Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[Avatarded]

Since I've immediately double-posted I guess I'll edit and add pics. Sorry.

 

[194GVan]

hey guys its been a while. got caught up moving this year. finally got set up recently and have a new multipurpose work bench on a drafting table

My brother in law has a blue 67 mustang coupe so when I saw the new release I just had to make a custom for him. In the meantime I gave my nephew (his son) a stock one. He recently told me he took it from his son and stuck it on his work bench in the garage. His son has been asking "Where's Dada's Car?" trying to find his missing hot wheels. LOL

side tampo removal, detailing, wheel swap, fender grinding, dropped front, respray interior black.

I really like the M2 wheels for swaps. $6 for 4-5 sets of wheels! Although the fronts are so skinny sometimes its ridiculous. I actually swapped the tires on this front set to make them wider. I really DONT like that so many hot wheels have staggered wheel sizes.

 

[Emmcee]

Those wheels work a treat on that mustang. Got a few more here myself.

 

[Avatarded]

Some experimentation. Working on a "vinyl" top. It started with the '65 nova, I used green masking tape and painted over it but wasn't satisfied so I got some black masking tape from one of the office stores. That's what's on the porsche. It's kind of tricky because if it's creased or rubbed too much it will show the white of the tape but it didn't turn out too bad. I also tried making tires out of the rubberized grip from a pen and "upholster" the seats of the nova using part of the exterior of a shoe. Just trying things out, the nova has become sort of an idea test car.

 

[Emmcee]

Very tidy work indeed, me like.

 

[Missfrost]

Need some trucks in my collection so I have bin working on this I wanted a crew cab

 

[Emmcee]

Looks good, very smooth joins and looks legit. Once it's painted it will look original.

 

[Missfrost]

Looks good, very smooth joins and looks legit. Once it's painted it will look original.

Yea thank you very much I still don't know what color I'd like it to be probably will be red

 

[Emmcee]

Was just thinking that before I finished reading the post lol. Red would be sweet, like a nice Ferrari type red.

 

[Emmcee]

 

[Avatarded]

Very tidy work indeed, me like.

I appreciate the feedback.

I also have a resurgent appreciation for the skill of detail painting I see from you and others on this site. I was recently attempting to add some detail to this Bentley.

The headlights are a bit blotchy, the taillights turned out decent. The interior was black, so I sprayed it. Added tires, tried to paint the exhaust outlets and mirror surfaces and added some details to the interior. While getting the car apart the passenger side front wheel lost nearly all the chrome that was on it even though I was trying to be careful. Just a few tugs on the front wheels and it was a done deal, wheels were going black. After getting it apart I rubbed the chrome off the other three but they were quite stubborn!?

 

[Emmcee]

I appreciate the feedback.

I also have a resurgent appreciation for the skill of detail painting I see from you and others on this site. I was recently attempting to add some detail to this Bentley.
View attachment 606195 View attachment 606196 View attachment 606197 View attachment 606198 View attachment 606199

The headlights are a bit blotchy, the taillights turned out decent. The interior was black, so I sprayed it. Added tires, tried to paint the exhaust outlets and mirror surfaces and added some details to the interior. While getting the car apart the passenger side front wheel lost nearly all the chrome that was on it even though I was trying to be careful. Just a few tugs on the front wheels and it was a done deal, wheels were going black. After getting it apart I rubbed the chrome off the other three but they were quite stubborn!?

Don't sell yourself short, your detailing is amazing. Outsiders don't realise just how difficult it can be to make them as close to real as possible as the details are so small.

 

[Avatarded]

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Cano]

How did you add tires to thatBentley?

 

[Avatarded]

Another ball point pen rubberized comfort grip, same as the nova above. The wheels on the Bentley, which I'm sure you're all familiar with, have near zero sidewall. The pen grip was a smaller diameter than the wheels so I used the shaft of a standard bic pen, that conveniently was the same diameter as the wheels and stretched the grip over that, worked it around a bit to stretch it further, then quickly got it onto the wheel. It had a tendency to return to it's original size so they stay in place, nice and tight. The grip material had sort of a golf ball dimple pattern and was too thick to allow the base back on and the wheels to roll, so once all 4 were on I used some sandpaper of moderate grit and thinned them out by angling the base at approx. 45° and sliding the base forward, paying close attention that the wheels were sanding/rubbing while also rolling. This made sure that I could thin all 4 tires sidewall height relatively uniformly.
Also, I've checked in on Custom Diecast Mexico periodically and I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't read about it and seen your posts here. Some of the stuff, like the gt40 your dad did, blows my mind. Aspirational stuff. Someday...
Keep up the good work.

 

[Avalonbug]

Does anybody have any idea how that guy on Instagram made that RC Datsun? I have a custom BMW Wagon and I want to do the same thing to it haha

 

[Avatarded]

While I haven't seen that specific Datsun, I did look into doing this myself. If you're interested go to YouTube, search "rc toureg 1 87" and watch the top result. I think it's just over 9 min. long. It's in german but it has some useful visual cues. Germans seem quite adept at this stuff, fabricating parts, differentials, functional suspensions, working headlights/blinkers and so on. The lighting is done via programmable microcontroller such as arduino. They usually use battery, esc, etc. intended for rc airplanes due to space constraints. Hobbyking.com is a good place to start for motor, servo, etc.
I don’t know if they still do but there used to be some german hobbyists that sold custom fabricated steering assemblies, differentials for 4wd, even tank tracks for scale military rc, some in tiny scale... approx 1/87. Although that's too small for hot wheels, just seeing the finished steering assembly (for example) helps to see what's possible. I don't know how far you want to take it. The other option (far simpler, the one I'd start with) is to tear apart a retail rc hot wheels and fit the innards to your custom. Wouldn't have lighting but this way you don’t need to understand the electrical side or how to program the microcontroller. It will cost much less and while it won't perform as well as even the retail hot wheels rc did, it will function with much less effort/know how. For clarification, I've yet to try any of this but there's a fair amount of info in various rc forums about this stuff. It can be rather time consuming to find, as most rc forums revolve around larger scales but it is out there. Sorry for the lengthy reply.
Here's some pics of WIPs (rc free, lol) so this post isn't just me babbling.

 

[Nessy]

@Avatarded

Likewise, I looked into doing it myself a good while ago. Was considering going the 'Bit-Char-G' route (have several still knocking about, with upgraded motors and gear sets). The only things that cast a bit of doubt was the steering clearance and more importantly, time.

Cool customs by the way. 👍

 

[Emmcee]

I just tried the soldering iron technique and I must say I find it brilliant, much better than drilling and a lot neater to. Just make sure you have some water on hand as the car gets hot to touch. But dip it after your done and it can be handle, fantastic technique IMO.

 

[DUBer]

Matchbox Infinity G37 Coupe

I kept it simple with just a wheel swap & window tint. Wheels came from a matchbox Whiplash.

 

[Emmcee]

Those wheels work really well with that car mate, nice choice.

 

[Cano]

Another ball point pen rubberized comfort grip, same as the nova above. The wheels on the Bentley, which I'm sure you're all familiar with, have near zero sidewall. The pen grip was a smaller diameter than the wheels so I used the shaft of a standard bic pen, that conveniently was the same diameter as the wheels and stretched the grip over that, worked it around a bit to stretch it further, then quickly got it onto the wheel. It had a tendency to return to it's original size so they stay in place, nice and tight. The grip material had sort of a golf ball dimple pattern and was too thick to allow the base back on and the wheels to roll, so once all 4 were on I used some sandpaper of moderate grit and thinned them out by angling the base at approx. 45° and sliding the base forward, paying close attention that the wheels were sanding/rubbing while also rolling. This made sure that I could thin all 4 tires sidewall height relatively uniformly.

Had never thoiught about a pen grip for doing tires. That is quite a good idea, thanks (Y)

Also, I've checked in on Custom Diecast Mexico periodically and I wouldn't have found it if I hadn't read about it and seen your posts here. Some of the stuff, like the gt40 your dad did, blows my mind. Aspirational stuff. Someday...
Keep up the good work.

Ah, it'salways cool to hear of someone who read the blog. My dad didn't do the GT40, it was @AHMEDFINK's dad 👍 and yes, it's quite mind-bending indeed!

 

[Emmcee]

Wonder if small vacuum hose for a cars engine would work for tyres also. Probably work out cheaper than buying bulk pens lol.

 

[Avatarded]

@Nessy

Yes, time... always a constraint. When I was younger and first heard the old adage "time is money" I never believed it. Now, I know it to be true because whenever I have abundant time, I have no money. Whenever I have money, I have no time. If ever you do find time to give the Bit-Char-G conversion a shot, I'd be interested in how it goes, pitfalls, difficulties, lessons, etc.


@Cano

Ahh, yes... credit where it's due. @AHMEDFINK's dad deserves it. There was another idea I had (or thought I did) but you beat me to it on the Fiat. Using nail art stickers for headlights, etc. It may sound odd, but I got a sense of satisfaction with the results, seeing that it was a good idea after all. One that I'll certainly be using in the future.


@Emmcee

I don't see why vacuum hose wouldn't work and it would absolutely be more cost effective. I was just using what I had on hand, so it was "free", lol. That's probably my favorite part of this hobby, reconstitution of everyday items. I enjoy noticing things I could maybe use, things I otherwise wouldn't give a second thought. Makes me look at the world around me in an alternate way.

 

[Emmcee]

Yeah absolutely, if you have it on hand then use it but i was thinking you could probably get a metre or so of vacuum hose for a couple of bucks and it would last for ages. Actually what you have done is a heck of a lot easier way to make dish style rims to, people in the past have drilled out wheels and smoothed down another set so one can slid over the other. What you have done is created a whole other aspect of doing this type of rim aswell.

 

[Cano]

I just realized I never shared the Radical class post of our 2nd contest with you guys. Some awesome customs in here.

http://www.customdiecastmexico.com/2016/10/2do-concurso-de-customs-custom-diecast.html

 

[Emmcee]

Awesome customs in there cano, thanks for sharing like always. The white Rat rod and Silverado where my favourites.

 

[Cano]

Awesome customs in there cano, thanks for sharing like always. The white Rat rod and Silverado where my favourites.

Thanks for the kind words 👍

I'll now leave you with our third custom contest, which took place a few weeks ago. First I'll show you the exhibition table, these cars were not in the contest, but we actually held a "contest within a contest" for these.

http://www.customdiecastmexico.com/2016/11/3er-concurso-custom-diecast-mexico-la.html

 

[Emmcee]

Once again wow impressive work, so wish they had comps like this in Australia.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Just bought one of these for a simple custom. If anyone can guess what I'm doing, I'll buy you premium for a year. (Edit: deadline for guesses is 10am MST Friday)