Latest projects (restorations & customs)

[Tinman]

You may use me again for the new decals, OK.

Good to know and I may need to take you up on the offer, thanks!

[Tinman]

Latest ESSO EXPLORATION Mercedes Unimog with Mercedes trailer. Truck bed has a cargo load and the trailer has a load of nine pipes. Truck has received a hub & tire upgrade, trailer has gained hubs & tires in place of basic wheels. Trailer started it's life as a Superfast but has been retrofit for regular wheels.

Click to enlarge.

[Tinman]

I made a box for the trailer too.

[Tinman]

Rescue K-13a ERF Concrete Truck

As usual, when these see heavy play (and play wear), the plastic gear is stripped out to make the barrel rotate. That doesn't bother me one bit and I just left the stripped gear out when I restored the model. I get to see how well I've done when I crop and view the photos I've taken. If I'm happy with the work, in the super close up shots, I know it will look killer in hand and on the display shelf. In this case there was a small ding on the roof, right above the right side windshield (towards the top outer corner). Never saw it until I viewed the photos because the light has to be on it just right. Even with that tiny flaw, I still love how nice it looks now (compared to the old beat up model it was yesterday).

[Tinman]

Oops, forgot to post the concrete truck pic that shows that ding better. When it it was bare metal, I couldn't see it. When it was in flat primer, it didn't show up. But by golly I sure noticed it in my photos of the finished product

The "before" pic:

[Tinman]

This one was a true "save" as it was starting to suffer white rust as well as some badly bent axles (and bent tanker trailer base). There is an error on this model as well. I laid up the cab/tractor in white primer and used the last of my white primer at that point. I then shot the trailer in a light gray primer, as that was all I had. This is the point where I made my error, I planned to top coat the model in a nice red lacquer finish. I know that the lacquer I use is sensitive to what is under the top coat. Bare metal gives it one color hue, gray primer another hue and white primer allows the paint to match the color chip. Had I been thinking, I would have placed a light coat of white lacquer on the trailer before putting on the final red top coat. But, no, the thinking cap wasn't on and I get a slightly different color hue on the cab than the trailer (trailer is a hair darker because of the gray primer).

[GHOSTHUNTER]

The difference does show on my VAIO laptop screen.

Ghosthunter.

[Tinman]

The difference does show on my VAIO laptop screen.

Ghosthunter.

I guess it will have to be like so many other Lesney models with mismatched color parts. The 43 Aveling Barford tractor shovel is a classic example, the shovel can be one color red and the driver base another red shade (and yellow shovels and tractor bodies two different shades of yellow).

You are seeing the third paint job on that trailer. The first time I applied the primer I got fish eyes all over.  Stripped and new primer and then the red.  The red blushed and had no sheen.  Started over and painted the next morning when humidity was low and third time was the charm.  During all that I never thought about the color shade difference from the light gray primer (a correction I had three chances to correct). Only when everything was dry, assembled and I went to hook up the tractor and trailer did I slap my forehead with the sudden realization of my (repeated) error. <DOH!>

I would have done it over ... again ... but I only had the one set of decals and they were already applied. This poor performance will surely have a negative effect on my fan mail and reduce my standing as a "social media influencer."

[Tinman]

Matchbox - Hotwheels Hybrid

[Tinman]

Nick Jones Code 2