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

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! 

Hot Wheels 2011 Delorean Customization

The Delorean! This little guy was staring at me at a CVS late one night. CVS of all places. I swear you can get everything there, milk, candy, razors and time machines. It's a pretty good scale representation of the car from the films.  However, something as a kid that always annoyed me was staring me in the face. Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars do the bare minimum to create their cars. They spend a little extra time on the outside and the body of the car. The interior however sucks. That's all I can say. It sucks. So I decided to rectify that for this car and possibly might go back and fix all my old Hot Wheels that yes-I-do-still-own-from-childhood! Don't Judge. 

So here is the initial car still in packaging.

2011 New Models Delorean from Back to the Future.

This is, from what I can tell of the rear of the car, from BTTF 1. There is no Mr. Fusion molded onto the car.

Out of the packaging. You can see the very basic and generic gray interior.

Yes, yes, I opened up the package and took it out. Sacrilege!

Just a side shot

First step was to drill out the 2 metal posts that keep most of these cars together. Here are the 5 pieces.

Not having an actual drill, but still a drill bit, I drilled by had which took longer and earned me a nifty callous on my index finger. You should all be jealous.

Side shot of the pieces.

A close up of the exhaust and the interior

The bottom of the chassis I hi-lighted sections with silver paint. Pretty straight forward. The mufflers were also painted but oddly not in this pic. Oh well.

The Exhaust tips and the plutonium chamber were painted black.

The windows have been blacked out to reduce some of the "blue" that the windows are molded out of.

The body with some black hi-lighting done with simple dry brushing black paint.

The front and back of the interior painted black to act as a good base for the detail.

And...detail! A lot of silver and red hilights. Along with a few yellow sections here and there.  And dry brushing black on the seats. Just to pick up the shadows.

Assembling the chassis to the interior.

Adding the Windows

Next the body

And lastly the exhaust!

 FINAL PICTURES! Here is the little devil all finished and looking pretty spiffy for the camera.
If I could put in a slide show I would. But I'm not sure how to do that yet.

*Update 12/3/2012

Because you asked for it @SamanthaRMason I have come through for you. Here is a side by side comparison of the car starting out and finished.

Enjoy!