Frequently Asked Questions
Q How do you acquire your castings? Do you buy direct from Mattel?
A To answer the second part first; No, I do not buy direct from Mattel. I am not a distributor so I can’t do that. To answer the first part; I buy my castings from 4 main sources:
1) Retail outlets whether its mass market like Wal-Mart or internet retail sites.
2) At hobby shows
3) eBay
4) From a network of my friends across the country who find the castings in their local stores or hobby shows
Q Why are your prices so high?
A I always do the best job I can when I create a custom using the best quality materials I can find. Once I finalize a design each custom takes a minimum of 5 hours total from start to finish. I try to make my customs in a limited quantity so that those that are able to buy them truly feel like they have bought something special. Also the difficulty of finding a casting choice sometimes is factored into the price as well. All these points are part of the decision process regarding the price I charge for a custom.
Q Is customizing diecast your full time job?
A No, I am the Art Director for Jerry's Artarama, one of the nations largest art supply chains. Pope Designs started out as a small hobby but has grown into so much more it can seem like it is my only job to some.
Q What is a Pope Diamond Edition?
A A Pope Diamond is the CHASE version of a Pope Designs offering. It offers PD fans a chance at owning a more exclusive PD offering. A Pope Diamond usually offers a combination of unique paint job, premium wheels, finer custom details and a much lower production quantity. Pope Diamonds cannot be bought directly. All PD custom buyers assume they are buying the regular PD offered at any time. At a live event sale the Diamond version is chosen by a random Diamond card draw from a deck of playing cards. With an online sale all Diamonds are randomly chosen from by one of my kids. I package all the customs, regular and Diamond, in identical unlabeled boxes and have one of my daughters pick which box gets which address label. They have no idea which box has which style custom so it ensures fairness.
Q How do you decide what castings to do?
A I decide on what castings to do using a couple of meters. One way is too see what new castings are hot and growing in popularity and see if it will be a good fit for me or if a casting is losing steam in popularity and see if it’s worth dropping. I do this by seeing what is hot on eBay or RLC and at custom contests. Second is to listen to what my customers are telling me through their emails and comments at conventions and after sales. Pope Designs may be planning a new updated survey of its fans to gauge their reaction to past projects and get input on future ones.
Q Who are/were your influences?
A Definitely Troy Lee is one of my biggest influences on my decision to customize and the work I produce. I have always admired his style and artistic ability. Dave Chang is another great influence as is ex-Mattel designer Miq Wilmot.