Matchbox Toyota Tacoma Custom

How about this one?? I was glad to finally find an extra one of these to open up and play with! Very disappointed that the surfboards can't really be removed from the car without some serious body mods, which are far above my skill level. So they'll have to stay till now.
I've always admired that lovely green that Toyota sells these days, Spruce Mica. It's a stunning color if you've never seen one in person. This was as close as I could get...

Lesney #41c-Ford GT40 Restoration

Here's another transitional that has been "restomodded". This one took 3 parts cars I believe. The actual transitional one had a broken window and severely bent body, so I took a RW one with a nice body and another with a nice window and here we are haha. Not sure how I feel about the red interior with the green paint but it is growing on me. I might add some decals one day, but for now, here she is... What do you guys think?

Hot Wheels BMW E36 M3 Custom

Here is the first custom I've done of this fantastic new casting from Hot Wheels. The first of many I'm sure...
I've decided this will be a continuing theme with my line of customs.. Alpine white BMWs. I love Bimmers in that color, and there are so many great castings from that brand, it seems like a natural fit! I started with the Matchbox BMW 1M, and am continuing with the brand new E36 M3 casting from Hot Wheels. This one was already white from the factory, but I did a bit of overkill with the tampo removal and ended up removing a bit of the paint, and staining the rest. So unfortunately, it still required a complete strip down. But I'm happy with the result, I think it looks fantastic!

Matchbox Chevy Transport Bus Custom

I've had an infatuation with this casting since I was a little kid, I'm not sure why. Not the casting that you would expect to get an 8 year old boy's blood pumping, but my automotive tastes have always strayed a bit from the norm. I've been trying to collect all the variations of this casting over the past year or so.. there's a lot of them! But I decided to add a custom to the mix.

I had one extra beat up beige bus, one of the ones I had as a kid. I have since replaced it with a mint loose one, so I decided to hack it up for a custom. In the past few years, the boys in orange have transitioned this casting from metal to plastic, which SUCKS! But it did give me an idea. The original was metal body/plastic chassis, and the updated version is plastic body/metal chassis... See where I'm going with this? A full blown, proper metal on metal custom version of this old bus. It took a bit of grinding to get the metal chassis to sit right with the body, but the end results really speak for themselves... This came out to be a really top notch custom that weighs about as much as the real thing! I love it! It'll be taking a front row seat in my collection for sure.

Lesney #44c-GMC Refrigerator Truck Restoration

I've got a big backlog of customs that I have finished this weekend to photograph and post, so I'll start with this one, a 44c GMC Refrigerator Truck. It's been sitting on my shelf for ages, and I can't remember where I got it from, but it was in pretty sorry shape.

I decided to make it a bit of a "one off", something that never made production, but I'd be willing to bet there were one or two of these made, a regular wheels model painted in the later superfast colors. If anybody has seen one, I'd love to know about it! Us Lesney collectors are a bit nerdy, so I think this model is really cool. Wheels were replaced with nicer ones from my parts supply, the originals cleaned up but were broken around the hubs and wouldn't stay straight. No door, I'll get around to ordering a replacement one at some point. I have two of these with original doors, but I couldn't see robbing a mint original one for this custom. Came out alright though, what do you think?

Matchbox BMW 1M Coupe Custom

The BMW 1M is by far the best modern BMW, and the best casting Matchbox has done in a long time. It's the only new BMW I really would have any desire to own, and the boys in orange really outdid themselves with this little model of the potent little Bimmer. However I have one problem with it. They released it in a nice metallic orange, and a metallic blue version is coming. But there has been a very distinct lack of Alpinweiss. That is the only proper color choice for a 1M, and I can't believe Matchbox hasn't made it yet! But oh well, now I have... What do you think?

Hot Wheels Porsche 993 Custom

Good evening folks! I just wanted to share tonight's quickie custom with you. I've been busy this week and haven't had time to do any customs, but I did this one tonight and I think it looks pretty cool! Nothing too fancy, just a repaint of that lovely new Porsche casting, the last of the real 911s.

Lesney #32c-Leyland Petrol Tanker Restoration

Keeping with the Leyland theme, here's the second one. Arguably the most desirable of the Leyland cab bunch, the ARAL tanker. No way could my college budget stretch to afford a real one, unless I got REALLY lucky, so I decided to make my own. Starting with this tired BP tanker...

It turned into this! I'm very pleased with how well it came out. I've never seen a real ARAL tanker in person, but from photos on VBD, this one looks pretty accurate. More than close enough to sit on the shelf with the other 32c's and make me smile!

Just need to do a transitional one now, and I believe I'll have all the variations of this casting.

Lesney #51c-AEC 8 Wheel Tipper Restoration

Got two new'uns today. They've been finished forever honestly, but I only recently got around to ordering decals, and those decals arrived today! So here's the first one, a #51c Tipper. Was pretty nasty starting out...

Construction vehicles like this are fun, because they tend to be pretty gross from years in the sandbox, but clean up real nice!

Lesney #64b-MG 1100 Restoration

I decided to try something new with this one, two tone! A lot of these cars came from the factory with that paint job, and I think it looks fantastic on the car. Mine didn't come out so hot, but I think it's ok for a first try.

Before:

And after: