by viejoronnie » Mon Jul 09, 2018 12:17 pm
Considering folks that supply our hobby will eventually retire or go to the big slot car racing center in the sky unexpectedly wouldn't it be cool if we could get together to obtain an HRW "lending" library where we would all pay a fee to acquire a library of the body vendors products that could be loaned out to members for reproduction. After a member makes a suitable reproduction mold and their own personal copies, the original body and the mold they made would be sent back to the HRW library. That could include the offerings of the current producers of resin and vacuum formed bodies, decals, etc., including Patto's, etc.
Of course, the bulk purchase of such items would have to be stored properly and contractual arrangements would have to be made to allow HRW members use of these items to reproduce in strictly a non commercial manner should the maker retire or..., and their heirs decide to not continue the business (pitching the lot in the dumpster) or sell to another party. Already, in an online interview with Patto, the costs of producing master molds had made him consider retirement. Didn't Fred Cady retire in the last decade or so?
With the cost of such an acquisition spread over hundreds of participating HRW members, the cost MIGHT be reasonably achievable (e.g. Pattos entire 1300 product catalog of vacuum bodies could be acquired for approximately $7,000 US). a full collection of his 2300 decal offerings would be more than this figure of course (approximately $18000 US). Spread over say 300 members that's a little over $30 per participating member for just the entire body library or $80 for the bodies and decals. To put it into perspective a single decal set off the bay can range from $7 to $30. To keep acquisition costs down we could do a poll of the manufacturers' offerings we would like to acquire for the library. Resin manufacturers produce far fewer models but at higher pricepoints, but I think those too could be included for a modest cost per participating member.
We have all seen orphan slot car bodies, master molds, and decals from the Golden Era on the bay. This would be a way to salvage a little bit of our hobby for future generations. Perhaps we could possibly partner with the LA Slot Car Museum in some manner.
Perhaps some of our HRW member commercial body producers could provide their insight to my idea.