28 replies to this topic

[Samiam]

I hope whoever is snatching up these molds will make bodies available to us. Right here on Slotblog. 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236072346702?

[Bill from NH]

Sam, I thought it was the West coast fellow who owns most/all of the Booth body molds. I'm not sure of his name, maybe it's Scott Mclead. I thought I saw a few bodies from the REH molds on Facebook.

[Samiam]

No. This guy bought out a defunct distributor and has been selling hordes of NOS and not so N stock too. He's in Ohio. 

 

Selling on Facebook doesn't help this blog. 

[Bill Breck]

Bob Molta at Slot Car Central in Syracuse, NY knows who the seller is. The seller lives in Cincinnati and has a connection to REH. The molds that are being sold are all from REH. 

[Bill from NH]

Bill, I was mentioning the individual whose has bought some of the former REH molds that have been for sale on eBay. That West coast person has had the Booth body molds for years, perhaps 30 or more. He used to provide a list of vintage bodies he could pull.

[Dave Crevie]

The molds look to be in pretty good shape The #13/132 is not a Cheetah. It is a not so perfect repop of the Manta Ray. If I were healthier, I would put in a bid. Wouldn't take much to go back in production. Probably make a full kit with a chassis made on a Strippit machine, wheels turned on a CNC turning center. An FK motor would be a good choice. The whole idea is to have a starter class that could attract some of the kids that are getting tired of video games. 

[glueside]

If anyone hears of the SPR Prototype mold, please let me know.

[Bill from NH]

Jeff, what type of mold is the SPR Prototype? F-1/Indy, sportscar, Thingie. or something else?

[Bill Breck]

Bill, I was mentioning the individual whose has bought some of the former REH molds that have been for sale on eBay. That West coast person has had the Booth body molds for years, perhaps 30 or more. He used to provide a list of vintage bodies he could pull.

Understood. I was just trying to  confirm and add some additional details of the seller.

[glueside]

It was the original 1987 NATS winning body, with the first ever built in diaplane.

[Martin]

I would guess this was a case of the LASCM and Mcloud wanting this mold?

 

[Brian Czeiner]

Well that just screws everybody else. I understand the museum concept. Shouldn't we worry about keeping the hobby going before we resolve ourselves to becoming extinct? At least allow a manufacturer to option to re-pop it first before putting it on the shelf.

[Racer36]

Well that just screws everybody else. I understand the museum concept. Shouldn't we worry about keeping the hobby going before we resolve ourselves to becoming extinct? At least allow a manufacturer to option to re-pop it first before putting it on the shelf.

Electric Dreams is going to get more involved in pulling bodies, so perhaps this mold will see some use. I saw their machine and some very cool vintage molds when I was down there last April.

[pn6]

Dave has the right idea. Now we just need some tracks to run them on!

Great to see some old Lancer stuff. The McLaren obviously is a 2G Chaparral and the 906 isn’t a Ford GT

[Dave Crevie]

The tracks will come back only if there is a demand for them. The cars have to come first. It all started with "Christmas tree sets", then small permanent tracks started showing up in hobby shops, bike shops, hardware stores, anyplace that had a few square feet of floor space that was not generating revenue. The large, dedicated facilities followed. And we found ourselves deeply involved in the latest "fad". The same progression needs to happen again if we want slot racing to return to the popularity it once enjoyed.  

[Mad Mark]

hoping someone repops them. seems lots of the molds being sold are of cars that no one is repopping at the moment.

[Brian Czeiner]

Electric Dreams is going to get more involved in pulling bodies, so perhaps this mold will see some use. I saw their machine and some very cool vintage molds when I was down there last April.

 

Is Electric Dreams purchasing all of these molds?   Does anyone know who is buying them up?

 

The tracks will come back only if there is a demand for them. The cars have to come first. It all started with "Christmas tree sets", then small permanent tracks started showing up in hobby shops, bike shops, hardware stores, anyplace that had a few square feet of floor space that was not generating revenue. The large, dedicated facilities followed. And we found ourselves deeply involved in the latest "fad". The same progression needs to happen again if we want slot racing to return to the popularity it once enjoyed.  

 

   We need better marketing and support for the current stores too. Investors will open stores when they see a market for profit. We are in the most technologically advanced communications era ever. We need to think about what the non-slot car people see when we make a post and what we are selling. I am pretty sure it isn't three middle aged men, give or take a dozen years, holding up one, two, or three fingers. That is really interesting to someone scrolling through on their phone seeing slot cars for the first time.

 

   We are all part of a three legged stool. We need to start supporting each other instead of working against each other

I am seeing growth in a couple parts of the country where area stores/clubs are using the same rules for weekly racing and events. Clubs can purchase from store for a small discount. It's a guaranteed sale. What store can't use extra sales? Clubs are constantly asking me for a discount. I ask them to talk to a local store. If they don't have one, I suggest a couple of stores who accept clubs as customers and I will drop ship. We all win.

 

   As a manufacturer, I personally have a relationship with a couple of other manufacturers for free website space. I have offered the same deal to other micro manufacturers who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford a website. Of the dozen I talked to, only two accepted? Why?  Major manufacturers can also cooperate. I have made molds for my competitors and even pull bodies for other cottage sellers of finished bodies. Caveman Bodeez grew because of it.

 

   Racers can share information. We all know racers who refuse to help other racers struggling with their cars. Every store has a dominant racer running every entry level class the store has. Is a sticker that important to you? Take a week off and work with newer racers under your guidance and share what you have learned. The quicker they progress the better chance of them staying in the hobby. You will find a friend, leave a positive impression in someone's life. Perhaps even have stories told about you long after your passing. Until that time comes, you can whip them in a advanced class.

 

  Sorry everyone, this subject angers me. I admit growth/change can take money. Sometimes large amounts of it. But these things don't take money, and they seem so simple to execute with some cooperation and understanding beyond ourselves. Why don't we all do our part no matter how small? If we don't, the hobby will eventually only be seen in museums and vintage YouTube. Caveman Bodeez was created on these principles that were taught to me by my mentors, Francis Stahl (RIP), Jim McNabb and Jay Kissling (RIP). Their legacy lives on through me as I teach others.

 

Summer is upon us, we can start right away by still supporting our local stores through the slow season of racing. The off season would be a good time to teach that newbie some speed secrets and create your own legacy.

[Samiam]

Will the buyer of these molds please stand up ... please stand up ..... 

[Eddie Fleming]

Some exposure for slot cars along the lines of this article would be great.

 

  https://www.autoweek...her-car-racing/

[Brian Czeiner]

Some exposure for slot cars along the lines of this article would be great.

 

  https://www.autoweek...her-car-racing/

 

Nice suggestion. Are magazines what people are reading these days or are they on their phones.  A well written article wouldn't hurt, but we need a video that goes viral reaching millions of people. They don't cost anything. Subject matter is what I was talking about before with track posting race results. And it doesn't always need to be the store owner. A weekly racer could step up and work a FB/Twitter page. A little cooperation and commitment helps everyone.

 

One problem I see with videoing slotcars is they move so fast the video can't pick them up to see.  Perhaps someone who knows more about video can chime in  on this subject or maybe we can start a thread about making good video for Fb and twitter in relation to advertising the hobby.

 

We could take the coming summer and learn what we need to learn. Then when racing season comes around again, we are ready to pull in new racers.

 

 

I did this Youtube video years ago long before video/cellphones. It was accomplished with a cheap $50 digital camera, free video editing software that was already on my computer and some time.

 

https://www.youtube....Qyi59f_k&t=118s

 

We can do this. 

[Bill from NH]

Brian, your YouTube video has a good variety of clean looking slot cars. I like the small track too. It looks similar to an American Windsor footprint but with more banking & speed.

[Brian Czeiner]

Thank you. I designed the track myself to fit the space we had and built it with my Father. Foot print was 11 x 36 if I remember correctly. I studied what I could early on with the internet. I believe it was the J&L raceway and the British Slot car Racing Association. SlotBlog wasn't around back then.

The track was fast and fun. The lanes were surprising close in length. I remember we broke the banked corner on the first try and had to splice it.  I was a little ambitious with the banking for the diameter and miscalculated the height for the legs. The last I heard it was in Kentucky.

 

 

[Dave Crevie]

There are a lot of good slot car videos out there. But they have to be posted someplace where the general public will see them. We here on Slotblog don't need to be shown how great the hobby is. The casual shopper at a hobby shop, or big box store, does. Ads on the community cable channels will help. Having a table at a toy and plastic model show will help. When I worked for O Scale News, we had a booth at every hobby show and model railroad swap meet East of the Rockies. During the time we were in business, we easily brought in 100 (or more) new people into the model railroading hobby. Most of them gamers who originally had little interest in trains. We won them over with a simple info video we made ourselves, played on a combo TV/VHR. 

 

At the bi-annual DuPage toy and plastic model show, there were dealers selling slot cars. But none had video presentations that I can remember. But at the monthly model railroad show, there were many dealers that had video on the model railroading hobby. We need to take a lesson from that.

[Brian Czeiner]

Exactly Dave. The video was just an example of what can be done for free. We can reach out to the general public instead of only waiting for them to find us. We need to give them something to look at to see what we are selling. FB advertising can be as little as $20 to reach 500 people or more in a given zip code.

 

We sponsored a car show (as in purchased the trophies) at the local mall back in the day and showed the video on a large screen with a continuous loop. We did see new customers because of it. The following year we took a portable track with us and saw more new customers plus made money at the show. 

[Dave Crevie]

Way back the SCCA presented an annual spring car show at the largest mall in the Chicago area. Members brought their race cars, to promote the club and their events. There was a guy with a trailer that had a fold open 4 lane slot track on it. He would bring this to all the major car events around the country, and was pretty well known. He would come to this show and set up. There was always a long line of people waiting to get on the track. In the afternoon he would hold races. You payed him your dollar, and he would set you up with a car and a lane. (his choice) You raced for 1 minute, and if you won you were held over for the next race. If you were any good, you could get maybe ten races for your dollar. Between the people who just tried the track and those who raced, I would say he would get well over 100 people. I wonder how many of them went on to become slot racers.