Things to Waste my Time on

As mentioned previously, I was trying to overcome some sort of creative block, that origined from a severe case of analysis paralysis.  To stop piling up more and more WIPs and to get back to my roots in this hobby I decided to do a few quick and dirty projects.  The car is supposed to be part of a street race beginner team. This was a totally different approach. It's a wild Frankenstein kind of vehicle. No two parts of it came from the same source. The body is from a Matchbox roller, the chassis from a Hot Wheels dune buggy. Engine and roll cage came from the bits box. So did the grille, that probably belonged to a Maisto hot rod. The whole thing is put together rather crudely, without an interior of any kind, and some massive gaping holes. But I decided, I didn't care about that. I am actually quite fond of the hot rod shape I managed to get. And it was a blast to build. The difficult part will be finding a partner that fits in aesthetic and is an equally wild mix. I freehan...

 As mentioned in my last post I was trying to overcome some sort of creative block, that origined from a severe case of analysis paralysis.  To stop piling up more and more WIPs and to get back to my roots in this hobby I decided to do a few quick and dirty projects. One approach was using a car that did already have a lot of Gaslands vibes - Ruff Trek, which is based on a Holden Ute. It already came with a rollbar and a push bar. The truck bed with all his details came from another Hot Wheels or Matchbox.  The gun is from a 1/72 Airfix or similar brand kit from my bits box, slightly enhanced by some greeble The overall aethetic was of course inspired by the first Mad Max movie. The color scheme is taken from a different Australian movie or TV series I don't remember the name of.

I've learned a new expression. Analysis Paralysis - a feeling of being unable to make a decision due to overthinking the problem and considering too many options. It's characterized by excessive analysis, contemplation, and a fear of making a mistake, leading to a delay in making a decision or even a complete inability to move forward. Actually I know this concept too well. My pile of unfinished WIPs is constantly growing, so is the pile of project cars in my boxes.  Having so many options to spend my spare time on, having so many interetsts and hobbies doesn't help. Then, if I happen to decide working on my hobby, again there are so many options. And since I upgraded my game, using more expensive materials, the fear of ruining something has grown. I hate to waste time. The prospect of also wasting money is not helping. Another problem is the opposite of Dunning-Kruger-Effect. The better I get, the more techniques I learn, the higher my own expectations. It's become har...

 I finally started working on my pile of shame of forever WIPs. The first finished result is this. The Rat Bus. It started out as a diecast 1/72 scale model of a Mercedes-Benz coach. I did some heavy kibashing here. There's at least four different Hot Wheels and two Maisto cars that donated parts to this build.  I also tested some new painting techniques. For the cab I spray coated the whole thing in a rusty brown primer, then added acrylic color with a sponge on top of it. The graffiti is done with Posca markers. I used Citadel Technical Typhus Corrosion and Dry Rust for extra rust and stains. The Wheels come from a Maisto trailer and hot rod The interior is painted, but my sh***y iPhone camera doesn't get that Engine was kindly donated by a Hot Wheels truck called Rat Rig The Citadel rust effects make things much easier Me sketching some graffiti What I started with

Recently I started doing some basic beginners' teams again, consisting of a buggy and a car, each armed with a machine gun. The idea was to try out a few different looking designs, but keep the effort on a moderate level. Here is the third team: Bangers & Mesh Had the Morris for some time. Looked for a partner. I wanted to use a British car. But not a Land Rover. And all the Jags and cabs I had were weirdly off scale. So I found this really vintage Ford Zodiak. The buggy Matchbox Morris Minor Saloon. I had so much fun to hot rod this incredibly tame car. The Wheels are salvaged from other Hot Wheels. So is the engine and the roll cage. The car This is a wild one. The Ford Zodiak MK IV was the upmarket brother of the Ford Zephyr. This started as a Matchbox model from 1968. I got it badly beaten, hood and engine missing. I gave it new wheels (from a Hot Wheels car) and a new engine. Made the little Lewis machine gun as an afterthought. When I found the wing in my bits box, I just...

Recently I started doing some basic beginners' teams again, consisting of a buggy and a car, each armed with a machine gun. The idea was to try out a few different looking designs, but keep the effort on a moderate level. Here is the second team: The Killing Joke Some time ago I had made this buggy . So I decided to give it a wing man. Unfortunately next to every possible other car the buggy looked huge in scale. So I decided to remake it in a smaller version. Had to slaughter a premium for that. The Buggy I used a 2024 Hot Wheels Meyers Manx. It's hard to turn such a jolly hippie car into a mean looking wasteland racer. Some chopping was done in the rear to make room for a gunner. I liked the wheels, so I kept them. The gun is from Implements of Carnage II, the other parts came from my bits boxes. The Car Hot Wheels '57 Plymouth Fury  I love the rust effects on this. Used Citadel Typhus Corrosion Technical paint The Wheels are salvaged from another Hot Wheels car. I lowere...

Recently I started doing some basic beginners' teams again, consisting of a buggy and a car, each armed with a machine gun. The idea was to try out a few different looking designs, but keep the effort on a moderate level. Here is the first team: Mediocre I think it's pretty obvious where the inspiration for those came from. The Buggy  I used a Matchbox Ford Model B Coupe as base. The car looks pretty neat as it is. Maybe one day I will try to do a more detailled Cranky Black.  Front Wheels: Hot Wheels, Rear Wheels: 3rd-party, Gun: cheap Chinese 1/72 Tank model The Car A Hot Wheels '59 Chevy Impala gave its life for this Sawed off the trunk cover, widened the wheel arches with a tremel Gun and oil barrel are from Implements of Carnage. Wheels are 3rd party More views of the whole bunch:

 And how this affects building miniatures for Gaslands. 1/64. That's a scale most people out there who like toy cars are familiar with. The most common brands for relatively cheap and nice to play with diecast toy cars may be Mattel's Hot Wheels and Matchbox. Recently Majorette and Maisto have joined the game. Majorette slightly upmarket, Maisto depending on product line. They have some super cheap cars in 1/64 and some more like Hot Wheels premium range. And they normaly are considered as 1/64 scale. 1/64ish probably, more or less... At least when growing up Hot Wheels and Matchbox for us were synonyms for 1/64. So what is a scale, what does 1/64 mean anyways? Scale ratio is a tool, which helps to make models or maps or projection of real things in a different size. It states how the size of the model is relative to size of the original. 1/64 simply means: 1 cm in my model represents 64 cm in my original. That means if a Hot Wheels model of a car is about 7 cm long, the origin...

  So I got myself a rotating display. Now I need a better camera. And a tripod maybe. The first car is a Hot Wheels '55 Bel Air Gasser . The second a Corgi Junior Land Rover Tow Truck . The Chevy lost part of its roof and got a truck bed from a HW '40 Ford  . The gun is scrap built from some electronic parts. The Landrover got a new roof from cardboard and a new chassis from a HW Land Rover Defender . The rest of the pieces came from my bits box.

 Finally after some hiatus I found the time to start painting cars again. Chevy Bel Air pickup Donator: Hot Wheels Bel Air Gasser Land Rover Wrecker Donator car: Corgi Junior Land Rover Tow Truck