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| OPINION, SPECULATION AND RUMOUR ON NASCAR & NASCAR MODELLING - BY Mr. NASCAR |
The racin' over the last three months has been hot 'n heavy, as has been the backroom shufflin'; we'll touch on all that shortly. The modelling scene, however, is quite comatose, especially from the kit side - more on THAT later as well. Just for fun, or to rub a little salt in my own wounds, I've put together a "Wish List". These are decals for cars that ran in 1998, and so far in 1999 that woulda likely showed up from Racescale or Sunset Graphics if things were the same in 1999 as they were a couple years back. We'll likely not see many of these in the current environment... SLIXX is doin' a great job, but they can't cover it all... And. of course, I keep crankin' 'em out here in Casa Smirle - I'll comment on some projects - completed and ongoing.
The 1999 Season - Racin' Hard - No Quarter Given:
It's been a good season of racing so far! Eighteen races into the season already! It's past half over.. fer shur after Loudon on Sunday. Wow... My buddy DJ has the Ford Credit/Quality Care Taurus out front by over 150 points on Bobby Labonte, with perennial bridesmaid Mark Martin in third. (I decided after watchin' Mark use "kid gloves" against Gordon at Sonoma a couple weekends back that he's just too nice a guy to do what's needed to ever win the Championship... One little "racin' nudge" on JG in Turn 11, and Mark coulda had all the marbles...)
Gordon, in spite of four wins (five?) has been inconsistent, and is hangin' in in fifth, with "rookie" Tony Stewart only 70 Points or so back in sixth. The Good Ol' Boys better hope that not too many more IRL- types like Stewart come outta the weeds in the next couple years! Joe Gibbs appears to be finally bringin' the skills that made him a force in the NFL to bear on the WC circuit. One could argue, based on average standings of his cars (sixth plus second averages out to 4th), that he has the strongest multicar team in the field this year. Of course, you have to factor in the Hendricks and Roush also-rans (Terry Labonte, Dallenbach, Benson, Little, Lepage) to make this argument stick...
The racing has been excellent, due, most gurus are sayin', to the elimination of the "5 and 5" rule. But that does not explain, at least to me, why the road race from Sears Point a couple Sundays back was one of the BEST races I've seen in a long time on ANY track! I think the new crop of "Young Guns" either already here, or the threat of those standin' in the wings, has taken everything up a notch...
The "Silly Season" - in Full Swing Mode:
The struggle for operatin' capital continues for the mid-pack and further back teams... And a lot of contracts are up for renewal for the 2000 season! Most of the info below was gleaned from Jayski's Silly Season website or Winston Cup Scene.
MORE SLIXX-Mania!!:
Beyond the 25 new decals I listed in Corner 28, SLIXX is listing the following ADDITIONAL DECAL SETS at their site:
The End of Bootleg Decals??
I noticed a few weeks back, that the DE jr. #8 Bud decals were bein' sold on the Ebay auction site, and bein' bid up close to US$20.00. (I bid on some, with a limit of US$12.00 - not a chance..) Out of curiosity, I contacted one of the people I used to order such decals from. He indicated that this decal, plus the DE Sr Japan COKE decal, were the last we'd see of "bootleg" products.
This leaves SLIXX as the only game in town, folks! That is not necessarily a bad thing, their products are of excellent quality and accuracy, with only occasional exceptions - but SLIXX has not pursued the beer 'n smokes decals, as these sponsors are reluctant to get involved with "kid's" merchandising...
However, SLIXX has made a tentative step in that direction, with a gorgeous set of "Icehouse" Craftsman Truck Series decals. I've been sittin' on one of Monogram's new F-150 racers for a few months, may try 'em out on it!
The key is, if these go over OK, maybe we WILL get all those Rusty variants, and likely-to-come "Little E" Bud variants, and (please, please, please...) the "Three Stooges Beer" decals... I wanna build the model almost as bad as I wanna taste the beer (hnyuk, hnyuk, hnyuk...)!! And that brings me to my next rant....
Decals I'd Really Like to See, but Likely Never Will, Because of the Damn Lawyers and Royalties...
Actually, that's kinda misleading. Below I've prepared a list of decals that have NOT been promised or predicted by any of the major vendors or makers of decals (SLIXX / BSR). Some of these we'll NEVER see, unless there are concessions/attitude shifts by the brand owners. Others are just so obscure that only a NASCAR wingnut like myself would care... This list is by no means complete - I'll keep diggin'. NOTE - most of these are available in diecast, but...
WON'T HAPPEN (beer or smokes, or Royalties...):
What's even MORE disturbing is I hear some of the planned 1999 releases - the '66 and '68 Chargers, for example, have been pushed off into 2000! There's no doubt that the NASCAR screw-up of the 2000 Monte Carlo musta really crimped Monogram's plans, it shoulda been on the shelf by now. Now we won't see it likely until mid-2000. Wonder if they're on top of the Taurus makeover? But, they have had time to throw out some great kid-friendly new-for-1999 issues - Home Depot, Big Kmart for GM, an updated CITGO, or Cartoon Network Taurus... and haven't done it... not EVERYONE, especially the kids this hobby still needs, can afford an extra $8.00 - $10.00 for aftermarket decals!! If the revenue starts to slip, will the New Owners understand what happened?? Or just reinvest in more "Toys "R US"- marketable dolls and figures, and forget the plastic?? I have some trepidation as to where Revell-Monogram is heading... See, all the "missing" kits are available in their diecast line-up... and now I hear the MONOGRAM brand will be allowed to die, just as AMT let MPC wither...
Spring Building:
Finished off the "SMALL SOLDIERS" Pontiac, basically using Monogram's decals right out of the box, filling in missing contingency decals. Nuthin' special about the build, and the Monogram decals worked really well, and looked right on the money compared to photos in WCS. Good reference shots were REAL hard to find...
Lee Petty's '59 Olds is on the shelf, until I can locate some realistic screening to replace the grille... remember, Lee's definition of "stock" was rather whimsical...
Also on the shelf is a kit I started on Jeff Gordon's 'No Bull 5' Indy ride, using SLIXX decals. They are not one of that company's greatest efforts - the white had horrific bleedthru, and they were very brittle, and prone to splitting, when being fit over curved areas. Right now, I'm awaiting a second set that I hope to apply right overtop of these, to improve coverage, and hopefully cover up split areas. We'll see... I've had the same complaint about these decals from another modeller out in cyberspace, so be warned... this is what I meant when I said SLIXX decals are USUALLY of topnotch quality...
To balance this off, I just finished decalling a Pontiac (#30) in one of Derricke Cope's new 1999 sponsors' livery, BRYAN Meats. These were one of THE BEST SLIXX sets I've ever used - they hid beaufifully over the red/black colour scheme, snugged down well, and seemed more resistant to clearcoating than most SLIXX decals, approaching Monogram's in this area. Well-done, SLIXX, now I'm looking forward to getting' the other three built (Jimmy Dean, State Fair, Rudy's Farm... wonder if I can finish 'em all before Sara Lea drops Derricke like a hot potato??)
The other little project I completed was Little Joe Weatherly's 1962 Pontiac, using the AMT 421SD kit, and YESTERDAY'S decals. Came out really well! Gutting the interior, and adding period-spec rollcage and panels was more complicated than I expected, but I got results I was happy with. Joe won the '62 Championship in this car - Pontiacs were KING back then... The sheet also has a second complete set of markings for Joe's 1964 Mercury Marauder, it's on my list...
Tragically, Joe was killed in Riverside in '64 in the Marauder, when he went into the infamous Turn 9 right-hander, the only corner in NASCAR that had a right-hand corner with a concrete wall. Driver restaints such as window netting were not in use back then - the impact didn't seem that bad on the car, but Joe hadn't buckled his helmet, it's said, and his head hit the concrete wall when he came out of the seat. He was killed by the blow... 1964 was a bad year, not only in NASCAR but in other forms of racing as well...
And on that rather sombre note, it's time to close down the ol' PC, and get back to what this column is all about, settin' and buildin'... so ..To the Hobby Room!!
Yours in left turns,
Mr. NASCAR
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