When I was new to collecting, the Twinduction was one that appeared on pegs many times.
While considering fantasy cars to add to the collection at the time, the Twinduction had been overlooked for small
reasons. Hey, I needed to find every reason to minimize the collection or else I'd end up with thousands of cars
in little time! So what was the deal breaker in this casting's design? Well, let's have a look see:
Hmm. The body shape is pretty decent. Low front high back is the standard to current day modern car design. Nothing bad so far.
Okay, some of those contours look awkward, borderline unattractive, but it's still not a terrible shape.
While there is a lack of tail light tampos, at least there is some kind of detail in the sculpt unlike many other fantasy castings.
Engine... I remember the very first models having a chrome engine piece. It would seem Mattel decidedly
cut corners on this casting too somewhere along the road. Unfortunate feature, but this too was not the deal breaker. Let's keep looking.
Oh? There it is! Why Mattel can't just keep fantasy cars looking 100% cool is beyond me.
It's as if they need to do an extra thing to make them look worse than a real car. I speak
specifically of the square panel that sits between the grills. It stands out like a sore thumb,
like a big front tooth in an otherwise toothless jaw, a place where it shouldn't belong.
I didn't have ways for modifying the casting itself back in 2011. That is no longer the case.
Had a run with the jeweller's saw and cut out the panel. Obviously there would be paint loss,
but I was not looking into repainting the car as the green paint and lighting bolt tampos were
cool enough to keep. Thankfully, the front panel has its own section, so being similar to current
day car designs, I was able to cover the bare metal edges with black. It's looking 10 times
cooler than most fantasy castings already! There is high hopes for the results.
What I did to the front I did to the back. The excessive contours were an eye-sore,
and this covers it up and also creates a negative space balancing the large rear panel
we have. It also serves as a canvas to create contrast with the tail lights. Win-win.
And the final results:
The engine was kept in place, but to cover up the fact it's attached to the body,
I coloured the connection black to match the side panels on the bonnet.
Painting the base black not only created proper grills and rear diffuser, but it also paved way
to the side exhaust pipes. Those have been done in with silver paint marker by Sharpie's.
Details like this would have easily gone unnoticed with the amount of detailing Mattel skips out on.
What transformation.
And how about that front? I lowered the front end all the way to heighten the aggressive facade. It looks miles more meaner than it did before!
Definitely not a bad profile shape. Consider me a fan from now on.
While very few people care to take a second look at a fantasy car, I look at them to find the potential of the casting. I want to promote the fantasy cars as a valid candidate to customizing Hot Wheels to other hobbyists alike, and this is just one of the few examples I have worked on. I've a Clear Speeder and Velocita to promote in the future. If you enjoyed the work I've put into this and feel you or someone you know could help expand this notion, please share this post with others to help open up the community to made-up cars and push their imagination!
While considering fantasy cars to add to the collection at the time, the Twinduction had been overlooked for small
reasons. Hey, I needed to find every reason to minimize the collection or else I'd end up with thousands of cars
in little time! So what was the deal breaker in this casting's design? Well, let's have a look see:
Hmm. The body shape is pretty decent. Low front high back is the standard to current day modern car design. Nothing bad so far.
Okay, some of those contours look awkward, borderline unattractive, but it's still not a terrible shape.
While there is a lack of tail light tampos, at least there is some kind of detail in the sculpt unlike many other fantasy castings.
Engine... I remember the very first models having a chrome engine piece. It would seem Mattel decidedly
cut corners on this casting too somewhere along the road. Unfortunate feature, but this too was not the deal breaker. Let's keep looking.
Oh? There it is! Why Mattel can't just keep fantasy cars looking 100% cool is beyond me.
It's as if they need to do an extra thing to make them look worse than a real car. I speak
specifically of the square panel that sits between the grills. It stands out like a sore thumb,
like a big front tooth in an otherwise toothless jaw, a place where it shouldn't belong.
I didn't have ways for modifying the casting itself back in 2011. That is no longer the case.
Had a run with the jeweller's saw and cut out the panel. Obviously there would be paint loss,
but I was not looking into repainting the car as the green paint and lighting bolt tampos were
cool enough to keep. Thankfully, the front panel has its own section, so being similar to current
day car designs, I was able to cover the bare metal edges with black. It's looking 10 times
cooler than most fantasy castings already! There is high hopes for the results.
What I did to the front I did to the back. The excessive contours were an eye-sore,
and this covers it up and also creates a negative space balancing the large rear panel
we have. It also serves as a canvas to create contrast with the tail lights. Win-win.
And the final results:
The engine was kept in place, but to cover up the fact it's attached to the body,
I coloured the connection black to match the side panels on the bonnet.
Painting the base black not only created proper grills and rear diffuser, but it also paved way
to the side exhaust pipes. Those have been done in with silver paint marker by Sharpie's.
Details like this would have easily gone unnoticed with the amount of detailing Mattel skips out on.
What transformation.
And how about that front? I lowered the front end all the way to heighten the aggressive facade. It looks miles more meaner than it did before!
Definitely not a bad profile shape. Consider me a fan from now on.
While very few people care to take a second look at a fantasy car, I look at them to find the potential of the casting. I want to promote the fantasy cars as a valid candidate to customizing Hot Wheels to other hobbyists alike, and this is just one of the few examples I have worked on. I've a Clear Speeder and Velocita to promote in the future. If you enjoyed the work I've put into this and feel you or someone you know could help expand this notion, please share this post with others to help open up the community to made-up cars and push their imagination!
