Featuring 1:64 scale diecast vehicles of all makes and models.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Customs I've Made

To me, there's a certain satisfaction to be gained when you can customize one of your favorite diecast pieces and paint it in a color of your own choosing. That way, it makes it special, and in a sense, a limited piece. Depending on the amount of detail you want to add, you can make them look quite eye-catching! Now, my skills at customizing are not even close to the level I've seen being turned out by some people out there, but I still find it something I enjoy doing. Above is a Summer Toyota Celica LB Turbo GR.5. I had a beat up old one that I acquired long ago and attempted to make it look nice again. Below, you can see my less than stellar attempt. But it was one of the first ones I ever repainted:

Recently, I dug it out and redid it again. Below you can see a transitional state it took before I applied the final coat of paint to it. There was a point that I almost left it with the chrome look because it looked kind of nice:

But, I went on and finished it later and it turned out like this:

Some of the other castings I have customized is one of my favorite Hot Wheels vehicle called a Letter Getter. It is basically a big panel truck with lots of room for the sponsor's logo on the sides. This makes it a nice choice to customize as you can put whatever writing on it that you want. I chose "Kodak" for this one because I like to take pictures and use a lot of Kodak film:

I chose "FedEx" for the side of this one simply because you see them everywhere:

Here's an old piece I had that was all but ready for the trash. I decided to bring it back to life and fixed it up. Here is the shiny, new truck it became:

One of my other early attempts at repaining a toy car was this Hot Wheels Gun Slinger. Originally, it was Army green and had a gun. Well, I had long since lost the gun, so I repainted it black. But, I did keep the Army theme by applying a star decal to the hood:

Another bodystyle I like is station wagons. My parents had one when I was little and ever since then, I've loved them. I've had three real ones of my own since becoming an adult! So, anytime one is released in 1:64 scale, you can bet I try to get one. Here is a Hot Wheels 8 Crate, based on a 1955 Ford station wagon that I started to customize. When it's finished, it will be two-tone, white over red. But for now, here's what it looks like:

Other station wagons I've customized is one put out by Matchbox, an Audi RS6 Avant:

And what some might consider to be a station wagon, a Volkswagen T2 minibus, also by Matchbox:

Matchbox also makes a Dodge Magnum station wagon model, in two varieties. Here is one of them that I am going to stripe and make into an Illinois State Police car:

Here's another Police vehicle I made, only it started out as a Hot Wheels Highway Patrol car and became an Arizona Border Patrol car:

Here is a Maisto Chevrolet Camaro Concept that I painted anodized blue over a chrome base. It is one of the first cars I ever drilled out the rivets and took it apart the right way:

A Hot Wheels '65 Mustang Fastback that I painted gloss black and used the old basic wheels they used to use:

I started customizing this Zee Volkswagen Beetle to look like Herbie, The Love Bug. All it needs are the racing strips and numbers to be finished:

Here's an old Lindberg Line Hertz Truck that I painted black long ago. It's essentially a 1:64 scale model car, so it was easy to take back apart and paint:

My most recent custom is a Hot Wheels Cadillac Seville. They only made it for a couple years and in a couple different paint schemes. For one release, they used the big, rubber tires known as Real Riders. I decided this one needed to be a different color, I had stripped it down to bare metal waiting to make up my mind what color that would be. The other day I decided what I wanted, so I finished painting it and putting it back together. This is how it turned out:

So, customizing your own cars can be quite fun. It can take as little or as much time and effort as you wish to put out and at any level of effort, you can come up with some nice results. As I said, I'm not really very good at it, but I think they turn out to be some great looking customs that I'm proud to display!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

M2 Machines Auto-Thentics Releases

Castline, Inc. seems to have started this line around January of 2008 and already they're making their mark in the world of diecast. I've read that each car will be released in limited numbers of around 4000 to 5000 pieces for each model/color. That means, when you see them, you'd better get them before they're gone! This, then, is the release order for the M2 Machines Auto-Thentics line so far. I will try to keep it updated as new ones are released. The cars in each series each have a different paint scheme and/or wheel combination. Updated February 3rd, 2011.

Release 1A:
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1955 Pontiac Star Chief
1953 Oldsmobile 98
1951 Ford Crestliner
1957 Ford Fairlane
1954 Mercury Sun Valley

Release 1B:
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1955 Pontiac Star Chief
1953 Oldsmobile 98
1951 Ford Crestliner
1957 Ford Fairlane
1954 Mercury Sun Valley

Release 2A:
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1955 Pontiac Star Chief
1953 Oldsmobile 98
1951 Ford Crestliner
1957 Ford Fairlane
1954 Mercury Sun Valley

1955 Pontiac Star Chief - Release 2A

Release 2B:
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1955 Pontiac Star Chief
1953 Oldsmobile 98
1951 Ford Crestliner
1957 Ford Fairlane
1954 Mercury Sun Valley

Release 3A:
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1957 DeSoto Adventurer
1954 Dodge Coronet
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

Release 3B:
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1957 DeSoto Adventurer
1954 Dodge Coronet
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

1953 Ford Crestline Victoria - Release 3B

Release 4A:
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1954 Mercury Sun Valley
1957 Ford Fairlane
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

1955 DeSoto Fireflite - Release 4A

1954 Chevrolet Bel Air - Release 4A

Release 4B:
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1954 Chevrolet Bel Air
1954 Mercury Sun Valley
1957 Ford Fairlane
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

Release 5A:
1950 Oldsmobile 88
1949 Mercury
1959 Cadillac Series 62
1958 Plymouth Fury
1957 DeSoto Fireflite
1954 Dodge Coronet

Release 5B:
1950 Oldsmobile 88
1949 Mercury
1959 Cadillac Series 62
1958 Plymouth Belvedere
1957 DeSoto Fireflite
1954 Dodge Coronet

Release 6:
1959 Cadillac Series 62
1949 Mercury
1955 Pontiac Star Chief
1959 Cadillac Series 62
1949 Mercury
1955 Pontiac Star Chief


1955 Pontiac Star Chief - Release 6

1959 Cadillac Series 62 - Release 6

1949 Mercury - Release 6

Release 7:
1958 Plymouth Belvedere
1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
1954 Dodge Royal
1958 Plymouth Belvedere
1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
1954 Dodge Royal

1958 Plymouth Belvedere - Release 7

Release 8:
1949 Mercury
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
1949 Mercury
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air

Release 9:
1954 Dodge Royal
1954 Dodge Royal
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1955 DeSoto Fireflite
1957 DeSoto Adventurer
1957 Chrysler 300C

1955 Dodge Royal Lancer - Release 9

Release 10 (Features cars pinstriped by Tom Kelly):
1950 Oldsmobile 88
1955 Dodge Royal Lancer
1951 Ford Cresliner
1957 Chevrolet Bel Air
1953 Ford Crestline Victoria
1957 DeSoto Adventurer

1957 DeSoto Adventurer - Release 10

I have several of these models, so as I get them photographed, I'll be sure to post more images so you can get an idea what these highly detailed models look like. Please feel free to let me know what you think of them.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

M2 Machines Auto-Thentics Preview

Just over a year ago, a new diecast company started doing business. Their commitment was to produce highly detailed 1:64 scale vehicles of solid construction and quality materials. Having found a few in my area and purchased them, I can say that I am totally satisfied that they achieved their goal! These models are marvelous. I posted a 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria in a previous post, but I wanted to talk a little bit more about them here. I'm planning on another more detailed post showing these cars inside and out, but this little look should at least whet your appetite for them. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are several thousand words' worth of pictures for you to get acquainted with the fabulous line of vehicles in the M2 Machines Auto-Thentics line. The above lineup includes, from the top, the 1953 Ford Crestline Victoria I posted previously, a 1955 DeSoto Fireflite, a 1954 Chevrolet Bel Air and then 2 different 1955 Pontiac Star Chiefs, with different paint schemes.

Here is a closer look at one of the 1955 Pontiac Star Chiefs. You can see the detail is terrific! The doors open, the hood raises and the tires are made of rubber and feature whitewalls. The interior is fully embellished with all the appointments of a real 1955 Pontiac Star Chief. Two-color seats and a realistic looking dash.

From this view, you can see that they have used several dozen parts to complete the vehicle. There are chrome headlight bezels with clear headlight inserts, the hood ornament is a separate piece and there is a generous amount of chrome down the length of the car. They have even replicated the brushed aluminum look over the rear wheel wells. Below, is a recreation of a 1950's diner using some of the M2 Machines in my collectin to add to the realism of the photograph. I can't wait to work up a closer look at these vehicles so I can post a follow-up on them.

Corvette Mania

I thought this time I might feature some images of the quintessential American sports car, the Chevrolet Corvette. Probably every company that ever made a diecast car has put at least one Corvette into their line, and this post will feature just a few from my meager collection of the fiberglass-bodied speedster. So, please enjoy the show!

Summer 1956 Corvette

Maisto 1957 Corvette

Hot Wheels 1958 Corvette

Hot Wheels 1969 Corvette

Hot Wheels 1980's Corvette

Zee 1985 Corvette

Maisto 1997 Corvette

Hot Wheels 2009 Corvette

Well, I hope you got to see all the sports cars I just presented. Chevrolet Corvettes are fast and if you blinked, you might have missed them!

Blogger Has Issues

I still can't get Blogger to work! It won't let me upload any images, and since that's what my blogs are all about, that leaves me nothing. I'll post something as soon as I am able. Thanks for understanding!

Update:
Well, I can say with authority now that it was definitely a Blogger issue. They seem to have added in a new editor, while keeping the old editor. They clash and do not want to work together. You have to upload photos in one editor, then switch over to the new editor to do the rest of your editing. Hopefully, it will at least continue to work this way and I'll be able to work around it. While it seems to be working, I'll upload some Corvette's I've been saving. If you see them in the next post, you'll know I got it to work at least once!