Hot Wheels Custom - Bentley Continental GT

 Kind of already blew this one in the last post about the tools I use... 

So here are a couple more pictures of the finished product.

This one was almost painted in "reverse" order.

The car was stripped down and painted black... Then all the little sqaures were added to the black car.

With all of the black squares in place, the car was then painted white, followed by the yellow, orange and red to create the fade from front to back.

Small details like the head lights, tail lights and the number 17 were all handpainted.

And for a little something extra, I replaced the wheels and tires with some resin 3d printed parts that I had ordered from another builder I follow. They have super low profile tires... but really make it look ready to go tear up the track.

 

Lots more coming, just have to decide which one to cover next!

Some of my favorite modeling tools

 There are lots of different tools that can be put to use to help with building and detailing small cars.

Aside from the usual ones that most people start with like a good Exacto or hobby knife, masking tape (I prefer Tamiya brand tape) here are a couple that I like.

The first is a set of Carbide Micro Drill bits.  The 10 piece set that I bought ranges from 0.3mm to 1.2mm in size.

These are great for making small holes in plastic (they are tiny and I haven't tried them on diecast metal for fear of breaking them).  I use them for things like wires for spark plugs, opening exhaust pipes, and things like that.

Another one that I like is simply called "Ultra Fine Saw Blades".

They are about the size of a double razor blade, but instead of a single blade they have a micro size saw-tooth edge on both sides.

The picture shows the the blade in a handle for ease of cutting, but I sometimes use it without.

They are thin a flexible but do a great job of cutting. Again I have mostly used these on plastic for jobs like removing parts from the mold trees, cutting open doors and hoods, and they work really well for cleaning out, and deepening panel lines.

I use them for anything that I think is a little too shallow and looks not quite right. A slightly deeper panel line, and light wash of dark paint will go a long way to make things look more realistic.

Next is a handy item I picked up called a "Utility Tools Hobby Masking Tape Cutting Pads Two Sides Digital Camouflage".  I found it on Ebay, and knew it would come in handy.

It's a guide for cutting all sorts of shapes in masking tape.

There are two sides.

There is an etched "depression" on all of the shapes. So you put your masking tape down, and then run your sharp hobby knife along in the depressions and it cuts the shape.

Great for making straight lines for pinstripes!

Or hexagons, squares, stars... even some numbers and shapes.

 This has some shapes cut in the masking tape.

 This came in HUGE when creating the paint job for this one.

 I didn't even try to count the number of tiny squares of masking tape that went down before the fade paint was applied.

Got lots more tool, tricks, and tips I'm planning to share.. so stay tuned!

Custom Hotwheels - Disassembly

 I am sure there are lots of threads out there in the internet on how to do this... and I don't know that I do anything especially different from anyone else. This is just the method that works best for me.

So with this random 80s movie reference... Let's begin to disassemble...

Extra points to you if you get the reference.

For this segment I am going to be taking apart an LB Super Silhouette Nissan Silvia (S15). Though the process is pretty similar to most Hotwheels

Every Hotwheel that I can remember of have dealt with are held together as a "sandwich of parts.

There is the base (with the wheels) the interior piece, the clear (or colored) plastic that makes up the windscreens, and the body.  The body has long "post" molded in that go down through all the layers, and is flared at the bottom to create a "rivet" end that holds everything together.

Here you can see one at the front of the car, and one in the back. The back one still has the yellow paint from the body.

And here is a little closer picture of the one in the front.

The "head" of the rivet is "squished" out to create a flare that is bigger than the hole it came through in the base and holds everything together.

This is the key of how we are going to get everything apart!

For the first step you really only need two of the three tools shown here.

A drill... and a 5/16" drill bit. Again, this size works best for me, but you want something that is large enough to take the top of the river off, but not chew up the base.

I have done more than a few of these, but be prepared to practice a few.

One of the more common problems I have encountered comes with the plastic base cars. As you are drilling the top off the rivet... sometimes the bit will "grab" the base and gouge a big hole in it. This will get the base loose, but does look a bit messy. Luckily this one cooperated, and both rivet heads came off cleanly.

And a little better picture of what I am left with.

From here, usually with just a little encouragement you get a nice pile of pieces.

From here, you can go on to stripping and repainting, swapping wheels, and anything else you want to do to the parts.... but I have a couple of other steps that I do to prepare it for re-assembly when all that hard work is done.

After drilling the posts will look like this, and will work great for re-assembly using superglue to hold the base to the body (with the interior and windscreen pieces in the sandwich) but I like to go a little further.

So I get out my Dremel with a round metal bit, and shave the posts down a little bit and round them out.

This certainly isn't the route you want to go if you are super-gluing everything back together at the end as the posts may be too short now... but I have another plan!

In the second picture, you can see the shortened, and rounded posts.

The next step is probably one of the two trickier steps....

We are going to drill a 1/16" hole in the middle of the post... Not all the way through, but down about 1/4".... Be careful with this step.... the 1/16" bits are very small and break quite easily. I think I bought a cheap pack of them at Harbor Freight... heck I even broke one while trying to take the pictures for this.

The next tool you need is a 2-56 tap set. (I think I got mine off of Amazon).

For those not familiar, a tap is a special cutting tool that cuts threads on the inside of the hole that you just drilled.

Here you can see the tap doing it's thing. There are small shavings coming out that are the threads being created... 

Three little tips for this step...

1. Same as the drill bit, the tap is pretty fragile... go slowly... It can be difficult to get it started.

2.I also like to use a small drop of a lightweight oil in the hole...(I use gun oil).. this helps lubricate the cutter, and also helps to keep the tap from clogging up too quick.

3. GO SLOWLY.. I know I said this above... but be gentle.. too much pressure will snap the tap off in the hole... and be sure to back the tap out a LOT and clean it off. This helps the threads to cut cleanly, and helps you get the tap back out of the bod.

Now that we have the posts for the body drilled, and tapped... it's time for these little guys.

Specifically these are #2-56 Button Head Socket Cap, Stainless Steel, Full thread screws. (3/16" length).

All that means is they are little machine screws with the same thread  as what we just tapped in the body. they screw in with a teenie-tiny allen head wrench...

And when done....

They look almost like the original thing.

Couple of pointers here. 

Using these screws you have to use the dremel to shorten the posts, so that the screws will seat against the chassis and pull everything tight. On some castings, if you don't it won't pull everything together nice and tight.

The same issue can happen if you don't drill the hole deep enough, and the screw bottoms out before everything gets pulled tight. This you can sometimes fix by drilling the hole deeper and adding more threads with the tap.

So that's my method for disassembly....It takes a little longer then the super glue method... but I am definitely fond of the final look when done.

Up next - STRIPPERS!!!

Hot Wheels Custom 2016 Camaro - Drag Car

 I have mentioned in the past that there is a local group of collectors and enthusiasts of HotWheels who get together on a semi-regular basis. And on some of those occasions we attempt a "custom car buildoff".

One of those meetings a while ago, the selected theme was Camaros... or was it Drag Racing... I forget... it's been a while.

But I still have my entry... It was a "Grumpy's Toy, 2016 Camaro".

I painted it white, molded a huge cowl for the hood, and printed up some custom decals for the doors and contingency sponsors.

I also built a low-profile rear wing out of some flat pieces of styrene sheet that I had laying around.

It must have been a drag car to start with, now that I am looking at it again. The chassis has molded in wheelie bars... but I did a little cutting to fit the massive rear tires in there!

I used some spare wheels and tires laying around for the big drag tires out back, and the skinny little tires up front.

In the end, it came out pretty clean, and definitely looks mean and ready to race!

Zakspeed Mustang

 Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about this car or series, but I was very excited by the overall shape and look of the car.

It is definitely an 80's car, and ran in the IMSA using a 1.7Liter 4-Cylinder turbo engine, and later a 2.1Liter 4-Cylinder turbo engine.

The cars were super-lightweight machines with wild aerodynamics and ground effect bodies.

Underneath all that we started with a tube chassis, and safety cage.

Here it is a little farther along.

You can see the 4 cylinder engine, and stripped interior... it hardly looks like a Mustang.

But when you add on the body, wheels, tires, and aero parts... it really does resemble a really WIDE Mustang Fox body from the 80's.

There is no mistaking that this one is built to go racing. Even with the 4 Cylinder engine in the car...

The later 2.1L Cosworth engine is said to have produced around 600 horsepower. That's about twice the power of your average commuter even now!

Hot Wheels Custom LB-Works Lamborghini Huracan Coupe

 Another super exotic that I wanted to do a simple custom of was the Hotwheels LB-Works Lamborghini Huracan Coupe.

A top of the line performer for Lamborghini, with an aggressive after market body kit from LB-works.

Wide fender flares are a halmark of LB-Works, and all their styling kits.

It started in basic white... but I felt a different color would suit the shape just as well.

So I disassembled the pieces as they came and stripped the car down to bare metal.

I quick base of black primer, followed up with a coat or two of some color-shift pigments I found a hobby store, and you get a red-blue color shifting Lamborghini.

The color-shift is obviously hard to photograph.. but I did my best.

I also got the first clear coat down (a light coat with the pigments so they don't "wash away" in the cear), and I was left with almost a semi-matte finish. 

I kind of liked it... so I stayed with it.

A little time with some small brushes for the little details like headlights, tail-lights, and I think this one is about done.

The selection of premium cars has been lacking lately, and I didn't have any "real rider" rubber tires and wheels to add to this one... but I think these wheels fit the shape and performance look nicely.

A last trick that I picked up from my larger modeling tips... a white Gel Pen that I bought at a local art store. It looks just like a fine tipped ballpoint pen, but has white gel ink in it.  Works great for picking out tiny details like the rivets on the fender flares.. and even tried a little lettering on the hood and rear spoiler.

Hot Wheels Customs - Dubai Police Cars

Dubai has long been known for it's fleet of super-cars.

Quite a while back, I had visited the idea a Ferrari 599x, and got so far in to it, I even made a custom card for it. (see my older posts).

Well, one day I decided to revisit the idea, and added two new cars to the fleet of high performance pursuit vehicles.

The first being a Lamborgini LM02... the original hyper SUV.  Not many were made, but with it's V-12 Lamborghini engine, it was comfortable at 120+mph across the desert sands.

And the second new edition to the fleet is a new Ford GT.

Another amazing vehicle capable of 150+ mph speeds.

Both cars are painted basic while, and have my custom printed (by me) decals.

Some of the smaller details like headlights, light bar, and vent openings are all painted by hand.