This Pod Racer is both designed and driven by Skaje Kaminne, although the Hutt who loaned him the money to build it technically owns it. Skaje barely survived a serious crash a few years back, and designed his new Pod Racer with extra sturdy construction, redundant safety systems and a fully enclosed cockpit, all of which is designed to make any future crashes much more survivable. Unfortunately the extra weight also reduces the racer's acceleration and maneuverability, and it has so far been a strictly middle-of-the-pack performer, despite the excellent top speed it's powerful engines allow it on a straightaway.

The Model

This still left me without the round cowlings I wanted, though. Luckily, I soon spotted the answer I needed at work - the interior of a ball valve consists of a sphere bisected by a hole. Borrowing a few in assorted sizes, I was able to find which size worked best to thread the engine core through, and then go buy a pair. A little modification to the engine core's I'd made allowed them to snugly fit into the hole.

The next assembly I needed was a sphere for the pod itself. Luckily, I'd barely begun to consider this problem when the answer nearly dropped into my lap. While browsing at the hobby store, I came a across a kit of the Seaquest DSV Deep Ocean Transport. This underwater pickup truck happened to have a spherical cab that was exactly the right size (not really a surprise - both kits are 1/32 scale). A few minor modifications, such a removal of the upper light bar, a new paint job, and it was perfect. The control cables that connect it to the engines are threaded rod, and are sturdy enough that the pod needs no other support to stay in the air.

The last thing the kit required was a pilot of some sort. I was sure I wanted Skaje to be an alien, and was discussing modifying a figure from another kit with a friend when his son overheard us and offered me a lead gaming miniature of a monster. It was mostly humanoid, yet plenty alien. With some suitable cutting and repositioning to get him into a seated pose and holding the control sticks, and the addition of a flight suit made from Milliput, I had my alien pilot (unfortunately, the glare from the cockpit glass prevented me from getting a good picture of him).

The engines cores were painted with Aluminum metalizer, while the rest of the model was painted with Model Master acrylics (I no longer recall the exact colors used). I repainted the original purple "energy binders" from the AMT Pod Racer kit in assorted shades of green, all washed with a fluorescent green that really gave the whole thing an "electric" look. The orange & red decals came from a set of railroad engine markings I found, and finally the kit was drybrushed and speckled with more Aluminum metalizer to simulate areas of wear, and heavily weather with pastel chalks, to give it that dirty, beat up look so common to the Star Wars universe.

Image: Front view

Image: Engines

Image: Command pod

Image: Top view