Frequently Asked Quesitons
Fairly often, I get a lot of questions in regards to my products. Read through the items below of my most asked questions for more information.
Do you offer full replicas?
In short, No. But I'll get down to the specifics on my top question. Replica builds aren't the easiest thing to do. They take lots of time. Now, for those folks who work on a team, own a car, or drive, we all know how to build a sprint car. Order your chassis from Maxim, DRC, Triple X, Etc. You cruise the Panchos catalog and order your axles, arms, birdcages, jacobs laddar, raduis rods, etc. You order the bodywork with the chassis. By the time you've got all the pieces laid out in the shop, it's a simple matter of bolting it all together. Not to say its the same for me, but before all that has to happen, I've got to build everything. Chassis, axles, linkages, arms. Everything gets built in house. THEN it gets mocked up before paint to verify it all lines up right. THEN it gets painted and built. Next comes the timeline/price. Now if I ever did decide to offer a full car for sale, by my rough numbers it would end up in the $400.00 range. This alone is enough to end the conversation. My lower budget guys know that they could have 1 cool little car, or 2 right rears for the next weekend. But if I manage to contract 1 build, I'd expect it to be around 6 weeks optimally to complete the car. That's on top of the normal chassis orders, my day job, my home life, and my r&r time. It wouldn't take long to back up to 5 or 6 cars. Now we're looking at MONTHS for some cars. Add the fact that my job takes me places, sometimes for a LONG time, without the time or space or focus to do them, I don't see it as a realistic option to offer full replicas. Now I have made exceptions to some folks, and it makes me feel bad to turn down some folks who deserve a replica as much as the next guy, but at the time, it was a testing ground to see if it was realistic. Lastly, shipping provides a major drawback in replicas as we all know, these things are FRAGILE. I'd HATE to charge 400 bucks, and spend my time to deliver a product that looks like it took a tumble at Knoxville.
Where do I find the rest of the parts to build my own?
Another big one for the folks who haven't built before! I HIGHLY encourage folks who have never done a model car before, to at least give it a try. Now most of us have, and most folks reading this are mechanically inclined to get one built. So my suggestions: Start with the Revell Steve Kinser Bass Pro Shops Sprint Car kit. Now, back when this one was originally produced, it was based on a late 80's chassis. <Number one reason why I went into production. But with that kit, and my chassis and panels, one could build something that you'd see at any given WoO ASCS or USAC event. For those who want a little more detail, give a look to DirtModeler.com. He carries some HIGH detail pieces that I recommend to really spice up your model. And Finally, ScaleSprints.com is the only source for quality decals to outfit your build to any of the big name drivers out there.
Why don't you carry the older (60's 70's 80's) chassis?
Easy one! Because my knowledge of that era is very limited. I wasn't alive until 92! Now, I have in the past offered a 'vintage' car, but it wasn't based on a specific car at all. Never sold one. So I removed it to focus more on the newer cars. Not to say that I won't consider these. With enough education and reference, I would consider designing up jigs that would allow me to get as close as I could to some of the older stuff. Feel free to email me with photos and specifics, and I'll build up a reference folder and see about drawing a few up!
What other panels do you offer?
I've got a lot of panels in work at any given time. What holds me up the most is getting the molds as good as I can to sell. And I try my best to stay updated with what the full scale crowd is developing on the real cars. The best way that's worked in the past is to let me know what you're building, that way it lights a fire for me to develop a panel/hood/dash etc.
In short, No. But I'll get down to the specifics on my top question. Replica builds aren't the easiest thing to do. They take lots of time. Now, for those folks who work on a team, own a car, or drive, we all know how to build a sprint car. Order your chassis from Maxim, DRC, Triple X, Etc. You cruise the Panchos catalog and order your axles, arms, birdcages, jacobs laddar, raduis rods, etc. You order the bodywork with the chassis. By the time you've got all the pieces laid out in the shop, it's a simple matter of bolting it all together. Not to say its the same for me, but before all that has to happen, I've got to build everything. Chassis, axles, linkages, arms. Everything gets built in house. THEN it gets mocked up before paint to verify it all lines up right. THEN it gets painted and built. Next comes the timeline/price. Now if I ever did decide to offer a full car for sale, by my rough numbers it would end up in the $400.00 range. This alone is enough to end the conversation. My lower budget guys know that they could have 1 cool little car, or 2 right rears for the next weekend. But if I manage to contract 1 build, I'd expect it to be around 6 weeks optimally to complete the car. That's on top of the normal chassis orders, my day job, my home life, and my r&r time. It wouldn't take long to back up to 5 or 6 cars. Now we're looking at MONTHS for some cars. Add the fact that my job takes me places, sometimes for a LONG time, without the time or space or focus to do them, I don't see it as a realistic option to offer full replicas. Now I have made exceptions to some folks, and it makes me feel bad to turn down some folks who deserve a replica as much as the next guy, but at the time, it was a testing ground to see if it was realistic. Lastly, shipping provides a major drawback in replicas as we all know, these things are FRAGILE. I'd HATE to charge 400 bucks, and spend my time to deliver a product that looks like it took a tumble at Knoxville.
Where do I find the rest of the parts to build my own?
Another big one for the folks who haven't built before! I HIGHLY encourage folks who have never done a model car before, to at least give it a try. Now most of us have, and most folks reading this are mechanically inclined to get one built. So my suggestions: Start with the Revell Steve Kinser Bass Pro Shops Sprint Car kit. Now, back when this one was originally produced, it was based on a late 80's chassis. <Number one reason why I went into production. But with that kit, and my chassis and panels, one could build something that you'd see at any given WoO ASCS or USAC event. For those who want a little more detail, give a look to DirtModeler.com. He carries some HIGH detail pieces that I recommend to really spice up your model. And Finally, ScaleSprints.com is the only source for quality decals to outfit your build to any of the big name drivers out there.
Why don't you carry the older (60's 70's 80's) chassis?
Easy one! Because my knowledge of that era is very limited. I wasn't alive until 92! Now, I have in the past offered a 'vintage' car, but it wasn't based on a specific car at all. Never sold one. So I removed it to focus more on the newer cars. Not to say that I won't consider these. With enough education and reference, I would consider designing up jigs that would allow me to get as close as I could to some of the older stuff. Feel free to email me with photos and specifics, and I'll build up a reference folder and see about drawing a few up!
What other panels do you offer?
I've got a lot of panels in work at any given time. What holds me up the most is getting the molds as good as I can to sell. And I try my best to stay updated with what the full scale crowd is developing on the real cars. The best way that's worked in the past is to let me know what you're building, that way it lights a fire for me to develop a panel/hood/dash etc.