Jada 51 Merc

scored this one today!

Poll#3 results are in!

The question was : What’s the most you’ve ever paid for a BWF car?

Here are the results:

Under $10   4   (26%)

$10-20         4   (26%)

$20-30         0     (0%)

$30-40         4   (26%)

$40-50         2   (13%)

$50-100       0     (0%)

Over $100    1     (6%)

So we have a 3 way tie!

Myself, I believe the most I paid was $40, for a 1 of 50 special edition '69 Camaro BWF. I have to admit I recently paid $34 for a '69 Impala WL BWF as well. It killed me, but as I also collect all '69 Impala castings, regular as well as WLs, and I have only seen that one for sale anywhere, it was worth it for me.

I'll have a new poll posted on Weds.

Ugly white wheels

I posted this over at the garage. Dont get me wrong, I'm proud of these. But wouldnt white lightning lettered rubber tires be a great traight to go back to? Would blend in better on the pegs and would look more realistic. Maybe another poll question?

Testing

I think I got it figured out. A gift from Mark Hosaflook.

Trying to learn the picture posting thing.

HWs Semis

This was just a recent flea market find for less than a buck. I can't say no to cheap BWFs!

Swap 'N Sell still pending!

I can't tell you all how geeked up I am about getting this project going, it's going to give a clear and great purpose to this already neat blog! Posting "wants" and "extras" and pics of each and building each other's collections is going to be HUGE!!!!

I still need to do a bit more research into how this will be physically set up here, and unfortunately this past week has seen me super-busy. We spent four days in New Hampshire helping Lucy's son move, and when we came home, Lucy put those four days of HGTV to work by deciding we (I!) were going to completely paint the living room ..... NOW. Should be done soon, and I hopefully will have a few free days to sort through this and get this part of the blog up and running.

Meanwhile, everybody start taking an inventory of the BWF's that you will have available for sale or for trading, and make a list of the cars you may be looking to add, as well.

trying to post pics.


I guess it worked. now to take some pics!

see if I can help out. from BWF blog page,click new post at top of page.choose compose from next page,click on image. next screen is add image, browse your files for pic.click on open,then click add selected. then click on publish post. hope this helps, I'm not to good at giving instructions.

Bob8748 needs pic help...

He wants to post pics but isn't having an easy time of it. Can someone please get a hold of him and see if you can help him out? My directions didn't work for him.

Thanks guys!

JL Chevy Nomads and a BWF intruder

Right smack in the middle you will find a BWF intruder.
How did he/she get there?
Obviously, he/she didn't want to be left out so figured the best place was to be right smack in the middle.
I've having fun again with images and JL castings.
Thanks Rich for the special invitation.

Enjoy!

Cheers. Cobra

JL 1955 Chevy 210 two-door sedan with flames (not BWF)

Another favourite Johnny Lightning casting is the 1955 Chevy Two-door sedan.
I have all of the issues of this casting that have flames.
I have not photographed the others.
The two above are the issues that really stand out in my mind.
I know that this is a Black With Flames site but I think that from time to time it is beneficial to post images of other castings that have flames.

Cheers. Cobra

JL BWF 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge

One of my favourite Johnny Lightning castings is the 1969 Pontiac GTO and especially the Judge. The casting on the left is a custom with a wheel swap.
I did this one a long time ago.

Still being new to this NEW site, I feel that it is important that we post some images of BWF castings.
So this is one of my contributions.
Enjoy!

Cheers. Cobra

Try again - JL BWF Chevy Nomads

I am trying how to post images here, so here goes again.

Cheers. Cobra

JL BWF Chevy Nomads

This is my first try at being an "author".
I am trying to post some older images Johnny Lightning Chevy Nomads from the Thunder Wagon series from back in about 2001.
I can't remember the year that they came out BUT they were my first Johnny Lightning Black With Flames castings.
I still can remember how excited I was when I aded them to my collection.
As they say, "the rest is history".

[IMG]http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q212/accobra64/HPIM0678a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q212/accobra64/HPIM0677a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q212/accobra64/HPIM0676a.jpg[/IMG]

I hope that this works.

O'kay someone, please help me as I can't get my images posted.

Cheers. Cobra

How much is TOO much?

For those not aware of this, the Lincoln (RI) Johnny Lightning Race Club promotes "Gravity Racing" of diecast cars in general, and Johnny Lightning cars in particular, and has been doing so for several years now. Strange as it may seem, they have found that the 1969 Camaro Black With Flames casting has been one of the fastest JLs ever made, which has driven the price of those cars through the roof. I actually found a collectibles store in Rhode Island which said that someone out here has placed a $75 "Bounty" on every single car they can find for him!

Here is an Ebay listing we just came across, which proves that word has gotten around the rest of the country about this car!

http://cgi.ebay.com/1969-CAMARO-BLACK-FLAMES-STREET-FREAKS-JL-1-64-T6-/330527665158?pt=Diecast_Vehicles&hash=item4cf4fbec06 

A welcome to Computer Guy!

Just noticed that another great HT member and well known BWF collector has slipped in quietly. We want to give a warm welcome to another well known BWF collector, Computer Guy (aka: Richard).

Richard is, I believe, from Washington state, and I think we've done a couple of trades over the years.

Richard, tell us all a bit about your collection, please?

A big "Welcome!" to accobra!

Just saw that our pal from Hobby Talk, accobra, has checked into the blog.

Welcome, Gerry!

Gerry has always been one of my favorite guys on HT and it's a pleasure to see him here. He loves BWFs, but being from Canada, he doesn't always see the best distribution up there. Gerry, that's one of the purposes for the upcoming Swap 'N sell section, to help people like you build up your collections.

New 1/24 BWF spotted in New Hampshire

Not all of you collect scales larger than 1/64, but for those who do, this is a neat one that we spotted in a Wal Mart over the weekend. It's a '53 Chevy Pick-up, from the Jada "Collectors Club" series. We were tempted to buy it, but at $14.97 and the dubious red coloring coupled with "ghost" flames, we opted not to.

I'll probably regret that, and end up spending twice that on Ebay at some point, but for now I'm OK with passing on it.

Ozmont is in the house!!!!

Just noticed our friend Ozmont (Kevin) from Hobby Talk has checked in as a "Follower". Welcome aboard, Kevin! Wasn't sure how into Black With Flames you were, but everyone is welcome here and we're very happy to see you! Tell us a bit about your BWF cars, if you wouldn't mind?

So, you think YOU'VE got a pretty good BWF collection???

The other day I posted on the FB pages of M2, Greenlight, and JL to pass the word about our new blog. You may have noticed a new Follower named "Jovet's Garage", who picked us up on one of those posts and provided a link to his own blog on his personal diecast collection.

This guy makes us all look sick! Enjoy:

http://jovetsgarage.blogspot.com/2011/02/flaming-hot-display-cabinet.html 

O/T: Been away from the blog for a few days

First of all, let me say that we don't have any problem with slipping in the odd "Off Topic" threads here, it's part of keeping the focus a little less "tunnel-visioned" so to speak.

That said, I wanted to let you all know that I spent the past several days up in New Hampshire helping Lucy's son Brian move. I brought my laptop with me, but it wasn't always possible to keep up with the blog. to their credit, David Bilodeau and Roadwarrior (Brad) have almost single-handedly kept the blog moving in my absence and there have been several posts to keep things going.

My special thanks to these two for their efforts in keeping this blog forging ahead.

While I was in NH, I had some thoughts about things to add to the blog, features and generally interesting posts. I am also working on a layout for the Swap 'N Sell part of the blog, which I hope to add very soon.

Meanwhile, if any of your BWF brothers from any of the boards has yet to check in here, by all means give 'em a friendly nudge to check it out!

Drag Strip Reunion...anyone going?

I just saw this ad and thought some of you guys would like to know about it. It's a car show and a drag strip reunion, and the cars draging will have a flagman like the old days. Sounds like fun for a bunch of JJammers or BWF car collecters. It takes place in Orange, Mass, in Sept. 2011.

http://www.dragreunion.com/

Tell us about your most recent "find"

Maybe you found the latest release from Johnny Lightning at a Toys R Us or Wal Mart, maybe you found a neat old loose Hot Wheels at a flea market, maybe it was a sweet score on Ebay ...... what did you find lately?

Me, I scored the one original Muscle Machine I was missing, the beautiful '70 'Cuda. Got it off the 'bay for five bucks shipped! I also scored three BWF's from a Salvation Army store grab box at three for a dollar! I'll post pics when I get back home

How about you?

Poll#2 results

Our second BWF poll has closed, and the results are about what we expected.

The question was; which do you prefer, painted flames or ghost flames?

With 14 votes in, painted flames won the day, with 71% of the votes (10), to 28% (4) for ghost. Now, which diecast company has made the most ghost flames? I'd have to say Greenlight.

My M2 BWF,only missing 5 limited chase pieces that I know of.

New Addition

Had to go out of town with my wife Thursday and Friday. On our way home we stopped by an indoor flea market/Antique Mall. It had a little bit of everything, and I cam across a booth that had some 100% Hot Wheels sets. Scored this. Don't remember ever seeing this one in the stores.

The "Contributors" column

The "Contributors" column

No doubt you've all noticed that column to the left under the heading "Contributors", and noticed that there are two different colored names. What that seems to be is that the 20 most recent people get listed there, and their names are in yellow until they've come to the blog, at which time their names turn red.

I think.

I'm new to this whole "blog" thing, and I'm learning about blogs the same way many of you are; on the fly! If anyone has any previous experience running a blog of their own, feel free to drop me a note if you're available for a little background info or questions. Any advice or insight is appreciated. Thanks.

A big "Welcome" to anyone just checking us out the past couple of days!!!!

We saw a big jump in first-time visitors to the site yesterday, as a result of my posting a link on the FaceBook pages of Johnny Lightning, M2 Machines, Greenlight, and Mike Zarnock's Hot Wheels page. Trying to get a bit of new blood into our circle of BWF collectors so we might get a fresh perspective from outside the JL world, and have a few more trading partners once we get the Swap 'N Sell part going.

To those just dropping in, feel free to look around. We've been here just two weeks, so you haven't missed too much, and there's an "archive" button on the right side of the page where you can catch up if you'd like.

Anyone can post here on the blog, and everyone is welcomed to. Drop us a note about who you are, where you're from, your Black With Flames collection and how you came to collect BWFs. Or feel free to post a comment on any existing thread. You are hooked up with about 20 hard-core Black With Flames collectors from all around the country, and we love hearing about  (and seeing!) BWF's of any brand, though Johnny Lightning's seem to be the main brand with most folks here so far.

Oh, about posting photo's here; to post pics, you do have to be an "Author", which you need to be invited to be. So if you'd like to post pics (and that's a big part of what this site is all about!) just shoot me an e-mail and we'll send you that Author invitation.

We'll be adding new features to the blog as we go - we've got lots of great ideas and would love to hear your suggestions too - and one of our main goals (besides having fun talking about and showing off all kinds of BWFs and BWF related stuff. Or diecast in general) is to set up a very cool place to trade or sell cars from each other's collections to help build each other's collections.

So anyone just dropping in, feel free to poke around and say "Hi!".

Who we are, so far

We are two weeks into this site, and I’d like to take this time to familiarize each other, as some of us have different names here than we’re known by in other places. I’ll see if I can permanently put a roster on one of the side columns somewhere, and put that on my “to do” list with some other good ideas.

I’d like to thank each of you for posting here, especially those who took on the challenge of figuring out  how to post pics, Photos are what will make this site come alive!

Anyway, here is who we are, and any “lurkers”, feel free to come in out of the cold and join us!:

accobra (gerry)

Acererak (John)

BFK (Moe)

Bob8748 (Bob)

Camarors (Bob)

Chud/70XR7 (Mike)

ComputerGuy (Richard)

Craftymore (Zack)

Crestwood/DadsCoronet (Mark)

David Bilodeau/AquaXK6 (David)

Dcpdguy (Chris)

Firehawk73 (Paul)

James (James)

Jay/jingle (Jay)

Johnny/LJLRC (Jeremy)

Jovet's Garage (Jovet)

Kcm451/JetThreatKevin (Kevin)

Mudslinger (Joe)

Ozmont (Kevin)

Roadwarrior (Brad)

rjones221B/DragnetSupporter (Robert)

Snowowl (Leigh)

SSchevyman (Dave)

Stack (John)

Swifty’sGarage (Sean)

And then there’s your's truly (didn't realize when I set this up that my name here would be the same as the title of the blog, but it works for the situation!), and of course, knuckhead1, whoever that is.

Thanks to each of you for getting this off to a great start!

Hello Everyone!

I like to say Thank You for the invite! I may be new to this place but not around on the boards. I am new to this format so here is a attempt to post some pics of BWF cars. My pics are not the best but they are improving. I just blame the camera because its not the operator...LOL

Auto Dreams, release 12: A discussion

Castline's M2 Machines Auto Dreams release 12 clearly let diecast collectors know they wanted to get into the BWF game. Six at a time at that!!! I have them proudly displayed in my garage. :-)

Point of discussion: Let's look back to the Fifties and early Sixties. Teens who were lucky enough to have a car wanted to "soup it up". Some added flames to the paint job. I want to review each piece in release 12 as a 1:1 belonging to a young guy back in that timeframe. First is the '49 Merc. This car would definitely be a candidate for flames - no question. It's older so prbably cheaper. Second, the '57 Bel Air. Maybe the Bel Air, but probably a 180 or 210 sedan - more affordable for the kid. They were pretty common back then so likely to be flamed. Third, the '51 Crestline. Top trim in the lineup for flamage? Doubtful. Probably an entry level sedan or coupe to flame. Lots of them available. Fourth, the '55 Fireflite. Probably not a car a kid would choose to own. But if he got it handed down to him, it would be an unlikely vehicle to "soup up", let alone paint flames on its quarters. Fifth, the '55 Royal Lancer. Um, no. Not even the lesser Coronet. Just doesn't seem to be a flame-worthy car.
Sixth, the '58 Fury. Maybe. But perhaps the Belvedere instead. Those were big, long rides with sweeping fins in the back. Yeah, I suppose a kid would flame a Belvie.
In closing, 5 of the 6 offerings in Detroit Muscle, release 14 are clearly cadidates for flames. But seriously folks, would you REALLY want to put flames on a rare '69 Daytona???

Any ideas for new "Poll" questions?

We hope to have this as a regular feature here on the blog, and we're looking ahead to keeping these polls interesting and relevent, but we could use your help.

We could use your ideas for future polls!

The number of votes suggests that folks are interested in the polls as well, so if you have a sugestion, drop us an e-mail (rjmcdermott@verizon.net). Polls are simple to set up, and can have from 2 to 20 possible choices per poll. So send those suggestions and ideas along, please!

Our first video; Maisto "Joe's Diecast Shack" BWF COE Hauler set!

Here goes our first experiment with video, a shamelessly stolen piece posted on YouTube by a well known collector named "Race Grooves" (anyone here ever met him?). This is a set just released by Maisto honoring Joe Falco's 13th anniversary in the diecast car discussion board hobby. I've visited the shack often, and Joe has a stellar reputation across the hobby, enough to garner this tribute from Maisto. Joe was similar honored four years ago by Jada, I believe, with a Joe's Diecast Shack vintage Econoline Van.

This release features a very nicely detailed COE flatbed, with some sort of old Chevy (1957?) on the back that has a very interesting flame pattern.

Have a look:

YOUR take: What constitutes a Black With Flames car?????

We have seen this argued all over several different boards, sometimes from novices and sometimes from "seasoned" BWF collectors. Now the blog is going to put you to the test:

What do you think the rules are for qualifying a car for Black With Flames status?????

Let the fun begin!

P.S.
The "Committee" already knows!

Is this considered BWF

This picture of a guitar with flames around it is on the roof of an all black VW Beetle. It was made by Revell several years ago. Although the flames are tiny, they are flames, and the car is all black, sooo....

Now THIS is a Revell Black With Flames VW New Beetle, David!

:

:

:

OMG! You broke into my thread!!!

BWF Henry J from Manchester, CT car show

Johnny Lightning Sold!!!!!!!!

Saw this first on Swifty's today, and a Google search confirms that Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy has purchased RC2, parent company of Johnny Lightning, for a whopping $640 million. Remember, in 2004 Tom Lowe sold Playing Mantis alone - then the parent company of JL - for $17 million. That ought to show you what a small slice of the RC2 pie Johnny Lightning really was! 

Tomy is leveraging this with $600 million in loans from a syndication; never a good sign. The more hands in a business, the more under-performing lines are likely to be quickly chopped to maximize profits. Sometimes sold, sometimes closed if no other buyer can be found. So Johnny Lightning needs to move some cars!

Why did Tomy do the deal? Reports say that the Japanese youth market shrank by 13% last year alone; fewer kids means fewer customers, which means lower sales. Coupled with a comparatively stronger yen, which increases purchasing power, Tomy pulled the trigger on this all-cash deal in order to export their domestic brands to other markets, in this case via RC2's existing distribution lines. Tomy, owners of the Transformer and Pokeman brands, also owns Tomika diecast cars, and its own toy train line called "Plarail". From Bloomberg Business comes a quote from Tomy President Kantaro Tomiyama  “This merger further enables Tomy to move towards our goal of increasing our global profile adding significant additional business in North America and Europe”. From all reports, Tomy  also wanted the coveted Thomas the Tank franchise, for its value in both the Japanese, and world markets.

So what does this bode for Johnny Lightning and its collectors? Will the line disappear, or become more muddied than it did under RC2 with old Racing Champions castings? Will we see Tomica castings in Forever 64 Release 17?

Probably not much will change.

Many of these product lines are already made in some of the same factories in China, with entirely different market segments that coexist but really don't "cross-segment"; so streamlining production and marketing costs by cutting or merging lines (or "brands") isn't very beneficial. While some blurring of lines may occur, in general there are "Thomas" people and there are "Plarail" people; Johnny Lightning people and Tomica people. Neither line interchanges well with its new siblings. People who collect Thomas will still collect Thomas, and people who collect Tomica will do the same.

The upside here is that Tomy can now export their domestic lines such as Tomica and Plarail" to new markets such as the U.S. and Europe, through established distribution channels, to customers who may be bored with the currently available offerings and take to these "fresh" new products, spiking sales of those lines. Concurrently, Tomy can start selling RC2 lines to a similarly bored Japanese market, spiking sales of those lines as well.

I don't see wholesale changes of any lines, to be honest. At some point, one of each line may be cut or sold if sales are significantly off compared to the other (i.e. JL under performs, so Tomica stays), but overall the purchase is for two things; streamline production costs if possible, and get the highest levels of sales/profit in order to pay off or exceed the $600 million leverage costs. Tomica and Johnny Lightning could be united under a single brand (not likely) yet retain their individual lines unique to each one's market, but more likely this is about selling Japanese products here and in Europe, and selling RC2 product - especially Thomas - in Japan.

I see JL as pretty much staying the same, with perhaps an export market added to Japan and other Tomica distribution areas. I'd say Tom Z and the folks are safe at Johnny Lightning, only because the Japanese have no concept of the American car market. How does a Japanese designer manage a line of American musclecars? Conversely, we may now start seeing much more presence in the U.S. market for Tomica, through existing RC2 distribution (and we all know how well that's working, right?!!!)

Both Japanese and American financial forecasters see this as a good thing for both companies, and I see this as a good thing for diecast lovers. Tomy has just ensured us that the JL line will survive for at least the near future, so it can be exported to new markets that may well jump on a "new" product - at least until sales fail to meet needed projections. And we diecast lovers may finally find another line to explore - Tomica - as long as we're willing to look at non U.S. cars in that line.

Relax, JL fans, it's all good. It's pretty much the same situation Budweiser found itself in when it was sold to InBev a couple of years ago.

Can we get an opinion from David Bilodeau, please?

Poll results from last week

Well, week 1 has ended here at the BWF Blog, and a good week it was (Rome was not built in a day, but they were on schedule!). By week's end, we've had 27 people take this poll - odd, because there were only about 18 known visitors, lol!

As might have been expected, Johnny Lightning swept this poll, but not as much as you may have expected. Greenlight came in surprisingly strong! I had honestly expected Hot Wheels to lead, solely based on the sheer number of castings they've done. Here are the final results:

Johny Lightning:  13 votes for 48%
Greenlight:          11 votes for 40%

Tied for Third at 1 vote apiece for 3% each:
Hot Wheels
M2 Machines
"Other"

I don't know how this adds up to just 97% of the vote total, but hey, what's 3% between friends?

A new poll is up now, though a very simple one. If you have any ideas for future "Poll of the Week"questions, shoot me an e-mail at rjmcdermott@verizon.net Please send any other ideas, suggestions, or problems about the blog as well!

Thanks to all who have posted or just visited the blog on our first week.

JIngles is in the house!

Everybody must be familiar with Jay (JIngles) from Hobby Talk? Jay I believe is from Missourri. Hopefully he posts here and tells us a bit about his BWF collecting?

Welcome, Jay!

My newest BWF. Maisto COE with 1957 Chevy. Pays homage to a site I never really visit, Joes Diecast Shack. Nice overall but mostly plastic on the truck. Thats not stopping me I own each different one of these they have made.

Found on my way home tonight at Target.

The "Committee" needs your help: Yea, or Nea?

This one popped onto our radar today, a real borderline call (our favorite ones!)  We haven't listed what our criteria is for a true BWF, nor have we asked any of you for yours, either. We plan to, but this came up first.

What do you think? BWF or not, and why or why not?

Here's something you don't see too often

I didn't make these, but I liked them well enough to safe a picture of them from years back. I do have the wagon and the boat, and some day (yeah, right) I plan to copy the BWF pair.

BWF list... Hey Roadwarrior

Have you posted your list here yet? And can the link be stickied for future reference and updates?

It's going to get better!

Just want to remind those who have checked in at the blog that we are in the early stages of this thing. At this point, we're doing some posting to get things rolling as we wait for more and more folks to find their way here, before launching into some of the better parts we have in mind for this place. So far we're up to 19 people here, with maybe another dozen we're hoping to hear from. We have additional plans for bringing in some new faces to many of you from different parts of this hobby, to keep things fresh and interesting.

Meanwhile, we hope you feel free to start whatever threads you wish to or comment on any posts you can. I'm still learning the "admin" side of things; what can be done, how it gets done, things like that. I have a few thoughts on adding to/improving the main page, to incorporate what I hope will be some main (regular) features, and I'm open to your ideas!

But like the man said, "Rome wasn't built in a day". How long it did take, no one ever says, lol

Meamwhile, keep posting. This is your site, it is what you make it!

Howdy

Hi Dave C- SSChevyman here and glad to be so. Thanks for the invite and I am glad to join in the fun. So let the BWF club burn bright and always strong.

BWF trailer truck

Hot 'n' Toasty

Gonna jump right in and fan the flames!

When I was new to "BWFs"

Five years ago, when I joined Hobby Talk as my first internet bulletin board dedicated to diecast, it truly became a life-changing event for me. It opened up a world of like-minded (addicted) collectors. Previously, my friends knew I collected little metal cars but they just didn't "get it". They probably thought it was one of my quirks. HT opened the door to friendships and FUN! And the rest, my friends, is history!
As a newbie to Hobby Talk, I came across discussions of a term I only knew from the classifieds......... "B W F". Think about it for a moment....!! LOL And the rest, my friends, is history!
In closing, what is the connection to my handle?

Very pleased!

I invited about 30 people to start this blog, and in just a few short days about half have already dropped in. Wow! I have some great ideas and hopes for this site, and once we get all situated - you, as well as me -I have some really good thoughts on where this thing can go.

Two of the best uses of this site, to me, are:

• Showing pics of each others collections, so we can all possibly see cars we never knew about before
• Set up a really cool Trading/Selling site where each of us takes our "extra's" or duplicate BWFs and offers them up so others can grow their collections.

I envision doing a "Collector of the Week" type of thing, weekly "Polls", BWF 1:1 of the Week, a few different things. If anyone has any other ideas, please feel free to post them, or e-mail it to me. I'll put my e-mail address out there from time to time, for those who don't already have it (rjmcdermott@verizon.net)

Thanks to all who have stopped by; hope to see you keep coming around, because trust me, you ain't seen nuthin' yet! This site is your site, and it needs you to "make it happen"! And by all means, feel free to spread the word.

New Member

Just a shout out that Sir Crafty has arrived. Think I need to post some pics soon. Thanks for the invite!

Welcome to two new members!

Just noticed two new faces checking in on the BWF blog.

Say hello, everybody, to Moe (BFK), and Mudslinger (Joe Picior), both well known on Hobby Talk. Moe is from eastern PA, and Joe I believe is from Long Island. I'll send "Author" invitations to both shortly, so you'll be able to also post pictures.

Would you both be kind enough to tell us all a bit about your BWF collections, please?

The Stack attack is here jack

Just wanted to pop on and say hi! So HI!!

Thanks for the invite!

I'm new at the blog thing so I need to figure out how it works. I'm not too computer smart. I collect mainly the JL 1/64 scale, but have a few others. I "was" current in my collection but now need to add the '81 Malibu and '77 Monaco. Thats the fun... keep them coming! The mechanics name on the Fest Mustangs, that is me. I'm totally hooked on these little beauties. And of course every one is blister free. Now to see if this post works?

Two More Johnny Lightnings

These are two old Johnny Lightning

Import Heat Release 1-1995-1996 Honda Accord Casting #046   Year Introduced: 2003















 Street Freaks Release 5-1970 Ford Mustang Casting #840  Year Introduced: 2002

Here we go

This is my attempt to post a picture on this blog.  This is one of my all time favorite castings.  Some cars just don't look right with flames.  When I heard that JL was going to BWF a Challenger I was kinda "NNOOOOO!" but after seeing it they carried it off.

I will be taking more pictures in the next week after I finish off a die cast  Movie car project I have been working on.

Any one know if there are any "Live Flames" ala Mike Lavallee one of the best modern airbrush artists.

"Authors"/"members"

Okay, all of you who were invited to visit this blog the other day should have now received an invitation to become an "Author" for this blog. While anyone could previously post on the blog, it appears that you have to be an "Author" (member) to post photo's. I've taken that first step to allow you all to become "Authors". I'm stil working with that help forum to learn just how to post the pics, but if any of you stumble onto the answer first, please feel free to try and post pics.

By the way, you are all free to start new threads, just like on Hobby Talk, Swifty's, and other discussion boards. As far as I know, that's one of the similarities between a Discussion Board and a Blog.
By the way, I'll say this right here up front: anyone is allowed and encouraged to join in on this blog.

ANYONE, regardless.

The belief here is that we all share a common interest: Black With Flames diecast cars. It's the love of these cars that ties us together, regardless of personalities. There should never be an issue of "personalities" here.

It's all about the cars.

Adding photos

So far, none of us have been able to figure out how to post photos here, and what good is a site like this if we can't have pics, right? I went to the "search" feature of this site, and this is what I came up with. As far as I know, anyone can post pics to this blog, not just the "administrator", but hey, I've been wrong before. As I type this, I'm at a different "text box" than I usually see, and on the toolbar at the top of the text box, there is a square icon to the right of the underlined word "Link". Click that square box to get to the upload part of attaching a photo, and let me know how it goes from there.

You should also be able to "steal" a photo from any internet souce by right-clicking on the image, selecting "Properties", then copying the url address and pasting it into the coresponding line on this site on the "photo" download box.

See if this makes sense to any of you and maybe we can make some progress:

Add an image:

You can add an image from your computer or the Web to your blog. Click the image icon in the post editor toolbar. A window appears prompting you to browse for an image file on your computer, or enter the URL of an image on the Web.
Once you've selected your image, you can then choose a layout to determine how your image will appear in your post:

• The 'Left', 'Center', and 'Right' options allow you to customize the way your blog text will flow around your image.
• The 'Image size' options will determine how large the image will appear within your post.

Click UPLOAD IMAGES to add your image, and then click DONE when the notification window appears telling you that 'Your image has been added.' Blogger will then return you to the post editor, where you'll see your image ready to be published to your blog.
You can also publish images to your blog using your mobile device, Google's free photo software Picasa, or a third-party service like flickr. Learn more

The "Committee"

Those of you who have been regular visitors to the Hobby Talk site, as well as folks on the BWF forum at Swifty's Garage, may have seen mention of the "Unofficial Official Johnny Lighting Black With Flames Committee". While many are "in" on the inside joke of this thing, some of you may not be aware of what exactly anyone is talking about.

Is there a "Committee" for Black With Flames cars? Who is on it? What do they do????

Well, rest assured folks, the "Committee" doesn't exist. Except that it does. And just who is on it is none of your business! If you were on it, you'd know, wouldn't you?! How does one get on it? That's for the committee to know, and for you to find out. Except that you can't, because it's a secret. And it doesn't exist. But it does.

Lol.

The "purpose" of the UOJLBWFC is to identify and qualify Johnny Lightning diecast cars as "bona fide" BWF castings. Is there really a need for this, you ask? Hell yeah, it exists to keep order in a world full of BWF "wannabe's"! Without the Committee and their "Official" rulings, people would be running around declaring all sorts of cars to be "Black With Flames", and we just can't have that. Imagine the sheer chaos and insanity!

A few years back, a handful of Hobby Talk members started getting focused on the BWF part of the JL hobby, and a friendly little "nyah nyah, I've got this car and you don't!" competition began to form. While a few people joined in on the BWF wave, the bulk of it on Hobby Talk fell to myself, Nick Shonsky (CenterShock), and Mike Murray (70XR7). Before long, we were all finding "BWF" Johnny Lightning's that weren't part of the Official "Street Freaks" series, where the Black With Flames cars were coming from.

A friendly rivalry formed between the three of us, shared by countless HT readers, and very often we'd find cars that one of the others didn't have yet, and in the great tradition of RAOKing (Random Acts Of Kindness) on Hobby Talk, boxes of cars started crossing the country, filled with gorgeous little BWF wonders. More people on HT got involved, trying to find previously undiscovered cars that may or may not have qualified as BWFs, and eventually the three of us were consulted as to our opinions on whether or not these cars "qualified" as true BWFs, and the "Committee' was born. What started as a fun inside joke wound up having a degree of merit in this very important part of the Johnny Lightning world!

The "Committee" has been a source of fun and laughs over the years, and as we created this back-stroy of mystery and intrigue, and a lot of folks have wondered if it was real, or if we were nuts. The answer lies somewhere in between! All I know is that the three of us had a lot of fun with it, as did many HT members, and a lot of great BWF cars have been RAOK'd all around the country to a great many people who share this segment of the hobby. And in truth, there did become a "clearinghouse" for what cars are on the JL BWF "list" and what qualifies a car for BWF status (more on that another time!).

So the "Committee" exists, but not "officially", and there is clear deniability about that. There are officially four members of it (three founders, one newcomer who is the only person to meet the, ahem, "standards' of the founders) and one "auxillary" member who should be admitted, but whom we simply refuse to for no good reason, and there is a handful of "aspiring" members, all of them invited here to this blog. There are no "meetings" of the Committee - which again, may or may not exist - and the only time the Committee even communicates is when a previously unknown Johnny Lightning is brought forth as potentially being "flamed". Not very often, as just about every JL casting has already been examined to death!

What it all amounts to is a small group of people with too much free time, and a bit too much self-importance.

And we're OK with that. lol

A little help, please

As I learn how to "blog", I'm exploring all the features of setting up a template for how this page looks. I'd really appreciate your ideas on things you'd like to see on the site. At some point I'd like to have a little photo box where a different BWF can be posted to show on the main page, sort of a "BWF of the week" type of thing. maybe have another box with a really cool link to something; could be a BWF product (flamed toilet seat, anyone?) or a real 1:1 BWF, or anything at all.

So if an idea hits you, please feel free to share it with us. I want this to be your page, not mine.

Thanks!

Welcome!

Let's hope that what is starting as an assignment for my Intro to Computer class ends up being a great place for all you collectors of Black With Flames diecast cars!

I've had the pleasure of getting to know many great guys in this hobby of collecting diecast cars, and somehow, I wound up getting hooked along with many of them on what we know as "BWF's", to the point where I'm closing in on 700 of these addictive little toys.

This blog is not only my assignment for class, my hope is that this becomes a place for all the Black With Flames collectors to get together and set up trades, look for cars they're missing for their collections, and just have a good time sharing a common interest!

So if you find your way to this blog, please join in with telling us a bit about yourself; who you are, where you're from, how long you've been collecting BWF's and how many you have in your collection - big or small. Maybe tell us how you got started and what drives you to these flamed beauties.

I look forward to hearing from you, and as soon as I can figure out what I'm doing, I'll try to post a few photos.