Advice on painting hothead/matchbox cars for Gaslands

[mellis1644]

Ok with the new Gaslands game out I can just raid the toy box and grab a few cars but long term it would be cool to repaint/customize some of them. It also seems that to stop the cars rolling around something more needs to be done.

However, although I have been painting models for year (at a vaguely ok level) I have no clue how to start on doing this type of thing on hot wheels/matchbox cars. I'm not the most artistically talented person but enjoy the creative aspects of the model. So I'm one who needed the GW lessons and lots of advice on painting toys generally.

So is there an intro for a gamer to start doing this? I found loads of Hot Wheels collector repaint video's but that's not really what I'm looking for. Is there a 'gamer level primer' for doing these little cars and making them more mad max style?

Some of the questions I have are such things as I see some people take the models apart and strip them but is that required? Can you just undercoat and paint over them - do you have to do any special prep to do this? I assume either way proper car spray paints would be required for the undercoat.

How do you stop them rolling around - is it as easy as just glue on the wheels or do people base the models?

Thanks for the help/advice.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

I have not used Die Casts for gaming, though I have a number for "later use".


I have taken the above apart so I can spray it (it has screws holding it together). Theoretically you might want to strip the metal body before respraying but I am going to spray over the base coat.

I will use either Citadel or Army Painter spray. Halfords (acrylic) primer would work.

If you want to reuse the window glazing, then taking it apart makes the painting easier however they are often riveted which requires the rivet to be drilled out. In that case masking is the only option.

Others on the forum will have worked with them.

I would use blutack to inhibit rolling, but superglue in the axles would work.

[mellis1644]

I sprayed one hot wheels car as a trial today at lunch and the paint seems to have 'taken' and bonded to it. That means that standard painting (and subsequent varnishing) hopefully can be used from this point. I may lose a tiny bit of detail on the model but I can live with that. Gluing the wheels is tough it seems but I have ideas for that as well.

I plan on the final model having black or painted windows. I'm not really concerned about seeing empty cars driving around, so black or painted clear windows actually will work better for gaming than keeping the glass see through. I likely will add some plasticard armor (and weapons etc.) which may help on that regard as well.

Will see how this works but seems like this may be worth a few trial cars so I'll update this anyway.

[von Lucky]

Post Apoc means you are encouraged to be fast and rough in your painting:
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=100837.0

[zemjw]

There are a few things to try/watch out for, depending on the materials involved.

I always dismantle the cars, partly to keep the windscreens separate and partly to get at the interior. If you're going with black windows this may not matter so much. It's also good fun, just remember to keep track of what goes where

With metal, it's usually enough to use matt spray varnish on the model. This tones down the "toy car" look and gives the weathering paints something to grip onto. I use really cheap craft paints for weathering, usually applied with a bit of sponge. If you do want to change the colour of the vehicle, normal model sprays (eg Humbrol) work. I have stripped some back to bare metal, but it wasn't necessary and the chemicals were very unpleasant.

With plastic, the big problem is the quality of the plastic. I have had primer bubble up off the surface and was able to scrape huge lumps off without applying much pressure at all. What I have found worked (recommended by someone on these forums) is the plastic primer used for patio furniture. It etches the surface and actually makes it feel slightly rough when dry. I use Valspar Plastic Primer. It's meant to be grey, but dries pretty clear, which means I don't need to repaint the model if I don't want to.

To stop wheels moving I've used both superglue and epoxy. Both work equally well.

[Hawkeye]

I've just been asking the same question in the Workbench section, by chance!

[Grimmnar]

Ok with the new Gaslands game out I can just raid the toy box and grab a few cars but long term it would be cool to repaint/customize some of them. It also seems that to stop the cars rolling around something more needs to be done.

However, although I have been painting models for year (at a vaguely ok level) I have no clue how to start on doing this type of thing on hot wheels/matchbox cars. I'm not the most artistically talented person but enjoy the creative aspects of the model. So I'm one who needed the GW lessons and lots of advice on painting toys generally.

So is there an intro for a gamer to start doing this? I found loads of Hot Wheels collector repaint video's but that's not really what I'm looking for. Is there a 'gamer level primer' for doing these little cars and making them more mad max style?

Some of the questions I have are such things as I see some people take the models apart and strip them but is that required? Can you just undercoat and paint over them - do you have to do any special prep to do this? I assume either way proper car spray paints would be required for the undercoat.

How do you stop them rolling around - is it as easy as just glue on the wheels or do people base the models?

Thanks for the help/advice.

http://gaslands.com/preview-raiding-the-toy-box/

[nic-e]

Try this guy, I watch his videos despite never doing anything with hotwheels.

https://www.youtube.com/user/baremetalHW/featured?disable_polymer=1

i'd recommend giving any smooth surfaces a very fine sanding just to give the paint something to grip. matchbox stuff tends to be sprayed with enamel and then oven dried, so it's VERY lovely and smooth.

[mellis1644]

I tried just a black undercoat and then a repaint - with a few mods for some of my sample cars. The first three have come out ok. They are not going to win any awards but should be good for the gaming table.

You can see pictures and comments here : https://mellis1644.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/gaslands-cars/

But below are a couple pf shots - my first car repaint:


The collection of all three repaints:

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Well done.

[Arundel]

Mellis, those look wonderful, so I don't know that you need as much help as you think you do. However, here are a few sites that might inspire:

Check out Walt O'Hara's excellent blog; he has a set of rules (which I haven't seen) called White Line Fever for free: https://misternizz.wordpress.com/2015/03/30/in-which-the-author-reveals-some-recent-conversion-projects-for-white-line-fever-a-game-he-will-run-at-historicon-and-at-game-camp/

This site is helpful, with lots of eye candy: http://www.ironhands.com/rwmodels.htm

I've heard people rave about the rules called Axles and Alloys (have to love the title!). Go here: http://axlesalloys2.blogspot.com/ Scroll to the right and open the pdf at New Rulebook OCTOBER 2014. Even if you aren't interested in the rules themselves, there are some excellent tips for making your own vehicles. Extremely handy.

Finally, do yourself a favour and visit Stan Johansen's company. There you can find figures (if desired) as well as some excellent armour add-ons to help muck up your machines. Go here: http://www.stanjohansenminiatures.com/Road.htm

Hope this helps, and keep us posted on your progress!