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Posted

This will be the centerpiece of planned diorama depicting a racer getting ready to be pushed off for a hot lap or qualifying.

The paint job is fictional, the driver figure is a Chris Etzel kit.

diomidget01-vi.jpg

diomidget02-vi.jpg

diomidget04-vi.jpg

Questions, comments, and criticism are not only welcome but encouraged. :)

Posted

Now, I know that there are guys who can build fast, but seeing two finished the same week that our LHS just got these in is just unreal.... :D I love the added driver figure Drew, it looks like it fits perfectly. Great build, can't wait to see the diorama.

Posted

My only question: no sponsor decals???

You'd be surprised, Harry. It was pretty common for these things to be un-sponsored. Not only were midgets, especially V8-60 powered midgets affordable, you could race often enough to actually make money with one.

Posted

Now, I know that there are guys who can build fast, but seeing two finished the same week that our LHS just got these in is just unreal....

Not so unreal. These are really pretty simple kits that go together quickly and easily. You can do one in a weekend.

Posted
, can't wait to see the diorama.

Oh, don't hold your breath. I have a lousy record of finishing those sort of things. Plus the fact that I don't really have room for it when it's done is sort of a disincentive. :D

Posted

You'd be surprised, Harry. It was pretty common for these things to be un-sponsored. Not only were midgets, especially V8-60 powered midgets affordable, you could race often enough to actually make money with one.

I had a feeling you would say that, but I had to ask! :D

Imagine... running a race car without sponsor $$ helping out. No way that could ever happen today!

Posted

... do my eyes deceive me, or is the front bumper mounted upside-down? It appears in the photos that it has an "A" in the center, rather than a "V." Was that your intent?

Yep! Many of these cars were personalized in a little way by having the owners initial in the front nerf bar. Hence the "V" for "Vic Edelbrock" on the Edelbrock midget.

This was pretty simple change. I cut the "V" off the bar, turned it upside down, added the cross bar made from .020" Evergreen rod, glued it back in place and hit it with a little Testors silver. Bingo, bango, it's an "A"! :)

Posted

Hmmm, I didn't know that. I thought the "V" was to let people know it was a V8-60 powered car ... espcially since the front bumper in the Offy kit has an "O" in the center.

This is one of those little details that are very important. Not every car had an initial, so you could just put a vertical bar or two in there, but it should be changed on every one of these you do. Fortunately, it ain't that hard! :)

Posted

It happens way more often than you might think, especially in racing's lower levels.

I'll take your word for it. But all I see of racing (NASCAR, Indy, F1, drags, etc.) is cars that are nothing but rolling billboards, every square inch covered with sponsor logos... even the driver's suits are plastered with logos from head to foot. Maybe the "minor leagues" of racing aren't completely sponsor-driven (yet...), but anything that qualifies as "major league" racing is nothing but advertising.

Posted

I'll take your word for it. But all I see of racing (NASCAR, Indy, F1, drags, etc.) is cars that are nothing but rolling billboards, every square inch covered with sponsor logos... even the driver's suits are plastered with logos from head to foot. Maybe the "minor leagues" of racing aren't completely sponsor-driven (yet...), but anything that qualifies as "major league" racing is nothing but advertising.

Well Harry, when even a mid pack NASCAR Nationwide car takes $10 million to run for a season,you need all those billboards to make it work.

But things were very different "back in the day". Remember even Formula 1 cars didn't sport any sponsor logos until the late sixties.

Look at the "unsponsored" cars in these photos:

OWapril97-vi.jpg

scalzo01-vi.jpg

ruttman-vi.jpg

Cars like Edelbrock's midget were really self-sponsored. Even at the Indy car level in the '50s and '60s you had cars like the famous "Leader Card Special" that won Indy in '59. That team was owned by Ed Wilki who also owned the "Leader Card" company so that wasn't a sponsorship in the strictest sense.

But you can still find unsponsored cars today:

081432002-vi.jpg

This is a UARA-STARS late model. The UARA series is sort of a semi-pro division. This particular car is owned by former NASCAR Busch Grand National driver Steve Grissom and driven by his son, Kyle.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

I'll take your word for it. But all I see of racing (NASCAR, Indy, F1, drags, etc.) is cars that are nothing but rolling billboards, every square inch covered with sponsor logos... even the driver's suits are plastered with logos from head to foot. Maybe the "minor leagues" of racing aren't completely sponsor-driven (yet...), but anything that qualifies as "major league" racing is nothing but advertising.

I watched (IN PERSON) Davey Allison race a Thunderbird at Richmond Raceway in the mid 80's, in Havoline colors, WITHOUT sponsor decals. Not sure what the story was, but there were NO decals other than numbers. The pic below shows the Davey with the car WITH decals. Imagine this car, with no decals.......again, not sure what the story was......

4035568857_1a77eae3f2.jpg

Mike

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