Why Us?
Our product is unlike anything else on the market. No where else can you get an exact replica model car with your exact specifications. We take pride in the quality of our work.
Several of our customs were featured in the "Toy Trucker & Contractor Magazine", a popular model car magazine with over 25,000 readers World Wide. (see pictures below)
Several of our customs were featured in the "Toy Trucker & Contractor Magazine", a popular model car magazine with over 25,000 readers World Wide. (see pictures below)
Who Are We?
You might be wondering who exactly is making
all of these custom cars. It is by no means a large operation and I plan to
keep it that way. My name is Alex Boock. I live in Southern California and I
have a passion for collecting and customizing 1:64 and 1:87 scale vehicles. Then
there is my decal supplier that lives back east who prints all of my custom
made decals. I am the soul operator of the entire process. I strip the
vehicles, paint them, add details, custom make every single decal, and apply
them. I don’t just customize vehicles though. I mostly collect matchbox but sometimes I will pick up a hotwheels here
and there. I began seriously collecting back in 2009 and my collection has been
growing ever since.
From the start, to now
During the summer of 2011
I got the idea of creating my own 1:64 scale fire department after seeing a youtube video of a guy who makes amazing customs.I then began thinking of how I could paint my vehicles so they
all looked the same. So I began experimenting with different paints and methods
and pretty soon, I had fully painted my first matchbox custom as seen in the picture
below.
This is one of the most basic ways to customize. No taking apart or paint stripping took place. I simple painted over the original and applied some paper decals.
(Click Picture For Video)
This is one of the most basic ways to customize. No taking apart or paint stripping took place. I simple painted over the original and applied some paper decals.
(Click Picture For Video)
Mid
2012, I made a tutorial video on how I paint my customs and at the time my
methods were still very crude. I did the demonstration on the matchbox 6x6 (CLICK PICTURE FOR LINK TO VIDEO)
Early summer 2012, I began work on my next and most
audacious project yet, I wanted to make a custom Airport Fire Station similar
to the Dallas Fort Worth airport color scheme that matchbox had already done
up. It took a lot of time, and effort but when I was finished I was
thoroughly satisfied. I posted a video and the feedback was again,
overwhelming.(ClICK PICTURE FOR LINK TO VIDEO)
It
was then I got the idea that if people love my customs so much, then why not try
to give those people the opportunity to have there own? So I posted one of my
customs on my Ebay account, the F-550 Mini pumper. (see picture below)
I set the bid for starting at 9 dollars. I didn't think anyone would buy it because it was paper decals and no one would be very interested. After a week of letting it sit on eBay, the final day came and still, there were no bids. That night when I checked my email I was flabbergasted. I had gotten an email from eBay saying "Your item has sold for $33.30!"
I was speechless..... I know it sounds funny saying that but I really was... I sat at my computer, staring at the screen... I knew I had something here.
I bought more supplies, more cars, and more paint. I bought a $150 dollar airbrush gun to increase productivity time and to give the cars that "factory" look. I then began buying large quantities of matchbox and hot wheels from sellers online and in my local town. I then realized that if i really wanted to make a top quality product I needed to get rid of the paper decals and get into waterslide decals. The paper decals that I was using at the time were printed from my ink jet printer and covered with a layer of clear tape. Wasn't much and it could not achieve the desired effects I was looking for. That was when my hobby began evolving into something much more. I began feverishly searching for people that could make custom waterslide decals for my needs and after days of searching, I finally found a decal supplier.
However I was in for a shock when I started seeing how much money it costs for very few decals. For enough decals for 1 vehicle it was $40. I had no other choice at the time so I paid the prices that I had to. I knew that I could not sell items on ebay for $50 a piece, that still wouldn't even really break even. I knew that I had to find another way, another person. Time went on and I continued to make customs with both paper and waterslide decals. Then one September day in 2012 I got an email from a complete stranger. He wrote a column in a magazine called "The Toy Trucker & Contractor". A magazine for model car enthusiast all around the globe that had over 25,000 readers World Wide. This was it, my chance, my opportunity. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I ended up making 6 customs for this customer who in turn gave me free publicity and advertisement. This was a dream come true for me and it completely turned around how I made my customs. I upgraded my painting methods, this time stripping the original paint completely off instead of just painting over it. I began refining my method more and more to make the finished product look even better.
Yet, I was still stuck on this decal issue because the price was way too high for what I was getting... granted the decals were incredible detailed, but i would have to charge 50 dollars for 1 vehicle if i wanted to stay on that path. So I again began my feverish search for another decal supplier and late in 2013 I finally found someone that could meet my needs with both quality and price. I worked out a deal with him where I design my own decals on photoshop and I send him the files formated the way he said. I am able to then fill up a 2x3 sheet with what ever I want and the price was a very reasonable $9. I also could order larger sheets and get a better bang for my buck, thus saving more money. At first I thought that these decals were not going to be good quality but man was I wrong. The decals were the best I had ever seen and he could print white and metallic colors that many decal producers cannot do. I am now able to keep my price customs at a reasonable level. Today I am still customizing and each new set of customs I do comes out looking better than the last. Currently I have stopped taking new orders from customers because I do not have the time with school. However I continue to work on my personal customs when I get the time.. I have graduated from paper decals to waterslide. I have perfected my painting technique and application of my decals. My work has changed so much from when I first started and I have all of my YouTube fans, Instagram followers, facebook likes, and comments from people like you that have gotten me here. In the pictures below you can see my most recent work.
I was speechless..... I know it sounds funny saying that but I really was... I sat at my computer, staring at the screen... I knew I had something here.
I bought more supplies, more cars, and more paint. I bought a $150 dollar airbrush gun to increase productivity time and to give the cars that "factory" look. I then began buying large quantities of matchbox and hot wheels from sellers online and in my local town. I then realized that if i really wanted to make a top quality product I needed to get rid of the paper decals and get into waterslide decals. The paper decals that I was using at the time were printed from my ink jet printer and covered with a layer of clear tape. Wasn't much and it could not achieve the desired effects I was looking for. That was when my hobby began evolving into something much more. I began feverishly searching for people that could make custom waterslide decals for my needs and after days of searching, I finally found a decal supplier.
However I was in for a shock when I started seeing how much money it costs for very few decals. For enough decals for 1 vehicle it was $40. I had no other choice at the time so I paid the prices that I had to. I knew that I could not sell items on ebay for $50 a piece, that still wouldn't even really break even. I knew that I had to find another way, another person. Time went on and I continued to make customs with both paper and waterslide decals. Then one September day in 2012 I got an email from a complete stranger. He wrote a column in a magazine called "The Toy Trucker & Contractor". A magazine for model car enthusiast all around the globe that had over 25,000 readers World Wide. This was it, my chance, my opportunity. This was the moment I had been waiting for. I ended up making 6 customs for this customer who in turn gave me free publicity and advertisement. This was a dream come true for me and it completely turned around how I made my customs. I upgraded my painting methods, this time stripping the original paint completely off instead of just painting over it. I began refining my method more and more to make the finished product look even better.
Yet, I was still stuck on this decal issue because the price was way too high for what I was getting... granted the decals were incredible detailed, but i would have to charge 50 dollars for 1 vehicle if i wanted to stay on that path. So I again began my feverish search for another decal supplier and late in 2013 I finally found someone that could meet my needs with both quality and price. I worked out a deal with him where I design my own decals on photoshop and I send him the files formated the way he said. I am able to then fill up a 2x3 sheet with what ever I want and the price was a very reasonable $9. I also could order larger sheets and get a better bang for my buck, thus saving more money. At first I thought that these decals were not going to be good quality but man was I wrong. The decals were the best I had ever seen and he could print white and metallic colors that many decal producers cannot do. I am now able to keep my price customs at a reasonable level. Today I am still customizing and each new set of customs I do comes out looking better than the last. Currently I have stopped taking new orders from customers because I do not have the time with school. However I continue to work on my personal customs when I get the time.. I have graduated from paper decals to waterslide. I have perfected my painting technique and application of my decals. My work has changed so much from when I first started and I have all of my YouTube fans, Instagram followers, facebook likes, and comments from people like you that have gotten me here. In the pictures below you can see my most recent work.
If you have
read this entire thing then thank you for reading! I hope now you know a
little about me hopefully you will see im not some fluke, im not bad at
what i do. I love what i do and i will continue to do this for as long as i
can. On the next page you can begin ordering your custom!