banned models

I read this in annother forum ,,,is this for real?

I was at my hobby store, Johnny's Toys, Cincinnati, OH, this afternoon and the clerk in the hobby department was pulling some plastic model kits off the shelf. They were to be put in a locked glass case. WHY?

The reason is that the 1/24th scale model car kits depict NASCAR/Nextel racing cars with logos the government has deemed harmful to minors.

That's right. NO model kit may be sold to anyone under the age of 21 if the kit has decals depicting the logos of any Alcohol, Tobacco, or Firearms company. That is: Bud, Coors, Skool, Winston, Colt, etc.

If you want to buy such a kit, you must show an ID and prove that you are 21 or over! :-O

That what the clerk told me this afternoon. As he was mad about doing this, I think that he was not pulling my chain. I have known him for several years.

Reply to
styrck
Loading thread data ...

Is it real?

If you mean, was there some store, where some idiot clerk was doing what some idiot supervisor told him to do; and such models were locked up?

I suppose it could easily happen?

Was there *really* such a federal law mandating such action? Probably not. But there could always be some local ordinance for such a thing. Here in Austin, we have plenty of 'em on that level, it seems. And remember...this alleged incident was in Cincinnati...the city that once elected JERRY SPRINGER as its mayor. The level of stupidity there has no lower limit....lol

Reply to
Greg Heilers

"> Was there *really* such a federal law mandating such action? Probably

Reminds me of going through customs when we got back from Europe in 1985 - they were only interested in one thing - "did we bring back any Liquor filled chocolates - or chocolate cups to be filled with liquor" - if so they would be confiscated. Some congressman had mounted a successful crusade to stop the imports of these evil editables since they could encourage minors to become alcoholics. There seems to be a big push on to stop certain types of ads that minors could be influenced by. Now if the kid can just drag his old man away from the long neck bud he's enjoying long enough to get him to the store so he can buy the car with the Bud Ad on it. - Maybe the kid shouldn't be allowed in the refrigerator at home - or even near his parents.

Val Kraut

Reply to
Val Kraut

Snipped

I got out of the NASCAR kit scene around '94 so this is a combination of shaky recollections and/or out of date info. ;-) I collected Monogram and 90's AMT, so I'm not entirely up on other brands. But here's what I recall.

They started putting the screws to the NASCAR kits back in the 80s. MPC had cars like Skoal and Chattanooga Chew. The local hobby shop owner told me a lot of those MPC kits were pulled from the shelves and destroyed. They were crap compared to Monograms, so no big loss was my first thought.

It was around that time the manufacturers then avoided releasing kits with ATF subject matter, but their were exceptions and difficulties laying off the most popular drivers.

Monogram's first Pontiac kit was shot as the Petty car. On the sprue is an additional kit number. The rumor was they had intended to shoot a kit of Tim Richmond's Old Milwaukee Pontiac, but it was scrapped because of the beer thing. Maybe, maybe not. I think it was around that time that he shifted to Folger Chevys anyway. And of course they did release the Folger's kit.

Monogram Miller High Life Buick around 1988 or so. Builds for several drivers, but because it came out later than earlier, you get Bobby Allison's substitute instead of Bobby Allison - the driver you would most associate with this particular car. But still, they slid by with releasing a beer car. I didn't notice that one at the time, so I never bothered to ask how they did it.

AMT's 1990 Coors car and its follow up issues. I was told they skirted the beer issue by including a "Drinking and Driving" PSA inside the box. I'm thinking it was signed off by Elliott at the bottom of the page. Seemed weak to me.

AMT also released a Miller Genuine Draft R. Wallace Pontiac car that year, but I don't recall the PSA in that one, so maybe the PSA story was bogus... or maybe it was in there. I do know that Monogram's solution to the problem that year was to release their Rusty Wallace kit with fictitious Pontiac Excitement markings. IIRC that was a rather poor seller for them.

In diecasts, I was told that ERTL got by with releasing a #11 Bud car driven by Elliott by pricing it above $30-35 and thus, marketting it as an adult collectable. IIRC, the box read "adult collectable". That was about $10 bucks more than the other cars ERTL had at that time, so I guess the rationale was that it was priced out of kid range.

And than Kulwicki and Allison got killed, NASCAR anointed Jeffy Gordon their fair haired prince of the kingdom and I got out of it. I have no idea what they've been doing the last ten years - aside from releasing an inordinate number of cars with cartoon sponsorships. Interesting target audience model they worked out for themselves with that one.

UNTIL - I spotted an Earnhardt Jr. **Bud** car on the shelf at Hobby Lobby earlier this year. That surprised me a little given the long standing beer taboo. Upon closer inspection of the box there is an age disclaimer: must be 21 years or older to purchase it. That's how they were able to release the kit of one of the more popular drivers who just happens to be for model purposes, unfortunate enough to field a beer car. I guess the driver has to be drop dead popular like an 80s Elliott and a 2000s Earnhardt Jr. for the manufacturers to ignore the legal sharks and cash in on sales.

Like I said, a lot of those brain cells are old, dead and dying, and I'm not sure how reliable the explanations were to begin with, but the crux of the matter is that they started policing the kits in the mid to late 80s.

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Reply to
WmB

I sure hope the tyrants who run the United States of Haliburton don't shop around in rec.models.scale for new ideas.

David Kennesaw, GA

Reply to
jdb

Two brain cells just woke up. I just recalled the connection between the '85 STP Petty Pontiac kit and the '86 Folgers Richmond Monte Carlo kit from Monogram. That extra kit number on the Petty sprue is the exact number used on the later Folgers kit. That's why it was thought to have been originally planned to be the Old Milwaukee #27 Pontiac Richmond raced for Harry Hyde in

1985.

OK, I'm thru blathering over this trivia. ;-)

WmB

To reply, get the HECK out of there snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net

Reply to
WmB

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (styrck) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

What a crock 'o stinky shit dip!

TF

Reply to
TForward

Hey guys, for those of us who make aircraft this sort of political correct censorship has been going on for years. Here (in Australia) and I think also in Europe, you cannot buy a WW2 German aircraft with swastikas (sorry purists, I mean Hakenkreusze or whatever) on the decal sheets for the tailplanes. I thought maybe the US was a bit better until I came across an FSM article with a WW2 FW190 in it . . and guess what, no swastika! Apparently it is done this way to stop neo Nazi groups going ape, or (I suppose) to bend young minds the wrong way.

To add insult to injury a few years ago I started building a collection of

1/72 Finish warplanes and I soon ran into a similar snag. The Finns have used a swastika since before Adam was a lad as their national symbol, and used it on the wings and fuselage of their aircraft up until the Russians beat them (or more rightly fought them to a standstill) in WW2 when they changed to the current blue and white roundels. Well guess what? NO kits have the proper roundels or fin markings for the WW2 Finn aircraft, they all have this weird cross-hatch symbol.

The censors make me really mad, it's censorship to the extreme. The only good point is that having to get the right markings from after market decal producers keeps these guys in business.

Ciao, and keep bashin plastic

TSR2

Reply to
TSR2

Do you really have such a stupid and inept government - they are getting as bad as New Labour!

I can understand hiding the tobacco adverts - but beer!!!!!!

Reply to
Martin

I always thought that it was the cost of getting the licensing from the sponsor vs. how popular the car/driver is that decided which car markings get kitted.

Rob Gronovius Modern US armor at

formatting link

Reply to
Rob Gronovius

The worst of this is that whatever happens in the States soon finds its way over here in the UK then you get some pontificating talking head wittering on about a subject they have no knowledge of while being paid a fortune by some organisation to do so.

Cheers Kev- the only PC is my computer

Reply to
KEV OF BBA
Reply to
Digital_Cowboy

I thought they already did that with the "Chicks with D**ks" sponsored cars... :-o

Reply to
Eyeball2002308

Greg Heilers wrote in news:Wjt1d.586$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net:

I doubt it's a federal law - something like that smacks of a state or county ruling, or maybe a complaint from an angry parent of some kid who bought a NASCAR model with Winston decals. If it were the federales, then we'd be seeing it in stores all over.

I'd be tempted, just for spite, to get a NASCAR model from behind the protective screen and replace every banned logo with a swastika from a Luftwaffe kit. Just for fun, put the banned decals on the German air subject and juxtapose them at a contest.

Reply to
Warlok

Seems to me the hobbist gets screwed in all ways - First the Government decides what we can see - the guy who wants royalties on everything - and then there's the stupid lawyers who worry if a kid builds a airliner and his brother chokes on a loose part they'll bring a law suite against the kit manufacturer and the airline whose decals it had applied. "The kid only ate the part because it had your logo on it"

One of my big gripes of childhood was the stupid "partents stamp of approval" on comic books. Parents had a hangup with the Sci-fi and horror comics as being too scary or adult or whatever. So we traded "Tales of the Crypt" for Casper the Friendly Ghost. Parents were afriad some dumb neighbor would see you with a bad comic and think less of them.

Anyway somehow I survived Horror Comics, Rock and Roll and Airplane kits with real swastikas on the tail and all such other goodies. One interesting thing is how the price goes up on banned goods.

Val Kraut

Reply to
Val Kraut

OK maybe you got something here - simply ban kids - no screaming kids in restaurants or on airplanes - no kids running around the supermarket getting under foot, no kids at sporting events running to the toilet every 10 minutes and asking endless stupid questions - Maybe a Brave New World. Lock the kid up and free him when he's 21. Seriously, as I remember the guys in college who got in the most trouble were the ones who were always held back at home - they never had a beer in high school - so the first night in a bar got totally platzed and spent the next day barfing their brains out etc.Somehow kids have to learn to be part of our world - by shielding them - we only create a pent up resentment. The solution is parents that step up to their responsibilities and teach values in the existing world.

Val Kraut

Reply to
Val Kraut

Boy am I glad I don't live in the States, We complain about living in a Nanny state in the UK but it doesn't stoop as low as banning models with sponsors / advertising on them. If they tried that here they wouldn't get away with it.

Regards...........Mark

Reply to
Mark Stevens

Naw, don't try to get it straight, you'll only go bonkers.

To add to the byzantine NASCAR rules, they currently allow beer and Viagra sponsorships yet have recently disallowed proposals from distilled spirits and condom manufacturers.

Quaint, but you gotta love it too.

Kevin

Reply to
Kevin Carroll

Not exactly Val. Some of the comix from the late 1940s and early fifties could be kind of racy. Not Dell or Charlton, but the one that produced Tales from the Crypt, the original Mad Magazine, there was a couple of Science Fiction thrillers, murder mystries and war comix that were either pretty gruesome or flirted with nudity. For instance a girl running down a hallway with a thing chasing her. The girl's bathrobe was fully open, and the only part of her breasts that you couldn't see was her nipples. It was also open down across her inner thigh, and although you couldn't see anything there either, you ~knew~ she didn't have any skivvies on. So between the nudity and the gore, a lot of parents got upset. Sound familiar? Its still going on today.

-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger

Reply to
The Old Timer

You are thinking of the late,lamented EC comics.Which of course are desirable for having been axed(pun intended) Remember the great Wally Wood's space queen pin up girls?Or the disembodied head with blood dripping from it... Of course by the time I quit collecting in the late 80s they had characters that were gay,AIDs scares,rascism,cannibals...I guess it all comes around eh?

Reply to
Eyeball2002308

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.