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!

Hot Wheels 1:64 Ghsotbusters Ecto-1 Customization

And I'm back! And finished.  This little car took much longer than it usually does because there was just so much to do to it. So many great little pieces molded onto the car that needed some extra love and attention.

We'll start right off with the interior.

The 4 proton packs...which will never be seen through the windows were touched up a bit. Some basic coloring to give the hint of what they are.  They're just far too small to pain the ribbon cable on.

The roof rack. The most fun, but also challenging.  At first I had planned on cutting out the space between the rungs of the ladder. But then I found out that there is extra plastic behind the rungs that help keep this in place and lock in the windows. So I left that part black. But fully detailed the rest and weathered it some.

This is just a test fit together. The blue lights on top were painted...blue. And the silver piece in the middle.  No white walls yet. And at this point there is no decal on the back. But over all it looks to be shaping up really well.

And here is the finished product.  A back view so you can see the detail of the tailights, rear roof rack and back door.

And here you can see a bit of the wide 1950's style whitewalls peeking out of the front fender.  This little care was a bit more challenging but a lot of fun to spruce up.  I think it came out much better than I anticipated and I'm very proud of the work.

On to the next!

Hot Wheels 1:64 Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Customization

I know what's going to happen first off.  I'm going to get yelled at by all the collectors out there for cutting open the card and removing the Ecto-1.  Then they'll get over that and really become irate when they see that *spoiler* I'd taken the whole car apart!

Well, breathe. It will be ok. I understand the feeling of panic though. These cars are getting harder and harder to find.  They were made in 2009 and I think that's the last time HW made an Ecto. I'm probably wrong.  I think they are coming out with one this year, but I have yet to see it. Hopefully they'll make more because I want to customize more.  For now, this is my first attempt.  Here she is still on the card:

And here is the car, set free from it's confines! It's a pretty detailed car. Just very one color when it comes to the roof rack and interior. 

You'll see here that the ladder on the side is also molded with plastic between each rung. Upon further inspection I think it will be easier to paint the negative space white than to try to carve it out.  We shall see.

Notice the missing "No Ghost" logo on the back door. I'm going to have to find a way to fix that. I'm confident in my painting skills, but not on something this small.  Why would HW leave off the rear logo!

Here we go. The good stuff. After separating the chassis from the body some more interesting things about this car start to make themselves known. It's far more detailed than I anticipated.  Good for you HWs. However why would you go through all this trouble and just paint everything black?

The first thing that really jumps out at me is that the chassis is silver. completely silver. I supposed this is because the bumpers, which were big chrome monstrosities in the 50's, are a part of it. Easier to make it all silver/chrome I suppose than to try to paint it 2 different colors.  I'll definitely be repainting the chassis a flat black after taping out the chrome bumpers.

Looking closer at the inside of the care, you'd never guess what was there.  Four tiny Proton packs. All lined up on the rack ready to go. Seriously, so much detail wasted.  This project is going to take a little longer than the Delorean because of all the detail that's molded into these pieces.  But it's a good thing. There is SO much to play with in this little car.

That's where we I am for now.  This week if I can manage I'll try to start work on this. Probably with the chassis and body first.  Those will be the easiest.  Headed into the holidays it feels like free time vanishes.

...more to come!