[HN Gopher] The Hot Wheels Design Studio: How a Real Car Gets Tu...
___________________________________________________________________
The Hot Wheels Design Studio: How a Real Car Gets Turned into a
1:64 Toy
Author : giuliomagnifico
Score : 123 points
Date : 2021-09-16 11:12 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thedrive.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thedrive.com)
| dointheatl wrote:
| I want to know more about that pen sculpting tool they're using.
| blamazon wrote:
| No idea what this one is called, but I've used similar tools.
| It's like a robot arm in reverse--using inverse kinematics we
| can put the tip of a universal 5-axis manipulator anywhere in
| x-y-z space by driving the angle of the axes using motors.
| These scanner pens work in reverse, reading the angle of the
| axes to get the tip point in x-y-z space and outputting that
| x-y-z as a point cloud stream to your CAD program of choice.
| Hnrobert42 wrote:
| I am baffled by website design. I am there to read an article
| about Hot Wheels. They embed a video about the F-117. Distracting
| and annoying, but fine. Then, as I scroll more, the video follows
| me! WTF! No I don't want to watch your stupid video. I want to
| read your article. Isn't that why it's here?!?
| MrGilbert wrote:
| Turning on the reader mode in Vivaldi makes the site actually
| quite readable. It's kind of sad that bad UX destroys enjoyable
| content (which this article is).
| loloquwowndueo wrote:
| No stalking videos here (iPhone with 1Blocker). Is your ad
| blocker disabled or something?
| Hnrobert42 wrote:
| I use Firefox Focus. Maybe it just doesn't have a rule for
| thedrive.
| ZetaZero wrote:
| How do you guys use the internet without an ad-blocker?
|
| With uBlock Origin used, I don't see any jet, nor do I have any
| video at all.
| [deleted]
| stonemetal12 wrote:
| Go to website. See that it doesn't respect the user (auto
| play video ads that follow you around, or whatever bar you
| set). Go some place else. There really is no need to give
| time and attention to sites without a modicum of decency.
|
| I also wouldn't get a punch blocker just so I could visit a
| bar where the door man punches every guest in the face.
| antihero wrote:
| The Hot Wheels website itself is basically unuseable for me
| [deleted]
| ftio wrote:
| For about two years, our oldest son was _obsessed_ with the Cars
| movie. Over that period, friends and family have overwhelmed our
| house with die-cast Cars toys, of which there are thousands. We
| have hundreds. We have many that have no speaking part, and we
| have some that are not onscreen for more than a few _frames_. We
| have over 25 Lightning McQueens.
|
| These Cars cars are junk. They break so easily. The axles are
| thin, flimsy pieces of metal, the paint jobs are terrible, and
| they drive smoothly for two weeks before they start stuttering
| and sliding.
|
| For comparison, we have a few hand-me-down Hot Wheels (edit:
| Matchbox, not HW) cars made in England in the 70s that have been
| abused on-and-off for 20 years, and they still roll like they
| were just made. Newer ones aren't as sturdy or as heavy as those
| 50-year-old ones, but they're still much more nicely built than
| the Cars ones.
|
| All I can say is: thank goodness the Cars phase is over.
| regus wrote:
| If you decide to keep all these toy cars you can reuse them
| when your son is older to play Gaslands.
|
| https://gaslands.com/
| drewzero1 wrote:
| Even (and especially!) the broken ones! Really wrecked ones
| can be painted rust colors and used as scenery to enhance the
| carnage.
| 6stringmerc wrote:
| Counterpoint:
|
| In my household we have about 6 or 7 axle failures. One King, a
| Cruz, a Sally, a McQueen, and I think something I'm forgetting.
|
| Otherwise on the whole the metal Cars series has been excellent
| over here. Through the Mack race track thing (since re-sold)
| and a couple other bang arounds, these look pretty good to me.
| From floor to sandbox to hosing down, I'm surprised how well
| these have held up.
|
| Generation 1 was plastic. I get that. Gen 2 - 3 has been pretty
| decent manufacturing. This Gen 4 has a lot of plastic but the
| color-change hot/cold water trick is nice for bath time.
|
| Please pardon the pontification, but I'm sorry you haven't
| enjoyed the Cars universe as much as some others. Also the
| level of destruction you describe is, uh, probably a different
| thread. You'd be surprised the resale value on those
| "thousands" to people who kinda sorta have fun collecting them
| all.
|
| All I can say is: thank goodness I can stream Herbie movies on
| Disney+
| autoliteInline wrote:
| >a few hand-me-down Hot Wheels made in England in the 70s
|
| That's interesting. I thought they were all Hong Kong or US
| manufacture. I wonder when that started.
|
| Looking back, the car culture was really something. Not just
| cartoonish new cars like Superbirds but George Barris models,
| racing windbreaker jackets, the entire universe of slot cars,
| cars in songs, on pinball machines, CARtoons magazine, STP
| stickers, Sting-Ray bicycles, etc.
|
| Shame that it's mostly gone but then the whole industry based
| around draft-horse farming or treadle sewing machines is
| largely history too.
| ftio wrote:
| Welp I stand corrected. I confused the names -- these cars
| are, in fact, Matchbox cars, which were made in England. And
| they're awesome.
| autoliteInline wrote:
| I don't doubt that a new Hot Wheels car is inferior to one
| from 1968, but then they cost about a dollar in 1968.
|
| Honestly I don't remember anyone having Matchbox cars. It's
| the kind of thing you'd own if you wanted a model of a dull
| green Austin saloon, plus you'd miss out on the whole
| orange track/racing angle.
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| I had a blue Lotus Europa from Matchbox, and then I saw
| one in action and never could think a dull thought of it.
| quartz wrote:
| Surprisingly, they still only cost about $1.
| crispyambulance wrote:
| > The axles are thin, flimsy pieces of metal...
|
| They have to be for the sake of friction. The older cars
| certainly had very thin axles as well, perhaps the metal was
| better quality and they were mounted better.
|
| Anyways, as a kid in the 70's, I remember always preferring
| Matchbox cars. They rolled better than Hot Wheels back in the
| day.
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| In my experience the Matchbox cars had thicker axles, but
| they weren't trying to have the least friction. Hot Wheels
| were, and they had thinner axles. For better or worse, you
| could stand on both accidentally without collapsing the body.
| The incident might warp an axle but they could be bent back
| if you could get a needle-nose in there. And I had a needle-
| nose pliers because electronics.
|
| Hot Wheels sold track that would allow construction of simple
| ramps and loops, and low friction was a well-chosen target
| under the circumstances. I think Matchbox might have put out
| a line that was similar, but my peers and I did not buy it.
|
| What was cool about Hot Wheels was the racing story. What was
| cool about Matchbox was the exotic car story. Ford Cortina!
| What lucky people owned those! But seriously, I had a Lotus
| Europa from Matchbox and when I saw one in the real world I
| was blown away. It seemed capable of turning through 90
| degrees on a dime.
| pomian wrote:
| Ah. That Lotus Europa. Metallic blue. There has been one in
| our family tool box since the 70's. Kids ask me why that's
| there, in between the screwdrivers and sockets, and wire
| and pliers. "In case of emergencies..."
| wazoox wrote:
| Ah funny. This summer my 5 y.o. nephew was playing with some
| cars at my parents' house. Then I immediately recognize most of
| them: I was playing with them when I was his age in the 70s,
| and they're still going strong :) (some are Matchbox, some Hot
| Wheels, but most are Majorette).
| quartz wrote:
| There's a surprisingly large supply of new old stock hotwheels
| cars at places like Target, walmart, and CVS. I picked up a few
| from the early 1980's the other day for $1.29 each or so. I do
| like that they're on average a little sturdier with more metal.
|
| That said I also have a large supply of 1970's hotwheels and I
| have to disagree that they're better made, at least in my
| experience. Most are falling apart and roll poorly due to what
| I'd call pretty normal play when I was a kid.
|
| The quality of modern hotwheels cars seems to vary pretty
| wildly by which car series you're buying. I wonder if the
| "cars" series cars are lower quality than say the color
| shifters or the circuit legends series (possibly to build in
| more profit margin for the licensing fees?).
| ftio wrote:
| My sense is that the quality of these Cars cars has gone down
| over time. Our nephews, who got them when the movies came
| out, have really nice ones that have lasted 10+ years.
|
| The ones we got when our son was watching (2-3 years ago) are
| decent but still flimsy.
|
| The ones we've gotten recently are total trash. Almost 100%
| plastic. Super light. Awful.
| skhr0680 wrote:
| That's unfortunate. "Cars" by Tomica I bought a decade ago for
| my eldest have survived multiple siblings and cousins just
| fine.
| [deleted]
| sharkweek wrote:
| Oh good to hear the Cars phase ends because every Friday when
| it's his turn to pick for movie night, our three year old picks
| Cars 3, no exceptions.
| mikepurvis wrote:
| The Cars 3 video game is shockingly decent; I have it on PS4,
| but it looks like it's on basically everything.
| snypher wrote:
| Any clues on why he might like 3 over the first two movies?
| CapitalistCartr wrote:
| I, too, have a three-year-old son. They fixate on stuff
| arbitrarily. Especially shows. Watching the same one 200+
| times.
| sharkweek wrote:
| I think he loves Jackson Storm which is part of it, but
| mostly as someone else has commented he just attaches
| himself to stuff.
|
| Current obsessions:
|
| * Anything space related, but especially black holes and
| the planet Jupiter
|
| * Volcanoes
|
| * Blippi (ugh)
|
| * The song "Message in a Bottle" by The Police (/shrug)
| musicPants wrote:
| For my son it was all about the Thunder Hollow Breakdown!
| RocketOne wrote:
| Interesting read. Had no idea it took that long and that many
| steps to make the actual model for sale or that the scale is not
| perfect to the original.
|
| More importantly, I regret giving up my collection of hundreds of
| Hot Wheels to my younger brother in the early 70s. Some of those
| cars are worth a pretty penny now, but most of all I would like
| to have them for nostalgia sake.
|
| Fortunately there are now Muscle Machines die cast to scratch
| that itch.
| hassanahmad wrote:
| WOW, such an interesting article to read especially for the car
| lovers like me.
| anderson1993 wrote:
| Victoria Scott from The Drive published a really nice story today
| on the process of how a Legends Tour winner becomes an actual Hot
| Wheels. The subject of this story is Riley Stair's Trans Am!!!
| pstadler wrote:
| This is the article linked here.
| giuliomagnifico wrote:
| Sometimes read the article before comment is a good thing, or
| at least watch the pictures =)
| vondur wrote:
| I'd like to point out when I was a kid in the 70's, I remember
| Hot Wheel's cost more than they cost today. This is not even
| accounting for inflation.
| yummypaint wrote:
| _From there, the modeler "sculpted" the car using digital clay on
| a pen-tool carving rig that was originally built as a surgery
| trainer for doctors in medical school. The tool has motors at
| each hinge point that allows the pen to offer feedback when
| "touching" the model. Because of this, it is possible to run the
| tool along the "surface" of the design and there's resistance
| offered when sliding across edges or lips._
|
| Anyone have more info about this? It sounds like it isn't
| necessarily new hardware, but I'm very curious about the software
| end. Does off the shelf CAD software support those kinds of
| devices?
| munificent wrote:
| It's a haptic pen, like:
|
| https://www.3dsystems.com/haptics
|
| I got to play with one at SIGGRAPH 96 (!) and it was a really
| cool experience. It really does feel like the tip of the pen is
| sliding over an invisible surface.
| scrumper wrote:
| This was interesting, the haptic digital virtual carving thingy
| especially so.
|
| But my favorite bit about this article was the first related item
| link - a story about Hot Wheels treadmill racing.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-09-17 23:01 UTC)