Category Archives: New Feature

September’s Sweet Surprises

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As I mentioned in our previous update, I’ve had a cutback in hours. Ironically, one of the days I now regularly work is Saturday. So, I had to miss our September meeting. Thus, Original Ken again stepped in for photo duty. I chose the best for this update.

We’re introducing an interesting new feature this month: in-caption links. I won’t bore you with the technicals of not being able to create hyperlinks in photo captions in our old hand-coded version of the club site. It’s something I’ve seen on other “blog platform”-type sites, and I found it intriguing. The Holy Spirit told me to give it a shot, and voila!: functional hyperlinks in our own photo captions! This obviously gives me more options for the placement and, as it were, “timing” of off-site links.

So get to the photos!

September 2018

I wish I had more information for you about this item. Big Tractor Mike bought it from Spare Mike. The side reads “O’Neill Family Produce”. But I’m fascinated by the richly sculpted and individually painted food items.

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Now that’s some farm-fresh produce!

You can tell it was a successful meeting, because…

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Say it with me, boys and girls: “Ken bought garbage trucks!”

…From Bill. He bought them from Bill.

A pair of Redline-era Turbofires (Scott’s stock). I first thought these were Toreros (Toreroes?), but no, they are Turbofires.

These are Turbofires, not Toreros. Just want to be clear on that.

These are Turbofires, not Toreros. Just want to be clear on that.

That Ken is a funny guy. He takes this here photo, and edits a copy of the front end into the pic to make it look like the car has two engines.

What a funny, funny guy. By the way, this is Bye-Focal.

What a funny, funny guy. By the way, this is Bye-Focal.

From Ed’s stock, this array of … Er, these vari-colored, uh … Field of, um … All these multi-hued … Hmph. I’m not sure what I could say about this….

Ooh! I just thought of what I could say about this!

Ooh! I just thought of what I could say about this!

Scott had this vintage (ca. 1960s?) slot car case (with space for Name and Racing Club)…

The "puzzle piece" edge is due to having to rotate the photo to straighten it; the bottom was cut off.

The “puzzle piece” edge is due to having to rotate the photo to straighten it; the bottom was cut off.

…With two controllers and three sweet classic slot car models neatly tucked inside.

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I guess they’re from the Italian racing circuit…

For its wonderful “retro” vibe, its great contents, and its overall good condition, I declare Scott’s vinatge slot car case to be Suncoast Diecasters‘ Find of the Month(*) for September 2018. Congratulations, Scott!

Scott had a second case, but its cars were upside-down, which is just embarrassing.

Scott had a second case, but its cars were upside-down, which is just embarrassing.

And with just over an hour of September left, our September update is actually posted in September! I should treat myself to a pizza! (But I have some bread to finish off, so I’ll treat myself to some deli slices instead.)

See you at our November meeting!

~WM

Slammin’ Summer Showdown!

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Hoo-doggies, son! Our August meeting was quite the event, and a great way to close out Summer!

The biggest thing that happened was the return of long-time members Tom and Bill. Both had been absent from us for quite some time, as each is facing personal challenges. (If you’d care to pray for them, that would be appreciated.) We all very much enjoyed and appreciated their company.

Also, many great trades took place. And don’t you know, I have the photos to prove it! In fact, we’ll be introducing a new feature in this update to showcase certain photos.

Also also, I’ve updated our March 2015 post.

So, on to the photos!

August 2017

You know it’s a good meeting when Kenny acquires more garbage trucks. Yes, officially these are refuse trucks, but no-one uses that term. Not in polite society, anyways.

I refuse to use that term myself.

I refuse to use that term myself.

Here, Kenny has a pair of M2Machines Plymouth Hemi Road Runners, and a Zee Camaro Z-28. The dark Hemi has a scoop, while the light one has a set of pipes with an interesting stagger. The Camaro has a feature modern-day high-end makers such M2Machines won’t even consider: opening doors.

I'll take chipped paint and opening doors over high-end glitz every time.

I’ll take chipped paint and opening doors over high-end glitz every time.

Bill nabs a sweet couple o’ Matchbox classics: a Ford Cortina Mark IV, and a Renault 5TL. The 5TL was called “Le Car” only in America, because American auto importers are whimsically intelligent folk who really understand their customers [citation needed].

Opening doors: Why older toy cars are better.

Opening doors: Why older toy cars are better.

From Big Tractor Mike, I purchased this Johnny Lightning Mysterion, which is from JL’s Fright’ning Lightnings series. The Mysterion is of course one of many creations from the mad mind of Ed Roth. I purchased several JLFL models when they originally came out, so this may in fact be my second Mysterion. I have addressed this issue previously.

I appreciate that, compared with the illustration, the toy is very accurate. Except for that whole "completely wrong front cowl" deal.

I appreciate that, compared with the illustration, the toy is very accurate. Except for that whole “completely wrong front cowl” deal.

And now for our new special feature. Back in July, I told you about our issue with PhotoBucket which has prompted me to limit the number of photos in updates for the foreseeable future. However, when I walked into our August meeting, I saw a wonderment: a to-scale corn crib diorama, custom-built by Doug for Mike. There was no way I could not take numerous photos of it. But, rather than simply stack an unwieldy bunch of photos, I chose the best, then made use of some handy WordPress-tech. Thus we introduce to you Suncoast Diecasters‘ first-ever slideshow!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

And yes, this corn crib diorama is Suncoast Diecasters‘ Find of the Month(*) for August 2017. Congratulations, Doug and/or Mike!

Hey, there’s still nearly a whole week of August left! End-of-Summer victory!!!

See you at our September meeting!

~WM