46 replies to this topic

[David Thibodeau]

With the Pirates of The Carribean Pontiac pretty much buttoned up ( Finished pics of it soon) I decided to pull this one back out. I began this car about 6 months ago and shelved it due to a lack of interest. You know how those sporatic projects look awesome but then the fire goes out? :runaround:

Well with Clay doing a fantastic job on his 2006 Kahn charger that he converted from a 2006 Monte Carlo, I found that spark to get back on my 2005 Conversion of a 2004 Intrepid into a Martinsville short track charger. This will be another superdetailer I plan on bringing to Atlanta in November to accompany my Pirates Pontiac.

Here is the real car. I decided to try to make it a Martinsville short track car because Rusty did well at that track in his career.



Doing the body mods were first on the list. Below is a sequence of pics on how I did it. I started with a 2004 Intrepid kit and hogged out the lights and center grill and added sheet plastic backing to them and the rest is all 2 part tamiya putty and alot of sculpting......(forgive these pics, I have really worked on my picture quality and these are 6 months back!)





Once I had the nose right to my liking I concentrated on the rest of the body mods for superdetail fashion. Cutting out the roof flaps, center air cleaner cowl, hinging the hood and reat trunk as well as underhood bracing, reshaping the c pillar windows, etc etc.....

[David Thibodeau]

Next up was paint!! I painted the entire car in Tamiya Mica blue. I feel its a dead match to the 2005 blue which is alot lighter than the previous years dark metallic blue. This paint was followed by 3 nice coats og PPG omni 2 part urethane.




Once the clear had dried it was polished with perfect it III 3M compound after it was wetsanded with 2000 grit paper. Then JWTBM decals were applied and the body came to life!!

[David Thibodeau]

The body was set aside and CHassis work begins.... I had built a chassis for this car, but it ended up in the pirates ride!!!

Here are a few pics of what is utilized from the chassis in the kit.





The rest is scratch built with .080 styrene tubing along with other bits and pieces....



This car will feature a unique drag link setup for the rear suspension. Scratch built perches were made over the fuel tank. I also added new chassis bars versus a solid wheel well.




More updates soon....

DaveT

[David Thibodeau]

The chassis is in paint and clear at this time. The mods to the chassis seem to take on life once they are painted!! Now its time to add all the candy!!!





Here are some pics with the body installed.... I also added the lower chin black decals..





DaveT

[Michael Madlinger]

Beautiful work.

[jamie]

You're insane....I know I've said that before but daaamn.... I love that blue! I remember when you started this and I'm glad to see it again!!!! And the rear trunk bracing is fantastic, please keep this one going! I'm in awe, as always....

Jamie

[Frank Steffens]

Amazing work!

[Jeremy]

I'm glad to see you on that one again as well, Dave!! Your work is truly an inspiration!!

[lonewolf]

David,
I'm not all that into Nascar models,but I can't help but appreciate the detail you put into yours. They are nothing short of incredible.I'm looking forward to seeing the finished pics of the Pirates of the Carribean car. I've been following that one for awhile.

[CaseyG83]

Looks great! I'm a life long Rusty fan. Can't wait to see it finished

Casey

[David Thibodeau]

Thanks again guys...

I started adding detail to the chassis. Upper A-arm detail complete with bolts and Jackbolt detail. Those are real brass ball joints from RB motion in the A Arms! P/S Box is painted and plumbed as well as a scratchbuilt oil filter assembly. The filter itself is a metalcast piece from Pro tech but the upper delivery area is all scratchbuilt.



Gear shifter boot is made from various sizes of black plastic. The Shifter rod is #4 Detailmaster hardline and the knob is a #4 compression fitting. I wanted to go different on this shifter than usual.All rollbar padding is also in place. It is from pro tech as well a new item and is extremely convinving in my opinion. Floor mat was made from black plastic and the drivers side protective matt is made from thin aluminum painted black.



SInce this will be a short track car I plan on having many cooling hoses routed to the side windows. The center plate closest to the oil tank will be for duct work below the car to cool the rear brakes. The other plate is for the rear diff cooler.



Rear fuel cell was scratch built from Styrene sheet and square rod and painted Tamiya Gloss black. As you can see the theme of this car is black Nylon braided line. It is Pro tech line painted flat black with testors Acryl line bottle paint. I chose silver collars and blue line and fittings because 95% of all the 2005 Penske chargers I have seen in pics use black line. The fuel filter is scratch built from aluminum tubing. The photoetch plates with the black tape over them are small doors to allow the teams to adjust the rear shocks. Something they do alot at short tracks like Martinsville



FInally photos of what I have done with the body on to see how its starting to look interesting with different color and detail

[Modellpularn]

Wow, talk about details!!! I'm also a Rusty fan, but I've built slot cars. Just wanted to show the latest, it was finished last year. I also started with the 2004 kit, but backdated it for the sleeker front end. Here's a pic of the finished car at our slot track.


If you click my photobucket link, there's a sub-album: "Rusty Wallace Dodge" showing the construction. I'd just might show how it was done, in the slot section.....

Edited by Modellpularn, 16 September 2007 - 02:07 PM.

[David Thibodeau]

Thanks guys,

A small update. I forgot to "frame in" the speedway window. This will be open since its a short track car. I made a frame from a template of the window made from masking tape. Painted it TS-50 followed by clear. Then I carefully glued it in place.

here is the window before:



Here it is now:



I also completed the seat! Straight forward kit seat with a few mods added. Like leg bolsters, metal upper bracing, and Pro tech bolts and seat belts. The impact decals on the belts were made by Clay.... thanks again buddy.... these decals set off the belts and are what Rusty ran on his 1:1 Car...




Next up is the engine!!

Thanks for looking!

DaveT

[David Thibodeau]

Finally got some work done on the motor. Standard kit engine heavily modified........

[Dave McFly]

thats not a picture of a model engine, either A: you stole the real engine from the race team or B: you perfected the worlds first SHRINK RAY !

[David Thibodeau]

With November looming I gotta try to squeeze in the Rusty build....

Engine is complete... Headers are made from .062 solder painted with alclads....





Seat is installed along with a dual fire suppression system. Extinguishers are turned pieces again from Mr Kemp....




More to come!!

DaveT

[paul@detaildownunder]

Holy Cow that is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cruz]

Not a big fan of Nascar but definetly a big fan of talent and you are an awesome builder man, one thing about these cars is the amount of detail that can be put in them, I really appreciate the work you guys put into these creations, WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

[David Thibodeau]

Thanks again!!

I am diligently working on this one to add to the Atlanta show,

Rear suspension is complete. Since this is a short track martinsville car I added some brake ducts made out of wire wrapped with BMF......



Here is a shot with the body on.....



With the rear suspension out of the way, I focused on mods on the dash.. the kit dash was used but a new tray was made on the passenger side to accomodate the electronics that will be there soon!! Gauge bezels really set the dash off from Machine Works Indy (clay)



And with the body on.....



More updates soon!

DaveT

[jamie]

Ahhh, Dave, you never cease to fail us! I think that's the first time I've seen you do duct work on the rear brakes! Looks awesome...... Clay should mass prduce those gauges, good 'ol MWI! What is the extra bar in the rear? The brass one... an extra stabilizer or something?