# Making a body mold



## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I dont know if this is even remotely possible but has anyone out there made a mold from a matchbox or hotwheels body and put it on an HO car? I found a ferarri hot wheels car that would make an awesome handling car. I remember seeing something a long time ago where a guy made an open box about the size of a body and poured resin over it, then he picked it apart when it dried and he had a new body. There are some really nice hot wheels and matchbox cars that have a short enough wheel base to make a body out of it. If anyone has any helpful advice or links that you've found on the Net I'd appreciate some suggestions, good or bad. If it cant be done I guess I can live with that. Any help would be appreciated!

~Dan


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## gear buster (Dec 1, 2005)

Bew,

The hotwheels are some awsome looking cars. The problem with hotwheels is the wheelbase. If you are using them for tjets or AFX molds you need to cut the body up and shorten the wheelbase on some of the designs.It takes some work but with a little JB weld ,patients and sanding it can be made into a neat looking car for a mold.The cars will work on Tyco widepan chassis with not much problem.As for mold making I have not made any molds. Just made the shells for the molds.
I will leave the casters tell you the anceint secret of casting.  
Hope this give you a little insight to using hotwheels.
(matchbox is a little closer)


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

I bought an 07 ferrari 599 GTB, its a really long wheel base. So it would definitely require chopping. The way this particular body is setup you could easily chop some off the front fenders by the door hinges and it would work.

The other one I have is a Datsun 240Z. Its my favorite of my hotwheels and as is, it would actually fit a SG+ Indy chassis. But honestly I wanted to get these onto AFX chassises. So both will require some cutting. Either way, both COULD be made to fit with some TLC. I just need more info on how to get into the mold making.


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## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

Can the chassis be modified instead of the bodies?


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

You'd have to make the chassises all 3/16 to 1/4" longer. That doesnt make much sense to me, it hurts the handling of the car.


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

The old Tyco 440 cars with the pan chassis were a longer wheelbase, although I don't know if they were long enough to fit under a hot wheels molded body. What I have done in the past is vacuform a body I like, then make either a resin or plaster mold, and then alter that mold. This helps in two ways; you don't ruin the original car in case it's valuable, and it also allows you to make your own original touches. You can make a clay relief as well, I just use my vacuformer becuase that's what I'm used to. I'm in the process of tying to do a Ford Fusion NASCAR body for a slot car, so far it looks like crap, but I haven't given up yet.


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## micyou03 (Apr 8, 2003)

How about mounting the front wheels to the body like on the Lead Sleds Dash did?


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## Scafremon (Dec 11, 2006)

Dan,

Here is a webpage I had saved to review later. Look about halfway down the page. Not sure if this will help you or not.

http://routedtrack.hobby-site.com/html/cars.html


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## BewstdGT (Jan 4, 2005)

Thanks Jeff, that really helped. At least I can try this now down the road. Priority one is still finish the track but when thats done this will keep my excited to keep going.


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

I make resin cars pretty much entirely out of diecasts. Mostly matchbox, since they seem to magically match up the dimensions of tyco widepan lwb, but I've done some hotwheels, majorette, and others when it was a bodystyle I really wanted. Heres a link to some of my stuff, I sell raw bodies on ebay from time to time.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/grungerockjeeper/album/576460762340282934


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## Pete McKay (Dec 20, 2006)

Grunger, could you do a resin body off of a vacuformed body? I just did a 1970 Pinto Mini-stocker that would be great as a resin cast, more so than as a vacuformed body since you can detail resin a lot more.


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

Pete McKay said:


> Grunger, could you do a resin body off of a vacuformed body? I just did a 1970 Pinto Mini-stocker that would be great as a resin cast, more so than as a vacuformed body since you can detail resin a lot more.


Could be done, depending on the car. Thing is, what chassis is it meant to fit? Also, remember that Tyco has done 3 different pintos (super pinto, funny pinto, roughrider pinto), AFX had a funny pinto, Ideal TCR had a dirt track pinto similar to the roughrider, Matchbox had one, and now Auto World has a pro street version coming up. So the real question is how is your diecast different from those? I try not to re-do bodystyles that are already out there too much. But your project sounds interesting just the same...


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

Hi,

Yes, I've been doing exactly this (just finished the Datsun 260Z last night) - you can have a look at my work on the forums: http://neophytte.mine.nu/forums/ or on my Routed Track site http://routedtrack.hobby-site.com/ - although the latter hasn't been updated with the 260Z yet. If you'd like to buy one or two, drop me a line as I was going to pop them on<a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=1606754&mpre=http%3A//www.ebay.com"> eBay!</a>.

Cheers

Richard


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

The exact forum discussion on moulding is: http://neophytte.mine.nu/forum/forum.pl?fid=05&topic_id=1151130190

Sorry for the double post!

Richard


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

grungerockjeepe said:


> I make resin cars pretty much entirely out of diecasts. [snip]
> http://new.photos.yahoo.com/grungerockjeeper/album/576460762340282934


Hi GrungeRockJeepe,

I noticed that's a Yahoo Australian site (and a Holden Ute!), are you in Oz? I'm in Perth.

Cheers

Richard


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

neophytte said:


> Hi GrungeRockJeepe,
> 
> I noticed that's a Yahoo Australian site (and a Holden Ute!), are you in Oz? I'm in Perth.
> 
> ...



Austrailian? You must be seeing something Im not. Im in the States. Portland, OR to be exact. But yep, thats a Holden panel. Sweet bodystyle. Speaking of Utes, I was checking some 'real' ones out on ebay....Man you guys get some cool stuff over there! 2-door Nissan Patrols, Holden and Ford Utes. And I love the Sandman type vans you have over there. Wish we'd get some of those, instead of like 40 thousand different 4-door SUVs...


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## neophytte (Sep 14, 2006)

grungerockjeepe said:


> Austrailian? You must be seeing something Im not. Im in the States. Portland, OR to be exact. But yep, thats a Holden panel. Sweet bodystyle. Speaking of Utes, I was checking some 'real' ones out on<a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=1606754&mpre=http%3A//www.ebay.com"> eBay!</a>....Man you guys get some cool stuff over there! 2-door Nissan Patrols, Holden and Ford Utes. And I love the Sandman type vans you have over there. Wish we'd get some of those, instead of like 40 thousand different 4-door SUVs...


Oops, sorry, thought it came up with an Australian URL (probably wishful thinking!).

Heh, true, but you guys get Corvettes and Mustangs and all the things we want over here (and are damned expensive!!). Anyway, loved your work - what is your eBay name as I wouldn't mind to get some raw casts from you?

Cheers

Richard


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## grungerockjeepe (Jan 8, 2007)

My<a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-1751-2978-71/1?AID=5463217&PID=1606754&mpre=http%3A//www.ebay.com"> eBay!</a> name is Jeepman1974, and my paypal/email address is [email protected]. I have castings of the Jeep Wrangler and Grand Cherokee up right now as well as a lot of seconds. If you're interested in some bodies, just take a look back at that photo page and tell me what you'd be interested in. the molds for the Mini Cooper and 2-door Cherokee sport are finished, but I can cast up any of the rest for you. I quoted prices of $12 + your choice of shipping on here for single cars. But if you have a multiple order, we can work from there.


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## Slot Dawg (Feb 4, 2007)

Dan,
I have best luck when I cast the body into plastic then start modifying and fitting to chassis. Once you have it right, go with it and mold the real thing. This way you get a lot of chances to get it right. Plus, plastic is so much more forgiving than metal when it comes to cutting and hacking. There are also a lot more ways to shape and build up plastic.
Regards,
Bill


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## Montoya1 (May 14, 2004)

micyou03 said:


> Can the chassis be modified instead of the bodies?


The chassis I was hoping to make with the Judge would have an option for a 1.9'' wheelbase. Hopefully that would open up the way to do some of these HW cars. Or, more to the point, the Norev Audi R8 in proper proportions.

Trouble is, Judge has drawings from me but I have not heard back in a while and I do'nt want to pester him whilst the ball is in his court....


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