My Hobby

[Bronzesnake]

I didn't see a section for Hobbies so I thought I'd try it out here.
I love die cast cars and trucks.
I have well over three thousand of them and my grandfather moved into our home when i was about three, and he moved from Yorkshire England.
Grand dad was great and he bought me and my brother our very first Corgi die cast cars.
He bought us a bunch of them!
I remember the utter joy I felt each time I got a new one, and my joy could not be contained when i got my first 1966 Corgi 1:24 scale and a 1:64 scale Bat mobile!! Two Bat mobiles in one day!!!
After that I got the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Oldsmobile, and then the Austin Martin DB5 James Bond casino Royal car that had an ejector passenger seat, a pair of front bumper machine guns and a rear window bullet proof shield all of these were operated with their own special levers on the base of the car!!!
I also got a Monkey mobile in each scale, and The Saint's Volvo. There was more James Bond cars such as the Delorean Submarine car, then there was the Green Hornet car...oh the list went on and on.
Then in late 1966 my brother and i went to the gas station with dad and we got free Red Line Hot wheels!!!! NO WAYYYYY!!!!! WE freaked so bad dad took the cars away from us for a whole minute!!! You can bet we were as good as pure heavenly minted gold when he gave them back!!!
Oh it was so sweet.
I eventually got into the Dinky line from yup, good old fashioned Grandpa!
Anyway... I actually restore and customise die cast cars and trucks.
I have sources where I buy spare parts and specialised paints for example, the Red Line Hot wheels had a special system where the bodies are buffed out to an almost chrome clear finish, then a special formula of pain called Spectra Flame is used and the polished die cast shows through the paint which gives these cool cars their sweet colour effects.
I use an airbrush.

I have done some really cool custom jobs...anyway here are a few shots.
If anyone is interested I'll post more...
Some of the shots were cut off for some reason, I'm not quite sure why, but anyway you get the idea...

Here's one that was in pretty bad shape. At this point I have stripped the paint, and sanded out the damage and polished it up.

Here it is painted...

This one was in sad shape, so I disasembled it...

and went to work...

Got a little paint scheme going...

then...changed my mind and experimented with a purple and chrome theme...

then went back to the origional idea...

Here's another job...
This one was hurting...

I decided to go with a custom theme...
Ya, this was the right engine for this old soldier

Now she's feeling like a real lady again...

Hey my daughter is a special young lady, so i did a job just for her...

This one was in really sad condition.
The black paint was all chipped off, it had deep scratches on the body and the wheels were horrible, so...
I stripped it clean, sanded out the scratches and gave it my own paint scheme.
I call it ...

OK just one more...
This was just a plain blue truck with no engine showing just a hood.

The body was blue and the wheels were just plain boreing, so I threw some of the wife's nail polish in the old airbrush, I culled a chassy from a street rod from Johnny Lightning and went to town!
I cut out an engine from a parts car, then cut out a hole in the hood.
I sawed off the old chassy and installed this new sweet cool one. Then I stripped off that old blue paint and sprayed on this salmon colour. I finished it off with a couple of coats of clear coat and put her all together!...
try not to love it too much my friends

Here's a couple of alternate colour schemes I'm working with...

The ladies enjoy this hobby just as much as us fellas do!

That's it for now my friends...

 

[PouringRain]

Wow, Bronzesnake, cars is such a..... guy...... thing. :o I collect porcelain dolls. :D Such a.... girl.... thing.

I am teasing you about the guy thing. Cool cars. Great hobby.


And I really do collect dolls.


I also used to collect dollhouse miniatures and I liked to build and decorate dollhouses. I had to get rid of all my dollhouses in my man moves, but I still have the furniture packed away in a box. I also have a collection of white tiger figurines. And Books! I love books! My final (I think final) hobbies are gardening and sewing.

 

[Bronzesnake]

Wow, Bronzesnake, cars is such a..... guy...... thing. :o I collect porcelain dolls. :D Such a.... girl.... thing.

I am teasing you about the guy thing. Cool cars. Great hobby.


And I really do collect dolls.


I also used to collect dollhouse miniatures and I liked to build and decorate dollhouses. I had to get rid of all my dollhouses in my man moves, but I still have the furniture packed away in a box. I also have a collection of white tiger figurines. And Books! I love books! My final (I think final) hobbies are gardening and sewing.

Hey that's fantastic!
I love all collections and hobbies. My mom had a huge doll collection.
Hey what's your name?
Why not post some shots of your stuff?

take care

John Bronzesnake

 

[handy]

Cool collection, John! Brings back memories of my brother and I playing with his Hot Wheels set, the one with the orange track that you could loop de-loop. If we worked it just right, he would let his car go, I would let mine go and they'd crash at the top of the loop. :yes

He kept most of his cars (very few broke, surprisingly enough!) and now his sons have them.

Since I'm a girl, I didn't collect cars, but I had a number of plastic horses, little ones and my daughter now has well over 100 of the little horses.

 

[Bronzesnake]

Cool collection, John! Brings back memories of my brother and I playing with his Hot Wheels set, the one with the orange track that you could loop de-loop. If we worked it just right, he would let his car go, I would let mine go and they'd crash at the top of the loop. :yes

He kept most of his cars (very few broke, surprisingly enough!) and now his sons have them.

Since I'm a girl, I didn't collect cars, but I had a number of plastic horses, little ones and my daughter now has well over 100 of the little horses.

Hey handy, you'd be surprised at how many women are into this hobby.
I know a few who do work that blows most men right out of the water.

Collecting die cast was a boys thing pretty much until the Hot Wheels came out Handy.
Mattel actually targeted girls with their hot colors and especially the pinks.
Today some women have extensive collections and this is actually a great time to get in because you can get some really nice cars for a pretty descent price Handy.
I get most of my Red Lines off e-bay.
Actually, come to think of it i get most of my other die cast from e-bay these days as well.
Another good source is flea markets and garage sales, but Goodwill is pretty good although it tends to come in spurts with Goodwill stores and you really have to root around and rummage to find the good stuff.

I started out in restoration by buying some wrecks off e-bay for a really good price. You can get some bulk sales fairly easy this way.
Then I bought a good air brush from good ole e-pay and I found a forum that had lots of restorers on and got great tips that way.
The parts can be found easily on line as well.
Then I just got at it.
My first few attempts were sad but I kept at it and now I'm pretty good at it!

If anyone wants to get in on this hobby I would be more than happy to help get you started by providing resources where you can get parts and tips.
I'd be glad to give advice on how much to bid on any particular car as well, as I have gained a good knowledge of the hobby.

Do you know that some of these Red Lines are worth thousands of dollars each?
It's true. The record is over $75,000 for one car!
Well I’d love to stay and add more but I have to pick my son up from the gym.

Take care Handy.

John Bronzesnake

 

[JDMhadto]

Fantastic job. You're quite the tenacious one.

I love the green one and would have to say that the black and purple scheme you had intended for it is the one I believe suits it well.

 

[Bronzesnake]

Fantastic job. You're quite the tenacious one.

I love the green one and would have to say that the black and purple scheme you had intended for it is the one I believe suits it well.

Thank you very much.
Actually it was purple and chrome, not black.
But I know I like it still and will look to buy another "sand crab" to use the paint scheme on.
I'll be sure to post it once I'm through.

Right now I have six large scale (1:24) Bat Mobile's to restore!
As well as a Olds 442 Police Cruiser!
It's all white with the wee blue police light on the roof and decals which read 'Police...ahh heck I'll just get a picture from the www and shop ya...

This is about the same condition mine is except this one has a red bulb where mine has a blue one.
Anyway, when I'm done it'll look like it just rolled of the Mattel Red Line ot Wheels assembly line!

John Bronzesnake

 

[airintriana]

wowwww!! great collection, dude!!

I dont have any special collection like u do.. it's so great to see people who can maintain their stuff quite good..

 

[Luci]

Wow, this is really great!
I don't like real cars... but I definitely do like the little ones!
I love specially your green-yellow one. But it's good job on all of these!

 

[Bronzesnake]

Thank you so much airintriana and Luci all the way from Czechia!!
I see you are a music lover Luci.
I am a lead vocalist in a couple of bands.
One of the bands is a Beatles/Lennon?McCartney group, and the other is heavy rock! Quite the range no?

Bronzesnake

 

[Luci]

I think Czechia isn't even an "official" word, but here I am promoting its usage because my country needs a one-word international name!
Singing is a great hobby too; unfortunately mine is horrible. :P But I listen to it all the time... in these last weeks I study for my exams, while listening to metal at the same time. XD

 

[Bronzesnake]

I think Czechia isn't even an "official" word, but here I am promoting its usage because my country needs a one-word international name!
Singing is a great hobby too; unfortunately mine is horrible. :P But I listen to it all the time... in these last weeks I study for my exams, while listening to metal at the same time. XD

What are you into?

Bronzesnake

 

[Mike]

Man, I've been a guy for most of my life...in fact all of it! But I never got into hotwheels. Even as a kid, if a friend would want to play with them, I would, but I didn't get it. Okay, so I'll push this thing over here. Now what? Well, I guess I'll back it out and push it over there. Before long, I'd wander over and start burning something with a magnifying glass. I got into slot cars, remember getting Power Pass so we could change lanes. That was cool.

This is great for you! I just never got it. Same thing with GI Joes.

This is an impressive collection!

 

[Bronzesnake]

Man, I've been a guy for most of my life...in fact all of it! But I never got into hotwheels. Even as a kid, if a friend would want to play with them, I would, but I didn't get it. Okay, so I'll push this thing over here. Now what? Well, I guess I'll back it out and push it over there. Before long, I'd wander over and start burning something with a magnifying glass. I got into slot cars, remember getting Power Pass so we could change lanes. That was cool.

This is great for you! I just never got it. Same thing with GI Joes.

This is an impressive collection!

LOL! Hey, I did my share of soaking parachute soldiers with gas and lighting them up also!
thanks man!

John

 

[jasoncran]

chechyna that i think how we americans spell it. hmm that is near Georgia and the caspian sea.