The Big One

Every project begins with a small step. For starters, there will be four cars built into the diorama, but will scale out to perhaps 43 when finished. Depends on how ambitious I remain. 

Way too much time painting an oil filter that is mostly hidden. A base of Flat Brown, with Flat White and Desert Yellow drybrushed edges. 

Distributor wires painted a simple Gloss Blue, while the headers got a base coat of Gun Metal followed by Chrome Silver for a tarnished steel look. 

They just had to mould the chassis in white plastic instead of red, huh? Still, not too bad a finish for brush painting if I do say so myself. 

There was no way I was going to try to correct those injection marks on the radiator. Trying to duplicate that texture by hand just would not happen. 

This is certainly one hell of a lot of gloss red. Firewall is in place and the pedals mounted. This interior will have to get grunged up a little soon. It's way too clean. 

One side of the cage is in place. Fit fairly well, too. I think 1:24 cars must be Revell's niche, since I had nothing but problems with their aircraft. 

A few fit issues with the Petty bar and the steering, but overall still coming together nicely.  

I've got to get some dirt and grime into this thing asap. I'm being blinded by the red every time I sit down to work. Can barely even see the fire extinguisher among it all.  

Wasn't going for anything fancy with the setting sunlight here. But after installing the other side of the cage, I did go back and recoat all the pads with XF-85 Rubber Black, which looks better than just XF-1 Flat Black. 

Hoses, fuel cell, and the cage have been completed. Time to move on to the suspension. 

There are a couple of spots where I may need to add a little putty to bridge some gaps in the cage. I did find the rear-view mirror though, that I thought the carpet monster ate. 

The rear suspension assembly was a mother to get sitting in place properly. Securing the drive shaft also presented its share of problems. 

The engine settled onto its mounts fairly well, and the frame braces will help keep it in place once the damage starts. 

Front suspension fit into place far easier than the rear.  

The toughest part here was getting those radiator hoses into place with no tweezers. But I managed. 

Happy with how the dashboard turned out. The needles were painted by placing a drop of X-7 Red paint onto my X-acto knife and cutting them into place.  

Base coat sprayed on well with minimal mistakes. A little clean up needed on the back bumper. The interior coat of bare metal silver looks good with the overspray.  

Those wheels just weren't going to stay on without some cement. And the carpet monster regurgitated that Earnhardt bar so I could get rid of the one I had jury-rigged in its place. 

A small blemish on the hood but given that this is going to be part of a wreck, I'm okay with that. The windows are in much better shape than my last car kit. Should be on track to finish this guy by my modeling club meeting in eight days. 

Windows turned out well, with no clouding once glued in place with Tamiya Extra Thin. The black paint on the inside also helps hide where the blue was eaten away by the cement. 

On the opposite side, the ventilation hose popped out one of the windows and won't quite sit right now. But it's not overly noticeable. Funny how dull these stock cars look with no panel lines. 

The bit of bubbling and cracking at the bottom don't bother me too much, it'll help the look as though there has been a bump or two to the rear end during the race.  

Old kits come with old decals. The side decal broke into about ten parts while putting it on. I managed to salvage it pretty well. The decal across the top of the trunk separated into individual letters. Guh. 

The pins on the hood look better from this angle than I had anticipated. I must be getting better at painting fine details.  

The 88 on the rooftop started crumbling even further along one edge. My spacing on the letters isn't quite perfect, but will serve. 

In retrospect, I noticed that the side panel decals aren't placed at even heights between the two sides. Once they get scratched and marked up it may be enough of a distraction not to notice. 

Saved the wheels until last. The hub decals self-obliterated to near uselessness. And the Goodyear/Eagle decals had to be placed on one letter at a time because they wouldn't hold together. 

Splattered bugs and bits of tar and rubber make the front end look a little more race-worn. 

And you can't run a NASCAR race without getting some tire marks on your car. Rubbin's racin'. 

Of course, that might put you into the outside wall, scraping away at that nice paint job and pretty decals.  

There are going to be a lot of similarities here, given that the Mark Martin #6 is built off the same kit as the Dale Jarrett #88. Good thing, since I don't have the instructions. Going on gut for the changes in colour, like a lighter blue on the wires. 

The frame colour came out much more green than I was expecting. I was hoping for something a little more bluish gray from the Tamiya XF-23 Light Blue used here. But I think it will do okay still. 

 

It looks like I had made a mistake with the rear positioning of the roll cage sides on the Jarrett car. I corrected that (attaching to the inside of the pin) on the Martin car and the roll cage is fitting together much better. 

Roll cage complete. Still a few minor fit issues, mostly near the top, but still assembled better than the previous kit. 

My first attempt at scratchbuilding. That stiffener brace (perpendicular to the floor) was missing, so I carved one out of sprue, guessing the size, and it fit nearly perfectly. 

 

Went with Titanium Silver over Gun Metal for the exhaust. I'm happy with how it turned out. There has to be an easier way to mount that driveshaft though. Had to reglue several pieces afterward.  

Using a bbq lighter to soften the plastic, and a flat pair of kitchen scissors, I've begun experimenting with adding some dents to this one. Haven't quite brought myself to start ripping to pieces yet. 

A little cleaner on the instruments than last build. Just need to touch up a bit of the wheel and steering column. 

Interior work is done save a little touch-up painting. Time to finish off the body and be done with Mark Martin. 

Masking off the body for the first round of paint. Going with Racing White for the front end and laying down a base of Metallic Black covered with Blue for the rear. 

Threw on a coat of metallic black to help darken the blue that will go on over top. 

One spot that oversprayed near the base of the windshield, but overall it came out nice. Should look good once the decals go on. 

I was following instructions from a different kit that uses the same mould and painted the rims black by mistake. Even though I repainted after the rims were already glued in, they turned out alright. 

The misalignment on the front wheel is intentional. It helps sell the damage to the front end, and also offsets a twist in the chassis that I didn't notice earlier. Now all four wheels sit firmly on the ground. 🙂 

This shot is just for comparison with the next one. These cars continue to look so drab until the decals are in place. 

Big difference after adding my nemesis - a large decal. Tough to get aligned just right. But these ones aren't breaking apart like the Jarrett kit. So there's that. 

Decals are done. Time for a little last-minute touch up and some weathering. 

The decals definitely show their age. A bit of yellowing is noticeable in spots, but going with Racing White vs. White helps offset it. 

 

Two cars completed. 47 hours work on this project to date.  

Took the new airbrush for a test drive and put a coat of X-1 Gloss Black on the Dale Earnhardt car. Going for a cleaner build on this one, as wrecking it up seems rather morbid. Need some wet sanding and another coat (at least).  

The decals are pretty yellowed, but are holding their shape well with no tearing.  

The roll cage in this kit started going together much better than in the kits from two years earlier. But as I went on, its Revell colours showed through and it got worse. 

In the end most of the parts ended up aligning with a little elbow grease and foul language. It isn't perfect, but for this diorama it doesn't really need to be. 

 

 

Some of these 18-year-old decals are showing their age. I'll have to give a dose of clearcoat to help trap them down and fix those edges.  

Every new build starts with the engine block. This Kyle Petty #42 Pontiac kit is a Monogram, different from the other kits built so far.  

The plated parts with this kit feel very different. They're more of a matte finish, like aluminum vs chrome. It makes the attach points far less noticeable when removed from the sprue. 

I mistakenly put both sides of the cage on first before installing the roll bar. Fortunately I was able to bend and snap it into place with out breaking it.  

Roll cage completed, and a few more accessories added and painted. First time I've installed a TV camera into one of my NASCAR builds. Sadly it's ony for show. 

A small square of drywall sandpaper does a great job of removing the seam lines from tires, and adding a decent track-worn look. 

Tried a different kind of tape today, airbrushing in some Tamiya XF-3. Overall did a good job, but there are a few imperfections along the edge. 

Thankfully, the decals do a good job of hiding those imperfections. Once I get the hood to settle down flat it will look even better.  

The paint chosen matched pretty well to the decal colour. Pleased with that.  

After finishing the decals, the chromed rear spoiler, and trunk/hood pins were put in place. Much prefer these physical pins to trying to paint the details by hand.  

The body on this kit snapped into place snugly and far better than any other kit I've built. 

I didn't even have to compromise any engine parts to get it all together. 

Kyle Petty is ready to race. Just needs a little race wear once the diorama is ready to assemble. 

Starting another kit, this time an AMT Thunderbird based off the Chad Little / Phillips 66. Some decent detail on the engine and it goes together nicely. 

Those oil filters never seem to sit right. I've chiseled out the base a little to get it to sit better on the carburetor. Overall pretty happy with this kit in comparison to the Revells.  

Despite their similarities, these different manufacturer's kits all have their own details. The shifter here connects to the linkage underneath and to the transmission. Needs a bit of alignment adjustment though. 

A bit of a different engineering approach to the roll cage but still as much of a pain in the ass as any other kit.  

Despite completely gumming up my airbrush (followed by VERY thorough cleaning), the bae coats are on and curing before lacquer. Just hope I measured properly so they line up with the decals. 

Looks like I guessed pretty close with the paint line, as the decals line up rather nicely. (Not 100% the same height on the other side, but close enough) 

This is the first NASCAR kit I've built that included the fuel filler line and the vent hose on the fuel cell.  

Another kit finished for the diorama. Lots more to go. Chad Little might avoid the wreck, since that jack and fuel can imply he might be in the pits at the time. 

 

Here we go again. Terry Labonte pulling out of pit row... 

 

 

It has been awhile since I've posted, and actually didn't do as much modeling as expected during isolation. But still working through the stash and bringing the NASCAR project up to seven cars so far.