CadillacPat

Thanks, I like using QuikSteel or JBQwik, the regular JB Weld was just a little slow for me. CadillacPat

Thanks again Tom, Jada made these in 1/24 in this Delivery Van version and also a School Bus version with windows on the sides. CadillacPat

I always work on several castings at once, Here's a couple of pics showing more of these BreadBoxes stripped and painted Basecoat White, More to come, CadillacPat

" Da Harley Van " Da Harley Van, pronounced in your best Arnold Schwarzenegger. Here's a recent HotWheels casting perfect for promotional use. Disassembled and stripped with KleanStrip AirCraft Remover. Lots of time spent filing and sanding out all the windows and wheel wells. The body is sanded with 220 sandpaper and then rubbed down with #3 Steel Wool for a fine spun lustre perfect for good paint adhesion. Primered and then shot Shimrin White, Upper panels are taped off and the whole thing is shot Tangelo Pearl. Tape is removed and Decals and Details applied. Body is finished with House Of Kolor Urethane Clear and a heavy dose of Aztec Gold Pearl Powder. Base and Interior are shot with Adhesion promoter and then painted Black and Cleared. Graphics are all done in PhotoShop, hours and hours of Photoshop. Decals are created and printed on my home printer. Clear InkJet Decal Paper is from Papilio.com Rivet reassembly. Each Decal here is created to perfectly fit both left and right sides, top and license plate. Yes, the left side panel and left side lower half are different measurements from the right side panel and right side lower half. It's because of the door being cut out of the right side. The scallops for the lower half are laid down one piece at a time. They are beveled and shaded to give them depth and dimension. Now, check out the roof insert. The roof insert is actually the middle section between front and rear windows. It has to be taped off, primed, painted, Decaled and Cleared before being reinserted into the painted casting body. This is very tricky since upon close inspection of the factory casting you can see there is little to no clearance between the insert and the roof opening. My Custom Cut Chrome Center Caps dress out an otherwise ordinary factory wheel, and also fit as realistic headlamps. All Products Used Are Exclusively House Of Kolor, Of Course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Continued (scroll down)

All of the Fat Fender 40's depicted here in this "Building the Fat Fender 40 Tutorial are pieces of the adjacent "Shake, Rattle, Rock & Roll" post. Originally a 3 car set named "Shake, Rattle & Roll" that group has now grown into an 11 car compilation exhibiting several Fat Fenders, 40 Ford Coupes and a TailDragger in different body modifications. Pictures are coming up of how the Fat Fenders shown above in this Tutorial look after the cuts are filled in with JB Weld. But now, there's 6 of these in different paint stages in the Oven so let's stir it up with a sneak peek from the Wonderful World of Color. Here's a Fat Fender ready for Rhinestone lights and taillights. Primered, and based with HOK Zenith Gold. The whole car is shot with HOK Candy Pagan Gold and Brilliant Gold Pearl-Ex Powder Pearl. She's taped off and the upper half is lightly scuffed with ScotchBrite for good second stage paint adhesion. Then HOK Organic Green Intensifier with Spring Green Pearl-Ex Powder Pearl is laid down on the top half. The colors go well together and this one is moving on to further details. Here's a Fat Fender in it's early stages with the running boards removed to accentuate the fenders. This one is HOK Tangerine Candy over a base of HOK Platinum. Tonight it gets taped off and shot a special mix of Candy Organic Green which will result in a subdued Candy Brownish Green from the underlying Tangerine. Here you can see the Aztec Gold Pearl-Ex Powder in the sunlight. More to come, CadillacPat

Let's add in a few more Fat Fenders, Here's one ready for Primer, Headlights are drilled out for trademark Rhinestone inlay, Rear fenders are glazed in for that pontoon fender effect of the '30s. Here's an inside look of how the fenders are filled in, Here's one Raked and Chopped awaiting a snorkel breather from one of those Nitro Muscle Machines. Here's another, Jewelers Saw and 1/32" Brass Rod readies the hood for a BoneShaker Engine, Primered and shot Shimrin White, then Zenith Gold, Entire body shot in Tangerine Candy with Aztec Gold Pearl Powder, Taped and the upper half is shot Black then cleared with SpringTime Green Pearl Powder. Tape is removed and its cleared entirely with HOK Urethane Enamel. The black now shifts from Black Pearl to Green Pearl. All Products Used Are Exclusively House Of Kolor, Of Course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CONTINUED (scroll down)

“Building the Fat Fender 40 – CadillacPat Style” Let’s build a Fat Fender you can all be proud of with a body smooth as glass. The HotWheels Fat Fender 40 comes with a lot of baggage just like its sibling the 40 Coupe and its newest family member the 40 Ford Convertible. Harsh heavy raised ridges crawl across the fenders front and rear, Casting lines invade both headlights, Long ridges, and in some cases crevasses run down the sides of the roof, Window and wheel openings require a good filing and sanding. If you’re lucky you get one with sharply detailed taillights that can be left on the casting and painted. In most cases the taillights are shoddily formed and are best removed. Other than that, it’s perfect. Here’s a shot of a stripped Fat Fender. It doesn’t matter which issue of the Fat Fender you choose to strip, they all look the same without paint. The casting is rough and requires about an hour of elbow grease to bring the body around to acceptable condition. This can all be done with sandpaper but I like to start with a half round (crescent) file about 6 inches long. Flat on one side and curved on the other this file provides perfect physical characteristics for fine-tuning the body and cleaning out the window openings and wheelwells. Using your file, First take down those raised ridges across the fenders, headlights and roof. Clean up and smooth round the sides and tail end of the rear fenders. Remove the taillights if you care to. File smooth the wheel wells and window openings. This one step will make your Customs stand out from most that you see on the Internet. Lightly file the front and rear window openings so as not to change their shape. All 4 side windows can actually be opened up a little bit. Lastly, thin down the rear tab so the painted body will slip back easily into the chassis without marring your paintjob. When you’ve done all this, go over all your changes with 150 sandpaper and then 220. Roll a 1” x ¾” piece of 220 sandpaper around a toothpick and further smooth out those window openings. Curl a piece of sandpaper around your finger and smooth out your wheelwells. Use the same curled sandpaper around a toothpick to smooth down the space between the headlights and hood. Through all your steps of sanding and filing make sure not to touch the door handles or simulated chrome trim on the sides. Remember the point here is to retain all the body definition while still cleaning up the surface. Once you’re satisfied with all your filing and sanding go back over the entire body with #3 Steel Wool available at Home Depot. Be careful on the sides as you do not want to remove the door handles or simulated chrome trim. The Steel Wool will take down all the sandpaper scratches to a fine spun metal lustre leaving just the right surface texture for good paint adhesion. Not polished but bright, clean and smooth. Here’s the same Fat Fender from above after filing, sanding and rubbing with Steel Wool. From the pictures you can see I’m taking my Custom a little further than some might take theirs. I’ve drilled out my headlights for Rhinestones. I’ve removed the running boards to accent the fenders without harming the door handles or simulated chrome trim, and, In upcoming pics you’ll see I’ve opened up the hood to insert a BoneShaker engine. CONTINUED (scroll down)

I just thught that deserved to be quoted again, for posterity!!!!!!!! CadillacPat

You cannot stack or combine Discount Coupons at Hobby Lobby. CadillacPat

" Route 66 Fat Fender 40/BoneShaker Engine/Revell Wheels " Route 66 Fat Fender 40 The HotWheels Fat Fender 40 is another classic all metal casting. When disassembled and stripped the body needs a lot of filing and sanding to remove imperfections and the rough front and rear bumpers of the metal base require the same. Here's a stripped body. Lots of rough places that need lots of sanding and smoothing out. The rear taillights are not very well cast so I remove them and fill in any dents around them. Window openings and wheel wells have to be filed clean and sanded smooth. Headlights get drilled out for RhineStone inlay. It's a lot of work, about an hour, to clean this one up but it's well worth it, as you'll see. The factory issued mainline version of this casting comes with wheels that are too small for it. I always change those out. Using any wheels and axles other than a HotWheels requires tubing to be placed inside the base so larger diameter axles may turn freely. Larger wheels with rubber tires fill up the wheel wells for a much better look. Front and rear bumper and grill undergo lots of filing and sanding. Then they are buffed and polished with a Dremel and finally rubbed out with Mag Brite Polish. Changing the rough factory bumpers to a fine smooth finish makes a world of difference in metal based cars like this Fat Fender 40 and the TailDragger. Primered and then shot Shimrin White, then SnowWhite Pearl. High Resolution Graphics go on, Rhinestone Headlights go in, Graphics are masked and the whole thing is airbrushed Black. House Of Kolor Urethane Clear with some Candy Apple Red Intensifier and Red Russet Pearl Powder makes up the final Clearcoat. The Black changes to a deep dark Cherry color. Customs Wheels are from a Revell 1958 Chevy Impala. A rarely seen car in itself. All Products Used Are Exclusively House Of Kolor, Of Course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Decals are printed on Clear InkJet Decal Paper from Papilio.com CadillacPat

Jesus, I hope none of this is contagious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I don't stay out till daylight I feel like I'm missing something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CadillacPat

"Worthwhile" would depend on the Builder's dedication to the quality of his finished project. The good thing about using high quality products is they cost so little for the individual use. The "longer run" for me is to build the best I can. Urethane Clearcoats are always superior so that makes it worthwhile for me. For you guys that are AirBrushing you can buy the above products in Quarts and Pints which are probably more correct amounts to go along with how often you Build. Or, do as I did and Network with other Customizers or Builders. Put a deal together with a few other Customizers and split everything up. Surely anyone can find 4 or 5 other people to put a deal together with. Everything goes ground shipping. Done deal. CadillacPat

That's not something that can be accurately predicted just by the total amount of ounces. Martin I suggest you add up the amounts of Clear, Catalyst and Reducer that it normally takes you to Clear a 1/24 and divide it into the total ounces of the Gallon and a half of products pictured in my reply. Those of us that AirBrush all do it slightly differently. Stored properly and transferred to smaller containers for daily use, these products can haved a very long shelf life, even years of use. CadillacPat

CadillacPat

Loved my Pinto, 3 speed on the floor and bucket seats, Drove a Fairmont doing contract work between Houston and Mississippi, what a piece of garbage, the Fairmont, not Mississippi. Next would be the Reliant, what were they thinking?? CadillacPat

Yes Vypurr everything is House Of Kolor, But, just like the Champion Legacy Clear Urethane I recently posted about, I always like to offer Customizers a choice of a less expensive product that will still give the same high end results. So, for your Adhesion Promoter you can just as easily use Duplicolor Adhesion Promoter. A few quick sprays, dusting it on will work. Duplicolor not BullDog, BullDog is twice the expense and no difference at all. Sure Harry, that's it, although "redo" kind of falls short of describing the process. People like Souveniers and what better to make Souveniers from than HotWheels. Everybody likes cars. Hence my term Promotional Customs. CadillacPat

Anyone who goes to the HotWheels Conventions knows of my friends Carl and Sherrill Chaffin aka Carls Cars. Carl is one of the guys around the country who help me pick up HotWheels and MBox cars for making Limited Edition Runs and Series of my Promotional Customs. Here's his Custom Cards I designed and printed for a little MBox Convention in New Mexico a few years back. These cards go in the blister Clamshells that also hold the car. Printed on Glossy PhotoStock they make a great presentation in their Clamshell packaging. CadillacPat

" Black Oak HotWheel Passion " Presenting a Sneak Peek of the Black Oak Passion in my ongoing "CadillacPat's Midnight Passion Parade". Solid Black cars with InkJet Decal Graphics, not something you will ordinarily see anywhere. Last Thanksgiving at the Annual Houston AutoRama I had the pleasure of viewing a '51 Ford Convertible which had it's body laid over with solid Oak boards. While the car might be a bit impractical for daily use it was definitely an example of detailed Artistry and fine Craftsmanship. I decided to create my own version of layered wood trim for my Custom Passions. If you go to Custom Car Shows or follow AirBrushing techniques you know that AirBrushed Chrome trim and AirBrushed wood are two very high end trends in AirBrushing which look as real or even better than the actual metal or wood items. This is what I have attempted to recreate with my high resolution Graphics in the form of Clear InkJet Decals. First I drew a woodgrain design in PhotoShop. Then I created scallop shaped Gold trim pieces and fit the woodgrain within them using the Layer>Group With Previous option. Next a Gold Rivet had to be drawn and then installed over and over and over again so the wooden panels and their trim would appear to be riveted onto the body. Lots of Bevel, Inner and Outer Shadow, Drop Shadow, etc., etc., went into creating the images to create a 3D appearance. Even more time was used fitting and arranging the panels to the body. PhotoShop is just another AirBrush that is operated by your keyboard and your imagination. Here are the images of the body alone, yet to be ClearCoated and Detailed. Watch soon for how different things will appear once the House Of Kolor Urethane Enamel ClearCoat and Pearl Powder go on. Decals are created on Clear InkJet Decal Paper from Papilio.com Stay Tuned, More Midnight Passions to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Ace GarageGuy and Too Old, There are several instances in Mr. DeAngelo's reply that just don't add up to me and don't really apply to selling on Ebay I started to respond with my thoughts/experiences but I've already said what I had to say and I thought best to just let it go. It works fine for me so I use it. Like anything, don't give up and quit, figure out how to make it work for you. CadillacPat

Let's see, I can rent a table or spot at an open air flea market, set up and sit in the heat all day waiting for a tiny percentage of passersby who might be interested (and financially liquid enough to buy them) while watching my items melt in the sun and gather dust, then have to pack up all over again and go home, and then unload everything again there, Or, For a total 12% or 13% charge (sure I would rather it be only 8% or 9%, not that much difference really from 12% or 13%) I can expose my work to the PLANET and let USPS pick SOLD items up from the front porch in the FREE boxes that they not only provided but delivered. No gas, no wasted time, no renting a spot, no packing and unpacking Hmmmmmmmmmmmm----- Guess which one I pick?? CadillacPat

CadilacPat the UnCustomizer

Now, in case you are curious about the Yellow Passion. I mix the same 5cc's of InterCoat Clear with Yellow Pearl Powder and add 1 drop of Candy Pagan Gold Intensifier to spray after the Decals are applied. The car changes to a light Yellow Pearl that deepens once I apply the usual measure of 1/8 oz. ClearCoat, additional dash of Yellow Pearl and another drop of Candy Pagan Gold Intensifier. It's just amazing how color changes when you apply Pearl Powders over a Black surface. We're not done yet, In the picture of the Factory casting you can see the blackwall rubber tires with chrome rims. That all changes. These little replicas of those all steel cars from the Heavy 50's need that fat WhiteWall Retro look. The rubber tires are scuffed with ScotchBrite, then they are taped and shot with Adhesion Promoter, then AirBrushed Shimrin White and then SnowWhite Pearl. Lastly they get a protective layer of clear acrylic. Tiny Chrome Center Caps are also AirBrushed Adhesion Promoter then Candy then Clear to trim out the painted rims, White Interiors are also AirBrushed coordinating colors to match or contrast with each car's color. Reassembly is with Rivets for a permanent factory appearance. Here's how I package these, (CONTINUED) scroll down,

In the preceding steps the bodywork (removing of factory imperfections) is done to change the casting from a mass made car full of blemishes, flash and mold scars, to something more suitable for a nice paintjob and graphics. The SnowWhite Pearl is the key to how the flamed Decals will look. In all 4 cars the Clear InkJet Decals go down over the SnowWhite Pearl. The Purple and Green Passions have the same exact Decals. The Yellow Passion of course has Green Decals, and the Black Passion has a set of newly designed White Decals. Okay, Clear InkJet Decals are Decals printed on Clear InkJet Decal Paper, a clear film on paper. Neither InkJet nor LaserJet Printers have White Ink so any image printed with them showing a white portion is actually left blank for that area. The White background of paper is left showing that clear area of the Decal as White. The transparent inks (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,) of InkJet Printers are like stained glass windows allowing whatever color is behind them to partially shine through. Black ink is nearly opaque and remains Black. The SnowWhite Pearl behind these Decals shines through almost as if they were backlit. The Red flames become brighter, the Green flames become brighter and the White (Clear) flames allow the SnowWhite Pearl to shine right through the clear Decal film. So, The Decals all go down over the SnowWhite Pearl. Each Decal is drawn on a Black background leaving a thin 1/16" border all the way around the Decal. Here's an example, You can see that my Decals are all drawn right on top of a scanned image of the casting. This assures a perfect fit. Once the Decals are all applied I brush Liquid Latex (Rubber Mold Building Latex) over just the flames part of the Decal. Then I go in and AirBrush everything Black. No longer do we have a SnowWhite Pearl body because now it is all Black. The Rubber liquid mask is removed leaving me with a Black car with flames. Now comes the magic. In the case of the Purple and Green cars, the color you see is all Pearl Powder, no Purple or Green paint at all. I mix 5cc of InterCoat Clear with a small match head's worth of Pearl Powder and with my AirBrush turned down low I direct the majority of it over just the Black areas. The Black quickly turns to the color of the Pearl applied. It doesn't take much to make the color change. Just before I use up all 5cc's of the Pearl InterCoat mix I open up the AirBrush and spray the whole casting so everything blends in nicely. Now I have a Purple Pearl casting and remarkably the text and image of the Decals is barely affected. Rhinestone Headlights are inlaid at this point and lastly I ClearCoat with another small dose of Pearl Powder. In this case here of the Purple and Green Passions both having the same Red Decal flames, You can see the Purple Pearl changed the Red flames to a Pinkish Red and on the Green they moved slightly to an Orange Red. The Flames didn't change color nearly as much as the Black body did. The Black Passion with White flames is done the same but with Carbon Black Pearl Powder. The light layer of Black Pearl on top of the colorcoat Black combined with the Black Pearl in the ClearCoat make for a great dazzling shine. I call this one Ebony and Ivory. (CONTINUED) scroll down,

" CadillacPat's HellBound HelloWeen HotWheel Passion Sets " Here's some recent HotWheels Passions (Mercury's) I made 3 car sets of. The Pearl Black was added as a Bonus Car. These Customs in my HellBound HelloWeen Series are Purgatory Purple Pearl, Evil Emerald Green Pearl, Ghoulish Gold Pearl and BoogieMan Black Pearl. All Products Used Are Exclusively House of Kolor, Of Course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is how all the cars look as they come from the factory, White interiors, blackwall rubber tires and chrome rims. Everything gets painted, After they are disassembled and stripped, The bodies then filed free of imperfections, sanded and rubbed down with #3 Steel Wool, and headlights drilled out for RhineStone inlay, Primered, Based with Shimrin White, And then SnowWhite Pearl, (CONTINUED, 10 picture limit per post) scroll down,

I always thought the lack of decent TV programming was what inspired people to find Hobbies. CadillacPat