Naboo N-1 Pilot Builds

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

Hi all! I've wanted to do a Naboo pilot for years. With the 3D release of Episode 1 coming out, I wanted to make Amidala's red throne room gown. However, the cost of making that was too great for a dress I couldn't troop in. So instead, I decided to come back to my Naboo Pilot costume.

The first step in any costume, IMO, is buying the first part. After that, you get on a roll.

So where to start:

Reference Photos

Photos on this baby are hard. Most are just chest up, and very few show what's under that big orange coat.

So far, here's my collection of promo photos, book scans, and screencaps:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mianakenobi/sets/72157626856724636/

This website has also been very handy: http://www.partsofsw.com/Ep_1/n1pilot.htm

On to the actual stuff.


The Helmet:

As no real good ones exist, I bought the plastic Halloween one. I know one of the biggest challenges for most people is that it doesn't fit their head. Luckily, it fits mine, and I even have some room to spare. It does need a handful of mods, though.

For one, I think a new paint job would make it look way better. In the film/photos, it's a deep brick red. The one I got was faded and just looked cheap. However, I've got a friend who's going to give it a shot at repainting everything.

The ear pieces aren't too bad. There's enough room inside for me to go cannibalize actual ear cushions from Home Depot and put on here to make it look better. I'll need to put some kind of padding in the top of the helmet as well so it doesn't bobble too much.

The googles it came with are utter crap. The film ones are painted British Mark 8 RAF Goggles.

I ordered a new pair off of US Wings. http://www.uswings.com/snoopycaps.asp



The film ones are more brown, but I think these will be okay. My only other options I found were blue or chrome, and black is closer to brown.


The Clothes

I'm supposed to be working on Comic-Con costumes, so I have put the sewing part of this aside for now. Right now I'm just debating what fabrics to use for the overcoat, pants, and under tunic, as well as trying to figure out what color the pants are. I know they're a red, but I'm trying to decide if they're the same color as the under shirt (plus debating if I want to make the undershirt sleeveless so I don't overheat).

The big collared tan shirt is either a suede or moleskin, so that shouldn't be too bad to find. The outer jacket is going to be heavy, but I don't want to use a cheap flimsy fabric.


The Boots

Rewatching Episode 1, I've learned that there's like no good photos of their boots, so there's some artistic freedom. The only "source material" photo is this drawing:



What bits I could see, they looked exactly like the Palace Guard boots.



Which look exactly like Typho's boots and Padme's white boots, or at least close enough to work.


Now comes the coolest part of this build/maybe one of the most awesome things that's ever happened to me while making a new costume.

As I was digging for pictures of Typho's boots, since I figured there would be more photos of him than a Naboo pilot, it struck me to just ask the one person I know who has Typho's boots: Jay Laga'aia himself. I figured it wouldn't hurt, so I shot him a message asking if he had any good photos I could use for a costume reference, not really expecting an answer.

Within a day, I got a message back from Jay saying that he could dig through his own photos and see if he could find me some good ones that showed the boots. The next evening, I got an email from Jay with several photos of him in costume showing the front and part of the side of the boots.

The pictures he sent were full body, so he asked me not to pass them around. However, he said it was okay to at least crop the boots for references.



He also included a making-of note on how the spats were attached:

You will notice that the front bit of the boot is like a laced in shin guard. That is separate to the actual boot itself. It's like a leather spat that goes over the top and attaches with velcro in the back. Bad design because it made it very difficult to walk without the thing undoing it's self. Much better to be belted in. Also the leather shin guards tended to cut into the foot when walking so they tried to cut it higher in order to get better movement when walking and to stop the bottom from digging into the top of the foot.


The Harness:

This took some digging around. The only reference photos we've really got (minus that drawing of Ric Olie) is the Gavyn Sykes headshot:



Luckily, I remember asking about this back in 2008, and I found an old thread where one of the guys here broke down all the components of it:

http://www.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12606

Finding a brown one is near impossible, but I was able to find an olive drab web one:
http://www.paradestore.com/detail.aspx?ID=987



I haven't started looking at the pouches, but that will get pushed off until after Comic-Con, as well as figuring out the little loop pieces that are supposed to go on the side. The biggest problem I see right now is that this costume is really not made for a gal with a chest. It's going to be just as awkward to wear as Jedi tabbards.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Blue Banshee Leader (Alex Buirch)]

Nice job so far. You've got your work cut out for you, that's for sure.
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[guelras (David Goldsberry)]

I'd like to make this costume in time for the 3d release too. But I have no idea where to start. I bought some fabric for the undershirt about a month ago, figuring that since it's the least visible part of the costume, I could mess it up and I'd still be all right. And I don't even want to think about putting together the harness yet.

I did get some pictures from HazardThree. He had a lot of pics that he e-mailed me. They're mostly stock photos, but they do give you a good idea of most of the costume.

Was the helmet you bought the Don Post helmet, or was it a different company? I'd really like to know the measurements on it before I go out and buy one that's too small?

Please keep us updated as you go. I know I could certainly use the help.

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

Yes, it's the plastic Don Post helmet. It's an odd shape to measure, so the best I can tell you is that I have a 22.5 inch head and the helmet gives me about an inch on each side of my face.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[JediXXL (Gil Guemes)]

Nice work so far!
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There is NO Orange Mafia

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

Goggles came in!




I'm debating seeing if I can paint the black plastic, or at least lighten it to a dark brown. Though once this helmet is repainted, it might look better to keep them all black. I don't think I'll be able to get the fabric parts of it any lighter, though.

What's nice is that they DO unclip on the sides so I can get them on/off this helmet without having to cut/resew the elastic every time!
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[miqt (Mike)]

Way to tackle a hard pilot build! Good for you.... I wish you success!
Mike
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[Mieal Deneb (Rachel Orange)]

The shin guards look almost exactly like Padme's Ep2 Battle outfit shin guards. There's a guy who is offering to make those for Padme costumes, perhaps you could convince him to make them in brown with the added piece for the top of the foot for you?

http://www.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12281&start=60
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~Mieal

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

Already ahead of you on that. :p
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

Rachel...

I am starting one as well...



but have so many things going on right now that it will probably be months before I get to doing much...

I also have the Don Post helmet...
and...
it fits...

not well...

but it fits...





This is also a costume that I have wanted to tackle for YEARS.....




Those boots remind me of safety boots with a metatarsal guard..
http://www.supercasuals.com/Timberland/Timberland_40000.cfm.




an over simplified look at the harness
(even though we don't generally use action figures)...



The harness will probably be a custom make..
it doesn't look too terribly complicated even for the simple leather tools I have...
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http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

Just a heads up on the ear pieces...

I did a search on the net for those hard hat ear muffs..

where a lot of places listed that particular muff...
most of the sites said they were either "sold out" or "unavailable".

I did find a couple places that showed they had the muffs...
I ordered from one place...
BUT...
I never got a confirmation on the purchase...which leads me to think that they also may not actually have the muffs...it could have been an old item...

I also looked on line at the local big box stores for similar hard hat mounted ear protection...
neither Lowe's nor Home Depot showed any separate ear muffs...

Other on-line sources of other hard had mounted ear muffs didn't have the same look...

though Husqvarna is a close match....
actually...I have said earmuffs on my Husqvarna chainsaw helmet...but I can't remove them...lol...I still gotta use the hard hat...
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http://livefromthegalaxyfarfaraway.blogspot.com/

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

I'm just planning on taking some cheap earmuffs and tearing out the padding to put in mine.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]

[Miana (Rachel Williams)]

I'm going to leave the ones on there, since they won't look too bad with a good paint job. I thought about cutting them out, but I'm more scared that any new ones won't fit there properly, and so then you'd have holes in the helmet, etc.
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"Everytime you're not canon, a fairy dies." - Mike

[Schph Gochi (Phyllis Schulte)]