[Customs] Party Time - 7 Attending.

There's a lot to show off today! Working on several custom simulataneously is exhausting and flustering when trying to eliminate as much waiting time as possible. While one layer of paint is drying on one car, I'll be off working on another body. To keep a level of consistency from the lot of photos, here's a short table of contents with clickable links that will take you to any custom in this post via page jump. I've took some time into re-working my template for the documentation photos. What's always been lacking was a "before and after" shot. I'm sure most of my readers aren't familiar with what it used to look like so having it present does help get a better sense of the changes made. A signature and link would also be beneficial as I do tend to hotlink my photos to other webpages to share my work. Once my photos have enough hits and get spread further out, viewers who don't get direct feed from me personally will now know a source and name to refer to.


1) Hunter Camaro SS Replica (Need for Speed The Run)
2) Surfin' School Bus (paintjob/wheelswap)
3) Ferrari California (wheelswap)
4) Lotus Concept (wheelswap)
5) Gangster Grin (wheelswap)
6) Surf Crate TH (wheelswap/fantasy "Super TH")
7) [Renaissance Series] Jaguar XK120SE

Hunter Camaro SS Replica

(project brief)

Okay I thought the idea was cool before I started. I do like the RRPrf wheels I took off the Boulevards '64 Pontiac GTO as the skinner front tires are extremely fitting! The spoke design itself is a fairly good match to the Hunter Camaro. It's just too bad the Copo Camaro doesn't sport 4 round lamps like you can see in the screenshot.

A matte finish is exactly what I wanted, but I feel I may have scrubbed the surface too much with that polishing compound.

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Surfin' School Bus

(Project Brief)

No plans were made for this. All that was to be done was change the wheels, but then I was already on a roll with removing tampos via acetone on numerous castings and so I got rid of it on this too. Left with a plain metalflake silver body, I recalled having this unused green anodized spray paint which more or less tints a surface rather than covering it with opaque pigments. I figured this would be a good time to try it out since the work surface is already smooth, colour-less and sparkly. Needless to say, the results turned out excellent.

I wanted to slam the bus to the ground, but because the front wheels were oversized, I had no more room to cut into the interior piece unless I prepared putty for the fender. Physical constraints, really.

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Ferrari California

Can't say I love the California, yet can't leave it alone. The FTE wheels were killing me to simply put it. Lowering it was a bonus as there isn't much room for a significant change.

Silver wheels may have looked less obnoxious, but why not? The California's design is bold, so why not go all the way?

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Lotus Concept

Didn't intend to change the wheels, but red wheels can only keep me looking for so long and already I'm not looking back. OH5 wheels are usually not what I'd go for, but I think they might work better on this than PR5s actually.

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Gangster Grin

This car ended up growing on me. I bought this with the intention of taking its wheels only, but the purple scheme would've went to waste if I scrapped it. Deciding on wheels took some time surprisingly. LWs were the initial decision, but they didn't have the impact I was looking for. 5DOT was fairly good, but SK does it just right. The Custom Cadillac Fleetwood casting has my thanks for its influence.

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Surf Crate (Fantasy Super TH)

Of all the crappy Treasure Hunts I asked a friend to pick up for me, this is the only one I couldn't throw into my lots for sale. Contrary to popular opinion, I like this casting. While it lacks some finer details that make a hot rod, the stance it creates is quite catchy. The TH happened to sport a lime I'm a fan of, the tampos are fine the way they are, but the size-3 OH5s weren't cutting it. I decided all this would really need is a change of wheels. While I was playing around with the redline tires, I thought I'd try to transform it into a Super TH.... or at least make an adaptation of one. Most Super THs sport a darker colour of the same hue as the mainline variant, have a brilliant metallic finish and have real riders (rubber tires). I tried that Anodized green paint again in hopes it would darken the lime. It did, but it also altered the hue unfortunately. The glitter didn't show up as much as I hoped. I might need to replace that can soon. To match the redline RR5SP, I laid down a red ring on the SK wheels in the front.

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[Renaissance Series] Jaguar XK120SE

I'm not sure how or why, but the paint on this came out incredibly smooth! No sanding or polishing was needed. It could've been because I didn't strip the body and painted right over, or it was I lucked out with the final coat of clear.

Seeing as how I learn there are already similar existing recolours released, tan interiors may need to become a staple for the Renaissance series from now on.

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[Customs] Renaissance Series' First Release!

It took a while, Mohammad, but I've finally completed the very first car! 

Formerly known as the Red Series, I had picked out the most prettiest red Dupli-Color spray paint I could find in the car paint aisle at a local Canadian Tire. This colour in particular is a Dark Cherry Red and its name struck home immediately as my favourite yogurt flavour when I was little was Dark Cherry! The price tag wasn't easy to swallow, but after the first few coats I sprayed on, I really didn't mind. The spray nozzle shoots the paint out at a narrower range and the paint comes out much thinner and consistent than a regular aerosol can such as Krylon.

I hadn't primed the body after stripping the original paint, so the finish came out a few shades darker. The base plate was also painted the same colour for consistency. If you're familiar with the orange casting - which is what I used for this, recall that the interior is coloured entirely chrome. It's flashy but doesn't sit right with me. I've painted it tan for a more luxurious impression.

I'm actually very happy with how the paint turned out despite the unexpected results. Reason being is that now the chrome wheels and trim contrast greatly with the darker body. A few individuals told me that the default wheels were "as best as it could get". I somewhat agree, but I love my choice a lot more. What do you think?