Custom Hot Wheels- Lickety Split #3

Gonna need a great big fat V8 for a drag car, right?  Well, how about a thumbnail sized aluminum block V8?  Will that work?

Block and trans cut / filed from one solid piece.







More engine work. Start of the heads and valve covers.  Exhaust ports were drilled at a bit of an angle so the pipes will sweep to the back.



Some file work done so it looks like there are valve covers.



Start of the blower and intake manifold. Blower was made on the lathe and then cut flat on the bottom.  Manifold was hand filed.



Exhaust pipes.  Made out of 1/8" aluminum tubing.



Still need to trim them down but something along these lines.



Little bit of paint (FORD blue, of course!),





Me likey.





Starting to look like it might show some potential on the strip!

Custom Hot Wheels- Lickety Split #2.

Here's where things get really interesting.











Steerable wheels on a 1:64 custom? Sure. Why not!?



On to the back end. Cut some chunks out of some aluminum scrap.



Drill a bunch of holes, file them down, and end up with these.







Frame is starting to come together.  Tricky part is going to be figuring out how to attach the two front wheels together so they actually steer, but I've got a plan for that!

Santa's Heavy Hauler #4

Here's where the REAL fun begins. Hydraulic rams? Sure, why not.












For the next step I had to break out the wife's sewing machine.



Gotta have a sack for all those toys!



That pretty much finishes this build up.

















And just for fun, here's a short vid of the dump bed in action!



All in all, this was a very fun build. Didn't get to participate fully in the voting- apparently I had too many votes from people that are not in the Hot Wheels community. Meaning people thought I was pulling for votes. I guess I can understand their concern but for me this was really upsetting- I'd like to think I'm not that kind of person. As the French say, C'est la vie. It was lots of fun and I got to try out some new ideas. Live and learn!

Santa's Heavy Hauler #3

Time for some body work!

Test fitted everything.



Slapped some green paint on there,



and just double checked to make sure everything still fit...





Tried something new here. I've always been intrigued with gilding, and I found a pack at Hobby Lobby so I figured why not give it a go?





I'm not very good at it...

Time for more details. Needs a pinstripe!



Some engine detailing,



and I think we are getting somewhere.

Santa's Heavy Hauler #2

New bed attempts, 1, 2 and 3.



Fenders, attempts 1 through 4.




I wanted to build a complete suspension for this but ran out of time. I did try something new though and made axles and a custom driveline.









Frame attempt number 1.



Attempts 2, 3, and 4...



How #4 started out:





With the driveline.