Deora II Casting Variations
Hey there! I've recently started binging basically all of the open road track races on youtube recently and now have the itch to start customizing my own cars. Now I know its no powerhouse on the track or anything like that, but the pictured Deora II is the one from my childhood and I'd really like to base swap it to metal and add some weight and all that jazz.
That being said, it seems the most accessble metal bottomed Deora II is the Dispicable Me Minion Beach version. According to the Wiki my Deora II is casting variation 1 and the minionmobile is variation 2. Does anyone know if the bottoms of these two variations are compatable? Thanks in advanced!
Discussion
First of all - LOVE the profile picture! Second - Welcome to the crazy hobby! Third - I probably don't need to say this but......Practice on a few mainline (available at Walmart etc.) cars and hone your skills before tackling a car from your childhood.
Dutch
If you want to be on the safe side, i would purchase a couple more Deora's (especially one color changer, as that has the metal base) and practice on those, as they are mainlines and can be considered "throwaway" cars in terms of choppping and practicing. Do NOT start grinding into your childhood car first without some practice - you will regret it! Once you feel that you have the techniques down for drilling and modifying, then and only then may you pick up that car and see what can be done with it (if you still want to).
Welcome to the diecast racing world - you're going to have fun here.
- Oh for sure definitely going to practice before opening up my childhood Deora II. The color shifters I'm not finding for under like 20 bucks, the Minion version I mentioned is about 7 bucks and is also metal bottom. Was mostly making sure the bottoms of the different Deora II castings were compatible with each other — Fabel
- I should have read what you posted before replying to doc, dude! I agree — ConMan_Customs
I should probably mention that I do have experience with other fine work hobby crafts, wargaming miniature painting, and Gundam model building and customizing, so I wouldn't be going into this completely new. That being said 100% for sure this Deora is not the first car I'm going to pop apart, I have some practice cars lined up already. I appreciate all the concern for my childhood car though!
- Good skills set you have already. Everyone is just trying to offer good advice. We get pretty protective of those "special" cars in collections. — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- My answer would be I don’t know if the metal base would fit .....but. Don’t underestimate the plastic chassis. — alva1370
How sweet would it be to have a Deora only race.
- I wish I could get my Deora back from The Chase series - it was a good runner - but I'm afraid I'll never see it again. — SpyDude
- You know I'm also slowly building a track... Could be a fun idea for an inaugural race, though the track is very far from complete — Fabel
- I'd be in on a Deora race! Sounds cool! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Im UK based but would be up for the occasional car sending, i have one still boxer, i think i could try this one if someone set it up!!! — RalphsRacers
- Only Deora race would be awesome! I have at least 10 Deora that I need to test down the track! — Zizzer_Prime
I dont want to piggy back on this thread but didnt know where to do it. Does someone want to do a race with Deoras, i was thinking just versions one and two. I would myself but being in UK i dont think there would be much interest. Bought myself a two today just for this reason.
- I was thinking the same thing except open to all Deoras. There’s a lot of Deoras out there. — alva1370
- I was thinking just Deora one and two castings,though i suppose it could be any really.Ill leave it a while and then if no one puts forward then ill do a race myself and see what interest i get — RalphsRacers
- I would like to pick up a Deora II somewhere, but haven't yet. I don't own any Deoras as of yet, but I'm sure I could get a Deora III at a store in my area. They're peg warmers here — ManiacMotorsports
- Not sure if I could send one across the pond tho — ManiacMotorsports
- I picked up mine today in case ‘M’ i believe. I agree with what you say about sending it so far, that is why im hoping someone else will set one up, it might be a one horse race if i do it… at least its a guaranteed win though???? — RalphsRacers
- I have a tooned Deora, not a great car but that can be fixed. — alva1370
- That could be a cool race idea, seems like the casting has a good amount of freedom for franken-builds — ConMan_Customs
Two days ago I had no idea what a Deora was and now I own one. Very cute and cuddly little car - for the heck of it I put $4.50 on a loose one on eBay and I won the auction. It's a Thailand II model in primo condition weeeeeeeee.
I know the bottom one isn't a Deora but it sure looks like one.
- thats a lotta deora! — Stoopid_Fish_Racing
- I got the top one a few days ago — RalphsRacers
- Wow, those are old and there they are in the package. I’m impressed. — alva1370
- Racing that bottom one would be neat, too. I have a couple of those left over from Halloween and a couple of junk store finds — SpyDude
- I just realized, the bottom one is currently the fastest car in my (quite small) collection of cars, the wheels on it are nnnice — Fabel
so seeing this post inspired me, i bought these 2 off ebay for like $20 including the shipping from 2 diffrent sellers, the planet hot wheels one for the metal body, on the left is one of the first casting versions, and the minions for a metal base
after drilling them apart, i tryed mixing them together, this hole and the 'grill' part on the base that acts as a tab needed slight fileing in order to fit 
but it will fit, if the real riders i used look off in the wheel wells its cus they are
i ovaled out the hole in the base to help with fitment, the wheels were still off so i widend the place where the axels are held in the base, pushed them forward and epoxied them down, the screw can't be tightend down all the way ither or else the back wheels will hit the top of the fenders, 
after some other tweaking and a 'strip & shine' i have the newest addition to my collection
and that cd-rom makes for a nice beer coaster, however i don't think i won the race and win peel for the code game
- good info — ConMan_Customs
- Very nice! — Dutch_Clutch_Racing
- Nice build — alva1370
- Awesome! Good to see that this is indeed possible! Once I have a couple more cars I def my belt I'll definitely be taking a crack at this. — Fabel
franken cars get interesting.
a start rule, color changers seem to be all plastic bodies
to find a cast lower (w/ NPA's) look at those
I have started looking/buying those if it seems to be a common casting,
with a cast upper. target potential builds and "bag and tag" them
dodge vans are a great example
otherwise, try to match wheelbase, and holes
dr