Scratch Build – Complete ⭐ Scratch Build: Rey's Speeder - Mod of the Year Nomination!

Working off of reference pics, I whipped up a model of the steering control unit.


The printer made quick work of the small parts..


Some basic cleanup before initial assembly. I printed the base with a 1/2" hole through it so I could just use a piece of acylic tube as the pivot rod.


After putting it together, I added some wooden dowels for the handles.


But after reviewing the reference pic again, I realized I assembled the steering arms backwards! Luckily I hadn't glued them together yet, so it was a quick fix. Now it looks more like the actual thing.

 

What is the print time on most of your parts?

 

Ranges from a couple hours to over 30, depending on the settings and the size of the print. The larger panels take about 17hrs, but could be twice that if I set it to print .1mm layers instead of .2mm.. Also can adjust the outer surface thickness, in-fill percentage, and support structure if needed.. all of which affect print time.

 

Here's my smoothing technique.. since directly sanding the PLA doesn't work too well (the friction just creates heat and gums up the plastic, making the surface more rough), I decided to coat the panels with an epoxy putty. It's a two-part system that you knead together into a dough. After a few hours it hardens to a strong but light-weight substance.



Using gloves, I just smear the putty onto the surface of the panels. Once cured, it's much easier to sand than the PLA.


I sand down until I start seeing the ridges of the PLA, leaving all the valleys filled.


Here's the bottom panel. There are a few divots here and there, and I'll go back and spot fill those.


After sanding all the panels, I had to throw them onto the case for an overall look. Then I decided to test the hovering capabilities as well..


Getting the repulsorlifts dialed in! Of course, once I add all the hardware, I'll have to re-adjust them to account for the added weight.


Less than 2 weeks to go! Hope I can make it..

 

Ok, time for the Monday Modding Update!

Getting down to the wire now, with about 10 days left in the competition. I was hoping to get the Speeder primed and all one color over the weekend, but things never work out the way you want. But I'm really close and should have it prepped and ready to paint this evening! Fingers crossed..

Anyway, here is what I did manage to get done.. Mounted the exhaust ports onto the bottom panel by cuttin a few holes to match the four pipes.


Of course, in my haste, I cut the small holes too large and had to add a support piece in behind with the correct size holes. I used the plate as my template, but forgot that the small tubes were smaller at the other end. doh!


Thankfully I didnt make the same mistake on the other side lol..


Onto the side panels. Luckily I didn't have to print any of this since they are just flat panels, and my printer is still down. So I used .08" thick styrene sheet. Going off the reference pics, I drew up the design for the panel sections and seams.


I used thinner sheets to make the subpanels that break up the flat surface. I also curved the left end of the panel to create the waste-gate, or gills that are on each side of the speeder.


A closer up shot of the front gill. I cut away the center portion of the front nose, and will add some wire mesh in behind for effect.


Then I added some faux hinges on the right to simulate an access panel.


Movin on to the other side, this panel will be a bit more involved, since it has the video card fans, and will have a window integrated into it so you can see all the PC components inside.


After taking measurements withe the EVGA 1080 SC2 in place, I figured out where the fan grills were going to be, so I started cutting the slots out. Beginning with pilot holes for each slot, I used the scroll saw to finish the job.


Slots cut, now I can figure out the rest of the panel, and where the window will go. I must have gone through 6 or 7 different designs before settling on one I liked.


Even with the window as large as I could make it, I decided to go with a barn door style hinged panel so I could open it up completely.


I finally get to use these acrylic hinges I've had laying around for a couple years. These will go on the window side..


..and just standard metal hinges for the left. I'm splitting the barn doors right at the fan grills.


Hinges on!


And a close up of the acrylic hinges.


Now with the panels finally done, I can start prepping for paint! I still have a few items left to fabricate, like the windshield, seat, and some random engine detail parts, but the main body is complete. I spent the last few hours on Sunday smoothing all the remaining parts with the epoxy putty, and will be sanding everything tonight, and hopefully get things primed. Then I'll be painting and detailing the rest of the week.

 

Quick update: Painting has commenced!

I managed to get a good coat of filler primer on Tuesday evening.


Last night it decided to rain again, so I couldn't do much in the way of paint, but I did get a few more parts made.. But first check out what goodies came in from EVGA!! <drool>


I now have the long-awaited Z270 Stinger in my possession!


And they also sent me an unexpected surprise... a 1080Ti SC2! This is one sexy card!


Ok, now that I got the pr0n out of the way, here are the parts I got checked off my list.. First was the windscreen. My first attempt was a piece of acrylic but failed miserably at heat-forming over a carved piece of foam.. So I went with a more simplistic approach: Soda bottle! It was already curved, all I had to do was cut it down to the size and shape I needed. I dremeled a thin slot around the edge on the top panel and slid it right in. Done! I'll glue it in once I get everything painted.


Next up was the heat shield that goes over the top engine, and the saddle sits on. This was a 4" drier vent duct in its former life. Just had to cut it down using some metal shears.




Now I'm in the process of carving the saddle to fit over it.


The sun is out today, and should be nice throughout the weekend, so I should be able to get all the painting done in the next few days. woot!!

 

Sweet. If I ever finish mine, we should race.

I'm guessing there's a wall bracket planned for this rig, so it looks like its floating over your desk.

 

Got a crap-ton of work done over the weekend.. so much painting! Its a 2-tone color scheme plus faux metal parts, so there was a lot of masking.. and then there's the weathering and detailing as well. So yeah, lots of work! But I somehow managed to get it all done in two days. My wife doesn't know me anymore.

But I digress.. on to the progress pics! After painting all the body panels a flat red, I masked off the front grill to be painted metallic aluminum.


All the body panels painted..


Sweet double-exposure closeup of the front grill..


All the engine tubes were painted metallic aluminum as well..


Then all the body panels were masked off again to paint the yellow stripes. The front nose took forever to mask!




The dramatic removal of the tape..


Ooh purdy!


Ok, now it's looking too new. Gotta do something about that!


Going off of reference pics, I start masking off the areas where the paint has been worn or peeling off. I drew a basic shape to mimic the actual speeder's defects, then I taped around it, using the ripped edges of the tape to get a nice rough delineation.


After doing the edges, I filled in with normal tape to protect the rest of the panel.


Did the same with the other pieces.


Rear fins unmasked. The left one has been lightly sanded along the edges to add more wear.


And here's the large area on the side panel.


More suspenseful tape removal..


And the final shot for today, all the panels painted and on the case.


Still looks too nice, so we'll be taking care of that in the next post. Stay tuned!

 

Super NICE

 

Fan-freakin-tastic!

And now to my favourite part, the weathering. Bring it!

 

Thanks guys!

Ok, now we get to the fun part! Weathering and detailing.. keep in mind that this is my first time with an airbrush, so I'm trying to get the hang of it while I'm painting this. I know some of you are asking, 'why didnt you practice first?' Who has time to practice! Plus I figured this is weathering.. a very random thing. So there's no way I can screw this up! ...right?

So with that in mind, here's the first go-round.. I started with the exhaust ports and some black, going into the tubes and lightly around the edges.


I then moved around the panels, adding black here and there, in the crevasses and where ever I thought it should be darker. On the grill I just darkened the corners and added a few burns. Also I went over the red/yellow paint with some steel wool to dull it down a bit, and then a sand colored wash to flatten the color even more.


Another shot of the grill with the fans lit behind it.


Taking a break from the weathering, I finished work on the saddle. After carving the second part, I used spray adhesive to stick them together.


Then I smoothed out the foam with some drywall sandpaper. Also made the knee pads and stuck them all onto the heat shield for a test fit.


Fast forward past the puttying, sanding, test-fitting, and airbrushing, and here's the final version on the speeder. Most of the detailing is done on the engines, and you can see the weathering I did on the fins.


And here's the 1080Ti painted up to match.


If I have time, I want to go back over everything again with another wash, soften the lines between the red and yellow, and add more weathering streaks. But I'm mostly done painting since the contest deadline is tomorrow night! I might post one more update with some last minute detailing, but if not, you'll be seeing final pics in a few days. woot!

 

Ok time for final pics! woot It's been a wild, fast and crazy ride, but it's done and just in time for the contest deadline. whew!

So here's the pics, not the best, but I needed to get them uploaded to Cooler Master quickly last night. And I will be doing another shoot outside in the sunlight as well... Anyway, enjoy!



























I had so much fun building this case, but it wouldn't have been possible without all the help and support from my sponsors:
Primochill for all of the liquid cooling gear and the insanely beefy CPU block
EVGA for getting me one of the first Z270 mITX motherboards available, and a 1080Ti SC2 video card
Crucial for the 16Gb DDR4 Ballistix Elite memory kit and two 525Gb MX300 SSD's
Corsair for the SFX 600w psu, RGB lighting and fan kits, as well as a keyboard and mouse which will be painted up to match the case
Intel for providing me with a 7700k processor

Thanks everyone for all your comments and support as well.. It's all very much appreciated!

 

Ooo, a slot type Celeron ! is it a 300A? *gets all excited*.

Amazing bod. Just truly amazing. Please do more

 

Absolutely fantastic Bod, well done

Glad I was along for the ride.

 

Great Work. Love the contents of the bag.

 

Amazing work, I love the color and texture you applied to the case. It looks very realistic

 

Thanks everyone for the great comments! Glad you enjoyed the journey as well as the end result.

So I took the Speeder out for a spin on a planet similar to Jakku yesterday (my backyard)..
(click pics for larger versions)





















Just for fun I took the liberty of removing the stand on this one..


And here's one more with me in it for scale:

 

Great work!!

 

Woot! I've been nominated for Mod of the Month! Thank you Bit-Tech for the nod Head over and check out all the great builds, and cast your vote!