Customiser: Barry Harker

Country: UK

If you have been part of Diecast Heroes Magazines from the start, you will have crossed paths with Barry Harker, you’ll know he’s not one for half-measures. Whether he’s crafting screen-accurate props for TV Shows, film productions or turning futuristic sketches into bespoke diecast marvels, Barry is all in – until he vanishes again into the cinematic ether. Between film sets, he sometimes resurfaces just long enough to drop another custom creation into our inbox – each one a glimpse into the endless creative energy of a man who never seems to stop imagining.

Meet Barry!

This time, Barry’s passion has led him into the smoky, neon-drenched world of Blade Runner – a world first imagined by the late, great Syd Mead, whose distinctive designs helped define science fiction cinema as we know it. Inspired but seemingly not constrained by Mead’s work, Barry has taken Hot Wheels castings and reimagined them as gritty urban vehicles straight out of a dark, alternative timeline.

"I’ve always wanted to build a large city Blade Runner diorama," Barry writes. "But first, I needed the vehicles."

And so, between wrap parties and prop deadlines, he got to work.

When he’s not crafting armour and props for TV Shows or the silver screen, Barry Harker turns his talents to something a little smaller – but no less cinematic. His latest creations pay tribute to the legendary futurist Syd Mead, brought to life in 1:64 scale.

Deckard’s Police Car – Built from a Syd Mead Original

It’s hard to imagine a better base for a Syd Mead tribute than the Hot Wheels Sentinel 400 Limo — a casting based on one of Mead’s original designs. Barry saw the perfect opportunity to reimagine Deckard’s Police Car, blending familiar silhouettes with raw, industrial edge.

Finished in red oxide primer with dry brushing and black inking, the bodywork becomes a canvas of rust and grime. A matte clear coat seals the weathering, while tiny craft-store plastic jewels double as headlights. Ingenious.

"I built the bumpers from scratch using styrene strip and kit-bashed parts,” he explains. “The design language of the film is 'guts on the outside' — and I tried to capture that.”

The Aero Pod Taxi – Syd’s Vision, Reimagined

Barry’s yellow Blade Runner Taxi began life as a Hot Wheels Aero Pod – a quirky casting with a plastic body and just enough shape to inspire something new. With Syd Mead’s ‘Telecab’ sketches in mind, Barry got to work with styrene strip, plastic card and precision weathering.

“The beauty of the plastic body,” he notes, “is you can use Plastic Weld – it literally melts the joints together. Perfect for clean, futuristic lines.”

From there, the vehicle received a full grime treatment. Ink washes, panel line shading, and pencil weathering brought the taxi to life, giving it that wet, worn, and well-used Blade Runner look.

Add in a collection of aircraft decals and some cleverly repurposed rivets and washers as wheels, and suddenly you’re not just holding a toy – you’re holding a story.

The Man Behind The Models

Barry’s roots in diecast building go back to the mid-80s, crafting Mad Max-style customs for Dark Future, a Games Workshop game. His career path eventually led him into model engineering, then into the film industry, where he’s spent the past 15+ years building amour and props for major TV and movie projects.

It’s in the quiet moments, his down-time, after the chaos of a production – which is often sleep-deprived, since he is always on deadline – where Barry finds himself reaching back to diecast. To him, it’s a kind of therapy. A way to unwind and it seems many of you resonate with him on that particular note.

These are only two of several casts which Barry shared with us for the above creations and more for the 2nd Issue of Diecast Heroes, the Cyberpunk Issue which you will find, scrolling all the way to the bottom of the Diecast Heroes Magazine Page.