Working on my first custom: Jodo Kast and the Foxcatch

[Jodo Kast]

Ever since Lego began making Star Wars items, I've been planning to do a custom job for a character I loved very much when I was younger. Jodo Kast, for those who don't know, is the Mandalorian bounty hunter who was used in West End Games instead of Boba Fett, since he was generally thought to be deceased at the time.


(note: the chest logo should be red, not blue.)

Kast's ship is a heavily modified Imperial Shuttle.



I have just purchased the Lego Imperial Shuttle (7166) and about $40 worth of spare parts in gray and dark gray. I have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to do the build, though I may end up having to sacrifice two of the four engines beside the middle wing, since the lego pieces are a bit too thick to pile all 4 on there properly.

I have a generally good idea of how I'm going to do the ship---like I said---but here are my four obstacles:

1.) The guns on the wings that look sideways. It seems like they should rotate, and I don't know what to do. They'll probably be absent in my first "draft" of the model.
2.) The logo on the wing. I'd like to do a decal, but I don't have the money to buy a specialized printer just for this one project.
3.) Like 2, I need to customize a Boba Fett minifig. I'm planning to use the new one from 8097.

I'll replace the arms and legs with grey ones, but doing a decal for the chest logo seems like it will be difficult as it needs to cover up Fett's corresponding logo. Also, changing the visor to orange seems like it could be hard considering the curves in the helmet. I'll replace the head with a Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, since Kast was blond and rarely smiled.
4.) The hinge piece holding the windshield. I can't find a piece like that in grey or dark grey. Even if it didn't have the detail on it and was just a solid color, I'd prefer that, since I'm getting rid of all of the white bricks in the set and using a mostly light grey, partially dark grey theme.

Any advice would be appreciated! Or if anyone would be willing to help with the decals, I'd gladly reimburse you for the materials.

[Jodo Kast]

I have all of the parts for the ship now, and I'm getting a custom Jodo Kast torso from someone who already had a template for it. Now my only obstacles are decals for the ship's wing and figuring out how to modify the Fett helmet. Paint? Decals? What do you guys think?

[riding_qwerty]

1) I don't know if you're planning on buying 8097* in order to acquire the Boba Fett or get it separately, but the flick-fire missiles on the Slave utilize a few technic pieces that could achieve the desired effect you're looking for, with only a few modifications.

2) I don't think you'd need a special printer; the logo looks simple enough to trace or even free hand on some matte-white sticker paper from your local office supply store, apply some paint or even magic marker, and cut out with an x-acto knife.

3) Somewhat related to point 1.
*If you are buying 8097, I personally don't understand why you'd buy an $80 dollar version of a set that has been released two times before without much change (especially since the 2006 Slave I) for what is arguably the only reason to buy it...redesigned Boba Fett armor...and possibly yellow (orange?) paint in the wrong spot. Unless you are buying the minifig separately ala ebay or something. I would just wait for the Mando battlepack...who knows, it may even include a helmet in the right color scheme. But if not you'll have more than one to experiment with, and at ~$12, not much of a loss. Just my two cents.

Anyway, this sounds like a fun idea. Good luck! I look forward to seeing the completed Foxfire & Jodo Kast custom.

[MrCRskater]

2) I don't think you'd need a special printer; the logo looks simple enough to trace or even free hand on some matte-white sticker paper from your local office supply store, apply some paint or even magic marker, and cut out with an x-acto knife.

This is a bit of an oversimplification, but the point still stands. You don't need a special printer to get nice-looking decals. What you DO need is some ink bonder and possibly some clear coat to seal the inks on the paper so they don't smear or run during application. Kaminoan has linked to some great tutorials both here and on his website, you can check out the stickied threads on this forum.

For what it's worth, a couple weeks ago, I didn't have any experience with custom decals and also didn't want to invest heavily as it probably won't become a regular hobby of mine. But a quick trip to the hobby store turned up both waterslide and sticker paper options, both low-volume and low-cost. Kaminoan suggests creating decal art in a vector-based program, but lacking a vector program I just did mine in Photoshop and the results were not at all off-putting. Printed them on my regular printer on some waterslide decal paper. It's really pretty easy and, as I said, the results were quite good, even without all of the "professional" gear.

Also, as far as the helmet coloring goes, I would research the waterslide decal option, and (as that is a more delicate and involved operation) you may consider commissioning Kaminoan or someone to do a custom helmet for you. Just my two cents. . .

Looks like this will be a very cool MOC, can't wait to see how it turns out!

[Jodo Kast]

Well, I did buy the new Slave I, but it doesn't bother me that it's similar to the 2006 set... I never had that one. I'm very hesitant to start customizing the Fett minifig though; particularly because of the helmet. It's not just a matter of making the visor orange---I'd like to change the color of the green as well. I know that painting these pieces seems to be frowned upon, but that might be the only viable option. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with this custom thus far. Should have pics of the ship at least reasonably soon.

[Jodo Kast]

Here it is at the moment. The only thing I'm not 100% happy with right now is the top wing. I just can't get it to look right. This is the closest I've come so far though..



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[turtle]

Looks like the top wing should extend forward about 6 studs horizontally. I how you got to the point where you're at with it, but I think it's because the source image is from an odd angle. Id say that the top edge of that wing appears to be parallel to the dorsal surface of the ship as well. I would say that It's basically the same shape and proportion as the top wing of the standard lambda, but it's missing the upper 3 quarters and has that notch in the leading edge.

This is a pretty project idea! I'd like to see how it comes out.

[Stormtroopertj]

Use decals, it would look awesome.