Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[Schwartz]

I found that the model spray paint works much better than normal spray paint which looks uneven and drippy even when done lightly.

 

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

The only way I know is by buying other cars or you can buy the HW's customizing wheel pack. But, I don't care much for rubber wheels, so I just use donor cars.

HW custom wheels pack?!

So, you mean I can find aftermarket HW wheels in a large pack, just for modifying?!👍

Where can I find these? In hobby or craft stores?

Here's my massive FAIL.

Aww man, that stinks.

I guess you need to remove the paint and redo the whole car again.

 

[CodeRedR51]

I found that the model spray paint works much better than normal spray paint which looks uneven and drippy even when done lightly.

A nice tip is to put the can into a pan of hot water for ~15 minutes. Also, always make sure you hold the can upside down and spray until no paint comes out to clear the nozzle.

HW custom wheels pack?!

So, you mean I can find aftermarket HW wheels in a large pack, just for modifying?!👍

Where can I find these? In hobby or craft stores?

Here. A bit expensive though.

 

[Schwartz]

Wait... Is it possible to take wheels off the axels? From looking at that custom pack it seems like it is. But that defies all logic.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Not sure how those work. The only other way to take wheels off axles is to cut the axle in half and create a new one. Either by doing what was done on the last page, or how I do it with the brass tubing.

 

[homeforsummer]

Top work in here chaps. Not been in any of the Hotwheels/Matchbox threads for a while but I love some of the custom work here. Can't wait to see the Caterham and Renault Fourgonette finished.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

Here's an unboxing video of the set.



I wouldn't mind buying a set of wheels for customizing, but I'm just not into the wheels in that set. Seems like those wheels only work with American muscle cars and whatnot. The Watanabe looking wheel that the BRE Datsun 510's came with are pretty nice, but they don't come in that set.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The Watanabe looking wheel that the BRE Datsun 510's came with are pretty nice, but they don't come in that set.

There's a lot of cars coming out this year with those wheels, but most of the cars are $3-5.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

I guess I wouldn't mind getting a car or two for those wheels. What's the cheapest line of HW's with rubber tires?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Right now it's the Boulevard cars at $3.50 each.

Mainline hidden super TH's don't count.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

The Boulevard cars aren't too bad either, so I guess it works out. Really would like the whitewall tires as well.

EDIT: So, I gave in and bought a Boulevard car with whitewalls from Kmart today. AOS- and R1600 are responsible for this.

Tried them out on the Beetle. I'm sticking with these wheels.

Swapped the wheels on my 510 for a better look.

Lastly, gave the Aerostar a new set also. Been having too much fun with these wheel swaps.

Group photo.

I want to do more with these cars, but not sure where to continue. Any suggestions?

 

[Cano]

The Datsun looked better with the other wheels. The Aerostar too. Also, start detailing, bud. lights, taillamps, chrome, all that stuff.

Also, a bit of a rant: today I went with my paint friend to have the tampos installed in the Renault. FAIL. The tampos didin't receive enough clear-coating and missed all the printing. The masking tape in the Renault pulled a bit of paint off the body so we had to make more paint that more or less looked like the one in the car and retouch it. It came out decent but the retouch is evident, as it is in a very obvious part of the body.

We also tried painting several white cars, a flop all of them because the thinner used for cleaning the paint gun was dirty, so all the white cars came out with a dose of black paint ang trash in general. Then we tried to paint matte black and, duh, surpriiiiise, I put the wrong black in the gun, a super-intensive bright black that took forever to dry and was not thin enough, causing bubbles to form on the paint.

Translation to all this: All the white and black cars will have to be stripped of their new paint yet again, and my Renault is now sad. We would have repainted it but the contest is next saturday, so there wouldn't be any more time. It'll make it to the contest as is, then go to the paint booth again after it.

It's sort of wjat happened to R1600 with the Catterham but with like 10 cars.

This day sucked.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Sounds like trying to paint them like a real car doesn't work very well.

Spray can FTW.



Edit: I blame by bleeding problem on the crappy masking tape I used...

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

I agree on the Aerostar. But, I think the Datsun looks pretty good. The other wheels looked good too but I was getting bored of them. As for the detailing, I'm going to start on it tomorrow. I'm gonna start by painting in the chrome accents on the Beetle. The headlights and taillights are already done.

 

[AOS-]

Edit: I blame by bleeding problem on the crappy masking tape I used...

Masking tape sucks. I recently painted my scooter's spokes black, but I wanted to keep the rim red so I masked it off with electrical tape. Personally I like electrical tape because the edges are crisp smooth and they can to an extent stretch and mask a curve. It might not be as applicable for tiny cars but because I can stretch the tape, it will stay on tighter to the surface reducing the chance of bleeds.

 

[Cano]

Sounds like trying to paint them like a real car doesn't work very well.

Spray can FTW.

Not, because we have had days in which we painted like 18 cars/parts/bases and all of them came out awesome the first time out. We have had days like this one when you want to paint four cars and all of them turn out horrible. We call them cursed days.

And I've also had cursed days with the guy that paints with spray cans. It's just the way it is.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

Masking tape sucks. I recently painted my scooter's spokes black, but I wanted to keep the rim black so I masked it off with electrical tape. Personally I like electrical tape because the edges are crisp smooth and they can to an extent stretch and mask a curve. It might not be as applicable for tiny cars but because I can stretch the tape, it will stay on tighter to the surface reducing the chance of bleeds.

Isn't there a special type of tape that bends easily like that? I'm pretty sure they use it for pinstriping. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[Cano]

ye$.

 

[AOS-]

I know what you're talking about but I don't know what kind of tape that is.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

I'm also trying to figure out what it's called. And judging by Cano's post, it's expensive I'm guessing?

What is it called Cano? I know you know!!! Lol

 

[Cano]

it's fine-line refinishing masking tape. It's specially made for high-end paint jobs, it's perfectly straight cut, won't tear the paint off my poor Reanult your car and comes in a variety of whidts, many of them quite thin. They also run from $7 to like $15 depending on the brand.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

Ahhh, yes that's it! Thank you.

Have you ever tried it? And if so, how well does it work?

 

[Cano]

never. Too expensive for tape lol.

 

[AOS-]

your car and comes in a variety of whidts,

Widths.

 

[Cano]

Almost.

 

[MedigoFlame]

A sort of obvious quick way of customizing wheels. Of course, this won't help me with my Maisto wheels, but it's something interesting and looks pretty good.

 

[SVX]

Almost.

 

[Cano]

Yeah, dat.

Anyway, I’mma show you all another “quickie”, this time Maisto’s excelently casted Porsche 550 spyder, which also comes with Maisto’s usual horrible wheels, this time some truck-like abominations on mud tires. Truck stance is also included. Found this thing at a flea market for a buck, in minty condition.

Once popped open…

A set of 7 spokes were chosen because they were big enough to fill the wheelwells. However, the stock mounting points for the axles kept the truck stance. I needed to do something.

In this pic you can see how the axles are held in the chassis by a longitudinal plastic bar attached to the center of the base.

This piece of plastic gave me the perfect mounting point, I just had to make a “channel” for the axles to fit in.

Same was done for the rear:

In the previous picture and the next one you can also see the trimming in the chassis so a custom exhaust system could be fitted.

The exhaust is a leftover from a donor Super Modified. It was glued to the body upside down:

This picture makes all the previous rant make much more sense; it’s more or less made like those direct headers for high-performance VW engines. Yes it’s a replica lol:

Now for the interior, which is a big chunk of black plastic. Alas, the original car’s interior is body color, so some Model Masters paint was called upon what had to look like metal. The wheel also received some detailing:

And lastly, the body, which was detailed a bit with the usual stuff, headlamps, taillights, holes and in this case, the rear grille, which was made putting a blob of water-based matte black paint, then taking it off with my finger. The end result is quite good ans shows what a simple wheel swap and some detailing can do to a car, altouhg this has a bit more work on the chassis.

The new “metal” interior:

And how low it went:

And in here, the exhaust.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Actually, an easier way to lower that car would have been to put something underneath the axles, with the plastic clip on top of everything to hold it in. I've lowered old Matchbox cars that had a system like that by simply stuffing some folded paper underneath the axle.

 

[Cano]

Ah yes, but the quality of the Maisto plastic is dubious, lol. I don’t know if the thing would have held itself together, because the drop was pretty big.