Custom Hot Wheels- Lickety Split #7

Getting down to the wire, and I needed pics. Had a backup plan and its a good thing too because I wasn't able to get any natural lighting for my pics. Saw this on instructables and copied it- my own light booth. Hacked up a couple old poster my wife made for something or other and made this:



Add a roll of LED's from ebay,



And there you go!



Few minor details to finish up and then its picture time!

Few more details to the interior.



Couple of attempts at making the fin, and that lump will become the scoop for the supercharger.





Wheely bar.





Almost done!





Just have to take the final pics and make some sort of collage.  Well, I may have to add just a FEW more details, but this is basically done!

Custom Hot Wheels - Lickety Split #6

Back to the drag races.  Couple of fin attempts. Took several tries, made out of a thick aluminum foil.



Interior with the shell.



So I really didn't like how the paint turned out but I didn't have time to strip and repaint. Wet sanded a bit and got this:



Still not great but okay. Next I applied several coats of turtle wax with a q-tip, really scrubbing in and then polishing the extra stuff off with a shop towel.



Came out nice, but you can see the orange peel still...

Added some chrome stripes made out of aluminum tape, then clear coated the entire thing.





Those pics were before the clear coat.  Getting closer!

Custom Hot Wheels- Rusty Rig.

I have been going through withdrawals- been a month since I've played with any Hot Wheels. Went digging through the scrap pile and pulled this guy out.



Figured I could spend an hour goofing off so here's what came out of it. First things first- gotta take it apart!



Next step- scuff up the "paint" to make it look oxidized. This is one cool looking casting, but unfortunately its PLASTIC. Makes it really hard to work with although this IS the same one I built Santa's Heavy Hauler out of.




Here's where the fun begins. Trying some rust patina, shake and bake style. The marinade is leftover from my 3rd? build- the Army bRat. I found a recipe to speed rust steel using Hydrogen Peroxide, Vinegar, and Salt. I mixed some with a bunch of metal filings in this bag and it sat so long it dried out into a really fine rust powder.

Here's a link to the instructable with the directions on how to rust stuff: http://www.instructables.com/id/Prod...nd-Steel-Safe/





Meh. Looks more dusty than rusty. Lets take 2. Start by crazy gluing a bunch of steel shavings in spots that look like the may be prone to rust anyways.





Apply the rust sauce,





And wait. Re-apply the marinade every 10 minutes or so...

I tried the shake and bake again with it wet still... Little bit overboard.



Eventually, with the aid of a blow dryer it starts to look like this.





Slap it all together and viola!







Fun quick build.  I ended up rubbing a bit more of the lighter stuff off and think it looks better still.  

Custom Hot Wheels - Lickety Split #5

I might have gone a little overboard on engine details.  See this? (note the toothpick for size reference) That's the distributor. The shaft is 1/8" aluminum tubing stuck in another piece of bronze tubing with slots filed into for looks.



Engine coming together.  I think the final count was 23 pieces in just the engine.





The belt was made from a small strip cut from vinyl sticker material.  Was hoping to have the belt actually spin but ran out of time.

I'm good at making messes... While I was building this car I also built myself a mobile workshop to replace all the loose bits and boxes I was carrying back and forth.  You can see a few details about it HERE.  I have some more info on how I stocked it, will need to write a post about that too!



Paint on the wheels.



Paint OFF of the body...  I love stripping them down to the bare metal like this.



Working on the interior.  Seat was made by crushing a piece of aluminum tubing, then bending and filing it into the shape I wanted.


Transmission tunnel, even though the trans is behind the engine...  Had to have something to hold the shifter!  The long strip is the gas and brake pedals, still needed to be trimmed down.



More details. Fin mounts:



Getting there!

Custom Hot Wheels- Lickety Split #4

Back to work. Once I figured out the front end with working steering, my 11 yr old son said I should make it with an actual steering wheel that worked. I kinda scoffed at him and said it would be really hard to do after he explained his idea, but it got me thinking- and I simplified it a lot and came up with this!

The start- steering column with shaft.



Short vid of it sort of working.



Steering wheel cut on the lathe, and the center hub for it made out of a teensy piece of pipe.



The first iteration.



Assembled column.



There was one major flaw with this setup. Anyone spot it?



Guess I should have thought a little more about it before I tried that out... Easy fix. Sorta.

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!