I few posts ago I went on another of my little rants about running into more problems finishing my grandstands that I’ve been trying to finish since I built Drag City Mk IV in the spring of 2020. By the time the track opened right before X-mas of that year, I was already scheming to get my “master plan” for a crowd finished. It took years for me to track down and buy the right vintage parts, but there was problem after problem in finally putting it all together.
Well race fans, I’m happy to say that persistence pays off! This weekend, I finally put the finishing touches on the grandstands when I received a belated shipment of “sitting peeps” in a scale that worked, and was able to finish populating the center stand and then complete the one on the “north side” of pit row (in other words, the one on the right hand side facing the track from the controls).
It’s been an amazingly long and difficult journey to get to this point, which I’ve blogged about on several occasions through the years! What’s amazing about this final touch is that even with multiple orders of figures from multiple vendors, I only JUST had enough to finish them! Several of the figures I ordered were too small and one order was too big, but one was “just right,” and I did work some of the smaller ones into the crowd to represent children under the age of 12, because hey, kids like racing too; I mean, I sure did! And since DCR always strives to be a family-friendly venue (because remember back in the 1980’s Americans were still actually having children), I thought it wasn’t a cheat in any way to use some smaller figures, but rather represented an appropriate variety of spetactors! Adults, kids, adolescents, and seniors of all backgrounds are represented! It is a crowd that-as some politicians are often so fond of saying-“looks like America!” Or at least, like California used to when I was a boy!
So, to celebrate, the track management decided to hold a special “half price” event to bring in the crowds, and they came in droves to see a fast and furious 12-car Trans Am competition featuring high-powered small-block Detroit iron battle it out! The response to the event was overwhelming, and now that the 1986 racing season is in full swing, we’re getting ready to belatedly launch the big sports car event of the summer, “BANZAI RUNNER V!” So get your tickets now and mark your calendars, race fans, because there’s plenty of weather-protected seats in the stands at DRAG CITY! To give you an idea of what that will look like, here is that Trans Am event presented with one of the track’s signature songs by the band who named it!
I have to say this looks absolutely incredible! Your vision came through loud and clear! I know it was a long road but your perseverance to achieve the look you wanted was well worth it. It must have been tedious positioning all those peeps! It really does add a lot to the diorama and I love how everywhere you look there is something to see and you really feel the action! Well Done!!!!
Thx bud! I learned a few tricks from someone else I know who’s done a great job on his own diorama! 😉
Thanks so much! I’m looking forward to lots of progress this winter. Over the summer I haven’t been down there much, but now that the construction is pretty much done, I’ll be populating my little town! 🙂