Toy cars have been around since the advent of horseless carriage. What started out as big cast iron wagons and carriages, grew to include cars, trucks, buses and nearly every other wheeled vehicle found on the road.

Of course, cast iron has since been replaced by various alloys, composites and plastics to produce the diecast cars that we collect today. This trend toward producing miniatures of vehicles we see every day has grown into a huge industry that makes almost anything one can imagine, from garbage trucks and farm tractors, to racing cars, to the latest super car from your favorite marque. Scales range generally from 1:87 (HO) to 1:12 and in some cases even larger. The most popular scales today are 1:64, 1:43, 1:24 and 1:18.

Dad Sparked Interest in Diecast Cars

I guess I could blame my parents, specifically my dad, for my diecast (and plastic) model car collection. It all started in the summer of 1970 when my dad bought his brand new 1969 Pontiac Tempest and received a plastic promotional scale model of a 1970 GTO from the dealer. He gave me the GTO and that started a lifelong love of all things automotive. Over the years, I received many more models, Hot Wheels, Matchboxes and other various toy trucks, cars etc.

Unfortunately, I was a very destructive child and wrecked most all of my toys and especially my Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars using things like a hammer, the vise on the garage workbench, and even putting them under the leg of my bed. This continued until my pre-adolescent years, when I finally matured enough to realize the value of my toys and that they were worth more to me intact than in pieces. I’m sure my parents wondered if they should ever buy me another toy again! Once I was old enough to have some money of my own I started buying toys and models for myself and have continued to do so to this day.

A Sizable Scale Model Collection

I collect plastic model kits, diecasts in several scales, including 1:64 and 1:18, as well as various other automotive memorabilia. At present, I have over 80 1:18 diecasts plus a few hundred 1:64 cars plus well over 600-700 models.

Why do I collect all this stuff and in such relatively high numbers, you may ask? Well, my problem is this: I like nearly anything with four and even two wheels and would love to have a bunch of real cars and a couple of motorcycles. Since this would be impossible from a financial and logistical standpoint, I try to fuel my fantasy with models of the real thing! A scale model collection allows me the freedom to own my dream machines without an insanely huge amount of capital investment. Heck, one can still find Hot Wheels, etc. at around a buck and oftentimes one can acquire 1:18 diecasts for much less than the $30-$40 that many of them are going for these days. I used to pick up a lot of the Ertl diecast musclecars at Toys ‘R’ Us years ago but the market has changed, making diecasts a bit more challenging to find. Still, many good deals can be found at your local hobby shop.

Article provided by Bob Kremer, Member of IPMS-Steve Wittman Model Club, Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

On street trackage for model train layouts, sharp curves, embedded rail and turnouts, not to mention vehicular traffic, are all construction, maintenance and/or operational challenges. That’s why many lines decided to build track on a center median or side-of-the-road easement.

While electric interurban lines built many of these, mainline railroads built plenty too, or took over track from interurbans. Modeling them is as easy as building your street parallel and very close to the track. Ten scale feet between the road’s edge and the track centerline is typical. If your street is in a village or city, add a curb along the edge of your road surface using a scale 6 x 6″ styrene strip painted a concrete color. If the track is between two lanes of traffic, make sure to add appropriate grade crossings and signs where streets cross. Rural lines seldom have curbs. Instead they have a strip of tall grass or a small weedy drainage ditch—easily modeled using appropriate ground cover.

This tip provided courtesy of Walthers

You can see five planets this month without the aide of a telescope. Two of them can be seen in the evening, and three more just before dawn.

This week Venus hangs as a lantern, high in the western sky. Its crescent shape can be seen from just before dusk until about three hours after sunset. On the evening of February 27, Venus will be just above and to the right of a three-day old crescent moon.

Also this week, Saturn will rise in the eastern sky about 1-1/2 hours after sunset. By March 8, it will be visible from dusk to dawn. On March 10, Saturn will be seen above a full moon.

Toward month’s end, Jupiter and Mercury will be visible with binoculars, just above the east-southeastern horizon about 30 minutes before sunrise. It won’t be an easy sighting, but well-worth the effort.

The fifth planet is Mars, an even more difficult sighting that Jupiter and Mercury. If you can locate Jupiter, you should be able to find Mars to the lower right less than an hour before sunrise, with nothing more than binoculars or a small telescope.

Learn more about how to spot these five planets in this Space.com article: Doorstep Astronomy: Spot 5 Planets

Image Credit: fdecomite on flickr (cc)

Technorati Tags: astronomy

Photo Credit: Bob Lewen

After six-hours of grueling racing on a 16-lane GT slot car course on October 31 and November 1st, the NINCO World Cup is over. This important race was held at the famous Formula 1 racetrack in Silverstone, England.

Mark Azarraga and Jason Stanley from Georgia & Kurt Moser from Indiana (MRC’s 2008 Team USA) have certainly put the international world of slot car racing on notice with their exciting and skillful performance. The rules are very strict and 16 International teams raced NINCO’s new, 1/32 scale Acura LMP2 slot cars in this annual event.

In the Superpole on Friday, Oct 31st, Mark Azarraga won Pole Position for Team USA with a blistering time of 12.855 seconds. Like full scale racing, winning the pole does not guarantee winning the race, and Spain eventually won the 1st place trophy, with Italy 2nd, Portugal 3rd and USA 4th (2 laps from being on the podium).

Silverstone NINCO Racetrack

Mark also received the award for fastest lap against the best and fastest in the world. His fastest time was 12.860 seconds. He said the practice the Team was able to get on the 6-lane track at Sling Shot Speedway in Lawrenceville, Georgia really paid off.

Team USA World Cup Car

Model Rectifier Corporation (MRC) sponsors all the USA races and the Team USA selection. The NINCO World Cup has been previously held in Spain, Italy, and Germany. As well as trophies, MRC provided free airfare, free hotel accommodations, free racecars and parts, and free Team USA uniforms for the trips to Europe for our Team members.

NINCO quality is high and our (MRC) customer support is legendary. We created NINCO on-line forums to interact directly with consumers, and provide authoritative reference, factual information and personal support about the products.

As Mark said, “The NINCO World Cup 2008 was a world class event and it was very special for our team; I could not have asked for better team mates to race by my side. The level of European driver skill was phenomenal and to achieve pole position and the race fastest lap in this group is truly an honor. Our team pushed all the way to the end, and even though we came short of the podium, we were happy with our finish. I would like to thank Model Rectifier Corporation for their generous efforts into making Team USA possible, and it was MRC’s races that introduced me into slots in September 2006.”

Photo Credit: Bob Lewen

MRC is confident and looks forward to the continued growth of NINCO dealer network and overall expansion of the Slot Car hobby on this side of the pond.  Mark, Jason and Kurt are certainly three of the best slot car racers in the world… Who will be on MRC’s Team USA for 2009?

Content provided by Model Rectifier Corporation.

It’s that time again. Pinewood Derby is being held at almost every elementary school right around now. Our local races were last night, and technology has definitely had an impact since our oldest son was racing some 15 years ago!

These days, as you are probably already aware, the races are judged with a laser beam and digital count. It’s pretty neat. The track we saw last night was a four lane with a high slope at the start, and laser read digital display at the bottom. Not only does the digital display allow more than one placer (2 second place, for instance), but the information is also captured on a laptop for final judging.

Each den used to be allowed to write their own rules and guidelines, taking into consideration that the more wins, the higher the level of competition, and ultimately there are guidelines to those races. Usually the differences had to do with what the younger dens getting some wiggle room, not anything big.  You wouldn’t want to win, for example, on flimsy rules where you would be out of the running in the higher levels. Bearing that in mind, the rules outlined for Pack 871, our local Cub Scout Pack, were the Boy Scouts of America Official Grand Pix Derby Rules, using the official kit only. Most are done that way for obvious reasons.

Axle Placement Update

The official rules don’t allow your own grooves for the axle placement. That’s contrary to the advice given earlier. While the dens may get away with that, the packs won’t. Now that the tracks have individual lanes, it just doesn’t matter. That car will run straight, no matter what speed! If the pre-cut grooves aren’t square and parallel, the car will just be slower. The BSA rules say there are NO exceptions to the factory cut grooves, so if it isn’t square, it probably needs to be returned and swapped out.

Rocket Scientist Pinewood Derby

Picture by Katie H

It’s great to see what these kids are up to now. The coolest thing I’ve seen so far is the Rocket Scientist competition. WOW.  Only a handful of rules similar to the Pinewood Derby rules. The difference is in the propulsion methods.  With the exclusion of explosives or anything that might harm the track, anything goes!

My daughter took these pictures. I see photojournalism in her future!

When did all the technology start seeping into the Pinewood Derby? I like it.