Building a vehicle and getting it to a state where it's just perfect is a long and bumpy road. It can also be a very intimidating one. Losing enthusiasm is easy when you keep the finished product in mind, and it seems so very far out of reach. It's a lot easier to manage when your goal isn't to get to the end, but rather to get to the next step. By breaking up the design process we get a series of manageable goals to tackle, instead of one giant one.

This guide is intended for everyone as anyone can benefit from these simple tips. It will take you from the "What should I build?" phase to "IT WORKS AHAHAHAHA" phase. This method works for me, but your mileage may vary. Every person is different, and what works for one may not work for others. Along the way I will be adding in examples from my own personal experiences from making a rally-inspired go-kart.

The first thing you should do is come up with a basic concept of what you want to build. This can be as broad as deciding on some sort of aircraft or ground vehicle, or a bit more defined such as a helicopter or truck. Figure out what your blanket descriptor is. You are laying the foundation for your vehicle to build off of, and getting yourself oriented in a direction. Once you have an idea of what you want to build it's easier to get the ball rolling instead of flipping through the parts tab and feeling lost.

When I sat down and built the go-kart that would eventually be named my Rally Rabbit, the concept was given to me. I was challenged to a race by the lighthouse. That meant I was limited to a ground vehicle. I decided on making an off-road racer. That became starting point, the concept I would build up from from now on.

Now that you have your rough idea of what you want to do, now is the time to gather information and get inspired. This can take a variety of forms, and is entirely up to you on how to go about it. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Go on Google and look at pictures of what you want to build, watch YouTube videos, or read articles. You want to get those creative juices bubbling. Maybe you'll find a specific concept that calls to you that will help further define what you want to do.

While you are doing this, keep an eye out for information you can learn. Sometimes learning some random factoid can help you decide what you want to do. Go on YouTube and watch some videos about Homebrew, or go on the forums and check the User Creations area, and comment. Most people will be happy to talk about their creations and answer questions. They may even share a download of their vehicle for you to check out.

I knew I wanted to build an off-road racer of some sort. Off the bat I'm picturing off-road tires and agility. I googled around a bit and came across rally cars, and they looked neat. Something about them appealed to me. I saved a few pictures I really liked, and got in contact with a friend of mine who is a total car nut (they've recognized some cars just by their hood. It's a little scary sometimes). I got to talking with them, and asked what made rally cars special. I learned a lot of new things. Sure I couldn't use most of it in game, but it built interest. I was excited, and I was forming a clearer image in my head of what I wanted. Since I know it'll be seen online, and might be seen on youtube, I decided to try and incorporate elements of a Jackalope.

At this point you know what you are going to build. You have a nice concept, and now is the time to make a mission plan. Figure out what you want to achieve with this vehicle, and make a list. Does it have to be a certain size? Does it need to break the sound barrier? Determine what your needs, wants, and would-likes are. By determining your goals you can determine what to build for, and by determining priority you establish what you are comfortable sacrificing should compromises need to be made later.

The rules of the race dictated my needs. I couldn't you any type of gyro device to stabilize the vehicle, and could only use a single 110cc ATV engine. No other means of locomotion or thrust could be used. I wanted to be comfortable with its size, appearance, and its handling. My likes involved finding a way to jackalope it up, and try to make it obviously look like a bunny with antlers.

Now that you have your goals, how are you going to go about achieving them? Sometimes there are many different ways to accomplish the same thing. Are you going to build your frame first to get the shape you want, and then add the mechanical parts from there? Are you going to use one big jet engine, or a few small ones? Is there a certain orientation you want something to be in? If it's a highly cosmetic build are you going to anchor your panels to a primary rod so large portions can be moved with a single rotation to make maintenance easier? Get an idea on how you want to build this when it comes time.

Time wasn't on my side. I decided I was going to use something pre-built as my foundation. I'm a fan of some of the frames, and I have a few vehicles of my own. Next I decided I was going to try and give my vehicle some stability by making it as low to the ground as I could, and stick the weighty parts under the seat. The lower my center of gravity, the better. I also intended to use panels to make a bunny frame around it all.

If you're unsure of how something will work, or if it's your first time building something particular, make a test vehicle. A bare-bones simple as you can get in order to understand what you'll be dealing with, and prove to yourself you can do it. Never built a boat before? Build a boat. Going to build a military vehicle with a turret for the gunner? Build a turret. It doesn't have to be elegant, it just has to work in a way you can understand it.

I had a lot of sneaky underhanded tricks in mind when I first started my build. A smoke launcher, caltrops, guns pointing backwards, and less harmful things like cameras for a rear-view mirror effect. I tested a few of these things out to see how they might work. I did donuts with a car loaded with smoke flares to see if a certain color was harder to see through, and loaded a different car with guns to see how recoil may effect things as I drove.

Build whatever it is you have been working toward. This is your rough draft build, and by no means is your final build. Label it as a test vehicle, v1, alpha, mk1, whatever you like. The less it appears like a final version, the less you'll associate it as such, and the less stressed you'll be if it doesn't work 100% right from the start. Build to a point where you are satisfied with how it looks. Trust me, there will be changes in the future. It's very rare when everything works as intended right from the start.

When building my rally cart I cycled through a few frames before deciding on modifying a design of my own. I made a duplicate of a go-kart I had, took out the gryrodisc, chanced the wheels a little, and added lights. It wasn't much, but I had a working vehicle.

Take your prototype out of the garage and pilot it around. Take notes, mental or physical, on how its doing. Try and be thorough with your testing to try and rule out rare circumstances if its misbehaving. If your plane won't get off the ground, try driving it off a cliff, or hitting a bump for some added assistance. Try and figure out why it's acting the way it is, if something is unsatisfactory.

The race I was going to be in was going to feature the lighthouse race course, so I took my car and drove a couple of laps around it. Everytime I tipped over and needed to respawn my vehicle I made a note. With practice my numbers got better as far as rollovers were concerned, but I was really laying on the handbrake for a lot of things. I wasn't happy with it at all.

Take all the info you gathered from testing, make a copy of your vehicle, and apply whatever you think is needed to fix them. Always make a copy when doing major changes to a vehicle. That way you can always go back if it doesn't work out. If something needs more power, add more power. If weight needs to be redistributed, move some things around. If there are multiple problems, try and pin those down one at a time. After that's done, repeat the previous step. Take your vehicle out, and give it a few runs.

This step can be frustrating. There's no telling how many times you might have to go back and tweak something. Its okay. It takes time to get things just right. It can be easy to get into a bad mood because something just won't work out. This is the part of the process where you might have to make compromises. Do your best to get what you want, but remember you may have to be flexible.

Most importantly, know when to walk away. I know the feeling of making it my mission to finish something before going to sleep. Most of the time it ends in badness. I've gone to bed frustrated only to wake up the next morning going "It's so simple! If I had just done X none of this would have happened!" When tunnel vision starts to occur, take a step away and clear your head. If it's really troubling you, ask for help on the forum. Someone will chime in.

Keep redesigning and testing until you get to the point where it's soooo close to being perfect. At this point look over your vehicle and check how you've tweaked it in the past. I've made fixes to a vehicle early in the redesign cycle, only to find out later that something else I did solved it better, and now it was a hindrance. Double checking your work can sometimes pay off. Other times it could mean super fine tuning of changing a 1 to a 1.5 or adding cubes until something is balanced juuuust right.

It might take a long time to get things just the way you want them, but it's so sweet when you do. Sometimes builds take a long time and a lot of effort to come together, and sometimes they don't. Each machine is unique. When you feel it's just right, slap a vanity plate on it and name it.

My Rally Rabbit went back and forth from the garage a lot. I added wings to it like a F1 car and toyed around with an offset pitch, or whether or not they would remain static. I played around with sideways grip to find how much I could manage with. I experimented with different tires trying to milk the most speed out of it, and went through a lot of tweaking to get the aesthetics right. Part of that involved removing a lot of pipes that were purely cosmetic just so I could lower the weight by a few kilos and milk a few more km/h out of it.

The design process from start to finish can be a long process, but it doesn't have to be difficult. Break things down into stages and you will have a much smoother time.

I would like to give a good deal of thanks to the developers for Hombrew: Vehicle Sandbox for making this game, and being so active on their forum. I'd also like to thank the community there on the forum. It is a fun and welcoming place.