At a toy crossroads

14 September 2008 4 Comments

As my Hot Wheels racetrack project reaches the end of Phase 1 and is being tested, I’m quickly reaching somewhat of a toy dilemma. As I test my racetrack I’m finding the flaws, some of which I can probably fix, others I can’t. One of things I can’t control is the handling of the cars when they’re racing. That being the case, I’m finding my racetrack can be somewhat brutal on the cars.

So my dilemma…I’m at the crossroads of Toy Collector and Toy User. I made the track to be used and to have fun with, but in some ways I also don’t want to bang up all my cars. I’ve preached for years that toys are meant to be played with and if I was any sort of serious collector I would have kept all the cars in the box and so on. And I don’t really plan on selling any of my Hot Wheels, so maybe I’m less of a collector than I think anyway. But I could also go buy cars that are meant to be used with the racetrack.

Naturally, some of my favorite cars will stay on the shelf and some cars just won’t work with the race track. My Hot Wheels have all been played with before. When friends’ kids come over they like to get out the cars and track and have some fun, and that makes me happy. I like seeing people have fun with toys and it’s nice to see a “simple” toy like Hot Wheels still has as much appeal now as they did when I was young. I just hope I can con my friends in enjoying the track as well.

But on the racetrack front, I got the starting gate completed and I’m pretty satisfied with it. I discovered working with plexiglass is a bitch but it looks nice. This project as a whole hasn’t really been built with too much accuracy in mind. A lot of the building and measurements were by eye and in some places it shows, but I’m hoping a coat of paint will hide a lot of blemishes. I also think I need alternate lengths of the track. The track I have is pretty lightweight and is only a foot per length, which means there are at least twelve track joints from start to finish. I’ve seen thicker, longer tracks that I may explore since I think they will work better and create less track seams.

So far, so good, though. In the end I think it will look pretty nice.

4 Comments »

Renee said:

I know exactly how you feel about those cars. I’m also a big advocate for actually playing with toys rather than keeping them in boxes, but whenever one of your favorites gets a ding or scrape, your heart aches just a little. I have a bunch of minis that I handpainted for playing D&D and when they get chipped I kinda want to cry. But then again, I made them to play with them…. *sigh* This shall always be our pain. And joy :)

# 16 September 2008 at 9:25 am

Jen said:

I am one of those keep-them-in-the-box collectors. I collect Barbie dolls and I have since I was little. I always had some that stayed in the box and some (okay, most) for playing. It is hard not to take them out of the box though so I’m all for playing with those toys!

# 17 September 2008 at 11:49 pm

Brian said:

I think I’m warming up to using the Hot Wheels. While having this cherry is nifty and looks good on a shelf, there’s also something to be said about the car that has scuffs, dings, and scrapes. Kind of like the teddy bear with the missing eye and ripped leg, it just shows the toy is loved.

However, we found that some cars are not meant for the race track. One car already got beat up so bad the axle bent and now the tires don’t roll straight. Sucko. Just gotta be mindful of which cars to use.

# 18 September 2008 at 9:44 am