Monday, August 11, 2014

Creating a LEGO® Minifig Kohen

Transforming a standard LEGO minifigure into a Kohen fit for the sacrificial service requires dressing him in the four priestly vestments worn by the Kohanim: pants, robe, belt, and turban.

Pants
It is not necessary to model the pants since they were more like knickers and not visible beneath the robe.

Robe
The simplest way to create a Kohen robed in white is to use a white torso and legs. Although the "robe" look is lost when you reach the legs, this design offers the most flexibility in terms of posing the minifig for different parts of the sacrificial service:

Belt
You would think that the woven, purple belt could be easily accomplished by inserting a purple 1x2 plate between the torso and legs, but this cannot be done because the leg studs are too tall and will not accommodate a plate:
The next option is to switch the white hips for purple ones, but this has the unfortunate effect of turning our Kohen into a superhero/sumo wrestler:
Another idea is to use standard bricks instead of minifig legs, and while not as posable, there are many different permutations that can be used to vary the look and position of the legs. Here is a standing Kohen seen next to a standard minifig:
Turban
LEGO makes a turban headpiece for minifigs, part #40235:
(from bricklink.com)
In Artscroll's The Tabernacle they show a more narrow, cone-like turban and this is what I set out to replicate. To do this, I created a digital model of the turban and then had it printed by Shapeways, a 3D printing company which allows you to upload and print your own designs. You can have your model printed in anything from plastic to 14K gold with many choices in between. For my model I decided to go with the plastic ($2) instead of the gold ($300) and this is what it looked like:

I was very pleased with the overall shape and fit of this turban, and you can click the image below to visit the Shapeways page and download one for yourself.

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