GET ‘IM ON THE SHINS!!There has always been a detail on all Boba Fett action figures that I really wish had been treated like any of his loose weapon accessories:
The shin pocket tools . I’ve honestly never really liked how the tools (and the pockets they were stored in), were always treated as a solid molded part of his lower leg sculpts.
Now when I embarked upon this project, I fully intended to include working shin pockets and separate tools details for my custom figure. But I had no idea what I was in for. I only partially succeeded in my effort since it wasn’t really possible for me to create accurate versions of the tools in this scale, AND to have them all fit into working shin pockets that were not actually made of cloth.
In the end, I made a compromise between screen accuracy and functionality that nevertheless preserved the established aesthetic of the figure.
I began by razoring out the two shin pockets that I intended to use on this figure. Although the two pockets came from two different figures, I selected them because they were size-compatible with one another, and because they matched the main Imperial Scanning Crewman jumpsuit color.
POTJ 300th figure Boba Fett provided the left shin pocket, while Legacy Evolutions Fett provided the right one.
I carefully used my trusty razor to cut out the two solid shin pocket “blocks” into actual open pockets. The pockets, in turn, were trimmed and glued to the figure’s shins.
As I set my sights on creating the shin tools, I attempted to utilize the sculpts that I found to be most accurate and detailed: Vintage Kenner Boba Fett. I sliced out the portions of the tools that were sculpted to be visible on the figure’s legs, and I actually attempted to complete the un-seen portion of the tools either by scratch building, and or scratch sculpting them . However, at this small a scale, that proved to be far more trouble than it was worth, especially since the preliminary full length tools I fashioned were far too long and would not fit into the pockets I had created.
My compromise ended up being to utilize the half shin tools sculpt from POTJ 300th Boba and SAGA I Pit of Carkoon Fett, and scratch building just enough of the un-seen portion of the tools so that they could slip into the shin pockets. I didn’t achieve the tiny separate tools accessories I hoped for, BUT at least I was able to do away with the solid molded shin pockets look which I disliked so much... a compromise that I was reasonably satisfied with.
