Posts: 209
Joe Kelly Jr.
I was always crazy about toy cars and car-themed play sets, but I got hooked on car models when my cousin sent me a pair of built-up AMT kits - a '61 Continental and a '57 Thunderbird. I was six or seven years old when another cousin - Carl - showed me how to build and paint, and by the time I was nine, I had a pretty good collection and a great "spares box" on hand. The original Auto World catalogs were my dream books; my allowance was spent before it was ever earned, and I knew every hobby store and model retailer on Long Island. Then came slot cars, Cox .049-engined Baja Buggies and airplanes, and, ultimately, the real things. I still have some of those old models, and when time allows, I still build or detail scale cars. But it's the ready-to-display replicas and scale racing models that have really had me jazzed for the past fifteen years or so. The "mint" diecasts and the 1:18 American Muscle cars that I cut my serious collecting (and writing) teeth on back then led straight to the current crop of offerings from high-end makers and models in every scale. I also love scale model photography, and shooting, scoring, and producing videos of the models I love. I'm a proud member of the DiecastSpace Diecast Hall of Fame, as well as the Diecast Car Collectors' Club Diecast Scale Model Hall of Fame. I'm also proud to be a part of the Die Cast X Team, and as Editor-in-Chief, I'm looking forward to years of growing the publication and showing new collectors how much fun this hobby can be. And, yeah - I still have that spares box.
Latest Posts by the Author
- DCX SuperConvention February 2014!
- NEW VIDEO! GreenLight’s “Fast & Furious” Cars in 1:43
- NEW VIDEO! Automodello’s 1962 Mustang I Concept in 1:24, 1:43!
- Proto-Pony: Automodello’s 1962 Ford Mustang I Puts History on the Hoof
- Little Edsel, Lots of Detail
- AUTOart 1:43 1955 Jaguar D-Type Le Mans: Tragic Magic
- NEW VIDEO! Minichamps 1:18 “Mullin Collection” Hispano-Suiza “Xenia” and Delahaye 165: Curves Ahead
- NEW VIDEO! Paragon Models 1:18 1971 Jaguar XJ6: Refined Find
- VIDEO! TSM Models 1:18 Lotus 56B “Italian Grand Prix”: X-Ray Specs
- ACME Takes On a New Line – “Authentic Models”
- CMC 1:18 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Engine: “Otto” Power
- TSM Models 1:18 Tyrrell 006 “Belgium GP”
- AUTOart 1:18 Red Bull X2010: “X” Marks the Spot
- Minichamps 1:43 Mullin Museum Voisin C27 Aerosport: Look to the Sky
- AUTOart 1:18 Toyota 86GT: Scion of the Subaru Deal, in Scale
- BBR’s New 1:18 Resin C7 Corvette Is On The Way
- ACME Finds Some GMP Rarities – and They’re For Sale!
- Structo’s 1:8 Dean Jeffries Mantaray
- NEW VIDEO! Minichamps 1:18 Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 – in ABS!
- NEW VIDEO! Hot Wheels Elite 1:18 Ferrari 458 Italia Spider