Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

Wait. Cano made it?

I actually am curious to know why the dragon custom made it in. Since when did dragons even go with a BMW?

Made a typo there, my bad.

But for that E30 with the dragon was probably a fusion between the JDM tuner community and Euro tuner community. It was a shocker to me, but I started to like the car even more, especially the detail on the dragon. I'll give it and the guy props. 👍

 

[AOS-]

I'm being a man of tradition when I say I don't get why it had to be a dragon haha, but I thought of one possible reason why it made top 10. I'll confirm it once we see all the submissions later.

 

[AHMEDFINK]

Here is one of my favorite concept car, but this time customized by me

The matchbox version:

My version:

 

[Apok]

Those wheels actually seem fitting.
There's a first.

Great job!

 

[Cano]

AAGHRKLÑGJKGBSDFBJK I can't see 🤬 Blogspot at work. Oh well, screw it, I'll see it at home.

Anyway, congratulations to both Jason and Ahmed for making it in the top ten! I knew Ahmed's car would stand up high, even tough the judges didn't have any way to know that half the thing was paint and the other decals. Jason's car was all about the exhaust. I want some of dat tubing.

As for mine, I was actually wondering the other day, Jtl. Does the hole for the intercooler relegates it to the more complex category, or was it judged along the paint/wheelswap contingent? Do you know/have a way to know?

___________

Ahmed, the Atlantic looks great, it's also one of my favorite concept cars. I'm a n enormous fan of mid-30s french coachbuilding and Chrysler's take on it is awesome. And as Apok said, amazingly the wheels fit it perfectly. Good eye my friend. And btw, I don't think I've ever seen this one live. You'll have to show me next time.

 

[AOS-]

http://lamleydlm.blogspot.ca/2013/04/the-lamley-custom-contest-announcing_11.html?m=0

Category A winners announced.

Danielmeister is killing it again. I like that midnight blue convertible with the sound set and the buggy that got 4th. I'd happily step down for those. The rest have significantly less fabrication than I expected. Maybe a USB key would've definitely done the trick after all.


None of us made it to top 10 this time.

Top players in this game are Ernest Li and Daniel Meister. Study them, and take 'em out next time around.

 

[Cano]

Aaand I still can't see it

Can't wait to get home.

 

[AOS-]

Have you been able to see any of the photos I recently posted in the other thread? Those are all blogspot photos too.

 

[Apok]

Fabricated gullwing doors. Now that's pretty awesome.
The top four all have something great about them. The winner has the cool doors I mentioned and the base looks really nice too. Great building skills there, though the paint seems a bit lacking when compared to the person who came 2nd.

Speaking of the 2nd one it really does have nice decal application and finish. The body scratch building is great too.


The 3rd one has the best finish of them all and the interior is nice too. Also it's a convertible.

Looks a bit too plain with all silver detailing on the body though. And not the best detailing either.

The 4th car is really original and well done.

The rest all have their upsides too though!

 

[AHMEDFINK]

Great customs on the A category, The 1st place is killer, but I can't see the purpose of making gullwing doors on an m3, except for that everything is amazing on it.

 

[AOS-]

I wonder how he even made he hinges at such a small scale. Paper clips and adhesives maybe?

 

[jtl46]

I do enjoy the comments.

It is interesting to see how things play out once the judge's choices come in. There are some obvious patterns, and Daniel's was the most obvious winner. The category b winner barely beat the 2nd place entry.

And for the sake of full disclosure, Cano, your model has been the source of a ton of discussion. The modifications you made were not noticed when we assigned categories, and it is one if the significant changes we are making for the next one. When we announce the next contest we will have the categories already announced, and entrants can choose the category they wish to be a part of. If we have a question about a specific one we contact that person.

Looking back, I would have put cano's in category a, but even more preferably in one in between a and b.

 

[AOS-]

When we announce the next contest we will have the categories already announced, and entrants can choose the category they wish to be a part of.

Standard setup, but totally needed. 👍

 

[Cano]

And for the sake of full disclosure, Cano, your model has been the source of a ton of discussion. The modifications you made were not noticed when we assigned categories, and it is one if the significant changes we are making for the next one. When we announce the next contest we will have the categories already announced, and entrants can choose the category they wish to be a part of. If we have a question about a specific one we contact that person.

Looking back, I would have put cano's in category a, but even more preferably in one in between a and b.

Well, it at least wasn't ignored. When I went for a street car instead of a livery I knew I had to make stuff to it to pop a bit. I should have worked on the stance a bit more but since I barely finished, I'm glad it even participated. Even so, I had hoped to at least make the top 10 since a bit of work went onto it, and for sure be on top of Jason's unpainted car. This week has been really bad for my cars

 

[CodeRedR51]

I like to think my awesome exhaust got me a top 10.

 

[jtl46]

Knowing your work Cano it will be in the Top 10 soon. I hope you guys do the next one. We announce next week...

 

[McZachenF1138]

Yes!

 

[Cano]

Knowing your work Cano it will be in the Top 10 soon. I hope you guys do the next one. We announce next week...

I hope to have some time to have a worthy participation, a work spree lurks in the future

 

[AOS-]

I like to think my awesome exhaust got me a top 10.

Daniel Meister's exhaust detailing was immaculate. Did you see that he made the tip have a tarnished look? That was amazing.

 

[AHMEDFINK]

This week has been really bad for my cars

Hehehe yes....the gasser contest didn't went as we expected, but at least we are satisfied with our customs

 

[Nessy]

Those Gassers looked great. 👍

Can't wait for the next Lamley comp (hopefully enter this time). The winning cars were awesome.

Quick wheel swap, and finally managed to get a clear windscreen for my Z (Yay!). Excuse the crappy pics.






(Don't think i'll ever get around to finishing this^)

 

[CodeRedR51]

You can send it to me, I'll finish it.

 

[AOS-]

Colour the damn body already!

 

[Cano]

Hehehe yes....the gasser contest didn't went as we expected, but at least we are satisfied with our customs

Ah, absolutely. I can for sure say the Nova has been my best work so far. I loved the final result and, for that same reason, was bummed to see it practically got ignored. But we're used to that already.

(Don't think i'll ever get around to finishing this^)

GIVE ME DATTTTTTTTT

 

[Nessy]

@ Jason, Andy and Cano.
I actually planned to throw another coat of primer on, and maybe a first coat of paint this weekend.. until the sun decided to retreat and the weather turned to crap (strong winds forecast.. spraying outside)

 

[AOS-]

Do you have a dingy washroom no one uses?

I use my basement washroom as a spray booth.[ I made a new cardboard booth the other day since the old one wasn't working like I imagined.

 

[Nessy]

No unfortunately, and iv'e already made the mistake of spraying something where i shouldn't have once before. My partner wasn't best pleased, but the 1/24 Tamiya R32 was pleased with it's new coat of paint.

 

[AOS-]

As long as you have some way to get fumes out of the building. If you're desperate, you can use your range hood, but like using a washroom fan, cover up everything you don't want paint on.

For me, all the paint catches onto the cardboard or the plastic bag I cut into a large flat sheet so the spray doesn't linger around for too long, and as soon as I finish one coat, I leave the fan running and close to the door for about 15-20 minutes. Most of the odour is gone within an hour.

 

[AOS-]

Okay bum bums, all the remaining Category B submissions have been posted: http://lamleydlm.blogspot.ca/2013/04/as-is-custom-look-at-all-lcc1-category.html?m=0

Here's what I think of the submissions. For the most part (and no offense to anyone, I have no intentions of deliberately talking down anyone's work), they all look about the same: single colour, wheelswap, and detailing. If you're a judge and you're getting similar submissions, you're bound to look for cars with even more outstanding features, would you not agree? You can't possibly score all these guys with high scores and say they're winners. That said, I think I understand now why the dragon decal M3 made it to top 10, though I personally liked a few other submissions much more than the dragon M3 such as this, this, and this.

What I'm basically trying to say is that making those mods alone don't cut it. That may no longer be the case now that the Lamley contest is going to establish categories, but the same concept applies; if you want to boost your chances of scoring a good finish, you have to go beyond what the competition is throwing at you. Speaking strictly within Category B parameters this is what I think about the following mods:

Wheels:
The wheel choice itself isn't a matter of premium wheels. Just because it's real riders doesn't necessarily make it look any better (look at how many submissions with RR were in there!). In the end, its the wheel design that matters most. Tire treads from real rides most certainly add appeal, and you could totally go the extra mile and do a RR hybrid with plastic wheels. Execute that beautifully, show that off in your photos and that will most likely score you more points for the extra effort spent.

Detailing:
It's not a task that requires special equipment. This means that anyone is capable of doing it. Since the M3 mainline already lacked it, it's definitely going to be needed if you don't want to fall behind the rest of the competition. Special attention is needed in this field because sloppy application may actually negatively affect the outcome of your finish.

Painting: This comes down to feeling. If you aren't painting the car, ask yourself if there's a really strong reason for it. Will it be more impactful if you left it? What if you coloured it something else? You have the advantage of a clean factory finish if you don't touch it, whereas you risk running a rough custom paint finish if you change it. However, the up side of a custom colour is that it can easily excel past the appeal of factory finishes if you invest the time into layering and wetsanding. Special finishes can contribute to the "ooh" factor, but try not to stray away from your intentions. A black chrome finish for example is pretty and all, but if that's all it is and has no greater purpose, then that's just all it has going for it.

Others: Decals are theoretically not needed like what I've been saying over an over with the other fields. Chances are, graphics will give you points pretty easily (personally think this is why the Dragon M3 made top 10), but don't go thinking that any decal will work. Think about what you want to get out of it, and how to make it positively outstanding. You're judging 2 cars, one of them has a single colour, and only one has racing stripes applied. The likely case is that you're going to give those stripes some points. Critiquing comes with objective ruling, so how would you compare a blank finish to one with added content (which required more effort)? Thinking about that mathematically, it wouldn't make any sense to mark them both equally. The stripes will get points. Again, not any sort of graphic will score you a lot of points. That Victorian pattern that bombed the surface of that one Bimmer doesn't work for me. It's just too much and I don't feel a sense of purpose with that pattern. Bottom line, decals/graphics are probably necessary based off what's shown to be winning pieces. If you can't make any, you better make up for it in the other fields.


Final word is that this is a competition no matter how you look at it. You're in it to score well if not win top finish. It's a test to see how well you place and obviously you want a good standing so you gain some kind of reputation. Wanting to place well is one thing, knowing how to do so is another and that's why I'm sharing all that I wrote just now.

 

[jtl46]

Great observations AOS.

You can see why Jason should be proud that his made the top 10 without repainting. There were a lot of swaps and minor detailing. But I don't want to discourage folks from doing what they want. They may not make the Top 10, but their work will eventually be featured.

The next contest will be a little different. It won't be focused on one specific model. We may very well do a "one model" contest again, in fact I know we will, but we will mix it up every time.

The upcoming contest will have two categories, but not based on the amount of work put in. You will see when we announce it, and it will make sense.

The other observation I will make, and I have made it before, is that photo quality counts. Since we don't have the models in hand, we can only go on what we see. So photo quality won't be judged, but if that car can't be seen that well, then that person is at a large disadvantage.

Ultimately I hope you guys enjoyed it. We certainly did, and feel very motivated to do more. I have really appreciated your comments here.