Diecast Racing Report - July 17, 2020 - Vol I No 3

DIECAST RACING REPORT July 17, 2020 – Vol. 1 No. 3

Inside: Racing in a Dystopian Future ~ DIY Rust Effects Qualifying Rounds for KotM ~ & much more ...

Editor’s Note

It’s Not The End Of The World...

This is issue #3 of Diecast Racing Report. We’re scheduled to put this magazine out every month on the first and fifteenth. But, we missed that date this time around.

Sorry about that. The extended US tax deadline crept up on us on July 15th, and that had to be handled. So, we’re a couple of days late. This is the July 17th issue!

Our focus this month? The end of the world, and what comes afterward. We’re talking post-apocalyptic wastelands, dystopian futures, and the wear and tear that those settings might take on your vehicle.

We’re going to look at vehicles in various states of deterioration (“Quick Tips” focuses on how to replicate the look of rust on your cars). And we’re going to look at a society in a state of advanced decay in our cover story.

While we can’t cover it in this issue, as it is happening on the same day we publish, we want to give a nod to the folks at Shrubbery Lane who are hosting their Rat Rod

2 | Diecast Racing Report

race in all its rusty glory.

Even our bright spots have a bit of rust to them: Columnist Josh Paufler has joins our staff, and his first column appears on these Kit Kidder-Mostrom pages. You may have read about Editor-in-Chief Josh when we featured his league in our inaugural issue. Josh has been a huge advocate of building the diecast racing community, and we’re glad to have him as our newest writer.

I’d like to take a moment to thank each of you for reading this magazine. Three issues in, and our readership is far more than I would have expected so soon. Please keep the word spreading!

Onward with speed!

In This Issue

Table of Contents

4

Editor’s Notes

2

Features A Racing Utopia In A Dystopian Future

4

Columns Live from the Rust Belt

8

Resources QuickTips

Calendar 8

10

10 7

10 Questions Chapman

Films

12

OnTheTrack King of the Mountain and DRC

12

14

14

Cover Art: Steven King

Diecast Racing Report is a publication of Kit Kayem Ltd. of Seattle, Washington, USA Comments or letters to the editor: comments@diecastracingreport.com Are you a writer, photographer, artist, or other ne’er-do-well? Drop us a line: submissions@diecastracingreport.com Staff: Christopher (Kit) Kidder-Mostrom, Ali Kidder-Mostrom, Steven King, Josh Paufler Photos by: Christopher Kidder-Mostrom (pg 2); Josh Paufler (pg 8);YouTube Screen Capture (pg 4, 5, 6, 10, 13, 14)

July 17, 2020 | 3

Feature

Tales from an Urb L

ocated in the middle of the unforgiving desert lies the desolate city of New Westrock.

After a meteor strike, there is a scarcity of steel. What remains mega-evil, industrial Steel Corp repossesses.

Vehicles are hunted, melted down, or used for the personal gain of S . C . A . R .

(Steel Corp Auto Repo)

4 | Diecast Racing Report

ban Wasteland In the world of diecast racing, generally there are two types of racing channels. There are those like League of Speed and Diecast 64 that feature videos of races in order to document the results for the modders and participants in those races. It is all about the cars, the speed, and the pursuit of victory. No color commentary. Just some music to underscore the action. The races speak for themselves.

The second type of channel is represented by 3DBotMaker, Chaos Canyon, and many more.

These are the channels that emulate sports presentations with play-by-play announcers and color commentators describing the action in organized races and leagues. They build stories around what happens on the track, using drivers’ names to give the personalities to created characters.

Feature

The first style of channel mostly appeals to the hardcore racers who want to watch their hard work pay off on the track. The latter style has developed a massive following during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it has replaced regular sports viewing for many fans.

What is a sport to some, and a hobby to others, continues to evolve, and in doing so becomes an art form or entertainment in some creator’s hands. And so, we find a new style of channel. And here we meet Brian of Flat Rabbit Racing Club. While others spin stories around the races that they run, Brian runs races within the story he is telling.

Flat Rabbit Racing Club is a really new channel on YouTube. There are a total of five videos so

(Flat Rabbit cont. on page 6)

July 17, 2020 | 5

Feature (Flat Rabbit cont. from page 5) far. But they are offering something that no other diecast racing channel is doing.

“Many people are doing awesome work in diecast racing right now,” states Brian, who uses the handle ‘Glitch’ within the world that he, his wife (‘Keys’) and son (‘Crossbones’) have created.

“When we went public,” Glitch continues, “it was important to me to do something different from what’s out there.” And different it is. “The story drives each video episode we release.”

From the very beginning, Glitch was shooting for a darker, grittier theme than you see at other tracks. “[Our track] was built with a bunch of inspirations from sciencefiction works that I love, and also real cities and landscapes that look

6 | Diecast Racing Report

a lot like those movies right now,” explains Glitch. “Our first set-up was a desert-mountain landscape and it had a Mad Max vibe. We called it Wastelanders Speedway...Next we did a winter mountainscape: it was easy enough with white sheets for snow, etc.”

These first two tracks were used for weekly races on Facebook during the quarantine. When he

and his family looked to do their next track, it was also time to expand their productions to YouTube.

“My son said he wanted a cityscape...and my daughter wanted to go back to the desert speedway,” Glitch remembers.

“The city of New Westrock was

(Flat Rabbit cont. on page 13)

Calendar

Mail-in Race Deadlines Stock: Poppa Speed Invitational – Deadline for Entry (UPDATE): August 8, 2020. Drag strip. One of five divisions is Stock: Funny Cars.

Racing for Charity.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com Diecast 64 Open Stock and Hot Off The Shelf (August) – Deadline for Entry: August 15, 2020. Drag Strip. Two of five divisions are stock.

Open Stock is any 1:64 scale cars.

Hot Off The Shelf must be 2019 or 2020 Mainline cars. Entrance fee.

More Info: RaceHotWheels.com 2020 Diecast Games – Deadline for Entry: August 1, 2020. Multiple Tracks. Ten events. A participant must send a team of 4 cars meeting specific requirements.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com Stock and Mod Rally Race – Deadline for Entry: August 15, 2020.

Road Course. 70 gram weight

limit. Cars must be models that have raced on Rally circuit in real life.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com Modifieds: Poppa Speed Invitational – Deadline for Entry (UPDATE): August 8, 2020. Drag Strip. Four of five divisions are modifieds: Dragsters, Pro Stocks, Gassers, and Ground Up Dragsters (GUD).

Racing for Charity.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com

Diecast 64 Open Modified & Modified Street (August) – Deadline for Entry: August 15, 2020.

Drag strip. 57 gram weight limit in both categories. Entrance fee.

More Info: RaceHotWheels.com Diecast 64 Six Wheel Big Rig Race - Deadline for Entry: August 15, 2020. Drag strip. 6-wheeled SemiTrucks only. Modifying for speed.

Limited modifying for appearance.

100 gram weight limit. Entrance fee.

More Info: RaceHotWheels.com

!Special Event! for Stocks & Mods!

JLHKRAFTS.COM Truck Series at

Silverback Racing Invitational – Deadline for Entry: July 24, 2020.

Road Course. 60 gram weight

limit.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com Stock and Mod Rally Race – Deadline for Entry: August 15, 2020.

Road Course. 70 gram weight

limit. Cars must be models that have raced on Rally circuit in real life.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com Battle Zone – Deadline for Entry: August 21, 2020. Road Course.

175 gram weight limit. Limit of 4 entries per person.

More Info: War on I-4 Cavalcade of Calamity Custom Competition – Deadline for Entry: August 22, 2020. Road Course. 90

gram weight limit.

More Info: RedlineDerby.com

If you have a race you would like to see on this calendar listing, please add it to the listings at RedlineDerby.com. Doing so just makes everyone’s lives a little easier. Thanks! Kit K-M

Deadline for Entry: August 4, 2020 Driver Limit of 4 cars per team / Max of 2 teams 70 gram weight limit Entries must be Trucks Any brand, Any model Stocks & Mods will compete directly against each other Entrance fee if sending in more than three trucks.

Diecast Racing Report has signed on as a secondary sponsor of this six race series.

MORE INFO July 17, 2020 | 7

Column

Live from the Rust Belt

M

y name is Josh Paufler and I run Rust Belt Diecast Racing on YouTube and Facebook. I’ll be writing a bi-weekly column here at DRR, with a focus on the diecast racing community.

I love the community around this sport, and I want to highlight it.

We’ll Be Live Tonight For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to race. My dad drove street stock at the local oval track in the 70’s and early 80’s. A black and white picture of him proudly holding the checkered flag out the window of his 63 1/2 Ford Galaxie is all that remains of his racing legacy. But that quest for speed was passed down to me. Growing up I loved to go fast. Whether it was on my bike, the go cart track or behind the wheel of one of my many junkers, I had the heart of a racer and a dream to go fast.

Life happened, as it does, and that dream was replaced with others. I still maintained a love of speed, catching races on TV and spending some late Friday nights at the dirt track with my old man watching the open wheel modifieds and big block sprint cars kick up dust clouds and spray mud into the grandstands. Over the years, that old dream became a flickering pilot flame, remaining lit deep within me like a single warm ray of sunshine through the canopy of a forest.

Looking to satisfy my need for speed on snowy night a few years back, I stumbled upon marble races on YouTube and watched as much as I could. The production value, the crowd noise, the commentary. It was like watching a NASCAR race. One day, my mom brought over some of my old Hot Wheels and orange track pieces, along with a few of the cars I modified 20 some years ago. I felt like a kid again, spending afternoons with my own kids building jumps and loops in the living room. After we'd build something crazy, I'd film slow motion videos on my phone. That was my gateway.

I figured someone else must be doing this too, so I looked up Hot Wheels racing on YouTube. And there it was.

Grown-ups acting like kids, playing with little metal toys and taking slow 8 | Diecast Racing Report

motion videos on their phones. But this was more than that. I felt a connection, like I had found my tribe.

I was immediately immersed in the world of adult diecast racing.

Soon I had a project track in my basement, built on top of an old shuffleboard table. I started adding to my childhood collection with a few too many trips to Dollar General and Walmart. I had been customizing diecast cars since I was a kid, but this was different. This was science. This was a quest with a purpose. And the purpose was what I'd been chasing; to go fast.

In January 2020, I entered my first modified diecast race at the fabled Red Pill Hill where I was handily defeated by what was, essentially, Frank Kline's test car. That thrashing fueled me to keep learning and progressing in my new craft. And then COVID hit.

All of a sudden, the sport exploded overnight. Stuck at home and looking for ways to kill time and have fun, I started running live races on Facebook for friends and family, asking them to enter the races by posting a funny gif. With my wife’s encouragement and my kids pulling the start gate trigger, I was running 4-5 races a day. Once the races became more popular, I started the Facebook group, Rust Belt Diecast Racing and the nightly races began. The format was different than what anyone else was doing. It was not only a chance for race fans to get their speed fix at a time when NASCAR was shut down, but it was also quickly growing into a community of new friends, teammates and like-minded seekers of a much needed distraction during a difficult time.

Now that life is crawling back out of hibernation, we find ourselves at a crossroads in our sport. Do we slide back into obscurity or do we ramp it up, go faster, build higher? Will the daily races become a burden, or will we continue to give people their 24 hour speed fix? I don’t know about you, but for me and the crew at Rust Belt, we’ll see you tomorrow night.

July 17, 2020 | 9

Resources

Quick Tips

Rust Bucket or Rat Rod? Making Your New Mod Look Old Rust on a car tells a story – one of roads traveled and adventures taken. Clearly the diecast community is full of stories, because there were so many great videos that we couldn’t recommend just five. If you have a story to tell on your next mod, check out our quick tips for rust effect techniques and videos.

4. Brush up on your skills. In 4 EASY Chipping Tricks for Beginners, Night Shift shows you how to apply extremely realistic chips and rust with a little precision brush work.

7. Don’t be afraid to try something new. Feeling adventurous? baremetalHW uses acid and a blowtorch in How to use vegetable shortening as a rust effect on a die cast car.

1. Keep it simple.

Rust can be applied like any paint job.

Diecast Resurrection shows you how (using an airbrush) in JADA Custom Glossy Patina Rod 1 of 2.

5. Add a little salt.

What’s in a name?

Would Rust Belt Diecast Racing by any other name still provide great advice on how to create rust effects? Check out his video Paint Chipping With Sea Salt – Custom Diecast Rust Effect for a look at the popular salt method.

BONUS: Less interested in rust effects and more in literal rust? My Custom Hotwheels uses the real deal to mod his cars in How to Rust Hot Wheels & Diecast Cars – Part 1.

2. Don’t break the bank. Rust effects don’t need to cost a lot. Guitarded and Broke’s Rust Effect Using Spices creates a great 3D effect from what you can find in your kitchen.

3. Add dimension with layers. Why use one color when layering multiple paints can make your rust look real?

Pete the Wargamer brushes it on in “How To Paint Rust: Warhammer Tutorial.”

10 | Diecast Racing Report

6. There’s a product for that. Want a

straight-forward rusting method? baremetalHW shows you how to use weather powder in How to apply a rust effect to a Hot Wheels custom.

Have and idea for Quick Tips?

Send your request to comments@diecastracingreport.com

July 17, 2020 | 11

10 Questions

Ten Q’s w/ Chapman Films We asked ten questions of Jason Chapman (a.k.a. Chapman Films) about his channel Chapman Films, and his I Like Cheese Race Series. Chapman’s YouTube channel takes the word channel a little more literally than many. His programming appears to take place on a UHF or public access cable channel in a tiny town called Slapout, Oklahoma. An entertainer at heart, Chapman might very well be the clown prince of diecast racing.

1.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: Enid, Oklahoma. It’s 132 miles from Slapout Oklahoma

2. Q: Your races/channel are set in Slapout, Oklahoma. Why did you choose that setting?

A: Slapout is such an odd name and I wanted something to stand out. Plus, I want people to google search the real Slapout, Oklahoma. Maybe they will be amazed what they will find.

3. Q: How long has the I Like Cheese channel been going?

A: The ILC has been around 4 years, but the YouTube channel is 8 years old. I used to review action figures until Mattel discontinued my favorite line. Thanks, Mattel.

4. Q: Why cheese?

A: Because I like Cheese. Oh and fun fact: I am really lactose Intolerant.

5. Q: One of the major features of your races are the commercial breaks. How many various commercials have you made over the years?

A: If I had to guess maybe 50? We used to make commercials for other projects I have done in the past. A lot of it has been recycled jokes for the ILC. 6. Q: You have the Baja Series, Friday Night Cheese, and Celebrity death matches, among other races. There’s a lot of variety on your channel. What is your favorite race series that you’ve hosted?

A: Right Now it’s Friday Night Cheese. The customizers take a lot of time and money making the cars to race for the grand prize. Yes, there is a Grand Prize at the end of the season. I forget to mention it most of the time, but it’s a $1.19 gift card to Walmart.

7. Q: What do you think makes a car a winner?

A: For my series, Friday Night Cheese, I really think it’s aerodynamics of the car and weight distribution.

Look at James Kleman’s General Lee...that car only lost because it was just too fast. James has 14 wins in Friday Night Cheese. It just got faster and faster each time we raced it. Eventually it was just too fast for the Magtrack.

8. Q: What was it like in this hobby/sport when you started out, as opposed to what it’s like now?

A: Everybody wants to host races now. I am glad they are, but just four years ago it wasn’t that many.

Good old Mark from Racegrooves, Ghostjerker and that cool guy Sub4ra were the people who I was watching at first.

9. Q: You’ve made a song for 3DBotMaker back in the day. Have you done that for any other channels? Has anyone else asked you to?

A: 3DBotmaker song is an infectious song, at least for me. Plus, I made a song for Nick Deavers Custom Diecast. I just changed the words from one of my older songs for him. The song was originally called “Everyone Drinks the Kool-Aid”. People have asked for a theme song but it’s just really hard. A lot of pressure there. Most of my songs come to me when I am showering or dreaming.

10. Q: What do you see as the future of diecast racing?

A: Nothing, it will all die out in 6 months! Just kidding. I see more people hosting races and maybe out of those new comers someone will make a track that is on the same level as 3DBotmaker.

Check out the I Like Cheese Race Series on YouTube!

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Feature clips that tell the story. In the most recent episode, the Glitch, Keys, and Cross meet at Pinky’s Bar to plan a jail break.

Pinky’s Bar is named after Brian’s daughter, who is a little too shy to join the rest of the family on the mics for now. “Yeah, in hindsight, it could have been a pizza or ice cream shop,” Brian admits. “I’m full of bad parenting decisions.”

(Flat Rabbit cont. from page 6) built...set in a world of cyberpunk, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic themes...with my own spin.”

Within the world of the videos the three main characters comprise an underground racing organization that uses the radiowaves to communicate with each other. The static sound effects are a constant part of the audio experience of a

Flat Rabbit video. “The FRRC crew does all of their communicating via radio to unplug from the tech-heavy control by SCAR and to avoid being tracked, especially when we’re running some sort of heist and/or racing, says Glitch. “Plus, it filters our voices and makes us cound cooler.

Over.”

The scenes surrounding the races contain live action and other video

One decision made for that same video was to enhance the jailbreak scene with pyrotechnics. “My son said, ‘Dad! Ya know what would be cool is if they drove through the wall.” That’s where the firecrackers entered the picture.

After some negotiations with his wife, Brian wisely did the filming of the explosion with appropriate safety precautions when the kids weren’t at home, thereby ensuring a cool story, while remaining a positive role model. Plus, it makes a good story.

July 17, 2020 | 13

On The Track

A lot has happened over at 3DBotMaker since the last issue of DRR. The Diecast Racing Championship’s third series has wrapped up and Steven King managed to hold on to capture his third title. We can’t wait until the next series to see if “Superman” can defend his status as the only driver to ever win the DRC at Race Canyon.

Until then, over 30% of the people who guessed the winner of the series are now eligible for the next drawing to be a DRC driver. So far, picking Steven King has always landed you a chance to race against Steven King.

From one King to another... the new King of the Mountain qualifiers have begun. In fact, three videos have already aired. The first featured all Nissan vehicles, the next was all Mopar, and the most recent featured American trucks. There is great racing in all of the videos, and with three vehicles qualified for the next 16-car tournament the average track time is 17.779 seconds. That is trending slower than the overall average of the entire 16-car field of the first tournament (17.423 seconds).

While it has yet to be determined if more traffic on the track leads to slower times during qualifying, one thing that is certain is that the races are quite exciting. If the old qualifying method was used, we would only have seen six cars total to 14 | Diecast Racing Report

this point. And the commentary would have been limited. With the new 4-car format, we’ve already seen competitive races featuring 12 cars being called by two of the most entertaining commentators out there. I think it is safe to say that if there are any remaining naysayers, they will be on the 4-car bandwagon sooner than later.

Given that in his recent interview with DRR, 3DBotMaker let us know that he’s received over 400 cars to race on the Mountain, it seems that the change was necessary. We’re glad it is going well so far. We’re also thrilled that everyone who submitted is going to see their car on the track!

Additionally, 3D mentioned that he has the whole rest of the year’s programming planned out. Although we haven’t heard yet what the next race series will be, a more fully produced qualifying round for King of the Mountain is a welcome placeholder.

Finally, we must mention the new subscriptions that you can purchase to support 3DBotMaker’s channel.

We got ourselves signed up at the “Pit Crew” level, and it’s been worth it so far. Pit Crew members have thus far found out the theme and line-up of each qualifier video a day before the video goes live. We’ve also seen a preview video of

something coming up on the channel that is currently in testing. Not to mention, the video of the construction of Race Canyon. The behind the scenes content is great!

There are two levels, and so you can get signed up for the somewhat cliched “less than a cup of coffee” per month. You can get more information at this link.

More Tracks coming to “On The Track” Beginning next issue (August 1st), we will be adding a couple more channels to this section of Diecast Racing Report. While we will continue to cover what’s happening in 3DBotMaker’s leagues in every issue, we’ll also be doing regular updates on a couple other channels as well.

As the sport continues to grow, there are a few channels that have gathered healthy online followings and that have shown themselves to maintain high production values. We want to help the sport grow, and to garner more attention, so we’ll shine our spotlight on more leagues from now on.

July 17, 2020 | 15

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Patrons keep DRR going for us all! https:// www.patreon.com/ DiecastRacingReport 16 | Diecast Racing Report