JDC442's Blog

Donation to the League

carlson442 — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 17:58:07 +0000

I just completed this Display trophy as a donation to the the Redline Derby Fantasy Racing League

It will be sent to Ohio where the actual races take place. Congratulations to Brian who earned the championship in Season 5. He will become the proud owner of this trophy : )

Race Time!

carlson442 — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 17:02:14 +0000

I had a blast holding the Redline Derby http://www.redlinederby.com/fantasy/ races this weekend. It took a lot of preparation to do this, but it was all worth it. I was thrilled to be able to use my collection of Hot Wheels to participate in helping Brian run one of the season’s race tournaments. I was really hoping that the cars I recently donated to the league would dominate the races, but sadly half of them didn’t make it past the first round. However, one donation, the Silver Bullet ended up winning one of the tournaments which pleased me greatly. Although it wasn’t one of the cars I’d picked to win, it was a pleasant surprise. A fellow Washingtonian and Redline Derby member, seattlegreyy entered the car and I believe picked it to win as well. Above is a picture of the start of that championship race.

Hosting Redline Derby Fantasy League Tournaments this Month!

carlson442 — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 23:57:16 +0000

I’m living the diecast racing dream this month as I’ve been asked by Redline Derby founder Brian Vaughn to host the week 3 fantasy racing tournaments. I’ve just moved into a new townhouse on the lake with my fiance, her three awesome kids and our new baby Calvin (10 months). Our new place is roomy enough to set up my 23 foot, four-lane derby track. I’ve remade the start gate and built some supports to lift the track off the ground a couple of feet for easy track access.

Now it’s time to race. There will be two tournaments of 16 cars. I recently donate 9 all-metal Hot Wheels to the league and seven of those beauties will be racing this weekend.

Racing Hot Wheels Dream

carlson442 — Sat, 28 May 2011 06:45:51 +0000

I love collecting Hot Wheels cars, but for me collecting them is only part of the fun. I also thoroughly enjoy racing them on my custom made DOWNHILL TRACK. It’s a great hobby of mine and loads of fun. So I thought why not create some displays to showcase some of my favorite Hot Wheels in a perpetual state of racing action.

I’ve built several displays made mostly from wood which I have fine sanded, then painted with a Hot Wheels theme in mind. I not only created displays for my loose Hot Wheels, but also for the ones I haven’t yet been able to take out of the package (see Still in the Package).

The display you see above is a look at a cut-out from the center of what would be a large figure 8 track. The cars meet up on the overpass in a ‘racing Hot Wheels dream’.

This display looks great on a desktop or coffee table. It’s compact, but holds a lot of racing action in that small space. The tracks and supports were made from pine board which I fine sanded and painted with the vintage Hot Wheels theme in mind. The base is made from a varnished paduk wood that resembles a hard wood floor, which was common during the early days of Hot Wheels, before the shag carpet took over ; )

**CHECK OUT MORE COOL DISPLAYS BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS/PAGES BELOW.

SLANT TRACK Display

carlson442 — Tue, 17 May 2011 23:42:13 +0000

I created this display to showcase four Hot Wheel blisterpacks. I wanted to display cars still in their packages and have the cars look as though they’re racing down Hot Wheels track.

The tracks are secured through the back of the display with screws to which I added spacers to allow the base of the blisterpacks to fit easily behind the track.

This display sits nicely on a table top or can be mounted on a wall as shown on my SLANT TRACK page.

To see all of my displays, click on the links below!

My handmade Hot Wheel displays

carlson442 — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:38:32 +0000

Check out these displays I made for my Hot Wheel collection. I’ve made them for loose as well as carded cars.

Click on the links at the bottom of this page to see them all.

I call this one ‘Redline Overpass’. Using Vintage Series cars, I tried to create a snap shot of Hot Wheel’s early years.

Showin’ off the diecast!!

carlson442 — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:44:41 +0000

Hey there!

I’m using this blog to show case some displays I’ve build for my hot wheel collection. One of my favorite parts of collecting is displaying some of my favorite cars both loose and in the package.

Race em!

15 Classic Blisterpacks

I’ve been told by some collectors that they don’t like to use open displays because of the dust they collect. This is not as big as a problem with my blisterpack displays because the cars are already enclosed as seen above in my ’15 blisterpacks on track’ display. Enjoy looking through my pages!

Hotwheel Collecting: for the love of the cars.

carlson442 — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:50:48 +0000

I suppose this is my first real attempt at blogging. I have read that you should blog about something for which you have passion. I have a thing for these little toy cars -ever since I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with them. It’s a bit difficult to explain to someone on the outside of collecting, but I do believe that other collectors, especially those who do it just ‘for the love of the cars’ will surely understand. I was around eight years old when I received my first Hot Wheels cars. I did receive a few Matchbox cars when I was younger, but it wasn’t until my eighth birthday back in 1975 that I discovered the coolest diecast cars ever -HOT WHEELS! My parents bought me a Hot Wheel’s racing set with a few extra Hot Wheel cars. This is when I fell in love with these tiny little gems. Ever since then, I’ve been collecting off and on growing my collection. As I got older, although I still loved the cars just as much, I sometimes felt a little awkward buying ‘toy’ cars for myself. I’d even planned to lie and tell the checkers that they were for my nephew if they ever asked. None of my girlfriends really understood either, but most none-the-less supported me in my hobby. Now that I’m over forty, I no longer raid the Hot Wheel isles whenever I’m at a Fred Meyer or Walmart. In fact I have recently sold a large portion of my Hot Wheels to thin down my collection as well as pay off a few bills. I just had way too many cars to keep track of, and now that my collection is smaller and more manageable (I kept only my most favorite cars), I’m feeling good about what I now have.

Some of my favorite cars from early on in my collecting

Center view close

If you’ve been around my site, you’ve seen my new Hot Wheel passion which is making displays to showcase my collection.

Hotwheel Displays

carlson442 — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 03:25:15 +0000

My latest creation -the ’7 by 7′.

The tracks are set at a slight decline for the effect of racing downhill.

7 rows of 7 cars

Hello world!

carlson442 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:15:19 +0000

I’m here to share my love of Hot Wheels with other Hot Wheel lovers by showing you some of the displays I have made to show off my collection. I’ve made some small and larger displays for both loose and carded Hot Wheels. Here are two of my displays for loose Hot Wheels.

Trophy Plaque

Racing Hot Wheels Dream

See my ‘about’ page to learn more.