Safe to say I’m on a bit of a kick right now. Also, I accidentally ordered two cans of flat black, so hey... might as well get my money’s worth.
You perhaps remember 180SXE. Well, today, she got two new siblings.
The Maverick started life as a red Greddy model, but once I got the cool new grey one with the better wheels I decided that it was time to give this one a new life. It’s such a fun casting to work on, and I thought its many weird contours would be interesting in this shade.
Also, Doug felt very strongly that 180SXE should have had the ghost grey six-spoke Monoblocks, and generally he’s a man one should listen to on such matters.
Hold tight... matte black cars are a royal pain to photograph.
At the same time, I wanted to make the ultimate mean muscle car. Coincidentally, I fell a bit in love with the 1970 Chevy Chevelle with the spoiler, which, in a rare move for Hot Wheels, comes with a square stance instead of a dopey gigantic rear wheel. (Thank you as always, Jun Imai.)
Word of advice on Monoblocks: I’d been using those little glass beads to stick them onto the axle, but I started making an absolute hash of it. Then, in an act of frustration, I simply glued the wheel directly to the axle itself. Wouldn’t you know it... it still rolls and works perfectly. Lesson learned.
Lastly, I bought some black chrome model paint for the would-be-shiny elements, but it just didn’t work. Thankfully, they’re so dark and Batman-like that it’s hard to see flaws like this.