Box art Optima restoration by the HIVE...

[UltraHIVE]

Hey all, I just started the resto process on a nicely used Optima scored from the bay. I plan to get the box art paint and sticker scheme down. This build will acomplish 2 things, supply me with a buggy to model bodies, and get me a bada$$ shelf display. This is my 13th Optima, but its been like 10 years since I had one.

I'm a cheapskate when it comes to restoration these days, mainly because I dont have the money to spend. So I do things to compensate and still have fun with a build. This Optima begins with yellowed wheels... Spaz Stick white will do

Late last night, around 1am on a wine soaked whim, I made / cut wheel lettering from my plotter. First try, came out great but it takes a steady hand while applying. These are applied to the back smooth side of the tire. I plan to tweek them so they fit within the actual embossed lettered side. More to come, thanks for looking.

[UltraHIVE]

This was my last one, before self employment, in case you think I'm new to Kyosho

[DennisM]

That tire lettering looks great - With that You can make any noname tire wall belong to an Optima.

I wouldn´t mind the Javelin either - Let me know if You have lost my address

[Bormac]

Unreal! I love your stuff and I will be watching this one take shape.

[UltraHIVE]

Thanks guys. Please dont post about buying anything here, that will make the mods move the thread. This is just a build progress thread.

[Hcp22]

This will be nice thread to follow! And I would like if you mad those Sand Super letters so they fit the sidewall of a modern tire, would look great on my vintage racers with modern tires

[Lonestar]

you're self employed - and single and childless, right?

Nice stuff no matter what!!!

Paul

[UltraHIVE]

you're self employed - and single and childless, right?

We live inside a simulator, some of us found the manual

[mugenbulldog]

More details, please! What kind of cutter, vinyl etc are you using? I imagine you could put a tire embossed side down on a scanner and get the size exactly right... Just a thought.

[UltraHIVE]

Doing that will work, but you will have get used to seeing past the shadows that a scanner makes. I just take a hi rez pic of each letter straight on, then one of the small letters as a whole, then one of the whole tire centered. I use Oracal 651 vinyl, Gerber GSX Plus plotter (Gerber Edge FX printer). I would love to get a Javelin cage in the future, repro tires from that dude in Spain, aluminum wheels from Paragu (sorry if I mispelled that), then plot a set of silver letters to match the aluminum wheel color. Any color is possible tough. I kinda like that the lettering is on the reverse side, not set within the actual tire molded letters. Its more real like that. Real car tires would have white letters on one side, and the option to have the black out letters on the other. I dunno, I like it like this.

[mugenbulldog]

That is a really cool gerber set up! What else can you make with that?
The box art optima uses decals that don't come with any kit. I made a few a while ago on my old alps printer but I imagine that gerber could do a lot better.

There is a guy making reproduction javelin cages out of steel or aluminum...

[UltraHIVE]

It can do alot, we're best friends too. Rage with the Machine!

I saw those cages, sooo nice. Also just noticed full gold Celebration style repro chassis kits on Ebay, wow!

Found these pics the other day, forgot I had them. This was from before I started printing, before I kew how to paint or cut lexan, or take pics

Seeing todays prices, I'd say an easy 1500$ toy... And this was from when I worked part time at Home Depot.

[UltraHIVE]

Thanks to the fellow Floridian that offered this to me, thanks dude! (you know who you are)