Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[AOS-]

Well I'm only sanding it to smooth out the flat surfaces, not the nooks.

 

[McZachenF1138]

I just feel like that you'll end up sanding all the paint off trying to fix the paint itself.
I'm not saying you will, but that's what I think may happen.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Agreed. Just buy some new paint. Its like $4.

 

[McZachenF1138]

Have any of you guys sprayed matte clear over bare ZAMAC?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Why?

 

[McZachenF1138]

I just thought of it and wondered how it might look. I wanted to know if any of you guys had done that and if it turned out good or not.

 

[photonrider]

Looking good or not is a matter of taste - an opinion, not a fact.

Go for it - maybe you can tell us what happened.

I like how you are experimenting with your wheels (and AOS-, too). Gives us some good visual demonstrations. 👍

 

[AOS-]

Agreed. Just buy some new paint. Its like $4.

I'm not going to buy paint so casually. I want to keep using car paint because they got some ballin' colours brands like Krylon never make. Did you see that red Jaguar? That Dupli-color sprayed on so beautifully.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Guess it depends on skill.

I can make $4 paint work wonders...

 

[Apok]

I really suggest stripping those and repainting them AOS.
You will not get a good result with sanding.

 

[AOS-]

Not if I...... go over it with a thin layer of different paint after?

I'm not saying it's not going to take paint off. It might- it probably will, but I did plan to put a nicer layer on top after I got the surface smooth again.

 

[Apok]

But if you're going to paint it again why waste time with sanding when you can just strip the paint?

 

[AOS-]

That's true.....but I've always wanted to know what sanding down paint was like. I won't be heading to a Canadian Tire any time soon so I can wait on the paint stripping.

 

[Apok]

Ah, that makes sense.
It's just that I've tried getting rid of paint errors like that before with sanding with bad results. And that's on 1/24 model kits with bigger surfaces.
But yeah, can't hurt to try it out and get a feel for how paint just loves to screw you over in every possible way. 👍

 

[zakyta_4]

This threads awesome guys, my hat goes off to you all for amount of work you put into these

Had some spare time today so I thought I'd give it a go with a wheel swap



Going to go shopping and get some supplies to attempt some paint as well on the next one, its alot of fun, thanks guys:tup:

 

[AOS-]

Are the wheels swapped from the other car in the other picture and vice-versa?

 

[zakyta_4]

Are the wheels swapped from the other car in the other picture and vice-versa?

Yes mate, sorry should have said that

 

[AOS-]

Then I hope that Von Dutch ain't expensive because I want those wheels.

 

[zakyta_4]

Then I hope that Von Dutch ain't expensive because I want those wheels.

From memory mate, it was a couple of years ago, I think $4 Australian they were. I got a couple of others as well


The only thing was the wheels were pressed onto the axle, not sure if all Jada ones are like that as this is all new to me

 

[AOS-]

Ugh, Jadas are pricey for me.... but then again, I've spent $6 for a car's wheels, so I can't be complaining, can I?

 

[McZachenF1138]

I have just decided that I am going to make a diorama. But not just any diorama, a large one that has several environments including canyon road, tunnel, off-road, and circuit segments all to perfect scale. I'm so excited, but a little unnerved at how much time and money it is going to take up. It'll totally be worth it in the end though.

 

[AOS-]

I would think about how much room it's going to take up in your house, whether or not it will be easy to transport (in case you need to move it), and how accessible the room will be once its made. Cost? Have a lot of money ready, as well, make a list of everything you want to get, find places that sell stuff you need and plan what you want to buy taking note of their prices.

 

[Cano]

Here’s a quick fix that gave life back to an otherwise worthless 1934 Ford that I found without headlamps:

The car was in good shape, and it’s the small rear wheel variation and a Hi-Raker. I kept it for a good while waiting for a way to rescue it.

Then, months later, in a lot I bought from E-Bay arrived these… things. They were extras, as they were never pictured in the stuff I bought. When I saw them I though “wtf…” but I realized I had landed a cool bunch of organ donors for free.

First one to die was this yellow thing, which donated it’s eyes to the 34.

I carefully cut the headlamps off the yellow thing with my horrible cutter, sanded the offending metal, and on they went.

Result was better than I ever expected:

The only issue is that the chrome of the lamps is a different, yellowish shade when compared to the chrome in the 34 grille, but you’d barely notice it if I didn’t tell you. In real life it’s even less noticeable.

My goddamned bad pulse made it somewhat difficult to glue the headlamps on at an even level, they are a bit off in fact, but it’s almost imperceptible.

And that’s how this thing came back to life.

 

[AOS-]

And that, gentlemen, is why you should buy donor cars off me.


Also, I'm thinking of starting my own line of repainted 1:64s after hearing a suggestion from a friend.

I'd do a Black Series, but I also wanted to do a White Series... none of which are outstanding nor original. Even if I did, I'd have to make it stand out from other custom paint jobs people do. I was thinking about each car having the same decal placed somewhere on the car, just a simple one that's easy to apply, maybe even on the windshield, that would make the cars easily distinguishable as "my" series. Thoughts on it?

I'll see what colours of paint I get can an abundance of.


edit: Okay so I grabbed a can of matte clear, and a can of anodized green. The latter reads that the finish will look the way it does on chrome finishes. To give you a rough idea, it looks like the espectraflame finishes... but note "only on chrome finishes". I imagine if I painted this on raw finishes, the green's going to look dark and murky. If it turns out the way I'm imagining, then it's going to give me a dark metallic green and then I'll hook up gold wheels and call that a series.

 

[McZachenF1138]

As I posted prior, I was wondering what matte clear would look like over bare ZAMAC.
I bought a can and painted a junk Maisto Mustang that I stripped. Don't do it, it looks terrible; it makes the ZAMAC look murky and gross.
I also bought a can of chrome to see what that would look like under matte clear. Don't do that either, it just turns out looking silver. But then again, the chrome paint doesn't look precisely chrome in the first place.


So, I'm not too sure how well that will work out Andy with your matte clear on anodized green. You can always try though, and I wish you luck! 👍

 

[AOS-]

I didn't say anything about using the matte clear on the green.

The green may become my new series, but I'll have to see about that.

edit: So I just tried that green on a flat white finish. Creates a bright teal, similar to the Mystery Machine's teal, but brighter. Will continue messing around, but I seriously need to get a mask on now.

 

[AOS-]

Well I learned my lesson. I was curious, but now I know the answer. I decided not to go with the anodized green for my colour series. It looks nice but it just wasn't a colour that looked good on most cars. Wasted my $11, that's fine, at least I know what those anodized colours turn out like on non-chrome surfaces.

I was going to fall back on gloss white bodies with black wheels but I still thought it wouldn't be outstanding enough despite how cool it'd be to have a whole line of cars with the same scheme. I screwed up my CLK GTR paint job by overspraying it with the green, so I started to start again with that as well as the BMW 2002. Now I have 2 raw casts and will be the first to be in the new series. After looking at raw metal, I'm leaning on a Zamac-like series...... I would either strip it all and rub some diluted dark gray on it to get the look of tarnished metal (which would mean the paint stripping process has to be 100% clean or else undissolved paint chips will be visible) OR I can buy a can of Gun Gray and spray that loosely. Then I was thinking of sticking on black wheels, something I can easily do to all the scrap wheels I have, and as well as putting on a simply diagonal stripe off to the side on each car further personalizing the series. I don't exactly want to do that by masking off and spray painting...I'm thinking of different ways to mask a surface with tiny ridges the tape can't reach.

 

[photonrider]

Ah, that makes sense.
It's just that I've tried getting rid of paint errors like that before with sanding with bad results. And that's on 1/24 model kits with bigger surfaces.
But yeah, can't hurt to try it out and get a feel for how paint just loves to screw you over in every possible way. 👍

Apok - don't know about you, but the picture I have in my head of AOS- is of a guy in a white lab coat, spiky hair, hunched over a counter full of HWs, with a blow torch in one hand and a mallet in the other. All we can do is cover our ears and wait for the explosion and blackened face.

j/k, Andy, you know we luv ya.

This threads awesome guys, my hat goes off to you all for amount of work you put into these

Thanks, and welcome to the thread, man. Reading it through, too, will give you a feeling for the personalities in here

Had some spare time today so I thought I'd give it a go with a wheel swap

Going to go shopping and get some supplies to attempt some paint as well on the next one, its alot of fun, thanks guys:tup:

Good start - and very interesting cars. Great thing about online-based customisation groups is that we get to see all these cars from so many different countries.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/imag0276l.jpg/]

I would buy or trade for that old Ford in a heartbeat.

The only thing was the wheels were pressed onto the axle, not sure if all Jada ones are like that as this is all new to me

Yes, all the Jadas I have have fixed hubs on their axles.

Here’s a quick fix that gave life back to an otherwise worthless 1934 Ford that I found without headlamps:

Before:

After:

Ay Caramba! Still King of the Mountain at this. 100% Post, as usual. Great tips, Cano, thanks! 👍

 

[Apok]

Apok - don't know about you, but the picture I have in my head of AOS- is of a guy in a white lab coat, spiky hair, hunched over a counter full of HWs, with a blow torch in one hand and a mallet in the other. All we can do is cover our ears and wait for the explosion and blackened face.

Well, now that you've put the image in my head...

 

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

Yep I'm with Apok here, a mad scientist working over HWs!!

But hey, that's our Andy.

But I can wait to see the results after he's finished one of the cars, even with this experimenting, it's all about trial and error.