The VW Golf GTI falls under the hot hatch category and is a direct rival to Honda's Civic Type R, Renault's Megane R26 and Ford's Focus ST. A very capable car in real life then. Appropriate for my custom project too, since the previous car modded was an American Muscle Car and the one before that was a Japanese Tuner. It only seems logical that I add a European Hot Hatch to my list of customs. :-)
The car chosen this time is the Hot Wheels casting of the Volkswagen Golf GTI. I find that Hot Wheels took it a bit too far and overdid the Golf, with the somewhat disgusting wide body kit and holes in the hood. So I decided to mellow down the Golf GTI slightly to make it less aggresive but yet keep the edgy, tuner look.
Routine processes first: drill the rivets and take the car apart. As you can see from the picture, the Golf GTI is in an ugly shade of dark electric blue and wide body kit with really squarish and sharp cornered edges.
The body's original paint job is stripped down to the bare metal. Then using a small hacksaw, or a jeweler's saw, the wide body kit is trimmed off the die cast. This is done because like I mentioned before, the edges are a bit too squarish and I would like for the Golf GTI to look more streamlined. The square-ness of the original casting made the Golf GTI look box-like.
Next, the holes in the hood were filled up as I preferred a smooth hood, once again removing sharp corners and box-like shapes from the car. Then this is followed by a coat of primer, then the base paint job. I chosen red because it looks a lot more striking than the dull electric blue. :-) I wanted the car to have a semi-black hood, not entirely black as it seems to be the trend in modding this Golf GTI in real life. I liked it, so I decided to adopt that paint scheme. The areas that aren't black are masked up and then flat black is sprayed on top.
While the exterior body's paint coats dried, I shifted work to the interior. I fabricated 3-point harness seatbelts for the driver to make it look like he has a bucket seat in the driver's seat. Then I fitted and calibrated the wheels to match the chassis, and brake discs are also measured and fitted onto the chassis. As a finishing touch I painted the interior, giving it a chrome silver dash and console.
After the paint job was completely dry, the maskings were removed and detailing work followed. The front and back VW badges and plate number areas were painted and decals were applied onto the front, side and rear. The chassis was also painted and then detailings for the headlamps, rear lights and fog lights were attached and painted before the whole car was put back together and left to dry for the last time.
Then its complete! :-) Pictures of the custom Golf GTI below and I also took out the previous two customs; Mustang GT and Civic Si for the photoshoot. Enjoy the pictures below and I hope you had a good read! :-)
Project started: 16th September 2008
Project completed: 26th September 2008
The body's original paint job is stripped down to the bare metal. Then using a small hacksaw, or a jeweler's saw, the wide body kit is trimmed off the die cast. This is done because like I mentioned before, the edges are a bit too squarish and I would like for the Golf GTI to look more streamlined. The square-ness of the original casting made the Golf GTI look box-like.
Next, the holes in the hood were filled up as I preferred a smooth hood, once again removing sharp corners and box-like shapes from the car. Then this is followed by a coat of primer, then the base paint job. I chosen red because it looks a lot more striking than the dull electric blue. :-) I wanted the car to have a semi-black hood, not entirely black as it seems to be the trend in modding this Golf GTI in real life. I liked it, so I decided to adopt that paint scheme. The areas that aren't black are masked up and then flat black is sprayed on top.
While the exterior body's paint coats dried, I shifted work to the interior. I fabricated 3-point harness seatbelts for the driver to make it look like he has a bucket seat in the driver's seat. Then I fitted and calibrated the wheels to match the chassis, and brake discs are also measured and fitted onto the chassis. As a finishing touch I painted the interior, giving it a chrome silver dash and console.
After the paint job was completely dry, the maskings were removed and detailing work followed. The front and back VW badges and plate number areas were painted and decals were applied onto the front, side and rear. The chassis was also painted and then detailings for the headlamps, rear lights and fog lights were attached and painted before the whole car was put back together and left to dry for the last time.
Then its complete! :-) Pictures of the custom Golf GTI below and I also took out the previous two customs; Mustang GT and Civic Si for the photoshoot. Enjoy the pictures below and I hope you had a good read! :-)
Project started: 16th September 2008
Project completed: 26th September 2008
9 comments:
Sorry typo, I repost here..
PH has JDMike, MY has Gee.
Malaysia Boleh!!!
Unbelievable. You did the good job in very small parts. The Golf look totally difference with the original. You have a good art skill. Great!
BTW, can you let me know that how can you drill the rivet in nice holes like that? I try to do customize but when I drill, always got a big hole on the chassis, very ugly.. :(
WOW! job well done bro! its really awesome! and yea malaysia boleh! now i can learn from another sifu and nearer to me cuz in malaysia too! really like the flat black and it goes well with the red.. btw how did u paint the small vw logo and wordings on the car so well? its like so real.. how did u do that?
toycarsmy - thanks so much for the compliment! i still think im quite far from jdmike's standard, i hope to be as good as him! :-) malaysia boleh indeed!
tom - i used a drill press available in the mechanical project lab in my university. i have used a power drill before but the holes weren't as nice. as a general rule use a suitable drill bit and size (twist bit of about 4.5" to 5.5") and also make sure the drill bit is new, not worn out. i hope this information is useful to you! thanks for stoppng by and also for compliments! :-)
benpaul - the small vw logo is painted using a 0 pt nylon brush and tamiya paint. the casting already had the logo embossed on it, so it made my painting job easier. the nos/sparco/abt logos are printed on a clear, adhesive film and then stick-ed onto the body after the paint job. hope this helps! thank you too for the generous comments, i look forward to seeing some customs of your own soon! :-)
great job now eugene!!
the gti looked awesome!
theres just one thing... maybe it would look even better if you printed the decals black (the logo) instead of placing them in a black box background.
keep those mods coming! :)
ah okay mike, i will do that in the future! i don't really remember why i printed them in a black box now.. :-P
thanks for the tip and for stopping by! :-)
haha...finally have some time to drop by and witness ur new custom...been busy with preparation for raya ahaha
the car is awesome...the paintjob, the detailings, and i personally like the rims and the harness that u've made...really creative~
for the next custom...hoping that u cud consider blimp haha just kidding...but an european supercar might be a great idea tho...till then happy customizing and have a nice day elgee...
thank you for appreciating my works and for stopping by zint! glad you like it, and i dont think ill do a blimp sometime in the near future, it doesn't have wheels..just air. :-P
haha, do cast your vote on the car you want me to custom next!
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