#custom hotwheels

[lordhumeniak]

In my spare time i create custom hotwheels lol. pretty lame but it's one of the few hobbies i still keep up with after the last couple years of shit in my life lmao. this is an old one i created using a pretty rare old bugatti casting from mattel, i had as a kid.

[jayne-hecate-writer]

I arted...

I have had a toy car sat on my desk for months, an annoying bright orange “lowered” pick up truck and it was crying out for something terrible to happen to it, because it was so horribly ugly.

When I finally worked out what I wanted to do, I had to start planning some serious science, because my plans were rather drastic. First up, I drilled out the rivets that hold the car together and removed the base and insides. With just the shell left, I attacked it with a Dremel, trying to create damage that would look like dents and rust. However, toy cars are made from an alloy of Zinc and Aluminium called Zamac, which tends to be shiny and difficult to attach paint to properly. To counter this and to take off the sharp edges of the Dremel marks, I then dumped it into a salt water bath and began the slow fun process of electrical etching. 

The process took about ninety minutes and left the shiny Zamac a very dark grey, the pitting and cutting on the metal had softened nicely and when wiped down, it looked exactly like I wanted it to. For paint I went with the usual browns, dark reds, oranges and yellows as a base, so that it would look rusty, battered and rotten. My final trick was to add real rust. Obviously Zamac does not corrode in the same way as steel, so I found a rusty steel pipe and sanded it down, saving the rust dust. Using PVA as a base, I painted the car with the rust and waited for it to bloom, which took only a couple of hours. 

With the shell done, I turned my attention to the plastic box that makes the windscreen and using a scalpel, I etched a cracked window and cut away one of the side windows. I used a black wash to add dirt to the windows and outline the cracks. Next was the base, where I painted the wheels to look dirty and muddy and painted rust on to the bumper and front grill. Using the scalpel again, I cut out the four tiny headlights and filed them to shape, but this was for a plan later on in the build.

The flat bed of the truck was empty and to my mind it needed some cargo, something suitable for a person surviving the end of society as we know it. To this end, I carved a small piece of wood to look like an oil barrel and made a small box out of card and covered it with a sheet of tissue to look like a tarp draped across the stuff.

I wanted the scene to tell a story, a story of decay and failure of society, a sort of gentle Mad Max scene, if you will. I made the shell of the hut from cardboard, recycled from an Amazon delivery and then cut planks which I glued on to the walls. The roof was made in a similar way, but with a star shaped hole cut in one side. Covering the roof with more planking made the hole look more real and three dimensional, especially by fraying the cut ends of the broken planks with a scalpel. Plastic shards from some packaging made a great broken window and door glass. Paint was easy, starting with dark wooden tones and slowly fading it out to the bleached grey-brown of old sun scorched wood.

The base plate was an off cut of scrap plywood and I carved out the wheel ruts and drilled the holes for the wiring for the fun part of the model. With it all painted up, it was time for assembly and wiring. The little truck was the hardest part because I needed to fit the LED under the bonnet and illuminate the head lights and then fit it to the base plate. The hut was illuminated with another flickering LED and gave a place to hide the battery and power switch. I used twigs from the garden to make trees and salvaged hair from my hair brush to cut into tufts of dying or dead grass around one of the dead trees. Finally, I switched it on and sat back to inspect my work.

It’s fine, I squeezed out a little art...

[diecastxaddict-blog]

This is a custom Datsun 510 coupe i made a few months back. I decided to keep the original paint color and get rid of the tampos. Then I painted in the details and swapped on a set of 5 spoke real riders from the boulevard fiero.

[diecastxaddict-blog]

Bone Shaker: Custom Hot Rod

Hello there, today's post will be detailing the build of my custom Bone Shaker Hotwheel. The Bone Shaker casting has been around for years, and for many, has become a must have for their collection. I decided to start with a 2013 version since they are still plentiful on the pegs. 

The idea I had for this build in my head was a traditional style, chopped, channeled, model a style rod.  After dis-assembly I needed to figure out if I wanted to go the clean show car route, or go the rat rod rod direction.

I ended up decided to keep it clean and went with a two tone paint job. For the base coat I used testors "Aluminium" paint, and used testors 1150 Flat Red for the top coat.

One thing about the Bone Shaker is that there isnt a ton of detail work to  be done. This is why I did a more intricate two tone job, rather than one solid color. Next i had to choose some wheels for this project. I ended up using the staggered set of "moon eyes" style wheels that come on the Boulevard series Pacer by Hotwheels.  

Unfortunately the wheels did not come in this colorway and I had to use the same colors from the body to give it the proper look. Now, the other issue I was facing was ride height. This thing looked like it was ready to go off-roading that high off the ground. Needless to say, that wasn't going to work for me. 

After a whole lot of grinding and cutting I was able to really lay some frame. This build was, in my opinion, finally finished. It had the look, stance and detail I desired from the beginning. Now this Bone Shaker really looks like the hot rod it always should have been.

Thanks for reading and remember, if you would like a custom build done for you, click the "inquire about a custom" button on my blog. 

-Ben

[diecastxaddict-blog]

Hello Everyone: My First Post

This blog is all about die-cast cars. From collecting to modifying, I have completely fallen in love with these amazing little cars. Hot wheels, matchbox, m2, greenlight, it doesn't matter to me. I will be posting My collection as well as my custom work.  If you enjoy diecast collecting as well then this blog will not disappoint.

For my first post I would like to share my custom Datsun 240z hot wheel. 

Personally I'm a Nissan fanatic and being a 240sx owner, the 240z is definitely a casting I was excited for. 

Once I finally found one I couldn't wait to get it out of the package and start modding one.

Once I got it out of that blister pack is was straight to paint for its base coat of silver. After paint and testing the new wheel fitment it was time to get the proper stance. Here is the before pic on the ride height. 

After some dremel work on both the car itself and the chassis/interior, I was able to get the stance and fitment I desired. 

After that it was just details and reassembly and this beauty was complete. 

I went with Testers brand Purple-icious spray paint for the main coat, and Rustoleum metallic finish for the stripe. I choose these colors to pay homage to the Mad Manga casting by hot wheels.

All of the detail paint is testors brand as well.

For wheels I went with a set of real riders five spokes, non staggered, that i got from a Pontiac fiero boulevard. These are definitely my favorite wheels hot wheels makes right now, and I need to find some more donors soon. 

Over all this wasn't a very labor intensive build and took about 6 hours of work to finish. However this was my first time using testors model masking tape, and it really saved me a lot of time on the paint job.

I hope you enjoyed my first post and I encourage you to follow along as I  post more and more of my custom pieces. I would also Like to state that I can be commissioned to do a custom job for you if you were interested. I can ship within the United States as of right now and out of country shipping can be arranged for an extra fee. Click the "inquire about a custom" button on this blog to contact me directly with any questions. 

Thanks for reading!

-Ben