Long Over Due Update!

It's been far too long since I updated this little blog. So here goes.

What have I been up to?

Building! I've since built and sold 2 more packs.  As each one is made the process goes quicker and the final product gets better and better. I finally broke down and decided to make a mold of my pack in order to make them a little faster and as a bit of quality control. Not to mention stronger material. So I've molded them and then cast the pieces in resin. Here are some of the molds for you to look at. In case you're curious...

Here is the mold for the cyclotron with a roughly assembled pack next to it.

And here is part two of the cyclotron with the mold and the final piece.

Pre painted cast resin pieces

And here is the majority of the pack fitted together. Just making sure everything lines up right.

It's been such a time saver to cast these. What would normally take several days of wood carving to get the piece perfect now takes me an hour. Of course there is still priming and painting.  I am casting with black dye now to make the process even faster. But the pieces still need to be adjusted. Casting them in color reduces the amount of primer and paint build up which helps keep the pieces fitting together better.

I've also just completed work on a pack that is not claimed by anyone. My new goal is to make one every few weeks so this way buyers aren't waiting too long for them. And as practice for my skills.  Win win.

Here is the most recent addition to the family.

The stand is not painted yet. It's such a simple thing to do I figured I can leave that for the very last.

In addition to the proton packs, I've had this idea rattling around in my head for a while. I'm sure I've seen it somewhere. Where? I don't know. But I'm sure I have.  Throwing Bat pushpins! I've always been a huge Batman fan and who wouldn't want any one of his toys.  I figured one of the throwing bats from Batman Begins would be easiest to make. I grabbed the logo and printed out a very basic version of it. Then I simply transferred that to a thin sheet of plastic and, well, that's about it.  There is no "pin" in this yet as it's my first attempt. It's not perfect. But it's not horrible either. I think were I to cast them they'd be a bit easier to make and add pins to.  

For now I'll leave you with a 1 1/2 inch throwing Bat.

Primed

Painted

And then weathered a bit with some silver.

And that is all for now!

1966 Batmobile By Hot Wheels Customization

In my never ending quest to make Hot Wheels better...I've also decided to tackle the Batmobile from the 1966 series. Hot Wheels has released this a few times over the years. In 2007 (on the right) they produced one with blue tinted glass. And in 2013 (left) clear glass. So I worked on both of them.

 The interior of the two cars after being pulled apart is identical. They were both grey with a fair amount of detail. With the Batmobile though, everything was black and red. So it was just a matter of hilighting what I could.

The canopies we detailed some. The chrome that should go around the glass was added. And the red light on top inside it's chrome casing was details. I'm very pleased with how these came out.

Here are the interiors being worked on, adding red hilights as I said. Sitting next to them is the interior of a Delorean.

The finished product came out REALLY well. To say I'm happy is an understatement. All the red accents that were missing from the body are now on and help the car really look more accurate.

For whatever reason there was no red on the front or back, just the fins. I fixed that. And now it looks like one mean little car ready to fight some crime.

And here are some before and after comparison shots for you. Just to give you an idea of how much better it looks.  Hopefully the pictures do it justice. I might need to take more pictures of my next "before."

2013

 2007