Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[AOS-]

I don't know why I haven't why yet, but are you the one who handles all the photos in the group?

 

[Cano]

Naw, each one takes the pics of their cars. If you squint, you can actually see each one's styles (not to mention that I always try to post process pics, and Ahmed always never takes process pictures as he gets too immersed in the work).

In the case of the "external" features, that is, other guy's cars, we ask them to take their cars to the meetings and set up a "lightbox" and get to work right there. We've also gone to their places to shoot them.

I showed Ahmed how to edit the pics because he was overcooking whites and such, (which wasn't as easy as he uses Paint Shop Pro and I use Photoshop, but we found the equivalent PS tools in PSP) and now it's pretty cohesive.

Photography is also why we haven't featured many out-of-state guys we know that do absolutely terrific work, most of the times they can't take pictures worth a damn, but we don't want to clog the blog with horrible pics, we want to keep the style. Most of them come to the convention to compete, so we'll try to coock up a meet prior to the convention to shoot their cars when they come this year.

 

[AOS-]

That's good to know. I had the impression the other guys send you their cars for you to shoot since it's always the big bright white backdrop every time pretty much.

 

[Johnny1996]

Thanks for the answers, guys! And stellar customs!

 

[Sonygamer455]

AOS-
I went to Hobby Lobby today and my dad helped me find this Bondo stuff you speak of. Is this what I need to fill in that chip on that Supra?

Also another thing I wanted to mention to you is I finally got the Flintmobile. So I think I still plan on participating in your little contest, even though it is from a long time ago.

R1600Turbo I finally got a 1/32 bit to start reassembling my Countach and my other vehicles as well. What are some things I need to know about the bit and where should I start if I want to reassemble my Hot Wheels?

 

[AOS-]

That will work.

The Flintmobile or Bumper Cart thing never took off as no one showed real support for the idea. I had thrown it out there to see how many people would be interested in participating.

 

[Sonygamer455]

That will work.

Good now I can finally fix my Supra and continue working on the Hamada and get some progress done. Haven't worked on it (or any customs at all) in months.

The Flintmobile or Bumper Cart thing never took off as no one showed real support for the idea. I had thrown it out there to see how many people would be interested in participating.

Well frankly I have been interested with the Flintmobile idea from the beginning, the only reason I haven't already done one is because it wasn't until just recently I finally found one. I don't remember all the reasons why I haven't done the bumper car yet, but I do know I haven't had an easy time finding another one to customize. My number is 455 by the way, I am still customizing one with the GTPlanet logo and my number regardless if anyone else participates at all. I still dig the idea. 👍

In other news regarding the Hamada, I recently figured out how to rip textures from PS2 and some PC games as a JPG (Or whatever other file format I choose) and I am going to try and see if I can get the Hamada's graphics straight from the game itself. That will save me a lot of time and not to mention it will be FAR more accurate than designing it myself. There are a lot of other cars from Test Drive I plan on doing and I am even thinking about ripping the textures from the Lamborghini Diablo in GT3 and making a street Diablo with those graphics.

 

[R5]

I highly approve the whole last part and suggest GT2 Race cars be on the list too!

 

[Johnny1996]

As promised, here are the pictures of my Matchbox 1977 Olds Vista Cruiser Surf Wagon. This was my first custom.

This is before drilling the rivets out. I wasn't sure what to do with the car until a bolt of lightning that was an idea struck me.

After disassembling the car, the luggage just had to be detailed. I decided to give the owner two Labs.

Here is the interior piece finished.

Next came the decisions about what to do with the body. But first, I made a makeshift surfboard for fit testing.

The body was detailed to include trim and the surfboard. The surfboard got three coats of paint to help give it a look as though it had just came out of the water.

Now its time to show the finished product. I feel like this is just the perfect surf wagon.

 

[Johnny1996]

Delete.

 

[Cano]

As promised, here are the pictures of my Matchbox 1977 Olds Vista Cruiser Surf Wagon. This was my first custom.

This is before drilling the rivets out. I wasn't sure what to do with the car until a bolt of lightning that was an idea struck me.

View attachment 110331

I'm very sad to inform you that you destroyed a pretty rare wheel variation of that car. The most common of them is this one:

The one you popped open with the big modern wheels is quite scarce and hard to find, I just recently acquired it.

 

[AOS-]

No matter. Just forge one out of the common one. Who's going to know?

 

[Johnny1996]

Delete. GTP is way too buggy and laggy on my phone.

 

[Johnny1996]

Matchbox cars don't get as much attention from me as Hot Wheels, so I knew that a chance might have been taken when customizing the car. Good thing eBay and TTP exist, but its just a matter of being able to buy from them.

EDIT: Refer back to my first post on the custom to see the process of customization.

 

[CodeRedR51]

R1600Turbo I finally got a 1/32 bit to start reassembling my Countach and my other vehicles as well. What are some things I need to know about the bit and where should I start if I want to reassemble my Hot Wheels?

You mean 1/16" right? That's the bit you need (or a #50) and a 2-56 tap.

 

[Sonygamer455]

D'oh! I could have sworn you said 1/32", luckily when I got it, it was in a multi pack and it included a 1/16" bit with it.

 

[mustang fanatic]

I'm very sad to inform you that you destroyed a pretty rare wheel variation of that car.

Oh well. At least it looks cool anyways. Seems very fitting for such a car.👍

 

[Johnny1996]

Thanks for the comments guys!

And no, I will likely never be better than @Cano or his friend Ahmed.

 

[Cano]

Thanks for the comments guys!

And no, I will likely never be better than @Cano or his friend Ahmed.

You never know, we're all learning from one another in this hobby. Three years ago I had never done a custom, and now I routinely compete with Ahmed and others that have been dancing the dance for over a decade and often win. Yet I still need to develop a lot of skills, for instance, I've never tried my hand at cutting and glueing two cars together, or forming custom body parts out of putty and such. It's just part of the game.

 

[Johnny1996]

You never know, we're all learning from one another in this hobby. Three years ago I had never done a custom, and now I routinely compete with Ahmed and others that have been dancing the dance for over a decade and often win. Yet I still need to develop a lot of skills, for instance, I've never tried my hand at cutting and glueing two cars together, or forming custom body parts out of putty and such. It's just part of the game.

And of course the more customs you do, the better you get. Best of luck for the next custom car contest.

 

[AOS-]

I've never tried cutting

Speaking of, I just got my hands on a jeweler saw today. Cutting is going to take QUITE a while with blades this flimsy.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Speaking of, I just got my hands on a jeweler saw today. Cutting is going to take QUITE a while with blades this flimsy.

Zamac is pretty soft.

 

[AOS-]

I know that. We've established that many times before.

Do you have a jeweler's saw to tell me otherwise though???

 

[CodeRedR51]

Nope, I use a dremel.

 

[Johnny1996]

Would any of you guys hate me for life if I Dremel'd off the roof on this EF?

I've two backup plans, but details are kept to this: one a circuit racer, the other a drag racer.

 

[AOS-]

Wait wait wait.... Say now, why doesn't your Civic have chrome-lipped wheels?


Don't stress about the variation incident. Do what you want with your cars.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Why chopping the roof off?

 

[Johnny1996]

Wait wait wait.... Say now, why doesn't your Civic have chrome-lipped wheels?


Don't stress about the variation incident. Do what you want with your cars.

In all seriousness, I removed the chrome using a (this can be added to the OP) Fix-It Pro Scratch Remover found at Kmart.

Why chopping the roof off?

Because custom.

But you can add this to the OP: to remove paint from wheels, use a Fix-It Pro Scratch Remover that you can find in the automotive section at Kmart. It costs around $5. 👍

EDIT: Some paint is easier to remove than others. Chrome is the easiest.

EDIT 2 (different subject): I ran into two very subtle problems while doing a wheel swap on my 'cuda. First problem is that the one front wheel doesn't roll as freely as the other. This can be fixed with the car not seeing a track.

The second problem is that I filed away too much of the interior on the one side to make room for the new axle. This can be fixed by giving the car a look as though it had so much torque, it twisted the chassis off the line.

If anyone wants to see the wheel swap, let me know and I'll upload a picture.

 

[Sonygamer455]

I highly approve the whole last part and suggest GT2 Race cars be on the list too!

Whenever I find another Diablo, I definitely will paint it white, give it a wheel swap and throw the Nomad Diablo's graphics on it for sure. I am trying to think of some good cars from GT4 that may work.

Here is part of the hood graphics to the Diablo straight from GT3 itself. The rest of the vinyl's are under completely different textures. I plan to get them all.

What GT2 race cars you have in mind?

 

[R5]

Whenever I find another Diablo, I definitely will paint it white, give it a wheel swap and throw the Nomad Diablo's graphics on it for sure. I am trying to think of some good cars from GT4 that may work.

Here is part of the hood graphics to the Diablo straight from GT3 itself. The rest of the vinyl's are under completely different textures. I plan to get them all.
View attachment 111915

What GT2 race cars you have in mind?

Would totally make that... IF MY LOCAL STORES STOCKED UP ON HOTWHEELS AND MATCHBOX CARS THAT WEREN'T JUST MUSCLE CARS!

And how about this?

Been trying to make the decals for the Viper in CS4 at school. All I'm gonna say is I got very annoyed at the computer and ended up needing some Daft Punk therapy. Only to discover the aux jack didn't work... 👎