Wilmas House

For the Gaahleri World Creators Cup (GWCC) 2026 I decided to do a build project of the base on Carsendo - well, actually Wilma's (and Vladimir's) house on the base. Rather than showing another adventure, I wanted to build the place Wilma and Vladimir return to between their expeditions — their home on Carsendo.

I had a relatively clear idea of what I wanted to do.

Little did I know what massive project it would be. Well, relatively massive. Compared to the ATHENA it is tiny and went quick.

The size of the project was decided by my wooden transport box

BUILDING THE HOUSE

The base build was done with cardboard - actually 2mm "Buchbinderpappe" like this

My plan was also to keep everything modular and removable, to provide easy access for painting

Some of the interior I designed in ZBrush and printed it later on

The main size criteria for the workshop on the ground floor was to fit the MULE vehicle reasonably inside

The floor of the living room needed to be specifically shaped to allow maximum visibility to the workshop below - given a viewline slightly higher than eye-level with the model.

Even though I built some steps from the workshop up, I realized that this was wasting a tremendous amount of space and so I created a little elevator with platform, that would connect all floors.

I also wanted a lot of large windows for the living quarters

Since the living quarters weren't as high as the workshop below, the top floor of the observatory had to be smaller to allow maximum visibility.

I experimented a lot with the viewlines to ensure as much as possible would be visible, without having to go down to eye level.

The various shapes and sizes of the floors also gave the whole building an interesting shape.

And I managed to remain within my maximum height parameter

For the observatory I designed and printed some more equipment.

One piece I'm really proud of is the map table

Some of the long-time readers may remember an early version on the ATHENA

I also experimented with various greenhouse patterns for the balcony

And of course the observatory needed a telescope of sorts.

At that time the elevator was still functional - well, I was able to move the platfrom up and down

For the workshop I had a nice loading crane planned which I set out to build

Just like the other pieces I wanted it to be removable for painting.
But it was so flimsy, I finally had to give up that plan and glue it in place.

This decision later haunted me when it came to painting, but alas, it couldn't be helped.

Of course a simple build project isn't quite my forte, so it needed at least some lights.

And for Vladimir I had the idea of him repairing the MULE and doing some welding. In ZBrush I worked on his pose for quite a while until I was happy with it.

and together with some LED and a chip from a cheap flickering children's party torch, the welding effects ended up rather good.

For the windows my nifty ultrasonic knife became quite handy!
Most of you know what a hassle cutting plexiglass can be, but with the ultrasonic it was very easy.

I tried to build the first window frames from plasticcard - but the result wasn't very convincing and took forever.

Again ZBrush came to my aid and I designed and printed the frames to spec.

FILLING THE HOUSE WITH LIVE

For the living quarters I planned to build some vivariums - again with lights

For the wooden floor I used a technique I already used on the ATHENA - scribing the pattern into thin plasticcard.

And after about 150 coats of paint it looked quite convincing.

Over the next few days I painted all the tiny interior pieces for the living quarters.

Looks pretty cosy I think.

Getting the interior for the observatory involved also some experimenting and moving of pieces

For a while I thought this was the final arrangement, but I changed my mind later on.

Another typical Wilma idea was to have a sun-chair on the roof together with an alien palmtree.

For the balcony I settled on an almost traditional greenhouse and several pots.

I think I spent two whole evenings and super glued my fingers a thousand times to create the plants.

But I am convinced it was worth it.

The observatory needed some sliding windows for the telescope

And with that the build was complete - I thought.

But of course plans never survive the contact with reality and I felt the need for a very special working place for Wilma - her very own desk, that would also tell a story all by itself.

Again, a lot of glued fingers were involved!

But together with the lights, this looked quite nice!

FINDING THE CHARACTERS

As a final element I need to design a convincing pose for the GB-2 droid and for Wilma herself.
For GB-2 it was relatively easy, as I wanted him to unload boxes while reacting to Wilma above.

For Wilma on the other hand I wasn't quite so sure. One very nice option was to have her sitting at the ledge.

But somehow that didn't "feel right". So I tried a more conversational pose.

But I kept that decission to the very end.

PAINTING THE DETAILS

And instead I started painting - around the crane!

It was such a hassle and I cursed myself more than once.

At least I was able to paint the workshop equipment and shelves separately

Glueing the posters in place proved quite more difficult than I could've imagined.

Painting the MULE was rather standard - I thought.

Until I started the windshield! 
The original idea was to do a reflection of the landscape.

But that didn't look right.
So I tried a simple reflection of the sky.

Nope!

I studied various images of trucks with the same kind of windshields.

And so it was clear I had to paint a bit of the interior to achieve the look I was aiming for.

and when I sealed it with UV-Resin it was actually a pretty good effect.

INTEGRATING THE HOUSE INTO CARSENDO

Next I had to decide how to paint the two mushrooms by the building. I had already painted several mushrooms for the other Carsendo dioramas.

Which also inspired me to create a visual collection of the fungi.

I really enjoyed devising the various names - though in German they are even better :)
Lilaner Finsterling, Magentapustel, Blubberhut, Fahler Ascheschwamm, or Blaugetupfter Bleichling.

In the end I decided on two rather pale samples so they wouldn't distract from the backdrop later on.

Slowly all the items were painted and positioned within the house.

Since Wilma and Vladimir would be way to busy for mundane tasks, and GB-2 needed for the heavy lifting it became clear a (window) cleaning bot was needed.
I looked into some existing designs, like Star Wars droids. But none would really fit Wilma's world, and it felt like a cheat to use an existing design.
The design I finally settled upon was a spidery bot.

As I had mentioned above I wanted Wilma's desk to tell a story of its own. So painting it was a lot of fun. Adding little hints and details.

The maptable was another highlight as I had to try different versions before I got a satisfying result.

And slowly but surely one item after the other was finally painted.

Almost done!

Which meant it was time for the backdrop.

Another plan that didn't quite work.
But first I built the actual frame for the backdrop.

My original PLAN was to use pastels. but that didn't work as I expected, as the cardboard I used for the backdrop had the wrong consistency, so I couldn't quite get the result I wanted.

After some deliberation whether to use the Airbrush or acrylic paint I finally decided on oil paint - which I hadn't worked with in years.

Urgh!
It took several days of back and forth before I got even close to a satisfying result.

But I pushed through and carried on.

While I was waiting for the oil paints to dry, I setteled on the final pose for Wilma and painted her.
The communicating pose and a special interior suit it was.

THE RESULT

And when mounted on the frame I was quite pleased.

And so it was time to take the final images and submit it for the GWCC contest.

Regardless of the score at the end it was a LOT OF FUN!

Looking at it now, I think this became much more than just a contest build. Somewhere between the workshop, Wilma's desk, the greenhouse and all those tiny details, Carsendo Base started to feel like an actual place.

Reminiscent of the good old days with the ATHENA!

I hope you enjoyed this little, rather long workbench post.
Cheers