Die-cast models and other collectible stuff

Model Expo Italy 2018. Some new pics from the exhibition.

Model Expo Italy is a great place for anyone who is not indifferent to models. If you will be in Italy in a next year I am strongly recommending do not miss this event. Verona is a fantastic beautiful city and the exhibition place is not so far from city center. So you can marge shopping, sightseeing and, I am sure, will be surprised seeing such diversity absolutely any kind of models.

Everything I saw was much cheaper than on all offline and online stores I remember. Apparently, exhibitors tried to take back as little stuff as possible)))))

As I wrote before I had opportunity to show my works there.

I took some pics from our pavilion, so you can imagine the scale …

This is the layout of most famous Floretine bridge Ponte Vecchio

The pool for ship models

The view from my stand )))))

Another view …

Pavilions were about 8 or more, and I am not sure I saw them all. They have large photo gallery in their Facebook page , and still adding videos and photos every day.

As a result, I sold 2 models, gave out a big amounts of business cards and got many compliments. Not so bad for the first time)

In our back way to Florence we visited Mille Miglia museum in Brescia, and I took few photos.

Here they are…

I have many photos from my 2016 trip to Mille Miglia museum + final meeting in Brescia and I will write a post about it someday))

But that is all for today, thanks for your attention!

Participating to Verona Model Expo 2018

I am participating to one of the biggest modeling events in Italy : Verona Model Expo. Specially for this event I have created about 30 new models. I created them very quickly (because I had very little time for preparation), so I think they are not perfect and need some work to do. But visitors are very excited seeing my works, even I sold 2 of them )))

Just now I am sitting behind my little stand and trying to write this post )) Here are some photos of the new models which I done in my photo box.

Volkswagen T1 21 window bus.

1967 Beetle

Porsche 356B

Mini Cooper

1949 Mercury Coupe

Mercedes Benz 450 SL

Mercedes Benz SL 300

GAZ 21 Volga

GAZ 12 Zim

GAZ 20 Pobeda

1940 Ford Pick-up

1937 Ford Pick-Up

Ford Mustang Fastback 1965

Ford Mustang ‘Eleanor’ from ‘Gone in 60 seconds’ movie (just sold)

1949 Ford Coupe

1932 Ford 3 Window Coupe (sold it)

Citroen Trection Avant

1941 Chevrolet Delux

1955 Chevrolet BelAir

1939 Chevrolet Coupe

And the last model I built for this show

1955 BMW 507

Other models I am presenting in this show are available on my store, and on my Etsy shop. In the next week I will do more detailed photo shot and will put all this stuff on my both shops.

That’s all , thanks for reading!

My hand made die-cast models. The first attempts…

Continuing to write about my adventures in this new for me industry of hand made models ))))

After buying some tools and paints I needed to start from something. And that start point was this 1/24 scale Ferrari Daytona die-cast model. I decided to make this thing polygon for me.

Here are the first unsuccessful attempts of creating the rust on the body.

I tried to draw rust by the brush…

And it’s definitely not what I have expected

But this Ferrari has a better future, than it can seem. Here are the last photos. Unfortunately I didn’t make a photos of my next tries. I repainted it about 4 times before got the satisfactory look. Now, you can see just the final result. Also in my store on Etsy.

The second car I tried to build was this 1/18 scale Lancia Aurellia B24 Spider. After viewing some videos on Youtube I decided to create the rust effect by using salt.

I don’t want to explain the process, you can find hundreds of videos in Youtube .

After painting: I think not too bad for the first time.

And the interior. You can see the difference. The plastic seat just painted (right), and the other seat covered by textile (left). After covering by textile, for more reality look I added depleted places and painted it.

The final photos are available in my store. I have added some little but important details such a tools in the cargo area, journals, Italian targa, etc.. This car is listed also on Etsy.

The next car: VW Karmann Ghia 1/32 scale. The old and destructed toy of my son )))) This car saw so much hard days in his life )))) I decided to create a desert diorama. The Karmann Ghia left in a desert to die…

This is the body after rusting and painting.

And this is the final result.

Again more photos are available here in our online store. This model is sold already, and that is why it is in ‘Out of stock’ status.

And the last model in this post is this 1980’s Vespa 1/12 scale plastic model. Unfortunately, again I have a just a few pics of process.

Before…

And after…

Pay attention to cargo area. It wasn’t openable, but I cut the decorative door and fixed it in opened position. And put some magazines and a rose)))

More photos here, and the listing on Etsy.

That’s all for this time. Thanks for reading. Please share this page if you found it interesting)))

Starting to build customized die-cast models and dioramas

I believe that every hobby must get a profit. Even if you are not earning money on your hobby, at least your must find a way to cover expenses.

And my hobby of collecting everything on the wheels and older than me requires a lot of money…

To create a channel on Youtube, to write a blog and put Adsense: these 2 things are the first what is coming to everyone’s mind. But i decided to go further and open my own shop of customized, classic, die-cast car models. In other words, i want to take cars models and give them realistic, rusty, wrecked and abandoned look.

So i went the nearest paint shop from to my home, bought paints, brushes, acetone and other useful stuff for my endeavor. Watching bunch of how-to videos on Youtube, i built my first car and listed it on Etsy.

Some spray paints and acetone (the spray in the center so-so imitates the rust)

In the time of writing this post i already have created 5 models. In my next post i will write how i did it.

Buy the way, this is the link to my shop on Etsy

Thanks for reading!