GRI Jr's November C4 Experience

The day was November 4th, Charm City Race Committee chose only one race for today. This race was a stock "Rip-n-Run" which means the car must be packaged in order to race in the competition. By holding only one we had more participation and more of an audience when it came to the races.

The Race Committee also had a major change for once. GRI Jr had actually handled the races for the day, I was able to record all of the data for everyone, which means I noted each person and their cars. I was also able to call out each race and fill out each bracket.

The stock race for today was movie and TV cars, we had cars from Gas Monkey Garage, Back to the Future, and even Star Wars. I and my dad raced a few Fast and the Furious cars, a Scooby Doo Van, a Knight Rider K.I.T.T car, and a couple different Star Wars cars.

We raced three total Star Wars cars, the Millennium Falcon, an X-Wing, and a Tie-Fighter. Throughout the race it seemed as if these cars were unstoppable, each car won by at least two other car lengths.

It was the final four with my Millennium Falcon, Ron Rattel's 007 Aston Martin, Team Raley Racing with the Fast and the Furious matte black charger, and my Tie-Fighter. Ironically the round previously the X-Wing faced the Tie-Fighter, obviously you guys know what took the win.

The semi-finals began with my Millennium Falcon and the Dodge Charger. It was the closest race the Millennium had seen this competition. Nose to nose they both sped down the track until the Millennium Falcon pulled off at the last second and won both races.

The second race was the X-Wing and the Aston Martin I was feeling very uneasy about this race because I could tell that the Aston Martin was fast and the X-wing was only winning by a nose each race, so I didn't know what was going to happen...The X-Wing could not hold up to the competition and the final race would be the Millennium Falcon and the Aston Martin.

The Tension was high at this point, the green lights flash and both cars are launched. It was so close, but the Millennium Falcon won by a nose. The second race was about to begin, and I knew in my head it was in the bag. The cars were launched and it was a clear win, I had won the race with the Millennium Falcon, and was going home with the WIN!

GRI Jr's October C4 Experience

The day was October 14th, we had two special events happening today.

 The first event would be the invite-only custom car race, the invitees were given one casting, this race was announced to this private group back in the July meet. The casting chosen was the Surf n Turf , the builders had 3 months to complete this vehicle. They could do whatever they wanted to the car, from adding weight, chopping the body, or adding graphite to the axles. Some of us chose to do all of the above.

 I personally painted mine, the body was blue, the engine was black and their was a pink surfboard on top. Then I added weight, approximately 80 grams more then the original. The weights I used were fishing weights, to keep these weights down I use an epoxy called J-B Weld. This epoxy becomes a liquid cement that will hold together almost anything. 

While I was waiting for the Epoxy to set up, I began the wheels. I tore apart an old bat mobile with faster than evers, they were medium wheels in the back and small wheels in the front. I used both for my custom, I used regular gorilla glue to hold them in place, then put them all back together. 

This was 2 months ago, that next month I went to the meet and tested it against a ford probe funny car because I generally know what time the funny cars put up. Today, I raced it against 6 other Surf n Turfs, I placed 2nd, the winner was Alex. Alex can be considered a professional modifier, she wins all of our custom races. I still felt accomplished though because I beat out 5 other modifiers.

Our second event was the custom Halloween diorama contest. We also knew about this for 3 1/2 months. My idea was to create a semi-scary, semi-cute ice cream truck with a clown head on the top. The original idea was a Twisted metal ice cream truck from the video game, but I thought that was not original enough. I used a pop culture ice cream truck that already had Real Riders.

 I drilled that open and immediately put that in stripper. The stripper I use is a citric smelling, septic safe stripper, so that i can strip my cars and wash them off in my kitchen sink, I highly recommend it for small projects, you can find it at Walmart in the paint section. While that was stripping I painted the window a matte white. I typically let the stripper set in for about a day or two, it should finish in 12 hours for newer cars, it may take a little longer for older rusted cars like Redlines or older Blackwalls. After that time I scrubbed all the paint and excess stripper off and let it dry all the way off. 

After it dried, I rinsed my hands and thoroughly cleaned them with soap to get all of the oils off, then I placed the car in my hands and thoroughly cleaned that as well. This is preparing it for painting, cleaning it with soap allows for all of the oils to rinse off so that the paint doesn't bubble when you spray it. I then went out to paint it matte white like the windows. I let this sit for another day to let it fully set up. 

While this was setting up I opened up an old ice cream building picture and I edited it to look more clean and able to print using Photoshop. I cut out a 7 inch by 5 inch Styrofoam square and glued this image to the front of it. I then cut out another 7 inch by 5 inch square for the base. I put white liquid glue all over the base and spread artificial sand all over the glue. I found the sand at a nearby hobby shop, that had multiple different colors and types of material. 

This sand matched the color and feeling of the background. I let that sit for about 15 minutes to fully set, then I applied another layer of glue and put another layer of sand over. In order to keep from making a mess, I put a newspaper down that collects all of the excess sand. When you sprinkle the sand, put as much as you can on so you cover your entire work space, you save yourself a ton of money with the news paper layed down, you can then fold the paper in half and slide all of the excess material back into the package. I layed about three more layers of sand and on the last layer I made tire tracks in the sand as if the truck were to be drifting into place. I used the J-B Weld to put the base and background together.

 I also made pink polka-dots on the truck. To make the dots, I used regular paper and hole puncher to randomly put holes in the paper traced like the truck. I did that for each side, then taped the paper to the car and taped any parts I didn't want painted. I bought a small Five Nights at Freddy's Lego figure named "Foxy" and tore off the head, it perfectly matched the colors of the truck. I drilled a small hole in the top of the truck where I wanted the head, and I gently placed the head in the hole.

 Today, I took my diorama to the meet and I was able to view the other contestants. Dave, another member of C4, brought a huge house and property, set in a haunted yard with skeletons and other spooky details, this diorama completely blew mine out of the water. Alex had also brought a diorama, which was just as equally good as Dave's, she used multiple damaged Redlines as a grave yard scene and had a car chase at the top of a hill. My Dad has also made a diorama, his was a scene from an old Scooby Doo episode called "The Spooky Case of the Phantom Race". I liked it a lot, he raised one of his cars to look like it was driving above another racer, like it was capturing it.

Our stock race today was an "American Graffiti" theme. There were six cars that were allowed to run, these cars were all from the movie, from a 32' Ford to a 56' T-Bird. I didn't have any cars to race at first, but I walked around and found some for cheap that I was able to race. We found a couple 32' Fords to race, all the others were taken or being raced. Alex won this race even without modifying her car, she won with a white 32' Ford with black flames.  

In conclusion, today was a pretty good day for Hotwheels...  Neither me nor my Dad had won the custom diorama contest or the stock race, or the private custom race. But all-in-all, I had a great day with the crew, and an even better day with my Dad.

What's Been Going On...

I’m back… We’re back… Well, we’ve never left… Whatever way you, the reader, want to interpret, this, our latest blog.  We, C4, have had our monthly meets and racing events, or as I like to label them, Maryland DieCast Trade Shows and Downhill Racing Events. Even though I haven't updated this blog in forever. My bad... no really... My Bad! Well then, let me get on with it then.

First and foremost… The Hot Wheels Collectors’ Nationals took place in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania this past April and we were there!!! Our C4 Crew made their presence known with over 20 members attending throughout the week in combination with our SJPD friends from the north also made the trip with several of their members in attendance. If you are a collector and have never been to one of these events, then you need to go. I mean it!!! Somehow, someway… find a way... really, just go! From the room to room buying, selling and trading to the Downhill and Sizzler Track Racing, there is so much for a collector to do.  We bought some long sought after die-casts, raced a few cars, made some new friends and also made some lasting memories.  I’m not saying who, but I happened upon a room, where a certain someone, from our club, left his wife, in said room, as collateral so that he could run to the ATM because he found die-casts that he couldn’t leave behind. Way to go NT!!! This was truly an an awesome experience and I’m sincerely looking forward to the next one in Texas.

Proceeding the National Event, our show attendance seemed to hit an all time high.  I’m not sure if people were blowing out pieces looking to make some extra cash for the Nationals’ or if they were looking for last minute items at lower prices to take to sell/trade at the Nationals’.  It almost seemed like we were back in our smaller meeting room that we outgrew last year.  All of our vendor tables were full and there wasn’t a lot of room for the extra people attending.  Either way, it was awesome for the club.