Spaceport Speeders

OK, it has been a loooong time since I've updated this blog.  I've not been slacking off, things just get really busy during the summer convention season, so I took a little break from the blog.  But I'm back, with lots of photos of a new project.

Most of my posts this far have been about a Star Wars Landspeeder Race I've been planning for some time.  Most of the Speeders are now done, so lately I've been getting some terrain ready to set the scene.  I expect the Landspeeder race to be a knock-down, drag-out affair, with lots of crashes and damages to the entrants, so we're going to need a 'repair shop'.  I present, "Spaceport Speeders!"  Right off the bat, I should send out a big thanks to Herb Gundt for lots of expert advice and support... thanks Herb!  This thing would probably look like a mess of popsicle sticks and and upside down paper cups if it were not for his help!  And a big thanks also to my wife Debs, for putting up with the eternal mess on the kitchen table!   ;)

Unfortunately, I did not take photos of this in-progress, there was just way too much going on, so I'll just briefly recount what wend into making it.  It's on a 1/8" thick tempered hardboard base, and the buildings are made from various found objects.  The big tech building is a plastic Kneenex dispenser I found at Goodwill for about $2, topped with half of a plastic sphere.  It has lots of tech-stuff added from my bits box, as well as a few pieces cut off of a Star Wars micro-machine toy set.  The garage was made from wood and half of a card shipping tube for the top.  The rear power shed was a little flower planter, and I added the door and top bits from the bits box.  The textured surface was made utilizing Herb Gundt's famous 'sandstorm technique,' then painted and weathered with Doc O'Brians Weathering Powders from Mico-Mark.  Hmm, what else -- the crane was from a micro-machine 'Pod Racer' toy set, and I added lots of details from the bits box and plastic tubing, so it wouldn't look like a toy.  I added lots of fun little details, you might be able to see some of them in the close-up images, like a little droid attendant in the window, landspeeder schematics and pin-up space babes stuck to the interior walls of the garage, and lots of tools and parts lying around the work yard.  Oh yeah, the sign says "Spaceport Speeders" in Aurebesh, the Star Wars 'galactic common' language, and there are fonts available for free online.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to light the interior of the garage until it was glued down, so now I'm on the hunt for a tiny, flat, and inexpensive battery-operated light that I can just glue to the ceiling behind the arch.  Anyone have any ideas?

And I just need to find a box suitable to store this darned thing in!

That's about it, just a few more pieces to go, and we're ready to race!

Here are direct links to all the images: