Zero-Gravity Jabba the Hutt Resin Kit by Paul Komoda

This is a resin model kit sculpted by Paul Komoda in conjunction with Artist Proof Studio. The sample paint-up that they have showed for the piece uses an interesting bluish color scheme, apparently based on a painting by Paul. It’s attractive, but the combination of the coloring and the unusual “zero-g” concept makes it difficult to even recognize it as being Jabba, so I went with a more traditional orange and green color scheme. I also opted to have him standing more upright rather than floating forward.

It took me a while to figure out how to make a stand for this, since the “kit” consists only of the resin casting of Jabba himself and no stand or rod to support him. After some digging around the house, I managed to find a metal rod that seemed perfect and a base from a Star Trek action figure that seemed like it would work (is that blasphemy?). I repainted the base so that it just looked vaguely futuristic. The main thing I needed was something broad enough that he wouldn’t tip over, but the idea I had in the back of my mind was that maybe Jabba was trapped in some sort of stasis cell.

I had originally written “Jabba the Hutt” on the base in trade Huttese (using a font found here), but I decided to change it to Jabba’s tattoo symbol. I printed it out on photo paper, which works surprisingly well. I’ve tried painting symbols like these by hand and it takes ages and usually doesn’t turn out that well.

The sculpt is interesting. More detailed than many, with a lot of gross looking lumps. I’ve never seen a Jabba sculpt with teeth before, but somehow it works. Here’s what it looked like before painting. The green patches are where I had to use epoxy putty to fill in some air bubbles in the casting.