Almodelling

And here we are.

After weeks of designing, scratchbuilding, painting, weathering, wiring and slowly bringing this little corner of Lothal to life, The Podracer Project is finally complete.

For this build, I wanted to imagine something that could exist somewhere beyond the stories we already know, a small piece of worldbuilding built around a podracer and the people behind it.

In the years following the fall of the Empire, Lothal is rebuilding.

Old Imperial machinery and factories have been salvaged, workshops have reopened, local businesses are finding their feet again… and somewhere among all of that, a small racing team has decided to build a podracer.

Meet Vekri Team 15.

They proudly call themselves Lothal’s Racing Team, whether the rest of Lothal has officially agreed to that title or not… which usually depends on the results of the latest race.

They don’t have the biggest budget, the cleanest workshop or the most sophisticated machine on the circuit. Their pod has been built from salvaged parts, improvised engineering and whatever the team could get their hands on.

Most of their sponsors are local businesses rebuilding alongside them: Jalath Reclamation Yard, Karabast Hydroponics, E-272 Relay System, Old Jho’s Pub and Sumar Field Cooperative. Even the better-known Dug Motor Sport has decided to lend a little support.

The machine might not be the most elegant, and it certainly isn’t pristine, but every panel, repair and modification tells part of its story.

For the diorama, I wanted the podracer itself to remain the main focus, while the surrounding scene suggests the small team living and working around it: the pilot, the mechanic, pit droids, sponsor crates… and a few Loth-cats causing more trouble than they should.

The podracer was built in 1:35 scale, with the cockpit and engines fully scratchbuilt and detailed through kitbashing. I also created custom sponsor decals and integrated lighting for the engines and energy coupler. The characters and props were resin printed.

This was my first full scratchbuild project, and the contest gave me a great opportunity to experiment, sketch new ideas and try to bring this little piece of Lothal to life. High-resolution images are available here if you want to dive deeper into the details of the build: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Rej-dYnUsHvu-imaeccC47DdYEHkirX1?usp=sharing

Thank you to everyone who followed the project, commented and shared their thoughts along the way. It was also a great opportunity to discover so many other amazing creators and builds.

I wish everyone the best for what comes next ;)

And with that, Vekri Team 15 is ready to race.

And… here we are, the last repost before the final submission.

After weeks of designing, scratchbuilding, painting, weathering, wiring and slowly bringing this little corner of Lothal to life, The Podracer Project is finally finished.

For this build, I wanted to imagine something that could exist somewhere beyond the stories we already know, a bit of worldbuilding, you might say, so here’s a little lore behind the project:

In the years following the fall of the Empire, Lothal is rebuilding.

Old Imperial machinery and factories have been salvaged, workshops have reopened, local businesses are finding their feet again… and somewhere among all of that, a small racing team has decided to build a podracer.

Meet Vekri Team 15.

They don’t have the biggest budget, the cleanest workshop or the most sophisticated machine on the circuit. Their pod is patched together and sponsored mainly by local businesses, even if the famous Dug Motorsport has decided to help them along the way. They proudly call themselves Lothal’s Racing Team, whether the rest of Lothal has officially agreed to that title or not… which usually depends on the results of the latest race.

That little story ended up influencing almost everything: the colours, the custom sponsor decals, the worn machinery, the crates and tools scattered around the workshop, the pit droids… and of course the Loth-cats making everybody’s job slightly more complicated than usual.

But beyond the story, this project was also a very personal challenge.

This was my first full scratchbuild, as I only allowed myself to use 3D printing for the characters and props. Entering the GWCC pushed me much further outside my comfort zone than I expected. There were plenty of moments where I had absolutely no idea whether an idea was going to work until I actually tried it.

I learned a lot. I changed things along the way, made mistakes… but still managed to follow the main idea I had sketched at the very beginning of the project.

And I’m really proud of the final result.

This was such a fun journey.

So… welcome to Lothal, welcome to Vekri Team 15, and we’ll meet one last time soon for the final images of the project. ;)

Another repost, this one was about bringing together the last pieces that had been waiting around the bench and finally turning the build into the scene I had imagined from the beginning.

I started by painting the remaining characters: the two Vekri, the pit droids and the Loth-cats. At 1:35 scale they are tiny, especially the droids and the cats, but they were probably some of the most important elements to finish. The podracer may be the centrepiece, but these little characters are what give the diorama its life and allow all the small stories around it to exist.

I also finished the various crates and props scattered around the workshop area. Some of them received decals from the fictional Lothal sponsors I created earlier in the project, which was a nice way to bring that little worldbuilding exercise back into the physical build.

The last major construction detail was the set of cables connecting the engines to the cockpit. Until now the three main parts of the racer had mostly existed as separate objects, so adding those connections immediately made the whole machine feel much more complete.

And then came the moment I had been waiting for: final assembly.

Engines, cockpit, cables, characters, droids, Loth-cats, crates and all the little props finally found their place on the Lothal base.

After months of designing, scratchbuilding, painting, weathering and probably changing my mind far too many times along the way, the diorama is now finished.

No more WIP after this one.

Another repost, another memory restored from the digital ashes ;)
This one was all about giving the podracer a place to belong.

From the beginning, the idea was to display the racer somewhere on Lothal, but I didn’t want the environment to overpower the vehicle itself. So I kept the composition relatively simple: a small piece of open Lothal countryside, with dry ochre soil, muted vegetation and that slightly burnt, dusty feeling I associate with the planet.

I first mapped out the position of the podracer, the cable routing and an access compartment underneath the base so the electronics can still be reached for maintenance.

The main terrain volumes were then built with XPS foam, creating two small raised areas surrounding a lower central path. Besides giving the landscape some variation, this naturally frames the podracer and keeps the composition focused on it.

For the ground texture I used a homemade mix of PVA glue, plaster and sand, before adding stones, grass tufts and static grass to break up the surface.

Then came the painting: black primer first, followed by several brown variations and a sandy filter over the exposed ground. The vegetation received different olive, earthy and rusty tones to avoid ending up with one uniform mass of green.

The last pass was all about subtle variation: individually painted rocks, localized oil washes, light drybrushing and small amounts of dry pigments to blend everything together without killing the contrasts.

And finally… the electronics went into the podracer.
The wiring was secured, the connections completed and the whole machine was permanently installed onto the base.

Seeing the engines and the green energy coupler illuminated above the finished terrain was definitely one of those moments where the whole project suddenly started feeling real.

There’s now only one major step left this weekend: the characters and scenic details.

As the last 4 post as been lost (some might says their legend now not canon) it's time to reliving the moment and post it again before the final submission

This update was probably one of the biggest painting sessions of the project so far.

With the main colour palette established, I continued painting both the engines and the cockpit, working panel by panel to break up the large surfaces while keeping the overall green, off-white and yellow colour scheme consistent across the podracer.

The mechanical areas received the same treatment. Pipes, fittings and smaller components were picked out in different metallic tones: steel, darker gunmetal shades, copper and a few brighter highlights, to avoid having one large uniform mass of metal. These variations are still fairly subtle for now, as most of their character will come from the weathering stages that follow.

Then came one of the stages I had been waiting for since designing them a few weeks ago: the custom sponsor decals.

Seeing the logos finally applied to the actual podracer was strangely satisfying. What started as a small worldbuilding exercise while I was travelling has now become part of the physical model, and I really like how they help sell the idea of a locally built racing machine covered with sponsors, markings and repairs accumulated over time.

Once everything was sealed, I started damaging all that nice clean paint again.

Chipping was done with a combination of sponge and brush work, concentrating it around exposed edges, access panels and areas that would naturally receive more handling or impacts. I then moved on to panel lining across the engines, cockpit and bodywork.

That stage also gave me the week's little workshop disaster.

I normally use white spirit without any issue, but the substitute I used this time behaved very differently. It attacked the paint in a few places and, more annoyingly, caused several small panels on the bodywork to come loose. Nothing impossible to repair, fortunately, but definitely a reminder that two products sold for roughly the same purpose can behave very differently on a model.

After a few repairs, the weathering continued with oil streaking across the engines, cockpit and body panels. At this stage I am trying to build the dirt progressively rather than applying one heavy global wash: individual leaks, grime collecting around panels and directional streaks that suggest the speed and airflow around the racer.

There are still two major weathering passes before I can finally call the podracer itself painted.

Next will be corrosion, oil and fluid leaks, and some dust accumulation, followed by the hotter effects: exhaust staining, smoke, heat discoloration and burn marks around the engines.

And then... the podracer should finally be ready to meet Lothal.

This week was all about giving the cockpit its first real identity through paint.

Until now, most of the visual language of the podracer existed through shapes, materials and sketches. With the base colours finally going down, it is starting to feel like a vehicle that actually belongs on Lothal.

The palette follows the direction I established earlier for the project: desaturated olive and sage tones, off-whites and muted industrial colours, inspired by Lothal's plains, agricultural machinery and the slightly utilitarian architecture we see across the planet.

The idea is not to make the podracer look like a clean purpose-built racing machine, but rather something assembled, modified and maintained locally from agricultural, industrial and reclaimed parts after the fall of the Empire. Something that has gradually become a racing machine rather than being born as one clean racing engine.

For this stage I've been working with my Gaahleri GHAD-39, switching between the 0.35 mm setup for the smaller areas and details and the 0.5 mm for the larger panels. It has been a really comfortable combination for keeping control over the colour placement while still working efficiently across the larger surfaces. I also use the Kaleido colors for the marbling and pre shading as they are really straightforward to use.

These are still only the base colours, so everything is intentionally quite clean for now. The decals, variations, wear and weathering will come later and should completely change the character of the cockpit.

Next step: base color on the engines. The marbling and pre-shading are already done, so I can now start applying their base colours and finally bring the whole podracer into the same visual language.

This week marks a pretty major milestone for the project: the cockpit is finally built and primed.

The video is a little longer than usual this time. The cockpit took quite a bit more time to build, and rather than breaking the process into several smaller updates, I wanted to show the whole construction in one go, from the first shapes to the finished result.

As with the engines, the original sketch remained mostly a starting point. Once I began working directly with the materials, the design naturally evolved, and I allowed myself to move away from the drawing while trying to preserve the sleek racing silhouette I originally had in mind. I have to admit that there was a moment when I became slightly worried about that. As the main body came together, the cockpit started to feel much thicker and heavier than I had imagined. Fortunately, adding the external metal framework changed the proportions quite dramatically. It extends the silhouette, breaks up the mass of the body and gives it back the slightly fragile appearance I wanted for the racer while maintening a bold look.

A few leftover photo-etched parts from previous projects also found their way into the build. They proved especially useful inside the cockpit, where those very small mechanical details help add another layer of complexity without overcrowding the design. And with a coat of primer, everything finally becomes one object. Styrene, metal rods, photo-etch and assorted bits disappear beneath the same surface, making it much easier to read the overall shape and all those little details.

Alongside the podracer, I have also started working on the Lothal environment for the final scene. The base itself will remain relatively simple, but it is beginning to take shape and I should have enough progress to share it properly in the next few days.

Which means there is now only one logical next step…

Painting. Finally.

I have already spent quite a bit of time testing the colour palette/weathering direction I want to use and spoiler alert: we are definitely staying on Lothal.

This week was mostly spent away from the physical build again, as I used the time to finish something I will need very soon: the complete set of sponsor logos for the podracer.

What started as a few fictional decals quickly became a worldbuilding exercise. Rather than creating random racing brands, I wanted each sponsor to feel like a business that could actually exist on Lothal after the fall of the Empire: a scrapyard rebuilding from Imperial leftovers, a farming cooperative, low-resource hydroponics, communication hardware, an overly enthusiastic motorsport workshop... and, of course, the local pub. We all know how important a pub becomes when it comes to betting on a podrace.

Each company now has its own logo, tagline and a little piece of lore. Together, they help tell something about the world surrounding the racer: a planet rebuilding itself, making use of whatever is available and slowly creating its own identity again. Even Vekri Team 15 fits into that idea, proudly presenting itself as Lothal's Podracer Team, whether the rest of Lothal has officially agreed to that title or not.

The designs are now finished, which means I can prepare the decal sheets and send them to my usual supplier as soon as possible. Some logos will remain colourful, while others will probably become simplified or monochrome versions depending on their final size and position on the engines and cockpit. A few may even be ditched entirely, I don't know yet, as the final colour scheme and livery of the podracer are still being worked out.

And speaking of the actual build, cockpit construction has finally started, although it is still a little too early to show any meaningful progress. After several weeks focused on engines, characters and digital work, I'm finally back at the bench building the podracer itself again. More on that very soon.

As I was travelling for work this week, returning to the physical construction of the cockpit was unfortunately impossible. Instead, I decided to use this time away from the workbench to begin another important part of the project: designing the logos and visual identities of the companies sponsoring the podracer.

Rather than creating a collection of random racing decals, I wanted every sponsor to feel connected to Lothal and to the period in which the diorama takes place.
Set after the fall of the Empire, these businesses represent a planet rebuilding itself through agriculture, salvage, local industry and small independent communities. Together, they will help tell the story of the racing team and the world surrounding it.

The first two logos completed are Jalath Reclamation Yard, a salvage company recovering machinery and components from abandoned industrial and Imperial equipment, and Karabast Hydroponics, a local agricultural business supplying fresh produce to settlements where the land is still recovering. Their identities needed to feel distinct, while remaining part of the same slightly worn, utilitarian Outer Rim graphic language.

Four more sponsors will complete the roster:
* E-272 Relay Systems, producing energy-transfer and communication components
* Old Jho’s Pub, a familiar gathering place for mechanics, pilots and travellers
* Dug Motor Sport, supplying racing expertise and performance parts
* Sumar Field Cooperative, representing the farmers and rural communities of Lothal.

This week’s video shows the creation of the first two logos, from the initial sketches made in train to the final vector designs. The cockpit will have to wait a little longer, but the podracer is already beginning to gain something just as important: its own history, identity and place within the galaxy.

This week didn't progress quite as quickly as I had hoped. A demanding project at work kept me away from the workbench, and I'm also travelling for work this week, so progress will remain a little slower than usual. Even so, I reached an important milestone: the first test prints of all the characters and creatures that will populate the diorama.

Seeing them together for the first time was the perfect way to validate their proportions, poses, and how each little scene works within the overall composition. The pilot, the mechanic, the pit droid, and the Loth-cats are already beginning to tell the small stories I imagined when this project first started.

I'm also happy to confirm that 1:35 really feels like the sweet spot for this build. The Vekri and the pit droids are small enough to make painting a real challenge, yet still large enough to capture expressive poses and convincing details.

As I'm still away on a work trip, next week's progress will probably happen behind a computer rather than at the workbench. Maybe it's time to start designing a custom decal sheet for the podracer.