Kit-bashed speeder bike, novel design, 1/35 scale

Spectators

After realizing that I would need to turn this little speeder into a larger diorama, I began to think, as some of you have as well, that this would make a really cool racing scene with two speeders racing one another in some kind of match race. Races need spectators. But being that I really wanted this scene to be unconventional (hence them racing across a grassy field) I wanted my spectators to be unconventional as well.

So I bought a pack of these from Industria Mechanika in 1/35 scale:


I absolutely love this small company and their models: Amazing customer service, incredibly detailed models - and they throw in a free decal sheet with every purchase - something I will be taking advantage of in the construction of the next speeder. At any rate, after the sheep and goat arrived, I assembled them all - matching their legs to the correct sheep and gluing them on - which ended up being quite a bit more tedious than what I anticipated. After that, I painted on the base colors for Suffolks: black faces and white bodies.


Then I worked on weathering and staining them a bit to make them look a bit more realistic as well as giving each a solitary stiletto of epic proportions. But gluing a portion of a needle to the back of a single hoof, I could stick each through the grass and foam wherever I wanted and re-position them easily should I wish to change their position as the diorama evolves.


And then into the field they went:




Next up: Making the speeder fly!
 
Let's fly!

After experimenting with different techniques for trying to give the speeder the appearance it was flying over my grassy field, I finally settled on the use of a 1/4" acrylic rod. The first thing I did was balance my speeder on my fingers until I found its center of gravity. If I placed the rod here, I'd only need to use a single rod, this avoiding the appearance of multiple supports. I drilled a 1/4" hole in the bottom of the associated part of the speeder, which was fortunately a solid PLA part I printed on my 3d printer. Next up, I cut a hole down through the grass and foam and drilled a hole in the masonite below to accommodate the rod which was glued down into place. The speeder simply rests upon the rod, not permanently affixed to it in case I need to remove it and work on it further.

I placed the speeder on the rod and tried to capture some photos in various light conditions to see how she looks. I may modify its position, but this is the overall appearance for now.




 
I love this! Dioramas are so cool for telling a story.
I like how you brushed the grass to create the jet wash behind the speeder.
 
Amazing work ! This is one of my favourites ! Good job man !

Thank you so much, Frenkie - this has been a really fun project to improvise and let grow.

I love this scene!

Excellent work all around and the spectators are a very cool touch

I can feel the wind blowing through the grass

Thanks for noticing! I tried to directionally brush the grass to give the appearance of wind blowing through it.

I love this! Dioramas are so cool for telling a story.
I like how you brushed the grass to create the jet wash behind the speeder.

Yes - you saw! The great thing about using this material is that it remains soft and brushable even after all the dying / painting - so I am able to push it around depending on where and how I position the speeders to get that jet-wash effect.

That is a thing of beauty. That grass... makes it breathtaking!

Thanks a ton - I was a bit nervous when I started slathering all this green paint on a big swatch of fake fur wondering what in the hell I was doing - but I do think it's turning out OK. I'm going to add some additional elements to incorporate everything better - but it's a process....

Absolutely stunning work!

Thank you, James!
 
Wow I didn't know you could mishmatch well,- anything to create something so freaking cool. What a swoop! That looks better than if you store-bought a kit intended to be that.
 
The Second Speeder

Well thanks again to all for following along on this growing improvised build. What started off as just a little knock-off kit-bashed speeder has grown some embarrassingly long legs - and which has now metastasized into a second speeder. I mean, that first one needs something to race against - right? So here we go.

As with most things on this build, I sought out some various sources of inspiration for a second speeder. I knew I wanted it to be VERY different from the first speeder from a design standpoint. Whereas the first one looks sort of like a flying pickle, I wanted this one to be very geometric - very angular. I also wanted to replicate an element from an F1 race car: that massive air intake above the driver's head.


But I really didn't want this to be overly stream-lined, like the first speeder or an F1. So, to make it angular and geometric, I envisioned two massive blocky elements on the front end that would sit at an angle to one another. I tried to construct these out of styrene, but I couldn't bend it in a nice uniform arc the way I wanted. (I tried with a heat gun, but got too many ripples and irregularities). So I went with aluminum flashing instead - the kind that is painted in enamel with white on one side and brown on the other. At the one end, I glued on a tab of rectangular styrene which would serve as a spacer (you'll see).


Then I bent the aluminum around a cylindrical piece of steel of the same diameter as the width of that styrene tab - essentially folding it on itself like a book. I then added on a few initial greeblies and repeated the process so I had two of these structures:


I then cut a piece of wood that would allow me to attach the two at 90 degrees to one another and added a few more greeblies.


Flipping this assembly over, I drilled a hole in the wooden block and inserted a long plastic tube which would form the basis of the chassis of the rest of the speeder.



And then I began the process of kit-bashing / scratch building the massive air intake that would sit over the pilot's head. Most of this came from a WWII German bomber kit.


And at this point, I got so consumed by what I was doing that I sort of spaced out and forgot to take photos. So let's fast forward to the end result after it had been painted with grey primer. (I've also positioned what will become the driver in his seat (a German WWII motorcycle driver).





I've obviously got a lot of work to do on this little guy yet - a paint job, decal work and lots of weathering - and I need to get some filler in on the pilot and get him painted and ready to fly as well, but this is a start.

Next Up: Bringing the second speeder to life!
 
I like the greeblies on the front, makes it look mean and definitely not streamlined, as if it moves through the air by brute force. That rear vane is awesome!
 
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