It seems that 95% of the customs we show here on Lamley are Hot Wheels and Matchbox. Today we break away from that and focus on Kyosho customs, all done my Aaron Kwong. Aaron has been featured a couple of times on the "as is the custom" posts, and because he stays focused on Kyosho, I asked him to put together a little something on his faves.
Great castings plus great custom work equals beautiful models...
(Thanks Aaron.)
I remember when I was a kid my dad used to buy me a whole bunch of hotwheels every now and
then. I remember I used to have several of the same police car and after watching some movies with
exploding cop cars, I used a lighter to burn on of my hotwheels to make a wrack. That was my first
“customs”.
As I grew up I did not make models or anything, until very recently. It was a photo that Ernest
uploaded on one of the local forums. It was a wake up call.
So I shamelessly bombarded Ernest with tons of questions and started my customs.
My first batch of customs that are “presentable” are these. The 308 Gr4 rally cars. Unlike most other
custom builders, I do not use Hotwheels or matchbox casts. All of my customs are made from Kyosho
cast. I was studying in Japan at that time and getting Kyosho are a lot easier then Hotwheels.
Also, Since kyosho did all the black parts and the lights in plastic, it means less freehand drawing for
me. I never passed art in school.
These customs are simply made by first repainting the cars into white (there wasn't a 308 in white until
later when Kyosho released the Ferrari 7 NEO), draw the decals in a computer (ok, I admit that I stole
some logos from here and there XD) print it on a sheet of paper and check the size (usually doing it
repeatedly), then print it onto waterslide sheets.
Then it was the F40 Totip. In early editions like this one I did not paint the bumpers. It was after I made
about 5-6 of these then I started painting the bumpers.
Back then there is a big problem. I cannot print white. Early customs like this F40 Pilot with white
decals are mostly bought from several online shops. But soon I realize I cannot rely on this source
because it is too costly. (And yes, I know it is supposed to be a completizone not a GTE, but I don't
have a competizione to spare :( )
So in summer of 2012, I bought myself an Alps printer.
The red F40 “Time” is my first customs that I did with my Alps printer. Took me a long time to figure
out the settings.
This is the only custom that I did that involved any sort of cast modifications. A 599GTO made form
the Kyosho 599xx cast. I used some putty to fill up the extra vents and that's all I did. It took me so
long to do that its not even funny. I really have zero artistical skill.
Just before I go I would like to share some of my 512BB LM customs too.
Until next time. This is AK signing off.
