My Other "Car" Hobby

[burtonbraves]

Well, most of you know I love making cars for NR2003, but I also enjoy making custom diecasts! Of real cars and soon some fantasy. I have done a few but I think this is by far my best! Thanks for looking and if you have done some cars you can also feel free to post them here

I think I'm going to keep this one for myself. 1/24 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans Impala that ran at Phoenix.

 

[Carl Robinson]

Thats Awesome! Any Chance I could ever employ you to make a custom for me?

 

[David24]

You have no idea how much you'd get if you put that on eBay. LOL

The picture is kind of rough, but it looks good. I thought it was an actual Lionel release until I read your post.

 

[burtonbraves]

Thats Awesome! Any Chance I could ever employ you to make a custom for me?

It's possible. You could PM me if you want, though I'm not at all attempting to advertise here

 

[Orian Thompson]

That looks really good.
What is the process of custom diecast making? I'm pretty curious on how yours looks as good as it does.

 

[SimDesigners]

That looks really cool! Out of curiosity, what does your process look like for making these? I've always wanted to pick this up as a hobby for myself

 

[racerboy146]

same here. I'd love to try making custom diecasts.

 

[Mo Neenja31]

Damn! That's sick! Btw, it might be the camera but I can't tell if there's a taillight decal or not. But holy shit, I would buy that

 

[Tnamwen]

Great job, looks amazing, as if it just "rolled" off the lionel line!

 

[burtonbraves]

I realized I never checked back on this thread XD

Well my process is pretty simple:

1. Buy the donor car (ebay or any other site that sells cars)
2. Unscrew the car from the body, and pop out all the windows. They usually come out easily. Make sure you have a plastic bag or something so you don't lose the parts/screws.
3. Clean the car off with water and a towel, so the oils and greases come off. Then sand the entire body heavily, basically so there is no shine left on it.
4. You can either put a few coats of primer on it, or you paint it the color of the car you are making. 3 or 4 times, depending on how heavy you put it on. I suggest multiple light coats of paint. You can put the hood/trunk/flaps up if you'd like to.
5. Create the decals, you can use your painting program. It takes a lot of trial and error to get the sizing right, and you have to either size each decal properly and separately (headlights, logos, base, etc.) I suggest having the car sitting there when sizing, and printing out the decals on fast draft until you get the sizing nearly perfect.
6. There are many ways you can print the decals. What I do, is use Inkjet Waterslide Decal Paper (White backing for darker paints, Clear for White cars) and print the decals on maximum resolution onto the decal paper. Let it dry for about 45 minutes.
7. You can use either Testors Decal Bonder or Krylon Crystal Gloss Coat on the decals after they dry. If you are using Testors, one even coat should do the trick (never tried it but heard it's the way to go) and if you are using Krylon, then 5-6 light, even coats should work. Allow 20 minutes between each clear coating.
8. Once you let it dry (1-2 hours) you can start applying them to the car. Get a container of water, preferably room temperature, and cut a decal, and place it in the water for 30-45 seconds. Use tweezers to get it out of the water, then slide the decal from the backing of the paper onto the car where it is supposed to go. Do that for each decal until it is finished. Hopefully it looks pretty good.
9. After that dries for about an hour, you need to clear coat it to seal on the decals. 5-10 light coats onto the car should suffice, then you can let it dry for a few hours.
10. Once it is dry and finished, hopefully looking good and complete. Pop the windows back into place (might need some model glue) and screw the car back onto the chassis.
11. Hopefully you have a great looking custom car that you can call your own now.

I hope that helps you guys, and I hope it makes sense. Any questions I'll try to answer!

 

[Petty4345]

Car look's great bud. Thanks for explaining how you do it. I've been thinking about trying this out and doing all of Adam's cars and some other Petty cars. I know I'll drive myself crazy though trying to get everything right hence the reason I haven't tried it out yet!