Kitbashing the Nestor

The Nestor is a Hauler cockpit/engine pair bolted to a cargo pod and a fighter pod, a mix between the Hauler II and the Roost.

First, I kitbash the sprite. I download the high-DPI Hauler II sprite and the high-DPI Roost sprite and open the Hauler II sprite in GIMP. I open the Roost sprite as a layer on top of it. This saves work because I don’t need to mask out the rear of the Hauler II sprite.

I align the layers and add a mask to the Roost sprite. I use a black paintbrush to mask out the cockpit and the first fighter pod of the Roost.

I fit the canvas to the layers and export the image. The sprite is done.

Now, I kitbash the thumbnail. I download the high-DPI Hauler II thumbnail and the high-DPI Roost thumbnail and open the Hauler II thumbnail in GIMP. Again, I open the Roost thumbnail as a layer on top of it to save work.

I align the layers and add a mask to the Roost thumbnail. I use a black paintbrush to mask out the cockpit and the first fighter pod of the Roost, being careful to not mask out the thin shadow on the front of the second fighter pod. This is what the Roost’s thumbnail looks like now:

Unfortunately, the edges of the Hauler II’s second cargo pod stick out slightly from the second fighter pod on the Roost’s thumbnail. I mask this out. The Hauler II’s thumbnail now looks like this:

Finally, I fit the canvas to the layers and export the image. The thumbnail is done.