Post by oldgun99 on Sept 25, 2012 18:38:41 GMT -5
If you have kids here is a little toy you can easily make with or for your kids if they are into demolition derbies. It costs very little but allows for hours of fun. I used to do this as a kid given there were no video games back then and only 3 boring channels on TV.
First you need matchbox or hotwheel toy cars. I used to have a bunch but nowadays, I had to go out and buy one from Walmart to make this tutorial. The materials are pretty simple. You need aluminum foil (Heavy Duty works best), scissors, an exacto knife, tape, some plyers and if you want to get creative some model paint to paint the cars. The targets are only required if you're doing this on your reloading bench
First take a piece of aluminum foil and cover the car. This is a 1969 Dodge Coronet. Not much of a derby car but it'll do.
You don't have to press in many details yet. You're just getting the basic shape to cut out.
Once pressed, flip it around. Look at all the access. Now grab those scissors.
Trim around the car but leave a little on the outside or else when you put on the chassis you might not have enough foil on the body.
Now the extra foil (flash for model builders) you just push in equal to the edge of the body of the toy car where it meets the chassis.
Now turn it over and push in all the details with your fingers. Make sure to get the details of the hood and trunk pushed in for ease of cutting them out. I used my finger nail. At this point, if you're going to paint, do it now. After the paint dries go to the next step.
Taking the exacto knife, cut out the hood and trunk. Don't worry about bending them up, you can just push them back down and remold to the toy car.
I'm cheap and didn't want to spend money on model paint so I just used a marker to darken in the wheels.
Now seperate the foil mold from the toy car. This takes a little patience and some massaging to get it off sometimes. I found spreading the foil and while holding the rear wheels, working from the back worked best. If things get too bent up you can just remold and do it again.
There is your car body. Don't worry about the foil being spread wide. You will bend this back to shape later.
Now when I was a kid, I held onto the roof of the car to crash them together but it kept squishing between my fingers. Then I got a bright idea. Fold up a piece of foil and tape it inside the roof to give a stable place to hold onto. First, get your dimensions on the roof of the toy car.
Then fold'er up.
Make sure it fits.
Now get the tape and wrap a piece once around the length and once around the width of this folded up piece of foil. This will give it more stability.
Now make a loop of tape and stick one side to the roof stabilizer so the other side of the loop will stick to the inside of the foil car roof. When I was a kid I had skinny little kid fingers. Nowadays, I have fat adult fingers so I have to use plyers. With little kid fingers or your plyers lower the stabilizer sticky side down into the foil body roof.
Once lined up, let go and press it into the body.
Now that the body is done, it's time to make the chassis. Take your toy car and press foil up against the underside of the toy car. If you don't want to bend the hell out of the wheels, be carefull pushing the foil against this area.
Now cut it out.
Take some tape and attach a small piece to the side of the chassis you just molded and cut out.
Now fold it back sticky side out. This will attach the chassis to the body of the foil car.
Do the same thing for the other side and the front and back.
Now comes the tricky part. Take the chassis you just made with tape on it and attach it to the body of the foil car. This is much easier with little fingers as I remember. It was easier for me to start once again at the back of the foil car.
Continue around the car and attach the front, then both sides to the tape on the chassis. It should look like this.
Now you're done. Here's one view..
Another..
Here's the foil car next to the toy car. Looks pretty good. They look better painted if I remember.
They also smash up so nice.
Creative time well spent and as cheap as a toy car and some aluminum foil.
A funny little thing is that in order to make the aluminum foil cars back end fold up good, I used to make a cut in the body of the foil car behind each rear tire. When I got older and heard about how this is done on real cars by cutting the frame my first thought was, "Wow, just like aluminum foil cars." LOL
First you need matchbox or hotwheel toy cars. I used to have a bunch but nowadays, I had to go out and buy one from Walmart to make this tutorial. The materials are pretty simple. You need aluminum foil (Heavy Duty works best), scissors, an exacto knife, tape, some plyers and if you want to get creative some model paint to paint the cars. The targets are only required if you're doing this on your reloading bench
First take a piece of aluminum foil and cover the car. This is a 1969 Dodge Coronet. Not much of a derby car but it'll do.
You don't have to press in many details yet. You're just getting the basic shape to cut out.
Once pressed, flip it around. Look at all the access. Now grab those scissors.
Trim around the car but leave a little on the outside or else when you put on the chassis you might not have enough foil on the body.
Now the extra foil (flash for model builders) you just push in equal to the edge of the body of the toy car where it meets the chassis.
Now turn it over and push in all the details with your fingers. Make sure to get the details of the hood and trunk pushed in for ease of cutting them out. I used my finger nail. At this point, if you're going to paint, do it now. After the paint dries go to the next step.
Taking the exacto knife, cut out the hood and trunk. Don't worry about bending them up, you can just push them back down and remold to the toy car.
I'm cheap and didn't want to spend money on model paint so I just used a marker to darken in the wheels.
Now seperate the foil mold from the toy car. This takes a little patience and some massaging to get it off sometimes. I found spreading the foil and while holding the rear wheels, working from the back worked best. If things get too bent up you can just remold and do it again.
There is your car body. Don't worry about the foil being spread wide. You will bend this back to shape later.
Now when I was a kid, I held onto the roof of the car to crash them together but it kept squishing between my fingers. Then I got a bright idea. Fold up a piece of foil and tape it inside the roof to give a stable place to hold onto. First, get your dimensions on the roof of the toy car.
Then fold'er up.
Make sure it fits.
Now get the tape and wrap a piece once around the length and once around the width of this folded up piece of foil. This will give it more stability.
Now make a loop of tape and stick one side to the roof stabilizer so the other side of the loop will stick to the inside of the foil car roof. When I was a kid I had skinny little kid fingers. Nowadays, I have fat adult fingers so I have to use plyers. With little kid fingers or your plyers lower the stabilizer sticky side down into the foil body roof.
Once lined up, let go and press it into the body.
Now that the body is done, it's time to make the chassis. Take your toy car and press foil up against the underside of the toy car. If you don't want to bend the hell out of the wheels, be carefull pushing the foil against this area.
Now cut it out.
Take some tape and attach a small piece to the side of the chassis you just molded and cut out.
Now fold it back sticky side out. This will attach the chassis to the body of the foil car.
Do the same thing for the other side and the front and back.
Now comes the tricky part. Take the chassis you just made with tape on it and attach it to the body of the foil car. This is much easier with little fingers as I remember. It was easier for me to start once again at the back of the foil car.
Continue around the car and attach the front, then both sides to the tape on the chassis. It should look like this.
Now you're done. Here's one view..
Another..
Here's the foil car next to the toy car. Looks pretty good. They look better painted if I remember.
They also smash up so nice.
Creative time well spent and as cheap as a toy car and some aluminum foil.
A funny little thing is that in order to make the aluminum foil cars back end fold up good, I used to make a cut in the body of the foil car behind each rear tire. When I got older and heard about how this is done on real cars by cutting the frame my first thought was, "Wow, just like aluminum foil cars." LOL