Okay, we have several big announcements for this update, so let's get right to 'em:
First, this weekend is the first K-Mart Collector Event of 2012. Of course along with that is the first mail-in promo of 2012. Yep, same day as our February meeting. So, get up early, get on over to K-mart for the goodies, then haul yerself down to the Sports Bar and Grill for the meetin'!
Oh, what are ya supposed to look for at K-mart? Well, hit our Calendar for the informative links!
If you've been keeping up with this site over the last few months, you've seen that Tom finds VWs the same way Ken finds garbage trucks: like crazy. So, I decided it was time for him to get his own Member's Gallery. I'll list just a few items there for now, just to get ya goin'.
Also, I decided it was high time that I, Your Humble Webmaster, also got his own, er, my own Member's Gallery. Scope it out for a creditable creative effort by a long-gone toy maker.
And of course, speaking of galleries, check out the new 2012 Main Gallery for some sweet visual treats!
See you at the Feb-- Oh, wait, one more thing: Ya ever wonder what happened to Jammers? Well, eyeball the video below for an astonishing answer!
YouTube - Jammers mystery, all sewn up!
See you at the February meeting!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Suncoast Diecasters!
We had a fantastic meeting in December. For those of you who were unable to attend, you really missed somethin'! We had a nice big crowd, with lots of great trades and finds to end the year on a high note. I'm looking forward to big crowd in January as well, to start the new year off right.
Be sure to check out the Main Gallery for some great pics. I got a little verbose (not to mention wordy) with some of the captions. Not intentional; the writing just kinda flowed.
Also have the brand new 2012 Calendar up, so be sure to take note of next year's meeting dates.
See you at the January (2012) meeting!
There are no updates for the Nov. 12 meeting, as we are mourning the loss of good ol' JB.
Added more pics to the Main Gallery, several of which have a hip "retro" vibe to them...
Closed out the K-mart Drag Bus promo...
And most importantly, added to our Calendar the last K-Day Event & Promo of 2011. Race ya to them twenty traders!
See you at the November meeting!
Brief update again: Added some groovy pics to the Main Gallery, including a, um, "large-scale old-skooler"; and closed out the K-Day Promo. (Mail-in Promo is still active, though!)
See you at the October meeting!
Brief update: Added some swingin' pics to the Main Gallery; closed out the TRU '69 Charger promo ... and added two hot calendar items that involve showin' up on time and gettin' them 20 traders!
See you at the September meeting!
Short update this time: Updated the Calendar; added several new pics to the Main Gallery; and also added two new members! Greetings, Krista and Greg!
See you at the August meeting!
Okay, finally got the Updates updated. First, I'll get the simple stuff out of the way: Added a bunch of great new photos to the Main Gallery. Added a cool new link to the Links page.
There, now that that's done, I can announce Three Great New Announcements!:
1) Upated the Calendar to include a link to the current Toys 'R' Us Promo;
2) Completely revamped the Club Vehicles galleries into a single page; and
3) Very happy to announce that the OFFICIAL 2011 SUNCOAST DIECASTERS CLUB VEHICLE has now arrived! Head on over to the previously-mentioned revampedtified Club Vehicle page to check it out! And be sure to contact Mike or Ken about gettin' one for yerself!
See you at the July meeting!
Ahh, those were the days, huh? And, if we vote intelligently, those can be the days again. But in the meantime, please be sure to visit Big Tractor Mike's gallery, which has some sweet new photos!
And speaking of photos: once again I've violated my "not more that five photos" rule in the Main Gallery, because there were just too many awesome finds in May.
Updated the Calendar. And added two sites to our Links page. The first is a Johnny Lightning site with great scans of the 1970 catalog. The second is PhotoBucket, the service which hosts our photos. I've included 'Bucket because they recently upgraded our (free) account to unlimited storage. Now, I don't know if this is something they've done for everyone, or just those accounts such as ours which are updated regularly. Nonetheless, I figure it's okay to give 'em some props.
See you at the June meeting!
Short update this time: Updated the Calendar to close out the K-Day Mail-in Promo. Added a cool new address to our Links page which, if you've ever read any of my comments about a certain by-gone brand, you'll appreciate readily. And added a few new pics to our Main gallery, as well as one very cool photo to Big Tractor Mike's gallery.
(By the way, speaking of the Main Gallery: you may have noticed that I seemed to begin telling a story in pictures in February. Well, I had forgotten to complete it, so it's all there now! Check it out!)
See you at the April meeting!
Very happy to inform you that we now have our 2011 Main Gallery begun and uploaded! Now, you may note that this Gallery starts with February photos. That's because Your Humble Webmaster had a family gathering to attend on the same day as our January meeting, and no-one else took photos! Aaarrrgghh! Nonetheless, we have great new photos for you to enjoy.
Also, added a new photo to Jeremy's Gallery, and a few more to Bill's Gallery. Updated the Calendar to close out the K-Day Promo ... you still have until Saturday to mail in the, um, Mail-in Promo, however!
Added a great new link which, while "micro" in subject matter, has proven to be "macro" in useful information!
See you at the March meeting!
Hey, Hey, Hey! The first K-Mart Collector Day of 2011 has been announced! Click on over to our Calendar to get the links to both K-Day and the Mail-in Promo!
See you at the Febuary meeting!
Happy New Year! I was hoping I get the site updated by Christmas. I was really hoping I could at least get it done before New Year's Day. Once again, the crazy holiday run-around got the better of me. The fact that I had to prep and upload nearly forty photos didn't help, either. (Yeah, kinda went beyond my self-imposed limit of "five" there.) Still, things are looking good on the site. Updated the Calendar to reflect all the regular 2011 meeting dates. Added a new link, with probably the longest name ever. Added a few more pics to Bill's Gallery. Speaking of which: If you've been following our site for the last few months, you know that Bill has scored nicely with a NMOC MegaForce TAC-CON. Well, Mice C. ups the ante (and gets his own Member's Gallery) with his amazing collection of MegaForce vehicles. Yeah, vehicles, as in plural. BIG stack of new photos in the Main Gallery. Oh, and finally got all the galleries' links together in one group for easier navigation. And last but certainly not least: After many, many months of asking me for more cowbell a Gallery (and me replying that there must be photos for there to be a Gallery), Big Tractor Mike now has his very own Member's Gallery, so please check it out!
See you at the January meeting!
Holiday preparations, holiday get-togethers and significant work on a project for my small business have taken up most of my time since the last meeting, which is why this update is pretty lean. Some very nice pics added to the Main Gallery; updated the Calendar to close out the last 2010 K-Mart/Hot Wheels promotions; and ... that's it!
See you at the December meeting!
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year ... Well, if you're a toy car collector, anyway! Yes, it's time for another K-mart Collector Event, the last one for 2010. Which means it's also time for the last Mail-in Promo for 2010. So, head on over to our Calendar to get the links.
...And speaking of links: over at our Links page you can jump to an article featuring one man's vision of the totally wild and retro-groovy!
...And speaking of groovy visions: added a nice new stack of wild & woolly photos to our Gallery.
...And speaking of our Gallery: gotta give a shout-out to our own Bill P., whose MegaForce rarities (in his Member's Gallery) earned the attention of Scott R., president of the Mountaineer Hot Wheels Club (Fairmont, WV).
See you at the November meeting!
Brief update this time around: Updated the Calendar to close out the K-Day promo (the mail-in promo is still active); updated the Gallery; and made some internal updates. More specifically: Corrected the close date on the mail-in promo on the Calendar; updated the info about the Ken-mobiles from last month; and updated the info re: the big car waaay at the bottom of our 2008 Gallery (yeah, seriously!).
See you at the October meeting!
Ka-BAMMM! Our 5th Anniversary Meeting was a smashing success! Many great and wonderful trades took place, and we had a great crowd, too! Speaking of great crowds, you'll a find a mug shot photo of our refined and polished group in the main Gallery. Oh, and speaking of the Gallery, there's a nice tall stack of new photos as well.
...And still speaking of the Gallery: some of you, depending on your browser, have been seeing the little pop-up comments I add with each photo. But some of you, again depending on your browser, have not. Well, I've done a little research, and have added code to these newest photos to ensure that everyone gets to enjoy the comedy. And if after this, you're still not seeing the comments ... well, heck, just download Firefox or Internet Explorer. (I mean, they're free, for cryin' out loud!)
As a special 5th Anniversary bonus, I've added not one but two new entries to our Links page. One is a well-organized, message-board format collector site, with lots of great photos. The other is a humor site, featuring photos of (real) cars in embarrassing situations, with funny captions added. Enjoy!
Oh, and speaking of enjoyment, our 5th Anniversary Club Truck now has its own portfolio page. Several nice shots ... and maybe a little something extra?
Calendar has been updated to close out the Toys 'R' us promo ... and to add the latest K-Mart Collector date! Boo-yahh!!!*
*(Time to grab up them 20 traders for the mail-in promo!)
See you at the September meeting!
Woo-hoo-hoo-HOO!!! The upcoming August meeting is Suncoast Diecasters' whopping 5th Anniversary! How totally awesome is that!!! And, yes, oh yes, we'll have a special commemorative club vehicle available -- but it's a limited edition of twenty (20) pieces, so get there early to get you one!
Added some more great pics to the main Gallery.
Also, the Toys 'R Us promo is still going on, so check out the Calendar for the link!
See you at the August meeting!
BIG announcement! The Toys R Us 2010 Collector Promo begins tomorrow, July 9; head over to our Calendar for the link to the details!
Some sweeet pics added to the Gallery!
See you at the July meeting!
Good part about the new job: gettin' paid! Bad part about the new job: weird schedule that breaks my day up into bits 'n pieces, and eats into my weekends at times as well. It's affected my upkeep of the site, which is why this update has blown past both the April and May meetings.
Speaking of the May meeting: relatives came over from mid-state for an early Mother's Day celebration, which I could not avoid, thereby forcing me to avoid the May meeting instead. Grumble, grumble. So, this update's a little lean. Calendar has been updated to close out the April & May meetings and the Port Richey show. Main Gallery has a few new photos. And ... um ... that's it! Hopefully the next update will be more lively!
See you at the May June meeting!
Calendar updated to close out the K-Mart mail-in promo. The Port Richey Diecast Show is this Sunday; check our calendar for a link to the flyer!
Links updated to included a great MCCH member's collection. Not only lots of great car shots, but wheels and collector cases as well!
Gallery's been updated not only with great March meeting photos, but also with a major step towards the final restructuring of the entire Gallery section -- The Shape of Galleries to Come!
See you at the April meeting!
Short month + busy schedule = very late update! However, the February updates are finally ...um ...updated:
Calendar is updated, showing the Feb K-Day has been closed out -- you still have a week on the Corvette promo, tho'!
Links updated to included another collector home page from our Guestbook.
Gallery updated with cool Feb photos ... Also added a few new rarities to Bill's gallery, which gave me the opportunity to further consolidate the Gallery links. Plus, one of Bill's vehicles was featured in a movie!
See you at the March meeting!
Well, finally got the January stuff updated! Very interesting updates, as well!
Added a link to the website of a collector who posted to our Guestbook.
Updated our Calendar to include the next K-Day and 20 Trade-ins events, as well as a link to a flyer for the Port Richey show.
Added several new pics to our main Gallery, a couple of which inspired me to get rather verbose (that means wordy). Also, you'll note an interesting structural change to the Gallery: the 2010 additions appear on their own page, with a link to the older pictures (and back again! Opa!) I've done this because, at nearly 300 images, the original Gallery page has become quite unwieldily. (Not to mention loading all those images into a single page really chews up our bandwidth!) I will be further breaking down the older gallery page by year over time. So, consider this a sneak preview!
See you at the February meeting!
Well, friends, another Christmas has come and gone, and we enter into another new decade, one in which we've finally realized we can say "Twenty (something)" instead of "Two Thousand (something)"!
Cropped the Calendar page so there's only one sheet to look at now; added a seasonal link which, frankly, I'm surprised I hadn't thought of it earlier; and added quite a stack of groovy new photos to the main Gallery. More in fact than my self-imposed limit but, what the heck, it's the holidays!
(Yes, I know, the holidays are over, technically speaking, but the updates aren't, as the January data are comin' up soon!)
See you at the February meeting!
A very Merry Christmas to you from the fine folks here at Suncoast Diecasters!
Our calendar has been updated to include all regular meeting dates for 2010 -- so, plan ahead! (Also, the links for the final 2009 Hot Wheels promos have been closed out.)
Added a very interesting and unusual entry to our Links page. It'll make more sense when you...
...Visit our Gallery and scope out a very special "prop" from Big Tractor Mike (as well as several other cool pics!).
Be sure to stop by and check out a special Christmas display!
See you at the December meeting!
Just announced: the last oh-fishull K-Day of 2009! Hit our Calendar page for that and the trade-in promo!
See you at the November meeting!
Real brief update this time. No photos were taken at the October meeting. I couldn't attend, and (sob!) no-one else brought a camera, so there's no new additions to the Gallery. However, there's a great new link on the Links page -- check it out!
See you at the November meeting!
Announcing a very small (and probably not too noticeable) change here at the Suncoast Diecasters website: I, your humble Webmaster, am attempting (attempting, mind you) to start a small home business. This means I have to cut time from something in order to devote time to this most personal project of mine. I've already discussed this with Mike and Ken. Specifically, the change here is that I'll be adding far fewer photos to the galleries (prob' not more than five to the main, and a few here and there to the member galleries), since it's the sizing and prepping of the photos and building the image tables that are the most time-consuming part of the updates. As I said, you probably won't even notice, since the main Gallery already is huge.
Having said that, there are of course several new photos in the main Gallery, as well as a few new ones in Jeremy's gallery. Added a great new link to the Links page. And updated the Calendar to close out the K-Day posting; the '67 Pontiac Promo is still active, however!
See you at the October meeting!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it has arrived! The next K-Mart Collector Event has been posted! Check our Calendar for the links. And you know what this means: time to grab them 20 trade-ins!
[P.S.: I also fixed my e-mail link on our Contacts page.]
See you at the September meeting!
Well, after a ridiculous but mostly unavoidable delay, the site has finally been updated. My old laptop was overheating, to the point that it actually shut down a few times. So, I did some configuring and checking, and ordered a new one -- of course, it took a while to set up files and programs on it. Then, within a few days, a fault showed up in the LCD display, so I had to ship it back for repair. Auughh! So, I was back to the old laptop, with a desk fan literally blowing across its surface. Eventually the new laptop returns, so again I'm playing catch-up with file transfers. Sheesh.
Anyway... Very happy to announce another gallery, that of Bill's variations. Bill has managed to collect some very rare versions, such as the brown-bottom Mini Trek. Please check it out.
Added a few more pics to Jeremy's gallery as well. Also, updated the Calendar to close out the VW Fastback promo (if you missed it, well, as they say in Russia, "too late-ski"). And, as you might imagine with a two-month delay, there's a big ol' stack of new photos in the main Gallery.
The next update might be more timely. Or it might not. Who knows!
See you at the September meeting!
First and foremost, I want to say Thank you! to those members who have contributed financially to the upkeep of this website. Thanks to you, Suncoast Diecasters shall be around for another year! I also want to say thanks to those members who attempted to contribute until a great gifting by Big Tractor Mike topped out the funds in one shot. Boom! Done!
Added several new and very interesting pics to the main Gallery.
Updated the Links; in particular, I changed the notation for Regular Wheels, which no longer sells replacement parts but is now a Moko / Lesney image archive. The new link for this month is, as Arte Johnson would say, "Veddy intereztink!"
And finally, updated the Calendar, to include a link to a Hot Wheels / TRU promo. Yep, time again to go buy them twenty traders!
See you at the July meeting!
Boy, oh, boy, there's nuthin' like posting updates to the site in the wee small hours of the morning of the next meeting! (Fer cryin' out loud.) I had the pages mostly ready a few days ago, but the server on which we reside at our host decided to get all colicky, and I couldn't even access the site. Not to mention I'm posting stuff from both the April and May meetings. But, let us endeavor to persevere:
Links: I've left the Larry Wood retirement interview at the top of the page, to make sure everyone gets a chance to see it. Below that, I've added a link to an article re: L-Wood's retirement party; when you read it, click on the thumbnails for a pop-up with some great pics! Also, I've added link to my new blog, which opens in a separate window / tab. Why a blog? Well, I haven't done any customs (yet), so there's no need for my own gallery here. Further, I don't want to chew up the club site's bandwidth with my own stuff, so a separate blog fits the bill.
Speaking of galleries: Added a stack of pics to the main gallery, as well as several new ones to Jeremy's gallery (including a tiny tale of a truck and a trailer). Also, finally added Jim's gallery of Redlines & customs. Long, sad tale about Jim's gallery. Summary: He brought in some gorgeous RLs and great customs; me shoot photos, of which the customs all came out bad; I convinced him to bring the customs to the next meeting -- the one where I forgot to charge the camera; I convinced him to bring the customs to the next next meeting; events / persons chew up my personal time; and voila!, Jim finally has his gallery.
Oh, yes, some very cool news: We now have a second edition of our 2009 club car -- order quick, they's goin' fast!
Updated the calendar; updated the Updates... Oh, and I fixed the nav column over there so the link for the 2009 club car actually says car instead of truck. (That one you can file under Owa tagu siam.)
See you at the June meeting (in just a few hours from now)!
Ahh, finally got the March updates uploaded. The updates start with a rather bittersweet item: the retirement of Larry Wood. Larry has been Mattel's premiere Hot Wheels designer for forty years, creating more model designs that any other Hot Wheels artist. He bows out this year, giving a great interview to HotWheelsCollectors.com. You can jump to his interview from our Links page.
In brighter news, we're happy to announce that our 2009 Club Car has arrived! Check it out on its own show-off page. But hurry up & order, they's runnin' out!
We had two wonderful guests at the March meeting: Don, and Sondra. Don brought several cases of exquisite rareties. Sondra brought a sample of an inherited collection which made Ken and I go weak at the knees. Photos of some of their great rides, plus other fine trades, can be found in the Gallery.
Got a great shot of Jeremy's latest custom in his gallery, as well -- the one good shot actually taken at the meeting. I didn't realize until I was loading up my truck that I had forgotten to remember to charge my camera. I was able to get the one shot of Jeremy's work, then my camera went belly-up. So, all the other photos in this update are "staged" (on my desk). Mea culpa.
Updates from April meeting to follow, sometime this year!
See you at the May meeting!
Okay, finally got some serious updates. Added a new link, the Matchbox Wiki; same basic idea as the Hot Wheels Wiki, but, you know, for Matchbox. Interesting point: while the HW Wiki has over 1,400 articles, the MB Wiki has only about 90 ...so you Matchboxsters need to get writin'! (Are you listening, Big Tractor Mike?)
Added several new photos to the Main Gallery, and a couple more each to Rob & Jeremy's galleries. Oh, and added a brand new member gallery for Ken! Please check out his crazy craftwork!
Brief explanation for the delay in updates: February is a short month; I had the flu one weekend; my mom had the flu the next weekend; and this week I had contractors at the house, which involved moved furniture, which prevented me from even getting to the computer. There, everything's explained now.
More updates to follow!
Real quick update: There's a Comic Book & Toy Show on Sunday, March 22 at the MinnReg Building in Largo, FL; please hit our calendar for the link.
More updates to follow!
Aah, Mattel finally posted the K-day and mail-in promo data over at HotWheelsCollector.com. You'll find the links in our calendar.
See you at the February meeting!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Well, after a delay caused by poorly-managed holiday time, not to mention a faulty internet connection, the Suncoast Diecasters club website is now fully updated and ready for the year ahead.
The delay in updating has had a definitely positive side-effect: the Main Gallery has a big ol' stack of new photos, from both our December and January meetings.
...Did I say "main" gallery? Indeed, that's the biggest news for our club and its website: so many great customized models have shown up at our meetings, that I was moved to ask Ken and Big Tractor Mike for permission to add members' galleries, and they done said yes! So, if you'll kindly glance at the navigation column over there to your left, you'll see that there are links for two members' galleries, as well as our regular monthly gallery. Please peruse and enjoy!
Added another link: Hot Wheels Wiki, a Wikipedia-style online reference. Lots of nice information. And if you look around, you just might find a copy of the 2009 Hot Wheels poster!
And finally, added a cool item to the Calendar: the date for the first K-mart Event of 2009! There's no link yet, so there's no tellin' what the K-day exclusives will be; however, if you head to HotWheelsCollectors.com (from our Links page, of course!), and hit the Sneak Peeks under the Showroom tab, you'll get hip to the first-to-market arrivals!
See you at the February meeting!
Happy (post-)Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas! I trust you all had a great Turkey Day; now, on to the updates...
Updated the Calendar to reflect all of 2009's regular meeting dates (I'll add special items such as K-Day events as I learn of them). You'll also note that the link to the K-Mart Purple Passion promo is still active through the 13th of December, for those of you who haven't ordered yet. (What!? You still haven't ordered the last 40th Anniversary promo of 2008?!!? Well, hop to it!!)
Updated the Gallery... but be careful! You may think you're seeing things -- twice!
Added a great Redlines site to the Links page; this one has nice photos of the releases grouped by year, and for many of the models there is a very detailed info page. Please check it out!
And now, from Your Humble Webmaster to you, please enjoy this holiday treat.
See you at the December meeting!
Incredible news! Ken just e-mailed me a link to an event taking place this Saturday, Nov. 8th: another K-mart Collector Day, and another 40th Anniversary vehicle promotion! Hit our calendar to get the links!
Yes, yes, I know the previous K-mart event was just this September. I can't explain it; I just dig it!
Yes, yes, I know that's the same date as our November club meeting -- you'll just have to make it work somehow!
See you at the November meeting!
BOO! ...And thus ends any further reference to Halloween. Added several new photos to the Gallery, including a few of a very special ornament, as well as a bit of interactivity. Enjoy!
Added a great new link that a very nice person sent to me (thanks, Ken!).
Updated the calendar, including closing out the link to the Nomad® promotion -- hope you didn't miss it!
And with that, even the Update is fully updated; you are now free to roam about the site.
See you at the November meeting!
The first real update since my hard-drive crash! Woo-hoo!
Added a bunch of great photos, including a few from the "lost time" (see Aug. 11 update). The photos include one of a Husky model which inspired me to do some online research about the company. That lead me to a great gallery site with pics of MOC Huskys (no, really!), as well as several other classic brands. So, that site is now atop the updated Links page.
Closed out the K-days link in the Calendar, and swapped the entries for the Tampa Auto Show and our November meeting (since the Auto Show comes first!) (Your humble Webmaster is not always brilliant...)
See you at the October meeting!
Added two great items to the Calendar: 1) The next Kmart Collector event (mid-September), and 2) The 40th Anniversary Nomad® promotion (mid-September thru October). Be sure to click the links to get the details!
Also, discovered a mistake on the Links page: accidentally erased the retro catalogs entry; it's back now, under the Maelstrom entry until the next update.
See you at the September meeting!
Got a few more updates now. Updated the Calendar to close the Dairy Delivery® offer as well as the past few meetings; also updated the dates for the Tampa Auto Show.
Added a new link: a Maelstrom fan club site! It's part of a larger site, but the Maelstrom section is pretty substantial on its own. Be sure to check out the Millstrom in the Customs section!
As for the computer (see previous update), most of the stuff's back together now; not at 100% yet, but close. Thanks for your prayers and your patience.
See you at the September meeting!
CRASH! Yep, it happened. Which half-explains the delay in updating the site. In July, family get-togethers ate up some of Your Humble Webmaster's free time; that same month I did a big room swap, moving the office into the guest bedroom and vice-versa. This meant not only the furniture and all the stuff on the shelves, but also having to sked relocation of the cable & internet service. I eventually realized I would not be able to get an update posted in time for the June meeting.
So, I began making the updates and prepping the photos, etc., for the August meeting. Then my laptop's hard-drive goes belly-up -- AUUGH! I was able to get a replacment shipped to me in a few days, but I had to install Windows and all the laptop drivers and utilities from the ground up. And I'm still not done!
Oh, the laptop is running fine, but only few of the apps and none of the peripherals are installed so far. Swapping the hard drive, which I considered the scariest part, actually went quite smoothly; but it's taken far, far more hours than I expected to do the software installs.
That's why the only update on the site right now is this one, to explain the lack of updates. The rest of the site updates will be piecemeal. I had backed up many files, including all the site files, about a month or so ago, so I have to re-create only the most recent stuff, but between now and the September meeting I'll update just a section at a time, with brief notes here on the Update page, until the site and my laptop are back up to speed.
See you at the September meeting!
Very, very happy to announce the arrival of the 2008 Club Truck! We have several great photos of it on its own dedicated page. (Word to the wise: both the '08 and '07 Club Trucks are in limited supply!)
Added a huge stack of pics to the Gallery. Also made an addition to the Gallery that I've been thinking about for a while: a horizontal rule & month call-out. Its purpose, aside from the obvious calendarization of the Gallery, is to visually break up the photos into groups, and thus give it a more organized appearance.
Updated the Calendar to include the 2008 Toys 'R' Us Dairy Delivery® promotion (with link).
Added a groovy new link: a collection of catalog scans from our youth! Check it out, and relive the halcyon days of "Mom, if you just get me that, I promise I won't ask for anything else!"
See you at the June meeting!
On behalf of Mike & Ken, I want to give a shout-out to those who have contributed to the financial needs of this website. We offer you our very sincere thanks.
Jeremy was at it again, customizing some perfectly harmless cars and making them into outrageous rides. You can see his handiwork in the Gallery, as well as a few other cool finds from last month's meeting. You gotta get to our meetings to get these great trades and finds!
Added several new links. Newer member Patty is also into 1/18-scale models, so I added some forum addies that she sent me. Speaking of 1/18: added a link to an online gallery celebrating toys and pop-culture, which features several seriously modified 1/18 Drag Bus models (you can view a sample in our Gallery). Warning: this site is very graphic-heavy.
Closed out some expired links in the Calendar -- uh, I think I'm done here!
See you at the May meeting!
We are very happy to announce our first customization! Please check out the Gallery for Jeremy's groovy Nova custom & interview!
Also want to give a big shout-out to Frank L., who had some very nice things to say over at Joe's Diecast Shack -- thanks, Frank!
Added two new links (yes, two again): the home page for the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as a July '07 interview with Pierre Picton, who owns the original Chitty and was a stunt double and driving double for Dick Van Dyke in the movie.
Updated the calendar to add a couple of new shows, close out the February K-Days link -- and note that the Hot Wheels 40th Anniversary VW Drag Truck can still be ordered through April 26!
See you at the April meeting!
Well, the first big update you'll notice is that our Updates page has been moved right here to the forefront! I decided that our newest info would seem newer if it appeared right after you clicked past the home page rather than having to bring it up "manually" via the navigation column. Having the map, with address, show up right after the home page, also with address, was just redundant. Another change you'll notice is that I no longer put links in specific updated items; again, it's redundant to have them here and in the nav column right over there.
Oh, that reminds me: the "Enter..." and "Updated..." lines on the home page are now one link again; since that link brings you right here to the Updates page, no need for a separate "Updated..." link (again, that there redundancy issue!).
No pics were taken during the January meeting -- too bad, too, as some great finds and trades took place. The Jan meeting was unique as well: power was lost to half the Sports Bar, so the doors were open for fresh air. A dark, cool, quiet meeting -- hooray for power outages!
We do have some nice pics from the Feb meeting, so please check out the Gallery. And there are two new links on the Links page(!); one of our members did some online research to get more data on one of his new purchases, and one site gave info that led him to the second site for verification -- this is also referenced under the first new Feb pic in the Gallery.
Another (minor) update: I've removed the pop-up blocker notes, as most browers warn you if a link you chose gets blocked. And finally, I'll now be "signing" each new update as WM (for Web Master, not William).
See you at the March meeting!
Added links to the Calendar for K-mart / Hot Wheels events, as well as the Zephyrhills Auto Show.
Updated the Calendar, now showing all regular meeting dates for 2008.
Closed out the links to the pre-Christmas sale.
Added some Christmas meeting pics to the Gallery.
And finally got around to correcting a silly error on the Links page: your humble Webmaster had left out the Gran Toros link when redesigning that page. It's now back atop the list and will stay there until after the Feb. 09 meeting.
Updated the Calendar, including adding a special page for the pre-Christmas sale.
Closed out the links to the K-mart event.
Added a "teaser" pic to the Gallery.
Updated the Calendar, including adding a special page for the upcoming K-Mart event.
Added more pics to the Gallery. By the way, I'm trying something different: instead of stacking all of ToyCarGuy's pics in the Gallery, I've put them in an in-line frame (a scrollable window) within the Gallery. Please e-mail me with your comments about the i-frame ...especially if it's not working!
Made a (hopefully) useful change to the Home page: the "Updated..." line, which had been part of the "Enter..." link, is now a separate link that brings you directly to, well, here, the Updates page. Thus, one click now lets you see the most-recent updates!
Updated the Calendar
Added some sweet pics and an intro paragraph to the Gallery
Added another address to the Links page, as well doing another format change: arranged the links into a table for easier reading (and to take up less vertical space!)
Of course, the first update you'll notice is that we've added this Updates page! It's a brief, chronological summary of specific changes. It goes a little something like this...
Updated the Calendar (this one will show up in pretty much every update)
Added several more pictures to the Gallery
Added a new site address to the Links page (the Links page has also had a small format change: any new link will be posted at the top of the page, flagged as NEW!, and will remain at the top for one month or until another new site is added)
Well, that's our first official posted update; hope you find it useful!