Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[Cano]

It would look good indeed. No worries, I have three more of those waiting to get hacked in the exact same fashion.

 

[AOS-]

Mass-produce those wheels and sell it. I'd buy 20 sets.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Yeah what happened to the wheels you were making Cano?

 

[Nessy]

I like those wheels too (have a burgundy set somewhere), if you could produce them with slightly less depth, i'd buy them.

 

[AOS-]

Yeah what happened to the wheels you were making Cano?

Canoe's all talk

 

[Cano]

Yeah what happened to the wheels you were making Cano?

Life, lol. We have both been hella busy with a lot of stuff lately. Ever since I last showed you the results of what we made with the molds we have been able to only produce one more mold.

We need to be taught how to do the rubber mixture for the tires and the resin mixture for the wheels, and how to pigment it, and then of course trial and error and experimenting until we get the process right for each part, and then we can start doing custom wheels. We also need to look into a plastic-chroming process that seems promising. The problem is that all that is just every saturday, and we have been specially busy on saturdays.

We knew this was going to be a long term project and quite costly too. Good thing is that we're not lacking funds after the successful convention sale (we shared table), but we are severely lacking time.

 

[AOS-]

If you're struggling with rubber compounds, you could always substitute it with Silicon molds instead

 

[CodeRedR51]

I have discovered that Testors doesn't make a Bronze colored enamel paint anymore.

I need it.

 

[Nessy]

I have discovered that Testors doesn't make a Bronze colored enamel paint anymore.

I need it.

Try 'Humbrol' enamel paint instead.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Thanks, will have to order them from "Hornby America".

 

[AOS-]

Is enamel paint hard to apply on? Do I have to mix it with anything by any chance? Judging by its name, it sounds like a durable paint.

 

[CodeRedR51]

No idea, I'm looking for the little bottles for detailing. Or in this case, I need the Bronze for this: (although I'm having trouble figuring out what to do. Mix it with black to darken it up?)

Going to use these wheels:

 

[Apok]

So I finally found a BMW 2002 the other day. Two in fact so I had a good idea of de-tampoing and detailing one.
Of course since the HW 2002 has flared wheelarches and a 2002 turbo inspired front it quickly escalated to where I thought that some blue and red would be a good idea.

And then I decided some bare metal foil would be good too.
And then I decided I need to clear coat it to protect it all... And since I was doing that I decided to paint the interior black as well.
Things escalate quickly.

Oh and the headlights are actually clear plastic, but I botched it up so one is a bit foggy.

I'm happy with the result since it's all painted with a normal brush. Masking tape helped a bit though.

 

[AOS-]

I thought it would have looked nice if you kept the tampos and just painted in the grilles and lamps.

 

[Apok]

Nah, I don't like the tampos.

 

[Cano]

Things escalate quickly.

hahaha yes they do. I like the outcome. The front specially, the chaange is amazing. How did you do the clear plastic lamps?

 

[Apok]

I drilled holes into the metal of the car and just melted some plastic from model kit sprues and jammed it into the holes.
Once that was done I cut off the excess plastic trying to get it as flush with the casting as possible.
Once that was done I just lit a lighter as close to the light as possible to melt it and get it smooth.


SLIGHTLY complicated and unreliable method, but hey, better than having no detail at all like the original.

 

[f1reb1rd]

Screw double posting. This has been done for a while but only now did I take pics. It started off with this 1934 Ford 3-window coupe that came out like in 2009, with very very good flames tampos. So it received the same treatment as the 32 Ford and Dodge Van I previously posted.

First came a deep coat of clear over the body to make the matte black shine. The fenders received their share too, so everything would shine the same. The running boards are part of the interior piece and remained in their natural plastic finish.

Next came masking off the grille as good as I could (it is really, REALLY tiny) in order to paint the grille shell and headlamp buckets black. The dash also received black.

While all of the above dried, the chassis was modified to accept the new wheels. I used the Dremel to trim away some metal -easier said than done- and plastic strips were used to lower the car a bit.

Last step was fabricating some glass, as the yellow windows didn't suit the street rod look of the car. A Coke bottle was again used.

With the new shoes it looks like dis:

The black grille shell and detailed headlamps. Came out pretty decent considering that masking such a small areas was a pain in the rear.

Taillights touched up:

Co-molded 5s are some fo the most hot roddish wheels HW has released, even though they are not rubber-tired.

And that's it. It has more work than it seems, but it made the look of the car.

Got that same car, metal chassis, etc. only mine has rubber tires

 

[Cano]

Got that same car, metal chassis, etc. only mine has rubber tires

Yeah, it'a Larrys Garage version back from the first year run:

 

[McZachenF1138]

Okay, whether you know it or not, I don't like posting pictures of my work until they're all done.
But I just found out that I just can't do it. I'm too eager and excited to show my ideas.
So without any further blabbing, here's the VW Notchback I'm almost done with:

To do list:
1. Paint headlight lenses.
2. Touch up paint along the two-tone line.
3. Paint silver trim around the windows.
4. Make custom exhaust out of aluminum tubing.
5. Finish roof rack.​

 

[Cano]

I like where that's headed. Would haave masked up the car to paint the white area though.

 

[McZachenF1138]

I did. With a little roll of really good Tamiya masking tape that cost me almost $7! You're always going to have paint bleed though.

 

[Cano]

Oh dear, $7 tape? Damn.

 

[AOS-]

I did. With a little roll of really good Tamiya masking tape that cost me almost $7! You're always going to have paint bleed though.

Unfortunately with tiny ridges in 1/64 cars, bleeding is going to happen, so even if you have tape, avoid getting paint on the tape anyway and think of the tape as safe measure in case your hand acts up and slaps the side of the car.

Regardless, I too like where that's going and look forward to more progress shots.

 

[McZachenF1138]

Yeah, but I had to spray the top as the little jar of Testor's Matte White I have is too thin and doesn't coat easily. Their matte white in a spray can is wonderful though.

 

[Nessy]

@ R1600.
Not sure how you'd darken it up, (experiment mixing black with another small empty pot or similar vessel.. just make sure you mix it well, oh, and don't contaminate the original, in-case it goes wrong).
Look forward to seeing the the finished RX7, and wheel choice is awesome choice. 👍

@ Apok.
Cool BMW!, i really like how you addressed the lights, it does sound tricky though. 👍

@ McZachen.
Love how the notchback's coming along. 👍 and i hear you on the eager-beaver thing.. i'm the worst for that.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Wheels are on the back-burner for the moment. Still trying to figure out how to do the graphics. On the real car, the gold stripes go up the hood, down the side of the car, and up the rear spoiler. I have some gold vinyl I got from work that I think looks great, but I'm not really good at measuring and making things work so it's taking a while....

 

[McZachenF1138]

What if you mix silver metallic with black and then add a spot of yellow to get that dark bronze hue?

 

[Cano]

No, put the black in as the last step, the yellow won't overpower the black and will need more paint; instead, you'll only need a small dab of black to overpower the light colors, if you do decide to go that route.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I'll try some different things and see what I can come up with. Going to do the spokes flat black and the rim the dark bronze as pictured.