Mason-Dixon RC

New track

2008-05-31T13:41:00.001-04:00

(reprinted from http://rar-studios-rc.tumblr.com/)

For many years the area where i used to live has been lacking in RC tracks and stores for that matter. There were a few stores but they usually didn’t last very long. There was an Allied Hobbies at the Oxford Valley Mall for decades, but they closed a few years ago also.

When I was a kid, the owner of the Allied Hobbies used to run electric cars around the mall. It was pretty funny.

But anyway, there is a new store and track that has opened up. It is in a perfect location, right at 95 and business Rte 1 in Langhorne, Pa. It is only about 5 miles from the turnpike, a perfect location!

It is called Action Hobbies.

I found out about them on Trinity, here is the link for that. Trinity Action Hobbies

According to the Trinity thread they are having their first race on June 14. It is going to be a trophy race.

The forum on their web page doesn’t seem to work, or it just won’t work for me, I don’t know. Since that weekend is not a Hobbytown race, I am hoping to make it down there.

Plus it is literally fifteen minutes from where my nephew lives, so he can have a closer place to race!

May 24 Hobbytown Cash Race

2008-05-25T08:57:00.004-04:00

A very good race day!
There was a good turn out to the first cash race at Hobbytown in Reading. It could have been better except for Hobby Hut. With one week notice they scheduled their cash race for the same day as Hobbytown. This is not uncommon for Hobby Hut, they have scheduled races with little notice. Here is why I think this is kind of shitty. Hobby Hut race on Sunday, yet they schedule this race for Saturday. And last year they did this same thing to other tracks.

But enough about the idiots at Hobby Hut.

The day was great as far as I am concerned! Racing started at 11am and ended around 5pm! There was good racing all day, conditions were great. And a big, huge thanks to Larry, Jack and Bob for all of their hard work getting the track ready! They worked all week to fix up the track. A big new addition was the porta-pot. So no more walking down to the store. And I am sure the store is happy about dirt and stuff being tracked through the store.

And on a personal note, my nephew raced his buggy for the first time. He had a great time and did far better than I expected, to be honest. And besides the reciever battery pack problem, it was a worry free race! And thanks to Bob and Aaron and everyone else for the help! Also a huge thanks to Steve, Tina, Kijana and all the other racers for making it out to the race.

Here is a the link for the photos.

Sort of RC related video

2008-05-20T20:38:00.001-04:00

DVD sign up

2008-05-06T21:59:00.003-04:00

On Trinity Tech Talk is a sign up sheet for the NRC Meltdown DVD.
HERE IS THE LINK

Thanks to Dave Hagy for posting it, since I can read the posts on Trinity but can't post anything.

As of May 6th there have been eleven sign ups, so hurry up!

New Mason-Dixon DVD

2008-05-05T20:53:00.003-04:00

(The unfinished DVD case)

The rough edits of the video were finished last week. The video will be about 2 and a half hours, give or take a few minutes.

This week I will be adding the titles and scrolling text, stuff like that. It is going to interesting to watch.

And for an advanced sign up go here Trinity Tech Talk

The DVD will be $20, and if you advance sign up or email me, you will get a $5 discount!

Also, my PayPal account is being fixed, so i will be able to ship to you, and best of all FREE SHIPPING

Next DVD project!

2008-04-27T20:27:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was the big Meltdown race at Nuclear RC in Parkton Maryland.
I had a great time, did a lot of walking up and down that damn hill! But I was the one who set up nearly as far away as is possible, so I have no one to blame but me.
Anyway, I got tons of footage from the race and I think a DVD is called for.
Here are the photos from the event.

APRIL 26 NUCLEAR RC

I will be starting the editing on Monday, and I am shooting for a two week turn around and have it off to be duplicated. I had quite a few people tell me they would like a copy.
As far as pricing, it is looking like it will be $15, and I will try to sell as many as I can directly. Which means I have to get my PayPal account straightened out, damn!
But, I will also have copies with me everywhere, and I will post my schedule on my other web page, RAR STUDIOS

Hobbytown First race of 2008

2008-04-21T01:18:00.002-04:00

LINK

Episode 10

2008-04-21T01:15:00.001-04:00

LINK

Hobbytown track work, March 25

2008-03-25T20:49:00.003-04:00

Here is a panorama, it is not the best work I have done, but it is a little difficult the way the track is laid out. The tractor was a big help. A few more hours and the track will be ready.
LINK for PHOTOS

Episode #7

2008-03-04T13:20:00.000-05:00

Nuclear RC 2008 promo

LINK

New RSS link

2008-02-27T11:25:00.003-05:00

Sorry about this, the old RSS link developed a bit of a hiccup, meaning I messed with it and screwed it up!
But here is the new feed.
NEW RSS LINK

Sorry about any issues or problems, my bad!

2008-02-25T18:19:00.001-05:00

Maps for the tracks

2008-02-25T10:59:00.004-05:00

On the upper right side of this page you will see TRACK MAPS. It is is not pictures of the layouts of the tracks, it is maps of where the tracks are located.
XRC Raceway and Extreme RC Hobbies

View Larger Map
Nuclear RC

View Larger Map
Pit Stop Hobbies

View Larger Map
Hobbytown USA, Reading

View Larger Map

The tracks on this map are Hobbytown in Reading, Pit Stop Hobbies, XRC Raceway and Nuclear RC.
More will be added, as well as stores and other places. It is a work in progress.

Tracks I will be going to and news

2008-02-23T10:03:00.007-05:00

It is almost here!

XRC is gearing up, we all had questions as to whether there would be a 2008 season there, but it is all coming together. Darren, Dave and Jeremy will be running the racing. I am glad, it is a very good track, good people and it is a lot of fun!

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Nuclear RC, I really like this track. For photography and especially video, there isn't a better track in the area. The track sits on the side of a hill, so there are lots of places to stand and see the entire track. It is also a great track for the racers too.

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Pit Stop Hobbies
A great track, especially for 1/10 scale (nitro and electric) and for the 1/12 and 1/18 scale trucks. But 1/8 scale is also raced and welcome.

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At Reading, Pa, yes they still have a track! And you might be surprised to hear, there are great things in the works! At the track meeting a few weeks ago, it was decided that changes were needed. The biggest problem is dust! If you have ever been to the track, the dust was terrible. I heard about people seeing the dust while driving on 222 from miles away! So, a sprinkler system and reworking the track surface should go a long way to cut down the dust. But, there is more!
Instead of ending the race season before the September "Hobby Connection Day", the points series will extend into October!
Yes, I am biased, I had a hand in the building of the track, and it will always be my favorite!

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Hobby Headquarters
And a relatively new track, but one with big plans. I met some of the people from this track at Motorama, and got to talking. And while I haven't made it up to the track yet, I said I would help with some free advertising! They are located up north near Hazelton, right off both 81 and 80, so it is easy to get to. But they also fill in a gap of sorts in that part of the state. I will be going there this season so hope to see you there too!

Motorama 2008 RC race preview

2008-02-19T00:04:00.001-05:00

Motorama 2008

2008-02-18T12:19:00.002-05:00

Thursday was a long, and to be quite honest, boring day!

Got to the Harrisburg Farm Show Complex at about 7am. About four people were there, but not the people needed to do the actual work. So the people who were there marked out the track layout, and then the waiting began.

After a few hours the machinery to build the track got there, and they began to do the rough work, building up where the jumps will be. And then it was about 5pm before everyone was there and the serious building began.

Friday

Practice went well. The track looked great, unfortunately I don't have a good picture of the entire track, I will do that Saturday. After the fiasco of last years weekend, it is looking as if this weekend is going to be much different! I didn't hear any complaints other than the usual stuff.

Having been in this hobby for about eight years now, there is one reliable fact about an rc event or race. There are chronic complainers everywhere, you get enough people together there is always a certain percentage who seem like they just cant avoid complaining. The typical complaints at a race are, the track is too rutted, to smooth, too dusty, too hard, all sorts of complaints. The point is you can either ignore the complainers or agree with them. Arguing them is pointless, I have tried many times and it does nothing but cause problems.

Anyway, the practice went good, there were a lot of people and it was a good day!

And to top it all off, I sold two videos! Yeah, just a couple more and I have broken even! Which I might sell this weekend, so it is good.

Saturday

If I ever do this again, it will be different. I will not stay for every minute of practice and qualifying! Indoor events, from my perspective, are not ideal for photography. And the smoke played all sorts of games with the video. I guess I see the need for indoor events especially here in the Northern latitudes, and for the racers it is great. The track can be maintained consistantly more or less, but for video and photography it is not good.

Anyway, here is what went on.

Saturday was the qualifying rounds. And for those who survived the the 2007 Motorama RC event, 2008 was outstanding! The qualifying began at 8:30 in the morning and they ran through three rounds with 18 qualifiers per round! No computer glitches, and the qualifiers went without a hitch. The first round went from 8:30 to 11:45, second round from 12:30 to 3:30 and the third round went from 4:30 to about 9pm.

Sunday

Sunday was the Mains. I don't have the results yet, but the Mains only had one small problem. And for running that many Mains one small hitch is miraculous!

So, I would like to say congrats out to Competition Products for making mends for the 2007 fiasco.

Photos from the event

As for the video, I will have some posted on YouTube and Vimeo in a couple of weeks. So be patient!

Extreme RC store display

2008-01-01T22:10:00.001-05:00

Right at the front of the store is the is the Mason-Dixon DVD display!
Thanks Eric

Another way to get the DVD

2007-12-31T12:38:00.000-05:00

Can't make it to a store that sells the Mason-Dixon DVD?
Stores too far away?
No Problem.

Extreme RC has the DVD's available for delivery right to your home.

Contact Eric at Extreme RC either by phone (717) 284-0164
or email
ericmusser@mussersmarket.com

He has extra DVD's and will ship them right to you.

EXTREME RC

The Day has arrived

2007-12-18T14:27:00.001-05:00

The Mason-Dixon RC 2007 DVD is in stores NOW!

This is a limited edition DVD.
100 have been made, and that is it!
The following stores have copies right now.

Extreme RC,
35 Friendly Drive • Quarryville, PA 17566
Phone: (717) 284-0164

Pit Stop Hobbies
262 West Main St.
Mount Joy Pa, 17552
(717)-653-6222

Hobbytown USA, Reading, Pa
Wingco Lane
Route 61 at Route 222
Reading, PA 19605
(610) 916-4477

Iron Horse Hobby House
60 S 6th St
Reading, PA 19602
(610) 373-6927
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This is the ONLY DVD of its kind, local tracks, local racers, so get a copy (or two) today before they are all gone!

(More stores will be added this week, check back for details)

In-store advertising for DVD

2007-12-09T11:03:00.000-05:00

Week of December 10th

2007-12-05T23:17:00.000-05:00

The DVD will be here
It has been a long wait, lots of problems, lots and lots of delays, but the day is almost here!

So, I will post the exact date when it will be available.

Poster ideas

2007-11-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

News and Questions

2007-11-24T09:29:00.000-05:00

News first

The DVD may be delayed a day or two. Problems on my end are driving me more than a little crazy. It seems that once i get one problem fixed or solved, another pops up and screws up my day. Oh well.

The second bit of news is regarding the price of the DVD. It will not be $14 as previously hoped. I will be selling mostly through the hobby stores, and it seems the price will be between $19 and $20, some where around there. The hobby sotres I have spoken to so far are, Iron Horse in Reading, Pit Stop Hobbies in Mount Joy, Extreme RC in Buck, and Hobbytown in Reading. The reason for the price change is I would like to sell primarily through the stores. More business for them is good for all of us in the hobby, especially me! I may have copies with me, or I may not, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to count on that.

Future plans

Here is a question. Are there any other products you may be interested in? Calendars, cards, posters, coffee mugs, t shirts, buttons, hats, whatever? I have some thoughts in mind, but feed back is greatly appreciated.

Another question. Would anyone be interested in buying cd’s of the photos, sort of a best of type cd? I could probably make individual cd’s for each track or even event.

I am still hoping to get the Motorama deal worked out. Even if I am not working directly with the guys for TQ Fuels I hope to still attend, but that will probably mean there won’t be a DVD, legal issues and all.

So that is it. As I said in earlier posts, the 2008 season will be less about point series races and more bigger events, and much more traveling. And the photos will be watermarked and not freely available on Flickr. So, some changes for 2008. That is not to say I won’t go to XRC, Nuclear or Pit Stop on off weekends, and those photos will be up on Flickr for free as usual.

So, thats it for now

Ready for duplication!!

2007-11-19T10:25:00.000-05:00

The DVD masters are finished! Had a little trouble with the disks I was using, so had to buy new ones. But they are finished and ready to be sent off.
The DVD case art work, DVD label and insert art is finished! That is all on CD's and ready to be sent off.
So today or tommorrow, I will be sending them off and getting product back by the last week in November. I kept to my schedule, I got the movie out by November, it might be November 30th, but it still counts!!!

It is all coming together!

2007-11-12T18:55:00.000-05:00

I will be sending the DVD off next week and the company has a five day policy, so it is going to be done, soon!
As it stands right at this minute the stores where the DVD will be available are as follows.
Extreme RC, Buck, Pa
Pit Stop Hobbies, Mount Joy, Pa

Tenatively
Hobbytown USA, Reading, Pa
Bumps and Jumps, Etters, Pa
Iron Horse Hobbies

Lots going on

2007-11-11T11:43:00.000-05:00

On the DVD front, there has been a breakthrough! I will not be using the service I originally intended, I found a better one! Instead of having to send the DVD files over the net, I can mail them a master copy, and they will duplicate the DVD's, print the labels directly onto the DVD's and the insert for the case!!

Also, things are looking up for going to Motorama. More to come on that.

Was out at Nuclear RC on Saturday. While it was cold, it sort of cleared up and it was a pretty good day!

So, the DVD is on track. I would guess maybe Thanksgiving week? Maybe?

Knowing when to stop

2007-11-08T18:19:00.000-05:00

This is something I am fighting a battle with at the moment. I like the movie, I think it turned out very well, it looks great on a TV, sounds great, all is good.

No

The irresistible urge to just change this one thing, maybe take this shot and move here. And since I am doing that, I can add these shots and change this.

This is dangerous. It is something I am fighting right now. There are some very small changes that have to be made, some titles, little things. I just have to resist temptation once I got the file open, fightthe urge to just change this one little thing!

Here we go!

Finished

2007-11-07T09:30:00.000-05:00

I know this is the second post having to do with this, but, who cares!

Work, for me started back in July on this project. It has been FIVE months. It really shouldn't have taken that long. But now I have in my grubby fingers, a demo DVD with the finished video.

I had planned on putting old videos on there as bonus material, but the music is a problem, liscencing issues.

Next week, I will be sending the files to Lulu.com to have the DVD's made up. And then it will be just a little while, hopefully, until they are for sale!

The price will be $14

Check back soon for news on when and where it will be available!

Primary editing is FINISHED!!

2007-11-06T18:38:00.000-05:00

Yeah!
I just finished the rough edit of the DVD. Now it is just a matter of tweaking here and there, lining up music, stuff like that.
Word of warning, there will be very little backing music. There are a few reasons for this. First, is money. I had planned on having backing music through out, but the cost of liscencing is outrageous! Second, I am not a musician. I can make some backing music, but not enough to fill the entire movie!
So, there is little music, just to fill for titles and stuff like that.

So, I will be 100% finished by this Friday. I was hoping to be at this point by Friday. Being ahead of schedule is unusual for me.

So, thats the news

Preview of Mason-Dixon RC

2007-11-06T10:58:00.000-05:00