According to the Angry Birds Wiki, Minion Pigs are mischievous and don’t think very well. They are hard workers and work well as a team but are of the lowest importance in Pig City.

This Minion Pig however, doesn’t give a rat’s ass what the Angry Birds Wiki thinks – he even says the term ‘wiki’ is stupid and someone should slingshot a bird at it when they next get a chance. Alright then this is awkward… Moving on!

My Craziest Custom Hot Wheels to Date.

A while back I made this crazy awesome C3P0 Kool Kombi using the head off the Star Wars series C3P0 Drag Bus. As a result I was left with a good 80% of a drag bus and decided then and there that it was not going to waste. At the time I was considering using the fender flares from the Minion Pig character car for a JDM build I was doing and as a result the Pig in question was in pieces on my desk.

The idea for this Angry Birds Minion Pig Drag Bus came about literally by accident because as I turned in my chair I knocked the pig and it rolled over and rested against the drag bus.

*After sharing this on Instagram I was provided with some great ideas for a name. The winner was Joel aka @Diecast_dxb for his awesome suggestion of C3-Pig-O. Think it works well, and reminds us of its roots in Star Wars land 🙂 I was personally leaning towards ‘Bacon Bus’ but I think it’s too generic.

Making C3-Pig-O

Here are the basic steps I went through to create this Minion Pig Drag Bus Custom. Note that I will be writing a more detailed guide to using and working with Putty in an upcoming post so don’t worry if I skip over details 😉

After realising that the width of the pig’s head was almost identical to the width of the drag bus I took to them both with a bench grinder – slowly and carefully grinding away tiny bits at a time until I had both pieces sitting flush against each other. A dremel [rotary tool] is also sufficient.
Then I simply superglued the two bits:

Now that I had the two pieces aligned perfectly – I made sure that the rivet was pointing straight down first and foremost – and then also aligned the top point of the head with the roof of the remains of the C3PO Drag Bus. This was when I added the putty it would appear as if the join between head and body was seamless.
The Putty I use is Tamiya Brand Polyester Putty. I prefer and recommend Epoxy as it is easier to work with but again I will cover this stuff in more detail in another post.
I mixed the putty to the required ratio and then started applying it to the join using a toothpick. (best thing to use by a long mile!)

Once the putty had set I started working on removing the excess putty. The putty sets in about 30 minutes to an hour but I recommend waiting around 2 hours before working on it as this is the optimum time where it is hard and compact enough to shape but not too hard as to crack and chip.
To remove the excess I use a blade/exacto knife and run the blade across the surface, allowing it cut out the bits in its way (see image below)

You can see how I have already removed the majority of excess putty with the knife.

Once you are happy with the lines and don’t think you can do any more ‘damage’ with the blade it is time to hit it with some sandpaper. I start with a medium to light grit and gently use it to remove the bumps and smooth out the pot marks. I only use this sandpaper briefly and very gently mind you!

This is my first attempt at using Putty and I was not able to remove those pot marks you see sadly. I even applied a second coat of putty but it didn’t seem to work. I need to investigate and find a suitable putty/substance to use as an ‘after filler’ – a ‘Selleys No-More-Gaps’ for Hot Wheels basically 😉
Now it’s time for the final sanding – this time we hit it with a super fine wet n’ dry sandpaper ( I use a P400 grit – whatever that means) but have seen 1200 grit used in this instance as well – so basically what do I know?! LOL

Time for Painting and Detailing!

Again, like the putty process above, I will be covering the processes, tips and tricks to painting and detailing in an upcoming How To Guide and as such will only briefly discuss the detailing side of things.

I had already painted all interior pieces in undercoat and now it was a case of painting the exhaust/rocket part of the drag bus, and of course adding highlights and other details to the body to match.
The only thing I will point out is that when I detail my Hot Wheels I nearly always use paint pens. I use Posca brand pens with tiny tips on them that allow me to paint headlights and taillights and other painfully small areas with relatively little trouble. I highly recommend getting yourself some as it is easier to use and is a damn sight cleaner too!