More Dirt

This Hot Wheels vehicle is interesting in that it has tires molded in a brown plastic that has other colors in it to give the illusion of being dirty from driving in the mud.

The big pink bumper is a bit of a give away that this vehicle has not really been in the mud.

Top view is pretty good and the decals are very nice.

Made in Malaysia.

The dome looks like a nuclear reactor or a odd observation chamber.

Shown with a military themed Meyers Manx.
 

HW Dirt

Hot Wheels dune buggy.

I have been working on my beach blanket bingo project recently.

So I needed more dune buggies for my surfers.

I got a few of these, I think three or four.

It's a nice model.
 

Three Dump Trucks

 

This is all three together, the two smaller ones came together at the dollar store.  Shown with a 1/72nd scale Vietnam War soldier.

The chrome hubcaps need some work.

It's a nice little vehicle.

It even has an undercarriage, pretty good for a dollar store vehicle.

Single seat with dump forward.

They carry small loads and I think more for underground use, or specialized locations like a steel mill moving around the coke and coal.

I have a steel mill so it may end up there.

Not bad for $1.25.

Medium Dump Truck

A dump truck from the dollar store.  It may need the wheels touched up a bit!

Came on this card with another vehicle.

It actually works as a dump truck.

Tinted glass but no interior.

Glass tint should probably be darker.  Probably an autonomous vehicle.

Shown with a US Army soldier from the Vietnam War era.
 

Construction Equipment

My local Tractor Supply store has had a lot of construction equipment recently.

It is somewhere in the 1/87 to 1/64th scale range.  How large is an off road dump truck?

Made in Vietnam.

This is an off road John Deere dump truck.

Perfect for building an airport, strip mine, or major construction site diorama.

Nice underside detail.

Seemed appropriate to use a 1/72nd scale Vietnam War figure for size.
 

Christmas Wagon

Many years ago, I got this Christmas wagon, from the dollar store.  It's pretty good but I always have a shortage of horses and wagon wheels.  So that's what I got it for.

I got about ten of them and I have been waiting to figure out how to cut off the wagon and riders.  It is a very hard and somewhat brittle resin.

I finally figured out a way to clamp it down and using a new hacksaw blade I cut it off.

1/72nd scale figure for size comparison.  I may cut the base in half and use the horses for a team to tow heavy artillery.  Then use the wagon remains for some other project.
 

Paint Jars

Funnel in glass bottle.

Another set of funnels I picked up at the dollar store.

It was a little too big but I trimmed it some and now it fits.

It is best not to seal the funnel so that air can escape as paint goes in.These little jars have a nice screw top lid so the paint stays fresh. I have had it last over a month, but usually I store such small amounts that I use it all up in one session. 

I write the color and purpose of the paint on blue tape, then wrap it around the bottle.  This is Rust-Oleum Satin (finish sort of between gloss and flat), Moss Green.  I use it to sort of color match my 60mm Tim Mee figures.  It is not exact, but then I have those figures in many shades of green.  This one is close enough so I use it on robot and other things that go with those Tim Mee figures.
 

Funnels

How to put spray paint into a jar.  These boards block the jar into place.

I use these little syrup jars but any small jar would work.  I like a narrow neck, deep jar because it is less likely to spill much.

This is the specific funnel I got.

It was a set of three funnels, the smallest one works for this project.

Funnels that I used are the smallest one.
 

Spray Paint Technique

I get food handling gloves at Sams Club.

They are very cheap and usually one size fits all.  I have big hands but they work okay for me.

When we go to a local restaurant chain, Cracker Barrel, I often get their pancakes, which come with little syrup bottles.  They come home with me and after getting run through the dishwasher, they are clean and fresh.  I used to scrape off the label but it is more trouble than it is worth.

Many of the spray paints I use don't have a bottle paint version.

So using a very inexpensive funnel from Dollar General I decant the spray paint into the syrup bottles while wearing the food service gloves.

I use a couple pieces of scrap lumber to hold the bottle and put the very tiny funnel in the jar mouth.

Then using the hand with the glove on it, I spray the paint into the funnel.

I spray along the side of the funnel and allow the paint to flow into the jar.  I don't spray in the center because the propellant has to vent someplace and it splashes if I spray it directly into the center of the funnel.

Here you can see it flowing along the inside of the bottle.