Journey into the mind of a customiser and find out where I get my inspiration, how my ideas come to me, and why only one sock ever goes missing from the wash.

I originally shared this post on Live and Let Diecast but have decided to edit the original post, add additional ‘stuff’ and share it with you guys here. You can of course find the original article here –> Custom Hotwheels – With a Little Help from S&G

From Hotwheels Collector to Customiser

I love anything and everything in 1:64 scale and have watched my passion for collecting dissolve away as I have discovered the freedom and creativity that comes with customising Diecast Cars and creating entirely new designs from various Hot wheels castings. What I have found most interesting however has been the way my daily ‘hunt’ for cars has changed – and I bet you know exactly what I am talking about 😉

I used to search the racks/pegs desperately hoping to find a new model (or colour variation) of various JDM and European cars so I could expand my already oversized collections and I used to laugh at the stupid ‘peg warmers’ and other ghastly Hotwheels designs that were staring at me through the blister.

Oh how I laughed….at myself… in hindsight!

Now when I go searching of course it’s an entirely new experience, and the ‘Thrill of the Hunt’ has returned in full swing. I love looking through each casting and seeing what potential parts await my blade or dremel. Even the wheels are potentially useful (can anyone say Deep Dish? 😉 ) and as such no casting is safe from my prying eyes and wandering mind…

Unfortunately my wallet is also in the firing line… (so I made a meme – as you do)

You’ve Seen My Work But Have You Met My Inspiration?

As I alluded to earlier, some of the wildest creations I make all start with a little help from my good friends Shits & Giggles – or S&G for short 😉

Shits & Giggles is without doubt the best way to play custom hot wheels as it allows your creativity to run wild and removes any of that “Common Sense” and logic that always gets in the way and RUINS EVERYTHING!

What I wanted to do today was share some of these shits and Giggles ideas and in so doing provide a glimpse into the warped mind of a customiser…..

Enter at your own risk – and be sure to shut the door on your way out – it gets awfully drafty in here.

Shits & Giggles Concepts

Some of these concepts have since been made into customs, others are still at the initial concept stage – but NONE of them have been forgotten and (hopefully) you will see all these creations in the completed flesh at some point soon.

MY WILLY! The Piss-Take on the Pedal-Car

It all started with a meme actually… (if you haven’t already picked up, I like memes 😀 )

But soon became a reality…

Hey this is pretty cool! – and so I did what any good Cobra Do-Jo member would do and I “Finished Him!” (Karate Kid Reference FTW!!)

Matte black paint and neon green painted dragway real riders and I was happy with the elegant simplicity of it. So badass too 😀

But because I am easily entertained I decided to add a story – because as it happened this Skeletor dude was the most impatient bastard ever. He did love his pedal car though – not sure he needed to actually say the word pedal as he went along but whatever floats your boat I guess 😉

So Much Work For a Pun?!!?!

I love puns – and in response to the above (rhetorical) question I say there is never too much work when it comes to puns! Puns rock, end of argument.

So I’m looking at the Lamborghini Urus and thinking to myself how dreadfully horrible that name is. It honestly sounds like something you go to your Dr about.

“Hi doc, I think I have an enflamed Urus and it hurts to ….wee?” Exactly!

And then the pun came…..Imagine they made a pickup (Ute) version of the URUS?! The name would be hysterical but imagine the marketing campaigns:

“Drive the New Lamborghini Ute-Urus. It’s like being born again” or “The New Lamborghini Ute-Urus – performance plus and plenty of womb for the whole family”

GOLD!!!! And so here is my Ute-Urus (well as much as I was seriously willing to make at the time LOL)

Doesn’t look half bad either! Turns out making this for real was a good PUNt after all :p

 

Tankers and Tow-Trucks

Tankers and Tow Trucks are ‘so hot right now’ like OMG… and my concept ideas are nothing on some of the crazy ass stuff I’ve seen shared on Facebook and Instagram but that’s besides the point. In fact I am glad I brought that up because one of the things that holds many a customizer back is falling victim to the comparison game.

“Oh I’ll never be that good – so why bother…. I haven’t got access to the tools and stuff so I can’t do that…” etc etc.

Don’t be like that dudes and dudettes. Like peace man. Seriously though – when I first started I was amazed by some of the things people were creating. I still am! But now people are amazed at the stuff I am creating!?! … I think I’ve made my point 🙂

So… Oh TANKERS and TOWTRUCKS….

How Do You Avoid Fires if You Drive a Fire Truck?

Answer: … wait for it … You Drive a Dodge 🙂  … Why thank you, thank you all. I’ll be here all week. And don’t forget to try the veal!

I Built this Custom 77 Dodge Van Firetruck thingy at the last minute for a competition on Facebook and had Shits & Giggles to thank for the sudden inspiration and what turned out to be a pretty good looking mini fire engine… even if I do say so myself

Like any custom creation it starts with an idea and a basic cut or two to visualise the idea and see if the lines and ‘big picture’ works like it does in your head…

And then it’s time to play ‘raid the parts bin’…

*Like many of my custom creations this Dodge Fire …Van spent more time in bits (as I sussed out the how and where of getting it all to join together and look somewhat natural) than it did together.

Staring at Hot Wheels castings (cut up and otherwise) and selections of your parts bin can sometimes be enough to stir the creative juices and get you back on track to creating that badass custom you see so clearly in your head.

 

Hot Wheels Halloween Special

I put this Shits & Giggles custom together for Halloween but never got around to making it. The funny thing is that all the parts in the photo are just sitting there and no modifications were done at all. Pic turned out so well I never bothered actually making this thing…..*The skeleton has since moved to the Willy’s pedal car and is having way too much fun to want to get back in this thing anyway 😉

HOT TIP: Change the colour of your customs by adjusting the hue of the photo and see how it might look in other colours!

Customizing Hot Wheels… With Photoshop!?

Ok so it’s not exactly Customising but sometimes a little photochopping can make your custom photos really pop, or at the very least a little different from the norm 😉 … Here’s a couple of my favourite photoshop edits.

Who needs 1.21 Gigawatts when you’ve got a Q-Tip and photoshop… oh wait. It’s still 2016 isn’t it? D’OH!

And in case you’re wondering, Yes I totally make WHAAAA PTSHHHHHH… noises when I make these 😀

No Diorama? No Worries!
Just photoshop your custom Hotwheels into a new background.

Other Random Creations

There are too many other random Shits & Giggles creations to list so I will simply share a few more here. Note that I have shared many ‘concepts’ that are nothing more than one casting placed on a different base. I share these so as to give you some insight into how the whole process of creating and customising begins…. and speaking of which – and apologies for not having any examples per se – but what I often do is

I begin the whole customizing process by drawing a sketch of what I want my build to look like. This gives me basic lines and proportions and helps make the search for ‘donor parts’ that much easier.

 

Enjoy – and again, please remember to shut the door on your way out [of my head]

Bone Shaker Something something…

I actually stole the basic premise of this ‘idea’ and turned it into this custom (which took all of 20 minutes LOL) –>

so you see, the process does work!

33 Cord…Blimey?!

Hi Roller Top and Great Gatspeed base (no interior)

There’s definitely something here! Those lines are beautiful.

Custom Chevy Pickup – Since Completed 

I absolutely LOVE this casting. Kool Kombi indeed…

This Kool Kombi bike idea – purely for shits and giggles I might add turned out to be something after all. What you are seeing above is the official first WIP photo of what became my Kool Kombi Trike Dragster…. here’s a sneak peek for those that aren’t following me on Facebook or Instagram

Radio Flyer Wagon RatRod?

Now THIS is badass! Have done a lot more work to this (there’s a lot of cutting and grinding going on under the hood) and it is now well on its way to being completed. Stay tuned for the Radio Flyer Rat Rod

The Radio Flyer concept is one example where I actually drew a sketch first and then built it up based on my drawings

More Boneshaker Badassery

This custom creation became known as the Rocket Shaker – Half Rocket Oil Special and Half Bone Shaker. As you can see I literally placed all the bits in place, using bluetac to hold them together if necessary.

If you haven’t seen the finished product be sure to check it out HERE

 

And Last but not least, here’s a little something I threw together and ….am I allowed to LOVE my own creations this much? ….I loved the concept so much I basically stopped everything else until it was complete  – which as I am sure you are aware is now well and truly the case. (See it here in all it’s glory)

At first I was like…

and then I was like … !

And then…..

 

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