Introduction: George LuKISS - a Star Wars / KISS Mashup Costume

By
About: Science Teacher. Maker. True-Believer.

This is my favorite costume to wear on Halloween or at conventions. I invented it at Star Wars Celebration in 2015 and got so many smiles and had so much fun, that I have made several improvements and changes over the years. I've included all of my temaples here so you can spread the SW/ KISS fandom and make your own fun mashup!

Supplies

Step 1: Armor

I vacuuformed this armor using a large vacuuforming machine. Not realistically easy to come across for most makers, so I’ll provide some instructions for creating these pieces from foam and a description of the full process I used.


Foam armor is the best for this build, it's so quick and easy to make once you have a little practice. My templates for making the torso are included here and ->Here is a full rundown for building as much armor as you like with full templates for creating your own pieces: Stormtrooper Amor Foam Build. With a few sheets of HD foam from SKS, you can pull together shoulders and torso much more quickly than the process that I used.


I only create a few stormtrooper pieces for this costume - shoulder bell, bat shoulder pauldron, torso front, and torso back. Sometimes I wear a pre-made stormtrooper body suit underneath (As in the photos in the photos in this instructable) but sometimes I just wear black long sleeve shirt and black jeans.


To make the armor on a vacuum former, I glued together slabs of wood and used a Shopbot to carve out a shoulder bell, front and back torso parts. I found these 3D files on the internet and modified them in Blender to create the mold blank on the shop bot. I don't seem to still have those files. Once I had the mold blanks I loaded up ABS white plastic sheets from Tap Plastics and let them get hot and soft in the machine. I pulled all the mold forms, cut them out, sanded them for hours, and then painted everything silver.


I added a Gene Simmons decal to the back, in place of the little circle thing on the stormtrooper's back. (Image #7) I also used some Sculpey or Magic Sculpt to make some little horns, painted them to match the horns on the destroyer armor, and attached them to the trooper shoulder pauldrons. I just tie everything together with black shoelaces and sometimes find a detail or piece of studded leather scrap that I can cover the knots. (Image #3 - #6)

Attachments

Step 2: Helmet

Making the helmet is a lot of fun, but you may also just want to buy a helmet and add the decals. I’ve included a download of the gene Simmons face decal that I tried to map to the 3D geometry of the helmet, but it isn’t perfect.


If you want to make the helmet, I'll suggest my other instructable: Cardboard Stormtrooper Helmet. Take your time, make multiple sets of cardboard parts, and practice to get this looking really good. I've attached a pdf of the template here and it is also linked on the other instructable.


There are also a lot of cheap stormtrooper helmets around these days, so you may just want to pick one up and customize it with the decals I've uploaded here.


To make the decal, I covered the helmet in painter's tape and drew the design. (Image #1- #2) I removed the tape and cut out the pattern. (Image #3) I scanned that pattern and even took it into Blender to get ideas about making it fit better. You can try out my process or you can just download the templates I made here. (Images #3- #4)


I also added a pink tongue - hot glued to the front of the helmet. I made this by painting a Halloween store demon horn pink.

Attachments

Step 3: Bat Wings

I found some cheap black vinyl and drew out a pattern that was similar to the leather "bat wings" on Gene's Destroyer Armor. (Image #1) I cut out four pieces the same shape (Template Image#2) and sewed (glued, but I should have sewed them) two pieces together for thickness and so that both sides would have the same leathery texture. I added in strips of foam where a bat's wing bones might be. (Image #3) This keeps the wings to shape when you raise your arms. (Image #3)


I added some rivets to trace the lines on the wings and around the edges. I cut some holes in the ends and tied them to the armor near the waist on one end and Made another loop to hang on my wrist on the other side. (Image #1) The wrist loops are nice to allow you to let the wings fall down and take them off of your wrists to avoid knocking everything over at the Cantina while tugging on the bartender's tunic for a drink.

Step 4: Lightsaber Axe Bass

To make this prop, I improvised something that I thought had the combined asthetic of SW and KISS, so I encourage you to create and add details in any way that you like. I created a simple template from a photo of the KISS bass (Image #1) and projected the line drawing (Image #2) onto a sheet of 3/4" - 1" foam tiles from Home Depot. I have also used HD foam from SKS props.

I screwed two short lengths of PVC pipe to a 1" x 2" x 48" piece of lumber. I thought this would give me a better surface to glue the foam shapes to. I looked at Gene Simmon's axe and created the basic shapes of his guitar and glued them to the two PVC pipes to create the two halves of the guitar. (Image #3). I created the Axe blade from foam as well to give myself something to wrap the translucent film around and mold into a shape that would work with the axe.


I had some small wood scraps left over from another project so I used wood glue to attach those bits to the guitar neck and simulated the fretboard. (Images #4 & #5) I cut a piece of foam into a shape like a guitar headstock and glued it to the end of the 1 x 2. I used a heat gun to heat some red translucent foam from Tap plastic and wrapped it around the "blade" part that I cut from foam. Once it cooled I had a hollow translucent form that I could fill with a string of LED lights. (Images #6 - #8)


I glued the translucent plastic "blade" and led lights to the main body foam and glued the battery box to the back. Then I added a few pieces of craft foam and cut out some detail shapes to glue onto the foam and then painted the guitar silver and black. (Images #9-#11). I used wood screws to attach a studded leather belt from the thrift store to use as a guitar strap. I can't usually get my arm through the "strap" in this costume so I made the strap work by just hanging around my neck.

Step 5: Boots

I started with costume store-bought kiss boots. I'm not confident enough with my calculus for building costumes to stand all night on my own designs and expect to remain uninjured. To make these boots myself, I just felt like I couldn't get the height and walkability and saftey at my skill level. So I bought a pair and decorated them.


I cut craft foam pentagons (Image #1) to approximate the metal scales on Gene's Destroyer armor. I used Magic Sculpt to create Darth Vader's face on the toe of the boots (where Gene's armor has dragon faces). (Image #2) Once the magic sculpt had cured, I painted Everything silver and glued on the stormtrooper knee greeblies cut from HD foam.

Step 6: Get Down at Dantooine Rock City!!

I like to spray my hair white and tie it up in a samurai knot to combine Gene's and George's hairstyles. I also add big George Lucas glasses and sometimes blue and white flannel as Lucas only seems to have that in his wardrobe, lol.

Have fun!

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