Here is how to make a cheap good looking Vader belt buckle. Please note, it will be quite cheaper than buying one from a vendor and probably quicker to make, but it will take effort and more than a couple of hours to get it right.This is what you will need:
Tools • Metal cutting shears,
• Pliers
• Rotary tool (if you have metal cutting discs you don’t need the shears),
• sanding paper 300 and 600 grit and maybe 1200
• Jewelry file
• Drafting compass
• Small paintbrush
• Sharpie pen
• Drill,
• 1/16” drill bit
• Disc drill chuck
• double sided tape
Materials • 2 aluminum blind outlet covers ($2 dlls ea)
• Any flat surface that is 3mm or 5mm thick (1/8” - 1/4”), preferably aluminum. In my case I used a $4 dll acrylic clip pad, but it can be anything, styrene sheet, chipboard, wood, etc.
• clear epoxy glue
• super glue
• clear lacquer or acrylic spray
• black paint (not glossy)
• chrome or aluminum paint
• toothpaste or mustard and toothpick (optional)
• masking tape (I prefer blue painters tape)
• adhesive industrial velcro (optional)
First,
DO YOUR RESEARCH. What Vader version are you doing? What are the CRLs for it? Make sure you have the correct characteristics of your buckle. You don’t want to have to make a second buckle ( like I did) because you didn’t double checked this.
That said choose one of the templates I made. This templates are what if think are accurate ( or almost). They are similar, but they do have differences that must be met for 501st approval. Templates below.
First take out the aluminum outlet covers and mask the front side with blue tape completely. Using the pliers flatten the edges, and the holes. Try to get the plate as flat as posible, but try not to scratch the front side or the center of the plate. If it curls a little, try to straighten it with your hands just to avoid scratching or denting the “good” side.
Do this step if you want your buckle to have some depth if not you can skip it. Cut 2 strips of aluminum about 3 mm wide from the long side of the cover, these will serve as raisers all along the perimeter of the circle and the D shape. You can cut them with shears or rotary tool. If you use shears the strips will curl and you will need to straighten them out with the pliers.
Then check the template and trace the circle on the blue tape at the center of the cover, the trace it again with the Sharpie pen and the center with a cross, it will help if you trace on the back of the circle as well. You can use the compass leg tips to locate the center point on both sides. Cut the circle, you can use shears or rotary tool. I used nautical shears, faster but it does curl a bit, and you will have to flat it down again .
Now to polish the circle and give it that radial look, put the disc drill chuck and stick the aluminum circle on the chuck with double sided tape. Make sure it’s perfectly centered. Remove the blue tape. Then sand it with 300 grit and then 600 grit starting at the center going to the edge. If you use 1200 grit use water to sand it. Sand the edge as well.
Then on the second outlet cover trace D shape and the cutouts on the masked side. <font color="#c0392b"><b>*Very Important*, make sure that none of the original holes will be showing! Most likely one of them will be under the circle part.</b></font>
Very carefully drill consecutive 1/16” holes on the cutouts and the use the jewelry file to complete the cutouts. Be careful if using the rotary tool to make the slots, it is very easy to make a mistake and those cutouts can be ruined. The smallest cutout will have to be finished with the file (unless it’s a circle).Then you can remove the blue tape and sand it horizontally, same as the circle.
If you decided to put raisers place them on the perimeters and glue the ends and the center with a drop of super glue, this way you reduce the chance of the epoxy dripping or creeping out. Make sure everything sits flat, sand down any bump o curl before glueing anything. Once they’re in place, glue them with the epoxy. Then you can glue the circle to the top of the D shape. Clean any stains or fingerprints with a cloth and Alcohol, then give it a clear coat with lacquer or acrylic to protect it.
Now on to the black base. Trace it, 3”x4 1/4”. Cut it, sand the edges. If it is too thin you can sandwich it with epoxy to double it’s thickness. Give it the proper weathering by sanding the corners and some dents with the file. Look at reference photos to match the weathering. Be mindful a little weathering goes a long way. You want it to look real, not like manga cosplay.
If it’s metal you can mask some weathering with toothpaste, paint it black paint, and wait until it is dry enough to handle and remove the toothpaste with a damp cloth to give that chipped paint look. Sand the edges a little to get that friction wear. Remember a little goes a long way, don’t over do it.
If it’s not metal, paint it black (not glossy) and then you can just dry brush the weathering and use the fine paintbrush to paint he dents and do the chipped paint effect.
Here a couple of great videos about weathering props.
https://youtu.be/B9QhOABTGoMhttps://youtu.be/hGFHoTWZwNc Next, markup where the D shape will sit. Remember if it is the ESB one, it is slightly tilted down. Sand the black base in the interior perimeter of the D shape to give the epoxy glue a good surface to grip on, and glue the aluminum part to the base.
Lastly, attach it with velcro to your belt. In my case I glued 2 loops of acrylic for the belt to slide through.
Gardea Vader OVDs in Tapatalk
