Hot Wheels and Matchbox Customizing Thread

[CodeRedR51]

I pretty much finished the Caterham last night. Will post pictures tonight. I had a hell of a time trying to fix the yellow stripe, which still looks like crap. But I'm going to chock it up as a learning experience and move on. Don't really feel like re-doing it.

 

[homeforsummer]

550 spyder

Love it 👍 I actually reckon it'd look even better with even smaller wheels though. The wheels on the original ("Little Bastard" in this case") look quite narrow.

 

[Cano]

Did you retape and repainted, or retouched it with a brush?

EDIT: Just saw HfS's post. Yup, but I didn't have any wheels that fit the stock look of the 550. I would have loved a steelies look, but could not bring myself to pop open a Garage car for this car. I jsut used what I had lying around.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Did you retape and repainted, or retouched it with a brush?

Retouched with a brush.

Edit: You didn't want to open a car? Are you feeling okay?

 

[Cano]

Edit: You didn't want to open a car? Are you feeling okay?

hahaha, I think I should have written "taking the car apart" intead of "popping it open".

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

And in here, the exhaust.

Nice little addition. 👍


Here's some progress pics of the Beetle. Used regular 3M painters tape. No way in hell was I going to do this free handed.

Turned out pretty good.

Painted the door handles and rear hatch handle. Can't really tell, but the taillights are also painted.

I plan on using a headlight from a Caterham as a search light for the bumper. Hope it turns out the way I'm picturing it in my head.

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.

Tried the black one out today, because I thought it would come in handy. Appreciate the find. Here's painted Maisto wheels on an R32. Not a bad look if you ask me.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Here's the Caterham. Not really happy with how it turned out, next one should be better. (without a stripe)

Few touch ups still need to be made. (headlights, behind wheels)

 

[Cano]

It looks pretty nice, the touch ups aren't actually noticeable in these pics. Didin't you paint the underside of the body? Or is that what you are refering to with "behind the wheels"?

 

[CodeRedR51]

I painted the underbody black so it didn't stick out. In the first pic you can see some of the original maroon color from the wheels.

 

[Schwartz]

Painted the Mitsubishi Evo. Didn't have the choice but to drench the thing in 1 really thick coat of red, or else the paint wouldn't stick correctly. I think it will turn out good enough though...

 

[VspecZR1GT2RS89]

Here's the Caterham. Not really happy with how it turned out, next one should be better. (without a stripe)

Few touch ups still need to be made. (headlights, behind wheels)

Looks really nice from all of the errors. Are you gonna do another Caterham with the Racing Green livery or a different color?

 

[CodeRedR51]

Not sure yet. I have some other projects I want to complete before I do the next one.

 

[Cano]

I just did my first experiments with custom water-decal tampos. Have a set in store for the Renault 4 but first I wanted to try my hand with them onto something else. They're pretty neat, way way better than I expected. I hope I won't ruin them when the time comes to finally put them in place.

I'm also finishing one of these:

 

[CodeRedR51]

My next project:

 

[turboash78]

This thread kicks all sorts of butt!
Here is a Pantera I had as a child that I want to restore:


Just want to clean it up... strip old paint, straighten wheels, detail the interior.

I'll make sure to post any future progress.

 

[Cano]

Do it bud, the white-out comes off with alcohol, you'll have to struggle a bit in the tight areas but it will go away. Everything important seems to be in good shape (the windshields isn't opaque, cracked or painted, the tires aren't too used up), so it should be a pretty straightforward deal. Post pics!

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

Got my searchlight done.

Also cut out the driver and passenger side windows. I plan on putting an interior in.

And this is the look I'm going for. Not sure if I should scrap the idea or do something else?

 

[Cano]

Ah, the searchlight is cool. What did you use to make it?

I also like the handmade roofrack.

 

[M-POWER_FTW]

Thanks. For the searchlight I used the same Caterham that R1600Turbo just finished customizing. I cut it out and filed down the base. Painting it was a pain. And I guess the roofrack idea stays. I'm going to finish it and paint it silver to match the rest of the accents.

 

[Wyvern_64]

Love that color on the beetle. Great customizing job too 👍

 

[Cano]

I'm finally done with both trucks for tomorrow's club contest, which has a truck/pick-up/van theme. I'll take the restored Majorette Renault 4 with custom tampos and JL white-line wheels, and the black flamed van I mentioned above. I'll post pics tomorrow and report if I win anything. I have somewhat high hopes with the Renault.

 

[Nessy]

Good luck with the contest tomorrow Cano, the Porsche Spyder looks great (love the technique with the rear grill/louvres), and i can't wait to see what you've done with the Renault 4 and Custom van.

R1600Turbo, that Caterham looks great aswell, i like the yellow on racing green but can't help but think how awesome it would have looked, if you'd had done a Caterham JPE with maybe some small custom tampo's to replicate the JPE version, really jelly of those wheels you've used aswell (wish i could find them over here.. would come in handy for my 1st ever HW custom)... PS, have took on-board what you said and am taking my time (with regards to painting).

M-POWER_FTW, Beetle looks great, love the wheels the lowering and the colour, really like and admire the custom roof-rack aswell but i think i prefer it without it (just looks cleaner to me).

[EDIT]

Decided i'd add a few (crappy) WIP pics of my 1st HW custom.
I decided to do the red Mini on the left of the pic:


As you can see, i already have a white Mini, but i wanted to do 1 with a bit more detail (yet to do).
stripped with wheel swap:



With 3 coats of white and some sloppy paint work to the wheels-(will file away excess with fine sand paper stick thing and probably touch up with black marker pen):




It's hard to make out, but iv'e painted the chassis, grill and interior (black floor, grill.. red seat,cage and fire extinguisher), admittedly the black paint looks really sloppy as it was a gloss finish and iv'e had to file some of the paint as the chassis wouldn't fit back under the body. I'm just waiting for the weather to get a bit better so i can add a final coat of white to the body (spraying outside), then i'm going to apply a pearlescent clear coat and finally be able to get down to the detailing.

Admittedly, it doesn't look all that great at the moment, but i'm actually quite pleased with it, though i can't wait to get my hands on a couple of plastic Mini's as i have some body mods in mind that should result in something spectacular... only wish i had access to some better wheels.

 

[Cano]

ah, uncanny coincidence: I just picked up a Mini for customizing too, it's a bit played but complete, and will work fine.

Also, neither My Renault nor my dodge won a damn thing. The Dodge I knew, but I had somewhat high hopes for the Majorette. Sad Cano is sad.

 

[CodeRedR51]

R1600Turbo, that Caterham looks great aswell, i like the yellow on racing green but can't help but think how awesome it would have looked, if you'd had done a Caterham JPE with maybe some small custom tampo's to replicate the JPE version,

I don't have the right equipment to do custom tampos, so that is a no-go. What I really want though is an air brush, as that would have come in handy when doing the stripe. I wanted to make a replica of the Flyin Miata Westfield shop car, but the exhaust is on the wrong side and would take a lot of cutting and moving things that I don't want to put effort into.

I'm going to try and get started on my new project tomorrow. (or today)

 

[homeforsummer]

That's a shame Cano. Better luck with the next one.

Beetle up there looks awesome with the searchlight. I'd recommend finding some luggage for the roof rack, rather than sticking wheels in there. Must be a matchbox/hot wheels with suitcases somewhere...

Looks good, but what green did you use? I'd have suggested going for a flat green, in a slightly lighter shade. Caterham's BRG isn't a true BRG I don't think and that dark (metallic?) green on your customized car doesn't quite look right with the yellow stripe.

Or it might just be the light you're photographing under. But in sunlight Caterham's colour is definitely lighter:

 

[Cano]

That's a shame Cano. Better luck with the next one.

I'm still very VERY pleased with the result and it received a lot of praise from people. They couldn't believe how tattered it was when I found it.

Also, it's not like the judge guy knows a lot about this stuff. Even the guy who won first prize, a good friend of mine, told me that he never expected to win with the car he won (he entered 5 cars), and that the most complex, customized truck he brought didn't even figure on the winners list.

We'll see in the convention, with real judges.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Looks good, but what green did you use? I'd have suggested going for a flat green, in a slightly lighter shade. Caterham's BRG isn't a true BRG I don't think and that dark (metallic?) green on your customized car doesn't quite look right with the yellow stripe.

Or it might just be the light you're photographing under. But in sunlight Caterham's colour is definitely lighter:

It's Model Masters "British Green". It is a bit dark, but with the metallic still looks great.

 

[photonrider]

Just so this thread will not go away, .....XsnipX

I don't think there's any danger of that, Cano!

This thread kicks all sorts of butt!
Here is a Pantera I had as a child that I want to restore:


Just want to clean it up... strip old paint, straighten wheels, detail the interior.

I'll make sure to post any future progress.

Looking forward to see that Pantera bloom. Could you confirm this as a yatming?

Also, neither My Renault nor my dodge won a damn thing. The Dodge I knew, but I had somewhat high hopes for the Majorette. Sad Cano is sad.

Cheer up, man. We know you are truly a genius. Educate them with your art - and I mean that literally - I know you are a professional.

 

[Cano]

It's Model Masters "British Green". It is a bit dark, but with the metallic still looks great.

I reckon it would really pop in sunlight. pics?

Cheer up, man. We know you are truly a genius. Educate them with your art - and I mean that literally - I know you are a professional.

haha, I'm far from it, I don't even paint them myself. Still, I'll keep on doing this stuff, I love it.

 

[photonrider]

I reckon it would really pop in sunlight. pics?



haha, I'm far from it, I don't even paint them myself. Still, I'll keep on doing this stuff, I love it.

The art comes out of your head, Cano, an expression of love for what you are doing. Technical skill can be hired.

I do see your package art, a tangible expression of your skill, as unique and very good, though.