Monday, August 17, 2009

Kustom RideZ: Tri & Beetle Me

Kustom RideZ

Hola! Welcome to Gee's Garage! I am a Hot Wheels customer and I also like to customize my Hot Wheels. In this attempt, I used two castings: Hot Wheels Custom Volkswagen Beetle and Hot Wheels Tri & Stop Me. Actually the Tri & Stop Me was an accidental purchase, and I wanted to customize the VW Beetle for a long time but didn't know what to do with it!

custom tri & beetle me

Initially I intended to custom both together, but as I fiddled around with the pieces it struck me. They both fit really well together! Since I have just recently bought a second hand cordless Dremel, I decided to make full use of the cutter.

custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me


Cut the front portion of the chassis and rear boot lid off. I liked the mould of the rear engine, so I decided to use that as part of my emphasis. Chopped off the rear exhaust pipe, made some room at the bottom of the beetle interior so it sits on the tri & stop me chassis.

custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me

Test fitted the interior and chassis, fabricated floorboards and filled the gaps in between with putty. While the putty dries I worked on the bodyl stripped the paint and sprayed primer.

custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me
custom tri & beetle me

I then painted the interior to bring out the details from what I thought was a very good mould (why did they make the boot lid stuck shut to cover this detail in the first place, i wonder). I googled a picture of a vw beetle turbo kit attachment and using that as reference, I scratchbuilt it with leftover guitar strings. Once the putty had dried, I painted some portions of it flat black. I didn't paint it smooth to try and create a worn texture.

custom tri & beetle me

Painted the body two tone colours: Flat black and faded green-yellow. Put on some decals, attached a hinge for the body shell and chassis, then it is complete: The Tri & Beetle Me.

Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09
Custom #12 - 17/08/09

Monday, August 10, 2009

Work In Progress: Tri & Stop Me, VW Custom Beetle

I have disassembled the VW for a while already, and I have got no ideas as to how to custom it. The name already says its a custom beetle haha! Ah well, I got an idea now so I'm gonna work on it along with the Tri & Stop Me. Check this space for the completed work, or go to HWC Malaysia to check out the WIP thread!

custom tri & vw beetle