Koolwheelz Original 16 (Mattel Hot Wheels tribute)

[airdave]

[airdave]

The next Koolwheelz model in the Original 16 series is the Hot Wheels Hot Heap.



I never personally owned this model, my tastes went more toward the wild customs and the exotic sports cars at that time.
While I've grown to love Hot Rods of all kinds, I was also never a huge fan of T-Buckets. Give me a 5 Window Coupe any day!
But Hot Heap is still a very kool car and a neato toy! lol and I made it kooler by painting it hot pink!

As with many Hot Wheels, the toy was based on a real world auto...
in this case, Hot Heap was inspired by Don Tognotti's 1964 Grand National award and multiple award winner, the King T Roadster.

Kool to note that master builder Gene Winfield was responsible for the body and paint on the original King T.
The custom "pearl chameleon lavender" paint was a unique show stopper at the time and won its own awards.

King T was released in plastic kit form by both AMT and MPC kits, long before Mattel and Harry Bradley used it as the basis for the Hot Heap design.

The Hot Wheels Hot Heap was released from 1968 to 1971.
It has since been retooled and rereleased in 2012 and again in 2018
It was originally issued in the full line of Spectraflame colours from both US and Hong Kong factories, with white or beige interiors.

As always, I have stylized the design a little bit to help make it easier to build.
The Fenders, for example, have lost their curves in favour of a less complicated assembly.
And scalewise, its a little bigger than the real Hot Wheels toy, but in scale with the rest of the Koolwheelz Original 16.

As with the rest, it comes with a reproduction of the original Collectors badge.
And the model sheet features a basic assembly diagram.

Download it from the Koolwheelz Showrodz- Toys- Original 16 page.

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[airdave]

[ashevilleangler]

Well, this last one is just to cute to not be built!

[airdave]

well, get building then!

[airdave]

The VW Beetle is possibly the most complicated car design ever...if you consider the entire body is made up of nothing but compound curves.
There isnt a flat panel anywhere!
That means every shaped panel curves in more than one direction...which is something paper can't do!
Oh, you can get close to rendering the Beetle shape...but only with a lot of extra parts and seams.

Understandably, I was dreading designing the Hot Wheels Custom Volkswagen even though it must be part of the Original 16 series.
When you consider the elements of Koolwheelz models: 1. low part count, 2. one sheet model, 3. as simple as possible to build...
you begin to understand why I had to take drastic steps to stylize and over-simplify the design!

But in the end I was pleasantly surprised with my model.
Its not perfect...it looks a bit wonky from straight on...lol...but from many angles, (I think) it looks quite good.



The 1968 Hot Wheels Custom Volkswagen was designed by Mattel designers Ira Gilford and Harry Bradley.
Gilford was responsible for many of the early and most iconic Hot Wheels car designs such as the Twin Mill and Splittin Image.
Bradley of course was the "godfather of Hot Wheels design" having created all sixteen original 1968 designs including the Volkswagen collaboration.

What makes this customized Beetle really unique, is its front mounted supercharged V8 style motor!

The V8 powered custom Volks was produced by Hot Wheels for 1968 and from 2005 in retooled versions.
The toy came in any of ten Hot Wheels Spectraflame colours and with White or Brown interiors.
Hong Kong versions had blue tinted glass instead of clear.

Unlike other Hot Wheels cars that featured a visible diecast motor (part of the metal casting), the VW engine was actually an added chrome plated plastic part.

The Custom Volkswagen appears to be one of, if not the smallest car in the original sixteen set.
Scalewise, my model matches the rest of my paper versions (being a tad larger than the real thing)
but because of the flat 2D Fender sides, the body is slightly scale narrower.

As usual I have included a small assembly diagram on the model sheet along with a reproduction of the original Collectors Car Badge.
Look for the Koolwheelz Custom Volkswagen in the Showrodz-Toys-Original 16 section.

[rockpaperscissor]

Beautiful rendering. Is that a roll bar I see through the windows? That hemi is just begging for some plug wires. A wonderful creation, as always.

[airdave]

Originally Posted by rockpaperscissor

Beautiful rendering. Is that a roll bar I see through the windows? That hemi is just begging for some plug wires. A wonderful creation, as always.

There are a few differences between the US and HongKong (NSR) versions that I didn't mention for a reason...
because of how I melded the designs.

The US version had an opening sunroof.
A clear plastic sliding panel that could be slid backwards.
The Hong Kong produced version had No Sun Roof (NSR).
I preferred the sunroof look.

But the US version had a standard interior,
whereas the Hong Kong version had a caged interior.
I wanted to add the shadows to the window panels to make them more interesting.

The US version has a larger front windscreen than the NSR and wraparound clear glass, but the NSR version has blue glass and no side windows.
I sized my windscreen to suit the width of the body.

The engine (and headlamps) on the US version are part of the metal casting...the NSR has the added plastic engine (and painted headlamps).

Too many variations just confuse the collector!
Just look at the perty Beetle!

[airdave]

[Kevin WS]

The shape - excluding the engine - actually reminds me very much of the early WWII Beetle!