Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[Cano]

The Satellite is looking pretty good Andy, it really resembles the car in the game.

The detailing on the Scirocco is also pretty good. I like the swap.

 

[dblltke]

Thanks guys. I used testors, for the black and the red. The orange I used Tamiya. And for the silver I used some left over touch up paint from my old car I passed down to my sister.

 

[AOS-]

Are you using any thinner and if so what's the ratio?

 

[dblltke]

No bro no thinners.

 

[Sonygamer455]

The *screws?

Try True Value. You're bound to have one in your area. You may have to get the #2 washers at a hobby store that sells R/C cars & parts.

I could have sworn you said nails! I have no doubt they are out there where I can easily get them, I may have some somewhere in my house. Same for the washers.


That car is looking awesome AOS-! Keep up the good work!👍


Im working on the graphics for the Hamada as we speak. Im beginning to think I may have to buy white decal paper for and layer the white parts on top since my printer doesn't print in white ink.

I already have one Supra, but as I said before, I have morals to what I do, If I am planning on customizing a vehicle, I always buy two, one for keeps, other for customizing. Im hoping my Wal Mart will get more soon so I can get started.

 

[AOS-]

The Satellite is looking pretty good Andy, it really resembles the car in the game.

I think it's more like a Road Runner without headlamps.

Well that's what I did anyway.

 

[McZachenF1138]

I got this Nissan Cedric Wagon months and months ago at a flea market and actually forgot to post it.
Anyway, it has been sitting in a little case with the rest of my Tomicas doing nothing.
I'm just wondering if I should give it the typical Japanese treatment as far as customizing goes. I.e. stanced with other tweaks.

 

[AOS-]

BOSOZUKU!!!!




Finished product needs nice photos. Kept the original size photos on the blog. In it, you can read the entire process (if you enjoy learning about work methodology) at Epic Collage.

Time to go post it everywhere else now.


P.S. Also learned how to make internal links in HTML.

 

[Cano]

I got this Nissan Cedric Wagon months and months ago at a flea market and actually forgot to post it.

Lucky SOB. Complete with the tailgate. Delete the sirens.

Finished product needs nice photos.

Ugh it's so incredibly ugly, but pretty well done. Post a pic of the inspiration.

 

[AOS-]

Yeah the paint finished ended up pretty crap. Pic can be found in link, as well as everything else.

How'd you even miss the URL?

 

[Nessy]

That's not bad at all At1, granted it's not the color I would have gone for by far but it doesn't look bad like to say "disaster struck" It'll look better when your wheels are bronze.

That's not too too bad.

Metallic red makes objects look like a rigid structure. Maybe I only make such associations thanks to Mech suits and Iron Man.

Cheers guys 👍, the colour is actually growing on me (looks a lot nicer in the flesh, photo's don't do it justice). It really needs a second coat though, as a couple of places where i sanded down the primer a bit too much, have revealed the white/grey putty beneath, and obviously this is showing in the paint.

Your car turned out Great! Andy 👍, love the decal work and like the touch of the blue wires.

Interior of the Scirocco looks good, doubletake 👍, what colour are you doing the car?

McZach, i agree with Cano, deleting the sirens would be a good start.. unless Lamley comp.

 

[Cano]

Yeah the paint finished ended up pretty crap.

It's indeed filed with imperections, why so? I mean I remember you were fighting with the white borders on the decals and such, but I can see stuff even where there isn't any decals :0

 

[Sonygamer455]

That finished product looks top notch AOS-! 👍 Turned out pretty good, keep up the good work! 👍

I find it kind of funny how me and you both are doing cars from video games, your THE ANNIHILATOR and im doing the Hamada. both are pretty good cars! 👍

Some more cars I plan to do from Test Drive is this AEC Routemaster if I ever find it and a Camaro.

 

[AOS-]

It's indeed filed with imperections, why so? I mean I remember you were fighting with the white borders on the decals and such, but I can see stuff even where there isn't any decals :0

I go through the trouble of explaining my entire process in my blog. The least you could do is read it.

 

[Cano]

Agh, I always forget your damned blog lol, but it's because I click the link and it's blocked here, remember?

 

[SVX]

Really nice custom AOS, turned out really well!

I got this Nissan Cedric Wagon months and months ago at a flea market and actually forgot to post it.
Anyway, it has been sitting in a little case with the rest of my Tomicas doing nothing.
I'm just wondering if I should give it the typical Japanese treatment as far as customizing goes. I.e. stanced with other tweaks.

*faints*

 

[AOS-]

Here's a fun one:

I'm no florist, but this is my 2nd attempt at growing grass in tiny planters. Hope it works out!

If it does turn out to be an easy job, I can totally make more with the crummy donors I have.

 

[Sonygamer455]

I still think you should a Ford Stake bed truck with that!

 

[McZachenF1138]

Indeed. I have a carded one I could sell you Andy.

 

[AOS-]

Thanks for the offer but I'll pass on purchases for this project. I will accept trades though. I guess you can say I'm after castings nobody wants anymore and wants to get rid of it. At the same time, I have a bunch of bodies I'd like to get rid of myself.






Anyway, I take it no one has started the police car project? I still haven't found a cheap light-up police car toy to gut the lights and electronics from yet.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Not doing the Police car contest. I am finishing something up though that may be done before the weekend. Just a really old project I'm trying to finish up since all it needs is decals and detailing.

 

[McZachenF1138]

I'd love to do the contest, but I don't want to invest in decals.
I have had this for a long time, but never used it.

 

[Cano]

Anyway, I take it no one has started the police car project? I still haven't found a cheap light-up police car toy to gut the lights and electronics from yet.

I haven't started whack. I might restore an old Matchbox Fury I have lying around, but I don't even remember where it is. I'll look for it later today.

 

[McZachenF1138]

The plane?

 

[Cano]

The plane?

WAT. No, this:

I recently found one that is very very rough but ripe for a resto, no cracks in the windows, complete, and such. I'll go with that as I don't relly have the time to all-out customize something into a cop car and frankly, I'm not a fan of the theme. I have way more cop cars slated to be converted to street cars than the other way around.

Anyway, I have to show you guys the Nova wagon gasser that was so sadly ignored in the gasser contest a month ago. I loved how it turned out, so here it is. As some of you know, the thing started out as the new 64 Nova:

And the plan was to graft a 55 Chevy gasser chassis under it, which fortunately didn't need any modifications to fit width-wise. Here is the 55 chassis already cut to size, with the only parts of the original Nova base I used.


And here is all of it stripped down and with some of the parts picked for the project:


And a mock up, which I think I already posted here. I chose those sets of wheels/tires because they were absolutely correct to the gasser period and aesthetic. 3 or 4 inch wide Cragars in front, which came from a wrecked Mini Lindy Jeepster I picked up at the flea market, and the rears resemble Ansen Sprints on slicks, which came off a slot Aurora 18-wheeler chassis I also picked up just for the wheels. Perfect for a gasser.


It had to have something poking outta the hood. At this stage in the build I still didn't know what it was gonna be but I did a hole anyway; the original intention was to use the engine of the 55 but this was deemed impossible. In fact, that entire piece practically disappeared trying to make it fit:


It isn't as evident as the hole obviously, but I also had to trim down the rear fenders as much as I could so the rear tires wouldn't rub. Problem is, I could not simply radius the fenderwells as was a normal practice back in the day because I had rear doors and a character line in the way, so I gained about 1.x mm of clearance without altering either of these.


The chassis, of course, was severely trimmed to take down both axles as much as possible, in the rear because of the aforementioned problem, and in the front because of the fenderwell headers, the only parts I used from the 55 Chevy engine, which of course rubbed with the front tires:


Here are the fenderwell headers, the only remains of the engine piece of the 55. They'd be painted white later, just as in those days.


The interior was severely modified. I trimmed down the bench seat because I wanted to install a single racing bucket, but as I wanted it to look period correct, I also had to trim down the floor so it wouldn't sit too high. In the process I damaged the steering wheel so I removed it. Yeah i know it looks horrible but it all would be covered in black later. disguising the scars.


Here it is with the seat from a Super Modified wheel donor I had lying around, and the new wheel, which also came from a Meyers Manx wheel donor. Waste not want not.


While all of this happened, the shell gained color! Ahmed mixed up and shot a metallic light blue that absolutely nailed the period correct look I was looking for. Thanks yet again, dude 👍 in this pic, of course, it doesn't have a clear coat yet, because a period-correct deco was soon to follow.


I started designing the tampos; they had to be period correct too, that is why I included very few logo stickers -only the Cragar, Valvoline and Art Carr Torqueflite trans in the rear quarter panel-, and most of the parts sponsors were laid down like they were hand-painted, just as it was made back in 1967, the time I more or less estimate this thing would have raced if it was real. That also meant no engine later than that year, not even a 454 as that appeared in 1970. It had to be either a 427 or a 396. I chose the latter to bring the project back down to earth a little, as if it was a relatively home-built, budget project, as was also common back in the day. The name for the car is an ode to station wagons worldwide. All of the decals were done in Photoshop and printed in clear waterdecal paper.


Here they are all applied. Ups and downs on this; moar later on.


Meanwhile, the interior was painted black, this covered all the damage to the part enough not to be noticeable once the car was assembled.


The chrome details were applied before assembling the rest of the interior...


Which you can see here. The rollcage was fabricated using a rivvet post that was folded to fit, along with two sturdy cable holders I had in my junk box; the aluminum panel covering the rear seat is a credit card piece.


Yes, that thing in the back is a wheel. When I bought the Aurora Semi it came with a burned down wheel that sat there with no real use until I came with this, as extra ballast to plant the slicks on launch and placed in the other side of the driver, to compensate for the torque reaction /freak


As both axles have afixed mounting points for the wheels, that is, they pop in in the axle tube instead of rolling freely like a normal Hot Wheels axle, I had to devise a way to mount them to the chassis. A couple of cut-down cotton swabs were perfect for the task, but this required grinding down the chassis even more to compensate for their thickness. They were painted black and glued in...


But they didn't hold up, so they were epoxied up, as well as the rear part of the base. Yes I know this looks horrible, but it would later be coated in flat black.


The only missing thing was the engine. What to do? I wanted fairly tall stacks the likes of what could be found, for example, in the Strip Teaser A/FX Falcon, which used a freaking radical set of injector trumpets for it's nitro-burning 427:

I found this in my junk box. A little plastic box for who knows what. I trimmed it down with the Dremel until it fit under the hole in the hood. This would also be the mounting point for the headers. The one we see in the foreground is what it originally looked like, the one in the back was the part to be used -yes I had two-, already filled with Pritt Takt.


The Takt thing would hold 8 of the smallest nails with a flat head that I could find. They were golden, so they were painted with cheap chrome spray paint:


Here is the part glued to the body and painted chrome, and already holding the headers, now painted flat white, in place.


The result of aaaaall of the above looks like this:




White headers, 3-inch-wide Cragars on ribbed-wall bias-ply tires, tall Hillbron trumpets, the full bollocks.


The Moon tank for the nose was a part we didn't see in the build process. It was made breaking a glass fuse and joining the two halfs together.


The rear tires barely, baaaarely clear the fenders, but the car rolls freely and perfectly.


This is an important part. It's a homage to Blair's Speed Shop, a really old speed shop that is still operating today in the same location where it has been the last 50 years in Pasadena. Blair's was straight axle central back in the 60s and 70s and performed possibly thousands of straight axle swaps in everything, from race cars to street brawlers. It's one of the most renowned and revered speed shops in the US and in the hot rodding world, so I just had to have my car tuned by them. Don Blair hisveryself bolted up the straight axle on this thing /freak again


Here are the hood decals. There was something I didn't really like. The edges of the 396 decals is clearly seen in this and other pics. The only way we've come up with to solve this problem is to do the decal the size of the entire part, in this case the hood, so the edges will get lost in the shutlines.


In the sides of the car this is more evident. In this pic you can see that the Jardine Headers decal (front door) and the Ansen decal (under the Cragar logo) broke a bit and hurled a bit with he clear respectively. The only way we've found to solve this would be, again, to cut a decal the size of the entire side of the car so edges would be invisible and this kinda things wouldn't happen. We'll have to look into it the next time one of us makes an involved custom such as this.


I was really tempted to make a psychedelic tampo for the roof, but it wouldn't have been period correct. Psychedelic stuff started to appear in the early 70s or very very late 60s.


The base. The union with the epoxy could have been way cleaner but I was running out of time. For the same reason I didn't trim away the original exhaust pipes in the rear portion of the Nova's base. Flat black disguises it enough.


In the end, I was absolutely satisfied with the result. I do think this is my best work to date.


As such, I was pretty pissed off when the car went on unnoticed in the contest, won by the way by an utterly incorrect car. Salt to the injury.


anyway, sorry for the enormous post but at least I hope it was interesting to read. I put a lot of work and a lot of car-freak knowledge in this project, the kind of knowledge you only show off in stuff like this, so enjoy (:

 

[Sonygamer455]

Good job with that Nova Cano! 👍 How can someone overlook something so awesome?! That Nova rocks! 👍


Curious but did you have to layer your decals when you applied them?

 

[AOS-]

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=393402

So this guy actually sells his customs. While I'm thinking of doing the same, I wanted to get your opinions on how much you think a rubber tire swap/tampo removal are really worth.

I mean, it's great to make back the money invested such as the brass tubing and donor cars spent to get the wheels, but at the same time, I don't think I want to charge that much if the execution wasn't great. For example, my red Datsun BB has a seriously sloped rear axle so the car sits slanted the whole time and I'm sure you wouldn't want to pay anywhere near $3 for it. So now I'm thinking, is it even worth anything profitable? If I sold it at a desirable price for the consumer, am I at least making money from the labour put into it? What do you guys think?

 

[CodeRedR51]

So this guy actually sells his customs. While I'm thinking of doing the same, I wanted to get your opinions on how much you think a rubber tire swap/tampo removal are really worth.

~$5?

That's what I was thinking of trying to sell them for. I included the wheel swap Circle Trucker in my Circle Trucker auction but it didn't sell. Not the best casting though, I may try with one of my Ferrari's or a Camaro.

 

[jtl46]

I hope some of you will do the police car project. I am hearing of some cool stuff being done. There will be one more this year that you will surely want to be a part of. The winners might be part of something very cool...

 

[AOS-]

I hope some of you will do the police car project. I am hearing of some cool stuff being done. There will be one more this year that you will surely want to be a part of. The winners might be part of something very cool...

I like to get into everything I can, I think I've found the sirens I wanted even, but right now I'm a bit tight on my schedule.