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Hemisfear, The Die-Cast Story.
Current mood:  exhausted
Category: Automotive
This week our own JLFT Design Director, Eric Tscherne is our guest author and gives his side of the Hemisfear story.
Where do I begin? The story has been told over and over of JL Full Throttle bringing to life Chip's Dream car. The very same car he designed at the famed Art Center. That car often given credit for inspiring the Plymouth Prowler and the same machine unveiled at SEMA in 2006 and setting the show on fire. Even now the car garners press with it's eminent name change and new engine choices. So what more is there to say?
The Hemisfear started as a diecast dream. When we started JL Full Throttle we knew we needed to find a way to make a big impact. How could we compete in an already crowded marketplace? We hitched our wagons to Chip Foose. At the time Overhaulin' was in the middle of it's 3rd season and rocking TLC. Chip was on fire! Having met Chip a few times when I was with Hot Wheels and knowing Carson Lev for many years I had the inside knowledge that Chip wanted to do a diecast line. The timing was perfect and off we went. What really helped us snag Chip was our willingness to help him bring his dream car to life. What we were getting was not just a spokesman for our new brand of diecast but a concept car of our own right out of the shoot!
It had taken Hot Wheels 35 years to build their first concept car and the guys at Jada had only customized real cars. We had the chance to launch a one of a kind concept at the same time as the real thing! This was big for our new line. We would be getting a premier exclusive to go with the launch of a new line from the mind of one of the most respected designers and builders ever. And it got better!
When Chip told us he was going to build 50 some of the brass at RC2 got very excited. They thought "We were to have the only one!" What I told them was NO what we now have are 50 different versions we can create and each and every one will be a real running full size ride! We eventually jumped that hurdle.
The most important things for us would be to: 1. Launch the car at a show big enough to get the world's attention and 2. Have the diecat car ready for that launch so that we could get maximum impact of the launch. We started Hemisfear almost immediately after we got the deal worked out.
Chip had but a ¼ scale model of the body and the beginnings of a Chassis and engine. The ¼ was dusted off and brought to the JLFT Design Studios. We shot it from every angle and got the body into the computer. I got it scaled and proportioned to work with the other cars of the then upcoming Foose line. We had some gussing to do as the model was not exactly true to scale and we had already decided to re-proportion the FT cars to better capture the drawings of concepts. The wrench here was that Chip didn't have a current drawing and he was planning to update the design to make it a bit more contemporary.
We sent what we had to China and they got started with a solid model. At the same time Chip had the scale body scanned at Metal Crafters. They also scanned the original chassis Chip had started. We got the data and passed it along.
It wasn't long before we had pictures and I went to Chip's to go trough them and get the missing details. Chip had a ton of modifications and corrections for us to make and I quickly passed them on to the RC2 Team in China.
Chip soon supplied us a sketch and some detail drawings for the interior and lighting. We sent them off. We only had a few things we wanted in the full-scale Hemisfear but the most important thing would be the color. We knew that Chip was a big fan of Orange but I felt it important that our first car be the color of our brand. I had a bright lime green in mind. The color would be a deep pearl and shift the light from a bright blue to a golden yellow. Chip came through with a fantastic design incorporating the JL Full Throttle Green and he had incorporated a block pattern evocative of classic Mopars. When he told me it was to be carbon fiber was when we found out that the car was't going to have a metal body. We still intended the diecast to be metal for the weight and that it worked best with out painting processes.
We got in a second round of pics and Chip had more corrections and changes. I was concerned. It seemed the design of Hemisfear was constantly evolving and that we might not meet the deadline. Regardless we sent these corrections to our team in Asia.
At this time we began to focus in on SEMA and the unveiling. We knew that it had to be big. We also knew we needed space and space at SEMA wouldn't come cheap. We made a decision to unveil it with another Foose partner.
The first stop was MHT who make the Foose Wheels line. We met with Art Hale and the crew there and presented a plan to co-launch the JLFT Hemisfear which would be wearing their shoes. We realized that unfortunately they did not have the space we would need to have around the car to get all the press and fans around it for the world premier and that the space would be almost so tight that people may actually not even see the car.
The next stop was Mothers Polishes, Waxes, and Cleaners. We knew what to expect from them as they have been doing SEMA for over 20 years! They had a great location in Central Hall and could feature the car front and center. It was an added bonus that they would give us the space where they would usually show 2 cars for just our one! To top it off they also had a rig outside and could give us the space to show even more product there. We agreed to work with Mothers and hammered out the specific details that summer with Jim Halloway and crew.
While we were gearing up for SEMA the Hemisfear was still under development in China. We took multiple rounds of pics over to Chip @ Foose Design. Each time Chip had new ideas and changes. Personally I was getting concerned about delivering the diecast.
I talked to our China group and we came up with a final deadline and we informed Chip of this drop dead date. At this time we would have to run with what we had and could only adjust the decoration.
That deadline came and went and true to form Chip had some new modifications to make. He was now using a new 392 HEMI with a similar injection but new valve covers. The seats would now be custom covered Cobra seats rather then those of his design. The dash and doors had changed too. Luckily the body was still the same until he showed me some new vents! I told him we were already done with the tooling. We agreed to put the vents on in deco. We also thought it was OK that the other changes were minimal at scale and in the SM Scale model it would be almost impossible to see the differences.
The first shots came in about 16 weeks before SEMA. We took them over to Foose Design so Chip could check them out immediately! Chip was extatic. Relieved we had Chip sketch the deco onto the actual model.
At this time the line was just launching at retailers nationwide. We scheduled a press conference to get the PR machine going and build the hype for the new product and preview the upcoming Hemisfear launch. The only problem was that the Hemisfear wasn't even close to being assembled, let alone finished. We chose to shoot Chip with raw carbon fiber body of car #2 the Mopar Hemisfear that was quickly being mocked up as it was now also be ready for SEMA too! You can see the delight on Chip's face in this picture holding the raw diecast and standing next to the real thing! What most people don't know is that the smile wasn't for the raw first shot but for the FEP (Final Engineering Prototype) that showed up the day before! Yep ours was done about 3 months before the first Hemisfear was fully assembled. We even have some pics of Chip with that car buried in an old computer. We were on our way!
SEMA came fast! We worked back and forth with Foose and Mothers on how best to show the car and product. We designed a number of stands for the car and cases for the product. In the end we rolled with something that blended nicely with the Mothers display to keep SEMA and rival companies out of our business. To meet the deadline we had to airship the product to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Now our concern shifted to the actual car! Chip was WAY behind schedule.
We scrapped the pre-SEMA photo shoot we wanted for the Press Shots of the car. Ed Alfaro spent days at Foose Design and Metal Crafters sweating the deadline. Jim Halloway even agreed to personally transport the car on Friday which became Saturday then Sunday and eventually getting the car to SEMA on Monday afternoon.
The black Mopar version actually arrived first. It was even spotted uncovered on the show floor until drag racer, turned drift team owner Shaun Carlson and myself covered it up.
About 8pm on Monday Jim Halloway, Jeremy Cox and I along with some dedicated employees of Mothers pushed it into the convention center and onto the show floor. We covered it up and went back to the hotel.
That night the Mother's crew detailed it in the booth after everyone was gone. Chip and the MHT guys then changed the wheels and very early that morning Vic from Mothers was back to detail the new rims.
The press conference was scheduled for first thing that morning about ½ an hour after the show opened. Chip got there just in time to put the final JL Full Throttle logos on the car before we began.
 
Building the Hemisfear was a dream for Chip getting the diecast ready in time and looking exceptional was mine. On October 31st 2006 both dreams came true as we pulled the covers back on not just a car but on 2 careers worth of work in the automotive and diecast industries. Chip launched his own production car a true work of art that breaks all the rules and for myself it was the public launch of a diecast line that incorporated nearly 10 years of blood, sweat and hard work. JL Full Throttle a newline of diecast that broke all the rules too was born.
 
There wasn't much time to revel in our success as it was off to Chicago the next week for a line review on 2007 product. The machine doesn't stop and that means new hot models from JL Full Throttle for you.
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