
u/Ordinary-Time-3463

Zen ball replacements
Hello all,
I have a friend who absolutely loves her OG Zen. I believe this is her 3rd OG zen and this one probably had upwards of 1500 games on it. Obviously OG Zen’s are highly sought after and there is a premium, so I was wondering if there is a good alternative or replacement. I am a Brunswick person, so I really don’t know the stuff from SPI.
Also I’ve seen the Zen 25 and it looks almost identical. Is there any significant differences between OG and 25?
Thanks.
LMC Hauler
Just Passed this on 95 a little north of Richmond heading north. Maybe like a team/crew motor coach? Never seen one of these before.
Spiderman
Why is spiderman so crazy as of late. Just checked and spiderman has a longer wait than Hagrids, Mario Kart and Ministry which is unheard of. I must’ve missed something unless this is because of the movie.
Corey Day to the moon
91 bumped me into the 17 and well, I don’t think cars are supposed to go that high.
Hamlin Pocono Win
Looks like it’s possibly good for preorder now? Got this email from Lionel.
DNP Notifications
I preordered all 3 race win 1:24 diecasts from All Star Weekend in Dover since I was there. Obviously the KB truck will be produced and I’m assuming Denny will as well. But the question I think is Corey Day’s Oreily win. Has anyone heard updates?
Also if it dosent make MOQ, do I get some kind of notification. I believe it’s pushing 9 weeks on Lionel’s site for preorders so I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not.
KB cheddar’s 1:64
FYI, it looks like Walmart has listed the Kb Cheddars car on their website.
Jacks Racing Collectibles haul
Earlier today I went to Jacks in Riverside NJ (just outside Philly). Had a pretty nice haul and was quite thrilled to see 2 hard to find cars in 1:64.
Obviously the store has almost every new release (think they lag a little behind on releases bc I was looking for the 26 Briscoe and it wasn’t there yet so I imagine that is coming within the next few days). But almost every new release is there. The old 1:64 prices were ok (11.95 for ‘24, 10.95 for ‘23, 9.95 for ‘22 etc.) but I personally would much rather wait for circle b’s Black Friday to pick up 1:64 for customs though), but there was certainly some really good deals on older 1:24’s. Quite a few elites/special finish/rare cars that were sub $50 that were before the next gen era. Even though I am not a Carl Edward’s fan I almost got a Carl Edwards 2009 Black Label Aflac car for $40 I think. I’m not a big 1:24 collector but anyone who loves older 1:24’s at a cheap price I highly recommend it. I believe I counted 14 rooms of merchandise and most rooms were a significant size as well.
There is also still a significant amount of KB stuff as well with 1:24, 1:64, hats, shirts, jackets etc. all of which are still normal prices.
For anyone interested the address is 219 St Mihiel Dr #16, Riverside, NJ 08075 and I believe Jack ships as well if you call or reach out to him.
FYI though, getting to the shop is interesting to say the least. There is a lot of poorly designed intersections and roads, with randomly placed traffic lights and signals and very beat up roads with holes everywhere so be mindful once you get within 10 or so miles of the shop lol.
Overall putting the poor roads and infrastructure around Jacks aside, it is definitely a 10/10 visit.
Prizm 2022 blaster/2025 hobby
Opened up a 2022 blaster and 2025 hobby. Blaster was ok (although the checkered Hamlin was /50 which was awesome).
Hobby was loaded. 5 silvers and 18 numbered cards including 2 /49 autos as well. 2/3 autos were quite solid as well. With Jesse Love and Dale Jarrett.
Poole /299
Bowman /299
Alfredo white /299
Bowman old prizm /299
Stenhouse /249
Butterbean /249
Fenhaus /199
Alfredo /199 blue
Elliot /199
Hamlin /175
Suarez /175
Bowman car /149 (green)
Brad K /125 (Orange)
Preece /99
Dibby/75
Brad K /75 checkered
Mills /49 auto
Love /49 auto
Jarret auto
Check in not appearing
Anyone else having issues with the check in box not appearing?
Difference SIAAR vs Abralon
In looking for new sanding pads I was wondering if there was any significant difference between Siaar or Abralon pads. I do have all Brunswick equipment so I am leaning that way since B6 uses Siarr, but I was wondering with it being so similar in price, if there was something significantly different between them. I also know of the few sites that offer bulk discounts for both as well which I plan to use.
Awesome Old Card Find
Was going through my closet and was absolutely shocked to find this card. This was from a raced used car in 2009 which I believe was the year I started watching NASCAR and become a fan (I was 4y old at the time). Interesting enough as a 4 year old, I started cheering for KB not because of the M@M’s car but because at the time I had a golden retriever and there was a big one on the side of the pedigree car. So as cursed as that sponsor was, that’s honestly why I became a KB fan. Pretty crazy to think that this could legitimately be from the race where my KB fandom and nascar fandom stemmed from.
Also Press Pass is the GOAT.
Digging up old cards
Was going through my closet and was absolutely shocked to find this card. This was from a raced used car in 2009 which I believe was the year I started watching NASCAR and become a fan (I was 4y old at the time). Interesting enough as a 4 year old, I started cheering for KB not because of the M@M’s car but because at the time I had a golden retriever and there was a big one on the side of the pedigree car. So as cursed as that sponsor was, that’s honestly why I became a KB fan. Pretty crazy to think that this could legitimately be from the race where my KB fandom and nascar fandom stemmed from.
Also Press Pass is the GOAT.
Custom autograph boards. Final product
Last year I asked in the forum what everyone used to get signed for driver autographs for when I went to Dover for all star race weekend. It’s not like baseball or football where you can sign the ball. Obviously there was helmets and tires too but that’s bulky to carry around all day. Initially I thought maybe a checkered flag but then decided to get creative and make a custom piece. Made 3 separate wood plaques for the drivers to sign based on the series they were racing in. After finally getting a chance to seal the plauqes the final products are shown at the end.
In terms of steps this is what I did.
I got some type of decent sized wood board. (In my case Walmart had a 12 by 16in wood board that did the trick perfectly. Bc it’s Walmart it obviously needed a brush over for sanding before I did anything to smooth it out bc it wasn’t perfect.
I found the logos online and printed them and then used carbon/graphite transfer paper to transfer the design to the board. Once everything was traced onto the board very lightly I used a pencil with more pressure to fill in lines and make an outline for engraving.
This step was def the most tedious and time consuming but it was def worth the time. I took my dremel tool and used different engraving bits to engrave the logos using the traces on the board. There was obviously some uneven cutting so then I used the sanding and brush attachment to smooth it out. Once everything was engraved I took 120 grit sandpaper to get the pencil markings off.
I took a fine point sharpie and outlined the outer parts of the logos to really stand out.
(Another tedious step) but I then painted the logos to match the colors. Had to improvise on parts but Still happy with how it came out. (For the date I actually painted a rectangle and then engraved after the rectangle was dry). Once everything on the board dried I did a very very light sand at about 1000 grit just to smooth the paint out. If there was too much pressure then obviously the paint would be completely sanded off.
Very carefully I took a wood stain and stained where the drivers signed (mental note that stain appears way darker then you think). Glad I went with a lighter color stain otherwise a black sharpie wouldn’t come through. This took I believe 3-4 decent coats with a nice 220 grit between each layer.
Once the stain was completed, I took a clear coat (I believe it was rustolem 2X) and just took a light coat to cover the surface and preserve the paint and stain.
This is where the autographs happened and were signed. Paint pens could work too, but traditional sharpies especially on a bigger board worked as perfect as I wanted. A couple signatures are a bit dull bc the marker gave out but that’s just sharpies in general.
The final step (and another important step) is actually sealing the signatures. This took a lot of research to find a good sealer with the sharpies so they didn’t run or smear. It seems that the best bet is any water based sealer (I used a water based polycryilic from Miniwax) that did a very good with absolutely no smearing whatsoever.
Was very happy with how this came out and I was very happy with this decision especially to have the drivers sign something handmade (The VIP pass for the weekend was my college graduation present so I had many signatures). Many drivers actually commented on it too. On a funny note not sure if each driver has personal photographers or not, but when Gio Ruggiero was signing it there was this photographer who was all over it. To the point where the photographer was basically breathing on my neck. So somewhere there is a close up picture of Gio signing the board lol. Also was quite unfortunate looking back seeing KB’s signature at the time not knowing what would happen less than a week later.
Just wanted to share my product to maybe give some people ideas for handmade things for drivers to sign because most of them definitely enjoyed seeing it.
In season challenge bracket
Complete a bracket for 50 points. March Madness meets NASCAR.
Autograph identification
Edit: Solved
1 is JHN
2 is Noah
3 is Willy B
4 is Mcdowell
5 is KB (RIP)
Aesha on Destination X Series 2
Aesha is one of the people on the 2nd season of Destination X on NBC. Was a great show last year.
Methods to make customs
In working on customs I believe I found a much easier way so I’m curious if anyone custom builders have any different methods or approaches.
Normally I would do the typical
-unscrew the chassis
-strip with a paint stripper
-spray paint
-reassemble
-decals
-seal
I have been finding more success doing the following
-strip the paint using a sanding tool (I use a dremel)
-Use acrylic paint to paint the chassis (and tape up things like windshield and tires to not get paint on them)
-decals
-seal
(After about 5min sealed I roll the car on a damp paper towel to smooth the clearcoat on the wheels to keep it rolling).
It saves me time and effort from dissembling and reassembly and also limits the waiting time from the stripper. I also have a ton of issues with reassembly of the cup cars because for some reason I can’t ever get them lined up again.