Hot Wheels Porsche 356A - Custom Convertible

Several weeks ago I posted the custom Ferrari 599 that I did as a police car for the monthly "get-together"...
Well, this time the theme was Porsche... and beyond that it was pretty open.

Well, I had this sweet little Porsche 356A that just came out, and couldn't help myself. I just had to tear in to it!

Here it is already separated from it's base and most of the black paint has been stripped off.
A few molding lines that needed to be cleaned up, but other than that, a solid starting point!

Out come the POWER TOOLS... A Dremel with a small cut-off wheel made short work of removing the roof and making the spider version. Some clean up and shaping with small files and we were just about done with the major surgery.

A quick mock-up to make sure everything still fit back together.  The clear plastic "glass" was cut down so that only the windscreen remains. It took some special care, and a lot of metal filing to leave the windshield frame. Luckily... the clear part was molded in such a way that it would stay in place when it was all sandwiched back together.

And with a lack of progress pictures, here is the final product.
The wheels were swapped for a set from Matchbox that I felt looked more correct for the basic roadster look I was going for.
Simple medium grey paint with details picked out like the headlights, leather hood tiedowns...

The interior I left red plastic, but added a little dark wash to bring out some of the details, and make it look a little more used, and less factory fresh.

And the final piece is the "boot" covering the retracted top.
This was molded from a piece of polymer modeling clay.... It stays soft and pliable until you bake it in the oven... (don't throw the whole car in there, just the clay part).
I could have spent more time getting it symmetrical, and smoothed it out some, but time was running short and I wanted it done for the meeting.

So there it is, my latest custom creation.
Not sure if there is a theme for this month's or not... I may not have one ready in time for this month.

But starting on a new 1/24 kit from Tamiya... very excited, but all of the decal work will be a project in itself.

Thank for stopping by!

Revell Corvette ZR1

My latest project was the Revell Corvette ZR1 in 1/25 Scale.

This represents the newer C6 body style.

Featuring a clear panel in the hood so you can see the supercharged engine lurking underneath.

 



The contents of the box are well done, and there was no flash anywhere to be removed, as you would expect from a newer tooling. Parting lines were minimal and required little clean-up.

One that I did miss was this little beauty on the underside of the chassis pan. Yes, I know it was a Revell kit molded in China.

A little work with some sandpaper, and quick re-spray, and it's gone!

Or at least well enough for this one.

I wasn't planning a completely detailed kit. Just wanted it to fill a spot on a shelf next to all it's other brothers from Chevrolet.

A few steps later, and the engine is mostly in, along with the driveline and interior.

Again I left off the seat decals, and a few other small parts, as they will hardly be visible through the small windows.

Still missing here is the radiator and supercharger shroud. But it's starting to look mean!

For the body I chose a darker metallic red that I like. While not entirely a correct "factory" color for the ZR1, I think it shows well here.

A quick test fit of the body on the chassis just to make sure everything lines up, and sits where I want it to.

So several steps later, and lots of little bits and pieces added, it's complete.

Still a little dusty as I took the pictures in a hurry.

It's middle of winter here, and got a quick afternoon with some sunlight coming in, so I grabbed a few quick pictures while I had the chance.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this kit, and felt that it went together pretty well, with only 1 real problem.

The supercharger sits where it should in the hood opening (I had heard it may sit too low). I am more than pleased with the final results of my "not too serious build."

 

The one problem that I did encounter was the windshield.

I am not sure if I was fitting it wrong, or if it came warped in the box...

But as you can see, it didn't fit the frame quite right. The driver's side, and top of the windshield fit just fine. I tried several different ways, and could never get all 4 corners to fit where I needed at the same time.

So I tried something I knew I shouldn't.... I tried to flex it back.

Regular styrene has some "give" and can be bent.

NOT CLEAR PLASTIC.

I even tried heating it some to make it more pliable....

Nope...

 

So now it fits flush, but it is in two pieces.

I may be looking for a windshield in future, but for now.... It will be good enough.

 

Not sure what is next....

But I do have a Hotwheels Porsche 356 Custom, for the local trade/swap day this weekend yet to unveil...

 

 

Quick tip - clear plastic pieces

Just about finished up with my next project, and thought I would share this quick tip...
I think it is pretty well known, but I still see lots of pictures of models that haven't done this....

The little clear plastic pieces that go over headlights on modern cars, often look "plastic-ey" and fake to my eye. Part of this reason is the scale thickness. For the strength required to be de-molded in the manufacturing process, as well as handling during assembly, they need to be very thick for the relative scale. While I don't have a micrometer to measure, they look to my eye to be a couple of inches thick in scale.

Which is fine if you are modeling a presidential limo, or other "bulletproof" car, it doesn't look right to me.

So what I like to do is trace the inside very edge of the plastic with a black Sharpie marker. This helps to hide the refraction at the edge of the piece, and make it appear thinner.

As seen here, you don't get a "glowing" edge where it shows off the thickness.

It also has the added feature of appearing as the gasket around the headlight lens cover on most modern cars.

Seen here on the front of my almost finished Corvette ZR-1.

(oh man, I should have dusted that off before the picture).
But hopefully you can see the difference.

Oh, and remember how I mentioned the thickness of the clear plastic? Well, that clear plastic is also much more brittle than the regular styrene that the rest of the kit is molded in, so be careful.

You can also use the Sharpie on the inside of the windshield to create the black surround. In this kit Revell provided a nice line molded all the way around to guide where I needed to color. Other manufacturers go as far as providing actual pre-cut masks to help you with the painting of this surround.

Up next, the finished ZR-1, with a slightly damaged windshield!

Hotwheels Ferrari 599xx Custom Police car

So I again haven't posted in a long while, (I feel I should just start every post that way) but had a project or two that I have recently completed that I wanted to share.

The first is this one here... A custom Ferrari 599xx Police Car.

This started as a project for the local Meet and Trade day that happens once a month.
A whole group of us get together and buy, sell, and trade what we have found in the past month, or looking to get rid of....
But separate from that, is an on-going, themed custom contest.

Themes in the past have been pick-up trucks, Rat-Rods, but two months ago, the chosen theme for the meet in December was Ferrari.
As a long time Ferrari fan I was excited, but also a little worried. As Ferrari and Mattel had ended their relationship, there would be no more Ferrari's available on the shelf, so I had to dig a little to find some to open.

The Ferrari 599XX seemed like a great candidate... Now I just needed find a way to make it stand out.

And again, a little searching, and I came up with the idea for a Police vehicle... but not just any Police vehicle... this one would be a fantasy car from the Dubai Police Force.

I was also doing some experimenting with custom decals... so I got to work.
The film I have is a white background, rather than clear, so that meant the car had to be white, which was no problem in this case.
I "stole" the light bar off of a Matchbox BMW police car, and was pretty much done.

A good bit of fiddling with the artwork, proper sizing, and I thought I was good.

The decals are printed on a color ink-jet printer, which leaves a little to be desired for color fidelity, but for a first experiment, I thought it came out great.

There were lots of other little symbols and logos which were also added. I made up placement and some of the smaller design based on Google searches for similar cars in the Dubai fleet.

Now that I had the car done, and still had two weeks left until the meet, I decided to go extra crazy, and create a whole custom card.

Based on a regular Hotwheels card, with a few changes and additions to reflect my sense of humor, and make it a little more custom.
Things like the QR code in place of the SKU code will actually take you to this blog!
A little bit on the back of the card...

All printed at the local office supply store, for a high quality finish.
They are adhered using simple spray adhesive, to a cutout section of a cereal box.
Then carefully cut to shape with an exacto knife.
Not perfect, but again, great for a first attempt in my opinion. I learn as I go, and will hopefully have the next one turn out better.

Up for January's meet is a Porsche.... So look for that one to come soon!
Thanks again for stopping by my little slice of the internet!