THe MOROSCHE
Designed to fit the 986 Porsche Boxster as a rebody, the Morosche is a hypothetical kit to reskin the early Boxsters with a fresh, new design without any of the drawbacks of traditional kit cars or body kits. By pairing colored gelcoat with fiberglass in the same process as boat production or Ultima, customers could order kits in the color they’d like effectively pre-painted, and being that the Morosche panels completely replace the traditional Boxster’s, zero bodywork or painting would be required; simply remove the existing Boxster body panels, and bolt on the Morosche ones!
The Morosche serves as a potential direction for the 4Bit channel upon completion of the Lotus, if the channel continues in its current form. It would begin by 3D modeling most of the car, then purchasing a cheap donor Boxster to be 3D scanned (primarily frame mounting points). After the model is adjusted to fit these constraints, segments of the model would be 3D printed and joined together, followed by bodywork to create a suitable plug off of which to take molds. Current design choices include adapting Boxster/Cayman 718 headlights and Taycan taillights, which may prove difficult, but not as difficult as creating lights from scratch.
Though it may appear this way in the renders, the air intake vent is not actually blocked; air would be directed into the engine intake via a ram just underneath the rear quarter panel.
The 986 Boxster and 996 911 are actually almost identical from the doors forward, development of a Morosche 911 adaptation would only require a new quarter panel, side skirt, trunk lid / engine cover panel, and part of the rear diffuser, making it a relatively easy conversion (though coupes, cabs, and targas all have different quarter panels, so some variants would naturally be excluded unfortunately). Even further, the Porsche 997 and 987 cars (the following generation of 911, Boxster, and Cayman) carryover the same exact frame, meaning that those cars would also easily convert to the pre-existing Morosche kit with the few previous exceptions!
THe MECCA MOROSCHE
In early development of the Morosche design, I was dissatisfied with the proportions of the design when constrained to the Boxster’s odd dimensions, and wanted something more than mediocre if I was going to justify actually producing the car. Coinciding with my new fascination with the Ghost in the Shell series, I went for a more futuristic look utilizing would-be custom LED light-bar headlights (hence the Mecha/Mecca name), and proportions deviating less from the Boxster’s constraints. For a while this was going to be the primary Morosche design, but thankfully I was able to make the original Morosche design look less goofy.
This rear-end admittedly did not quite fit the above front-end design, but I was adamant about using it because I wanted to integrate infinity taillights via mirrors to go along with the whole cyberpunk aesthetic.
In addition to Ghost in the Shell, Angel Guerra also heavily inspired the Mecha/Mecca Morosche variant with his incredible DeLorean DMC-12 tribute, and you can see some similar design cues here. His design is one of my all-time favorites!
THe MANTA
The Manta was initially designed for the 2022 Polestar Design contest, drawing many of its features from oceanic manta rays. The most obvious inspiration is the color scheme and overall shape, but also featured more subtle cues, such as the the front lip resembling the ray’s cephalic fins. This was the predecessor to the Morosche, and was intended to fit over a Factory Five GTM frame as a potential rebody, both interior and exterior deviating significantly in appearance from the GTM. The glass and curved windshield were changed, and a large LED light bar at the edge of the front clamshell acts as headlights. It was the first car I’ve ever 3d modeled, done with Fusion 360 forms, and it was very rough; it was, however, sufficient for a 3d printed scale model, shown below.
In the left image is the interior of a GTM from Bring A Trailer with a relatively stock configuration of the kit. The center image shows the Manta version, being mindful of the tube frame chassis beneath whilst creating something new. The right image is a render using AI to visualize; the air vents are hidden between the sweeping trim pieces, and the open shifter resembles the GMA T50’s shifter.
A roughly 1:28 size scale model of the car was made by 3d printing the front and rear halves of the car separate (for better quality) on my FDM 3d printer, which were epoxied together and painstakingly sanded after spot putty was added. Primer was then sprayed and sanded, with black paint following over the entire car. Once dry, the areas intended to remain black were masked, protecting them from the white paint sprayed afterwards. Finally, any highlights or corrections were made with a small paint brush and the same rattle can paint sprayed into a cup. There was no airbrushing or fancy spray setup; it was all painted from generic Rustoleum spray cans you can buy at Walmart.
I briefly designed a logo utilizing a manta ray, though it resembles the Batman logo without the tail.