How I spent my summer vacation...

Holy week has finally come, and while most people would spend their non-working holidays out of the city, I decided to just sit back and prep some cars for future projects.

Last week, I called up Polidread, an artist friend of mine who specializes in hands-on fabrication of almost anything his twisted mind could conjure. Good thing they have this aluminum/glass shop - industrial tools and materials are always at hand. So I asked him if he could help me open up some small cars.

I dropped by yesterday after lunch (am typing this around 2AM) and brought a bag of cars, some loose, some MOC. Here are the pics-

Our first victim.




Here's Polidread with a Matchbox Sand Digger.




Here's a disassembled Siku Vanagon. The white plastic pieces you see on the base are flexible tabs that serve as the car's suspension. The cool thing is that after years of abuse and rough playing, these tabs still work perfectly!



Another disassembled Siku, this time a VW T2 Pickup.



This is the base. The previous owner, for some reason, stuck a screw through the base. We managed to get it out, though.



More cars waiting for the drill.



Here's a Tomica T2 Kombi.



Apparently, the rivets that would open the body is located near the edge. These two rivets on the orange plastic just holds the axels to the base.





Can't believe we just opened up this hard to find model...






Some more cars...




This is a surprise! When I took out a Baja Bug from its card, I noticed that the other side of the toy hides an error paint job!



Here it is, as compared with a normal variant.



There was no way to tell that it was an error since this side was hidden from plain view! I promptly placed the error baja bug back in its card. This is a keeper!

The last batch of cars to be opened...




Some observations in this operation:

1) Cars with metal bases are much easier to drill as compared to cars with plastic bases which gets damaged easily. The first surfin' school bus we opened had its base violated. Still repairable with some epoxy, though.

2) Hotwheels rivets are really a pain to drill. The first HW we drilled was the Hare Splitter. Man, took us longer than expected.

3) The Low Flow is very difficult to clamp with its sloping structure. Had a bit of trouble opening that one up. The plastic base didn't make it a clean job.

4) We didn't have any problems drilling Siku rivets.


When I went back home, I immediately tried swapping wheels with a Siku Vanagon.



I was planning on painting this red, but the "weathered gray on HW 5-spoke wheels" look is growing on me...

Also temporarily glued the broken tailgate.




Paint stripper will flow when morning comes. To be continued...