To gloss or not to gloss?

[blabride]

I know that race cars now use vinyl stickers and wraps and such for graphics but I cannot seem to remember what drag cars and such where like in the late sixties and seventies. I vividly remember Gene Snow and Raymond Beadle match racing at Alamo Drag way in 1974, I even got to sit in Snow's Vega that night but for the life of me I cannot remember the texture of the finish. Afterall I was only 14. I do know that most were custom painted but with peel and stick sponsor decals. I do have some 60 and seventies stock cars that I did about ten years ago that I left ungloss coated and the decals still look great so I'm not sure the Gloss coat keeps them from peeling. On the other hand I did go ahead and use TS13 on my Hawaiian Charger and my Mr. Norms Charger F/C's. They look great but I doubt those ever changing small sponsor decals were sealed on the 1/1 car. Right now I am debating on a 67 Sox & Martin GTX, to gloss or wax and display? Right now the paint and decals look great. The finish could not be any more glossy but you can see the texture of the decals.

What is the general consensus for this era?

Thanks,

Steve B

[Tom Geiger]

Steve, I think you said it all. I usually don't clear coat anything. A very glossy finish is out of scale in comparison to a 1:1 car. As you said, the sponsor decals were vinyl and had a lesser sheen than the body. Many race cars are poorly finished as well since they're mainly seen from the stands. Years ago I got to go to the IROC shops and was amazed at how rough the cars were. Poor paint jobs, overspray, drips and damage.

Years ago there was a guy who built Nascar cars and buried it all in mile deep gorgeous clear. His stuff was immaculate, but looked more like fine jewelry than an accurate replica of the car!

[Jakezilla bowling]

Back in the day most drag cars did not have a gloss paint job they where just cars thrown together for fun

[Terry Sumner]

Back in the day most drag cars did not have a gloss paint job they where just cars thrown together for fun

Jake...maybe where you saw racing but not in Connecticut. Back in the 60's and 70's....MOST cars had nice paint jobs. There were only a very few that were just thrown together for fun....and even those that were just thrown together were at least painted in one color.

[Terry Sumner]

See this thread also.... http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=58135&hl=%2Bgloss+%2Bcoat#entry691705

[gtx6970]

From what I remember, most of the big guns the cars were completely lettered ( with exception to smal sponser decals) So I say clear over them .

I have a picture around here somewhere of the Gene Snow 1970 Challenger and it has a considerable shine to the whole body shell as well as polished aluminum interior tins. The big guys were there to make a statement as well as win

[blabride]

Terry, yes, many of the big dogs cars were very nice. But its hard to know if they were gloss coated. I think I might be safe if I keep gloss coating the funny's of the early 70's during the era of the custom paint shop. Even if they were not gloss coated, it would be hard to tell the texture difference of custom enamel paint graphics on a scaled down 1/24 model. On the other hand, Super Stocks and Pro Stocks of the era seemed to have a lot of hand painted graphics done with a brush like the sign painters of the era, ie the "Sox & Martin" on the sides of their cars, so I might leave this one without gloss coat.

I do know that the gloss coat of this era was not very good, heavy and took a long time to dry. I remember the 71 Plum Crazy Duster my Mom had that was peeling like an old house by 74. Also, after reading the article in "Elapsed Times" about Circus Custom Paint on the east coast its hard for me to imagine even the big guns taking the time or spending the money to have that done. But having said that it probably looks better on a 1/24 scale car that was originally a custom done with airbrush.

Thanks,

Steve B

[LoneWolf15]

Jake...maybe where you saw racing but not in Connecticut. Back in the 60's and 70's....MOST cars had nice paint jobs. There were only a very few that were just thrown together for fun....and even those that were just thrown together were at least painted in one color.

Mazmanian , Stone Woods & Cook , KS Pittman , and Fred Hurst , just to name a few , competed against each other at the car shows just as much as they did on the strip .

Larry Davis covered this topic in his book , Gasser Wars . Most of the cars pictured were stone cold beautiful . As a kid , I loafed at the local drag strips and the finishes on the cars were well taken care of , far more often than not . The local gearheads considered it a badge of honor to keep their rides clean and shining , as I still do to this day .

[Terry Sumner]

Terry, yes, many of the big dogs cars were very nice. But its hard to know if they were gloss coated. I think I might be safe if I keep gloss coating the funny's of the early 70's during the era of the custom paint shop. Even if they were not gloss coated, it would be hard to tell the texture difference of custom enamel paint graphics on a scaled down 1/24 model. On the other hand, Super Stocks and Pro Stocks of the era seemed to have a lot of hand painted graphics done with a brush like the sign painters of the era, ie the "Sox & Martin" on the sides of their cars, so I might leave this one without gloss coat.

I do know that the gloss coat of this era was not very good, heavy and took a long time to dry. I remember the 71 Plum Crazy Duster my Mom had that was peeling like an old house by 74. Also, after reading the article in "Elapsed Times" about Circus Custom Paint on the east coast its hard for me to imagine even the big guns taking the time or spending the money to have that done. But having said that it probably looks better on a 1/24 scale car that was originally a custom done with airbrush.

Thanks,

Steve B

Steve...I think we're talking about two different things here? You first started talking about cars today having vinyl decals as opposed to painted on graphics and lettering. I understood your train of thought to be asking whether or not to gloss coat over today's decals that are representing today's stick-on vinyl graphics as opposed to the old hand painted graphics. In the older days probably most cars were painted with gloss paints, then lettered etc with gloss paint..... making everything glossy. There were probably very few drag cars back then that were THEN completely overcoated with a clear gloss over the base paint and the graphics and lettering because it was all glossy to begin with.

[caine440]

_{I like the look of gloss and Sox & Martin's car looked darn shiny to me .}

Build them the way you like them!

[Jakezilla bowling]

Where I'm from ( Kentucky ) most of our drag cars did not have the fancy paint jobs like all the big times did

[THarrison351]

_{I like the look of gloss and Sox & Martin's car looked darn shiny to me .}

Build them the way you like them!

I Agree

[Draggon]

From what I remember, most of the big guns the cars were completely lettered ( with exception to smal sponser decals) So I say clear over them .

I have a picture around here somewhere of the Gene Snow 1970 Challenger and it has a considerable shine to the whole body shell as well as polished aluminum interior tins. The big guys were there to make a statement as well as win

Bill's correct. Some of the big time funnies had no sponsor "decals", everything was hand lettered, so gloss is the way to go.

[Alan]

I stopped clear coating YEARS ago. If you apply the decals correctly using a decal setting solution, they will NEVER come off, just try to get them off ....... Not to mention the model will look more realistic. If you have seen original vintage drag cars, they were seldom cleared over and over the years the pistriping and graphics have beed rubbed almost away in areas. Now saying that, when using custom decals printed like mine, you must top coat them prior to them being placed in water. This rule applies to decals printed on an inkjet printer.

[Mooneyzs]

Count me in with the ones that do clear over decals. I feel it protects them and is my peference.

[Hmann]

Do what makes you comfortable. I will say that the first funny car I ever built, I did'nt clear over the decals, and the look bugged me, so I've cleared over them since. I like TS-13, and went to hobby shop today to get more. The TS-13 space was empty, and the shop owner told me Tamiya just discontinued it.

[Alan]

TS-13, is not discontinued, just no longer available in the US. We can get it here in Canada