[Customs] Leveling Up. New Materials, New Potentials.

This will be a two-part post. There's new customs to be revealed, and newly acquired materials to add to my arsenal.
There are lots of new stuff I'm eager to show off. If things continue to go smooth, I may not have to care so much for
real rider wheels anymore. I will get to that later, but first, let's start off with a simple wheelswap.

While in the middle of sorting out cars I want to take right out of the collection, I pulled out
all the Shelby Cobra Daytonas. I finally decided to give up on the casting after I finished
the Need For Speed Cobra Daytona replica, which you will see in just a bit.





The over-sized wheels were bothersome ever since they became an entry to the collection,
but I kept overlooking it because I like the car itself too much. Not any more.
This was the only one I decided to keep because the turquoise is just too beautiful.
I still didn't like the massive OH5s, so I quickly threw on something more appropriate.



It really is a darn shame Mattel went gung-ho on the wheels. I almost feel sorry for the thing.




Let's move on.



Ah yes. Replicas. It seems the only times I go all out is when I make replica models.
This time, it's Carl's Signature Edition Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe from Need For Speed The Run.
This is one of those hidden gems in the game. I love that The Run included a huge variety of cars.
The fictional Signature Edition cars gave room for the design team to create their own bodywork
and livery designs, and this one is done so well.The wheel choice works, the stripes are very
appropriate, and those two little yellow stripes off the side really finish it off with just enough
colour to stand out in the monochromatic scheme.



First thing to notice is that I down-sized each wheel to sizes 1 and 2 rather than keeping
it at 2 and 3 respectively. It looks much more appropriate even with the staggered sizes.



Getting those decals in place wasn't particularly tricky, but like all the waterslide
decals I buy from Bare Metal Foil Co., I tend to lose about 20% of the ink
in the process of applying them. It certainly doesn't help that I'm using a
low-resolutiondecades-old Canon BubbleJet printer to do my decals.
Can you tell which decal says "BBS" on it? 'Cause I can't!



I even went and did in the license plate. It's supposed to say "ZERO"
along with the NFS logo off to the left. It's barely legible!



Not trusting myself with hand painting a circle, the side and bonnet decals were
nothing more than cutouts of the decal paper. Errors were had, but I've learned
not to keep on trying to fix something with the low-tech skill I have.
From a practical standpoint, that's probably the best I've got for now.



I'm fairly certain the car in the game doesn't have a spare tire that looks like that,
but it adds a lot more substance to the interior, even if I don't detail the cabin.



Fun fact, before this even got its coat of paint, I had the fender-adjusted body
sitting in the basement untouched since October of last year. It sat for hell of
a long time! This just means all the other wheel-less bodies I have in my big box
have been sitting for a longer time - and still counting.





New materials come into play, and this Track T is going to be its debut. Paint markers.
Cheap oil-based white paint marker. Works wonders on the tires, comes off with acetone,
and settles in minutes, even on rubber.



I had no plans on making a custom Track T, but no lies, I did like that colour scheme, that
rat-rod-flat-black-with-the-red theme. The WW wheels it had before were decent, but I wanted
smoothies. There was only the one problem, the smoothies- or the hubcaps Mattel makes
aren't chrome. I don't have chrome paint. The brilliant silver finishes I have can work on small
surfaces, but definitely not on anything wide and flat. Here, I finally caved and bought a pack
of Bare Metal Foil. The stuff model builders rely on for their larger-scale car models.

I am nowhere near disappointed.



Most of the main features are in the wheels, but the body itself could see improvements too.
Some of the red was lost from wear. That was cleverly covered up. Interior being bare metal
could use some work. If I already put that much time into the wheels, I may as well do
something with the untouched interior. Paint marker it is!



And what mainline is complete without the finer detailing? Taking no time, I ran the silver Sharpie's
down the sides and touched the tail lights with the Tamiya Acrylic red as usual. I polished the exhaust
pipes and dotted each fastener on the seat cover.



Fun trick. The front grills weren't painted on. I took my paint-scratcher (the dulled box cutter)
and scraped off the paint to reveal the bare metal. That shines a lot more than paint!


Other than the paint marker and bare metal foil, I also just received my order of aluminum tubes.
Some of you might already know what it's planned for: custom wheels. Oh yes, I'm going there.
Sometimes I'd want the premium finish with rubber tires, but the selection of wheel styles is
always so limited. With this option open, I have more wheels to choose from. I can resize
the wheels to a more appealing fit, and expand into shiny-rim lips and deep-dishes.

I've no photos, but it's more K&S Precision Metals again. What sizes? 5/16", 8mm, 9mm, and 10mm.
I went on a public rant about how hobbyists of similar interests lack a sense of community.
How we are able to experiment, fail and succeed, show off, brag and be proud of our work, but yet
be unable to share experiences, tips, advice, provide help, tutorials, or anything to contribute
to the niche hobby's social circle. We're not competing, so there's little sense in concealing your technique.
We all love to build things and we certainly love to learn, so to me, the willingness to
teach how something is made is intrinsic to the passion of crafting.

That said, I'll post results of the different sizes once I get around to fitting wheels in 'em.
I'll end the post off with the next batch of Illustrious cars in the making.