves.
3. Widen collar on midcoat, and lower zipper. (Measured without the gorget on)
4. Chop and tailor the tunic, and then I'll have to re-pipe the arm holes.
5. Loosen forearms on my sleeves, I over-tightened them last week.
6. Coat all of the outer fabric with Dawn's gunk, to make it shiny.
7. Re-wax pants, this will be the second coat on the denim.
8. Fix blank hilt, screws stripped.
9. Sew capelet onto surcoat...maybe.
10. Photograph all this stuff on me for submission. Projects 1-6 will be very time consuming. So, I'm getting there, but have a ways to go.

Tom

Goodies arrived today, lots of em:

first and foremost, from EndorFinders:
They FIT LIKE A GLOVE!!!!! Literally, love them. Awesome gloves, and shipped mind-blowingly fast too. Crazy fast. God Bless John Fuqua!

and then my new BS arrived so I can begin Complex Modifications, which is Helmet Version II. I have so many Kylo Ren helmet parts around here, it is absolutely INSANE!

Factory BS, Disney, and My Version I helmet (with simple fat face mod)



I'm doing a more complex Richard Campbell type jaw swap, helmet flare, skinny faceplate mod to this one. The finished product, if I succeed is very similar to Anovos for 90 bucks, versus 700. sign me up for that. SLD Thread: Click Here

Tom

Quick add for tonight before I go to bed. I've been working on Kylo ever since I got home from work.

Dawn's coating goop, finally started shining on second coat! I was worried. Stupid monk's cloth.


I've decided to chop my tunic shoulders. Probably going to take 1.5 inches off peak. Not quite as extreme as this pic, but they need to be reduced in size!

Original from day of making:


Plan:


Chopped shoulders:


and lastly, since I got my gloves and finished my midcoat, some updated progress pics:





Merry Kylo to all, and to all a good night!

Tom