My first body mods
I'm entering a contest over at Hobbytalk.com for custom diecast cars. The car they selected is the Gran Torino 2011 issue.
So I thought this would be a good opportunity for me to test my custom building skills.
Picked up a few red torinos (green ones are much cooler looking) at Target to chop up.
First thought after looking at it was to build a wagon. Then I thought about a funny car and went with that.
Cut two bodies up to lengthen the front end and selected a 2011 Mustang funny car for a chassis.
Here is the progress shot from Saturday.
Then Sunday when I added the tail spoiler off a parted out Indy type car I stole the wheels off of.
I cut the bodies with a cut off wheel on my dremel. Then shaped the parts and put them together with 5 min. epoxy because it's all I had. Worked pretty well, had to add some more after I sanded it smooth. Put the tail on with super glue.
Now it's been painted, Testor's metallic fire red.
Now I've built custom axles with .032" brass rod. Wheels are off a Danicar I bought just for such the occasion.
Now to put the bumpers back on, glass in and possibly add a custom roll cage from a Camaro drag car.
What ya think?
oh yeah, snap shot of my little helper...my son Patton. On my custom washer/dryer work station
Discussion
I use a spray on stripper that works really well. But I started that car Friday night and I didn't feel like going outside to strip the paint so I just cut the bodies apart and sanded some.
Got the glass and bumper in last night, have to trim the chassis for the front to fit right.
Might try and make some decals for it I think.
Next I want to section another Torino down the center and make an open wheel hot rod out of it...we'll see how that goes!
There are some really talented customizers out there and it's kind of fun on a small scale and inexpensive.
Can you take some shots of the brass tubing your using for wheels? I'm not sure it's quite clicked in my head how you're executing that. The wheels/axles is where my customs usually breakdown.
guys there is a much better way, i'll put some pics together this weekend. no need to play with squished ends...
@Jason - If you have some good tips or photos to share (that's not just a link out) post here or let me know and I'll make it a blog post too so it's a little more permanent and featured. Looking forward to seeing how it's done.
Well I've been searching for days and cant find any pics...
You cut the original axle in the center. Mount a 1/16" (i think) ID brass tube on the chassis in the original axle groove (you'll have to widen the groove a little). The OD of the axle is the same size as the ID of the brass tube, so just dab a LITTLE jb quick weld on the end of the axle and slide it in the tube. Just dont be messy and you'll be good to go.
Here's a few pics of a custom I used the tubing on. It's a little tough to see, but the front and rear axles, trailer axle and the trailer hitch all use the same method.
The VW in the last pic uses a similar desifn
http://texasdiecastracing.com/gallery/index.php/Custom-parts?page=1
Woah, that's sweet! I wish I had the ideas to make new customs. For some reason my creativity stops at paint jobs.
Do you sandblast your cars? Try the airplane remover...drop it in that goop for 15 minutes and it comes up bare metal.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/themorning ... 142032646/