Crushed Candy – ‘Tooned 55 Gasser

My latest creation, a ‘Manga Tuner’ inspired Cartoon custom of the now infamous (and stupidly expensive) RLC 55 Gasser aka ‘The Candy Striper’ came out rather well (even if I do say so myself).
Here’s the story of how I downloaded and played Candy Crush and got it all so very wrong (or did I get it oh so right? -insert twilight zone music- )

I actually created this custom as part of a competition on Facebook. The fact that it came 14th out of 17 entries and was beaten by wheel swaps and repaints just makes me laugh and is a good segue into reminding all and sundry that your work is your work and you should enjoy it and be proud of it regardless of what others think. Most competitions [on Facebook] are a popularity contest anyway so take them (and the ensuing results) with a grain of salt. Don’t stop participating by any means! They are a great way to get motivated and inspired and at the end of the day we are all learning and growing as customisers.

Cutting the Casting Crushing the Candy

The first thing I needed to do was cut the casting down to size – and this is the only part of the process where I will go into real detail, as I think there are some good tips here in relation to cutting and joining castings together as seamlessly as possible… so yeah, I’ll just share that tip now then (geez Alex, you really delivered that one well?!)

• I use a jewellers saw (hacksaw) and a combination of 1 – 5 thickness blades to cut all my castings. 1 being the thinner option and usually the best option as it takes almost no metal away (but be prepared to break up to 5 blades every time)
• Place the car over a cutting board with lines and rulings on it and use tape to evenly mark the front and back cuts you are making (or whatever cuts you are making – ensure they are even and parallel)
• place masking tape over the panel you are cutting and then draw your line on the masking tape.
• Every so often check and confirm you are still on the line – a jewellers hacksaw has a tendency to cut down  to the left or right depending on what hand you are using
• If the end of the saw is at risk of touching another part of the casting then protect with multiple layers of masking tape so you don’t scratch or nick your casting.
• Once cut and measured and you are happy, place a tiny amount of superglue on one side and join casting. Keep redoing until it is perfect (Trust me, you’ll kick yourself if you accept “close enough” at this point)
• ONce the glue has set you can then use epoxy putty to create a seamless join.

Now for the Manga Tuner Roof. Yeah NOPE

I was originally going to use the Manga Tuner roof since it was this casting (and the subsequent feature article I published) that inspired this build but once I had cut and shortened the casting and placed the roof on top I realised the entire shape was wrong and completely took away from that infamous ’55 Chevy roof line.

My only option therefore was to take the roof that I had already removed from the original 55 Gasser casting and place it in a vice. I then very gently (and very forcefully) bent one end of the roof straight down with pliers. I was careful not to kink the roof as it bent although in hindsight I think it was just luck really – I mean if it had started to kink in the middle there isn’t much I could have done about it.

As it was though – came out sahweeet 😀 (So sweet that once I had laid the candy apple paint down I realised it was too clean to be covered with (pink and white striped) decals

I then used styrene rods as the new pillars. Epoxy putty would cover the joins and the existing rail in the roof. You can also see how at this point I have only superglued the join together. This will hold sufficiently while getting the rest of the casting ready but remember that it is still only being held by the tiniest drop so don’t be too rough with it (or it will fall apart on you and all your styrene rods and roof will fall apart and you will have to start again from scratch…APPARENTLY! I heard anyway. There was this guy…. (seriously though, it was a rough afternoon)

Next step is to apply your putty and then paint your first layer of undercoat.

These below images are a great lesson actually because you will almost always find a lot of imperfections that you otherwise might not have noticed once you have painted it white (or any one consistent colour). After these photos were taken I (obviously) went and did two more coats of epoxy putty until you could almost not see the join. I also had to build up the base of the roof pillars so they didn’t look so ridiculous.

Next I need to check if that delicious engine from Nicho Goodies (Facebook and eBay) would fit…

It’s all about that base – and it was a little bit of trouble if I’m honest

Interior Details and the finished product in all her squished glory

If you want to know how I achieved that Candy spectraflame paintjob even though I clearly did not start with a polished casting then check out the how to guide or click the link you just passed 🙂

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