Almodelling

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. ;)