Friday, October 3, 2008

Darth Caedus (Dark Lord of the Sith)

Darth Caedus, born Jacen Solo, was the eldest son of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, the younger twin of Jaina Solo and the older brother of Anakin Solo. He began his formal Jedi training at his uncle's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. Later, during the Yuuzhan Vong War, he often did not see eye to eye with the orthodox Jedi view of the Force, despite being one of the more powerful Knights of the New Jedi Order. After being captured by the Yuuzhan Vong, he became associated with Vergere who molded many of his ways of thinking. By 40 ABY, Jacen had followed into his grandfather's footsteps and became the third and final Sith apprentice of Lumiya. After his aunt Mara Jade Skywalker's failed assassination attempt on his life and her subsequent death at Jacen's hands, Jacen declared himself Darth Caedus, Dark Lord of the Sith, bringing the Skywalker legacy full circle. He later replaced Ben Skywalker as his apprentice with Tahiri Veila following the Second Battle of Fondor and her murder of Gilad Paelleon. Eventually, Caedus was forced to face his twin sister in a ferocious lightsaber duel.

Parts: Head (Cale from Titan AE), Torso (EU Training Armor Obi-Wan Kenobi), Arms (EU Training Armor Obi-Wan Kenobi), Legs (EU Training Armor Obi-Wan Kenobi), Shoulder Armor (ROTS AT-TE Gunner), Cloak (Episode I Sith Accessory Pack), Lightsaber Hilt (ROTS Kit Fisto), Lightsaber Blade (AOTC Darth Tyranus).

Supplies: X-acto knife, Dremel, Super glue, Super Sculpey, Sandpaper, Emery board, Testors Dull-Cote, Paints and Brushes.

Reference: See pictures.

Step One: The original head was removed and all of the torso sculpting was shaved or sanded down smooth. Otherwise, the basic figure was not changed.

Step Two: The torso armor was sculpted using Super Sculpey, as were the cargo pockets on the front of the pants. The shoulder armor pieces were the removeable ones packaged with the ROTS Clone AT-TE Gunner. I cut away the two mountin studs inside each piece and trimmed them down just a bit. I super glued one to each shoulder with the top edge flush against the joint. I think it looked just a little better with the armor overlapping the joint, but by doing it this way, I managed to keep the articulation at the shoulders (which is necessary for the cloak to be removeable). After mounting them, the shoulder armor pieces were scored with a hot X-acto knife to simulate the weld pattern visible in one of the reference pictures. The same was done with the figure's pre-existing knee and shin armor.

Step Three: The figure (minus the head) was then painted according to the reference pictures.

Step Four: Super Sculpey was also used on the head in order to make the existing hair longer. The entire head was then re-painted. I gave him a much more pale skin tone than I think I've ever used before. I had also wanted to go with the yellow eyes that have been seen in other Sith characters, but they didn't quite look right after I painted them. Instead, I repainted them brown, but I kept some of the yellowish hue in the white of the eye. The post on the head was very long, so I was able to insert it without the use of adhesive, maintaining the neck articulation.
Step Five: A light coat of Testors Dull-Cote was applied to protect the paint and remove the shiny appearance of the armor.
Step Six: The Lightsaber was made by supergluing the red blade from Darth Tyranus' lightsaber to the rather generic hilt that came with a Kit Fisto figure.
Step Seven: The cloak was taken from an old Episode I Sith accessory pack. Because the arms still have their original articulation, the cloak can be removed, if desired.

No comments:

Post a Comment