Scott J

Just looking for ideas and suggestions on painting the lug nuts on a 1/24th wheel. In my opinion, I feel its one of the most important details on the finished build, but I have been struggling to get a good quality finished product. Most of the time I use a silver Sharpie and just try to get decent coverage without hitting the wheel itself. Sometimes I try to use a silver or gold paint marker but they tend to "flood" right onto the wheel. Has anybody had any luck or have any good suggestions for me? Thanks

I actually did that. Although my wife thought I was out of my mind with a decal sheet taped to the window for 3 days...….LOL It did seem to lighten the yellowing "a bit" and they looked pretty good before I started . but when I put them on the car, especially against the white areas you could still see some yellowing.

Box Stock Monogram Chevrolet Lumina. Started life as a Derrick Cope Purolator Lumina. After market decals (I never remember the brand? JNJ maybe?) The car has a few flaws. Some because I am using 25+ old decals and as much as I try to do everything I can to keep them usable, you still get some problems here and there (i.e. thats why there is no drivers name above the driver door and there is some yellowing you can see on around the roof number). The other issues is that I just don't have the ability to make a "perfect" build. I always end up with little flaws in my painting, assembly, or decaling. As much as I try, I have yet to build a perfect final piece. However, that brings me to another point. Just for fun, I have included 4 "before and after" comparison pictures. This is just the second car I have built "Twice" I originally built this same car about 25 years ago but because I really like the looks of it, I decided to build it again. So I took some side-by-side shots of what I built back then compared to what I can do now just to show the improvements I have made in my skills. (Plus, it helps me to feel better about the flaws in my current builds....LOL)

This is the way I lower my cars. I use a 1/8" drill bit and try to line up the bottom of the new hole with the bottom of the ridge on the inside of the back of the wheel (If that all makes sense). Some cars sit really nice and other it doesn't lower as much, for whatever reason. The main thing is that the rear end and front end axles don't fit in as snug as it does with the original hole, so I literally fill the new hole with glue and put the wheel on and let it sit overnight without touching or moving the car in order to get it to hold tightly.

For me its a very un-exact science. I just drill out the back of the wheels. I just drill between the actual molded hole and the outer edge of the back of the rim. I originally started by cutting down the coil springs but then other parts like the drive shafts and the steering linkages don't line up correctly. But by doing it this way, the kit still assembles well but I achieve the look I am hoping for. I will take some pictures the next kit that I do.

I don't recall exactly which yellow and Blue I used because I built the car a couple of years ago. I just take my phone into Home Depot and pull up some pictures of the car and match it the best I can. I do not worry about trying to match the "exact" color they ran on the actual car. I feel I can get close enough to build a decent looking replica of the car I do all my painting with Rust-o-leum 2x from Home Depot. Its just a bit over 3 dollars a can and I get way more paint than buying the small Testors can for 6+ dollars. They also have so many colors available that I can find anything I need. I have always had good luck with the paint. I always warm the can in a dish of warm water before I use it and then make sure to shake it for at least 2 minutes.

I am going to start by saying that I am NOT a Dale Earnhardt fan. Never was. I am a Ford/Bill Elliott guy from that era of NASCAR racing. So I stayed away from building this car for many, many years. But then one day just decided to do it. I do have to admit that it really is a good looking race-car and the Monte SS made for a great looking race car. The kit is a Box stock Monogram kit. As far as I can remember, I think it was a Tim Richmond Folgers kit with Powerslide after-market decals. The only modification was to lower it a little bit. And in my opinion, I think the stance I managed to get is almost perfect. I love the way this car sits.

It was actually because of watching that episode of The Del Jr Download that made me decided to build that car. Watching his Pod Cast on NBCSN is one of the best hours on TV. The stories are amazing.

This is a box stock Monogram 1998 Monte Carlo (I believe it was a Dale Jr car kit?). The only modification was to slightly lower the stance a bit. They were after-market decals but I honestly do not remember who made them.

Box Stock Monogram kit and decals (sprayed with Testors decal bonder first). The only modification was lowering it just slightly. I would have liked to gone a bit further bt its not too bad.

Hello, My name is Scott, and I have a problem...….I can't stop building scale NASCAR Stock cars. Here is my story, I will try to keep it as brief as possible so I don't put everyone to sleep. I started building models as a small kid, following in my Dads and my Grand-fathers footsteps. They build mostly boat models though. But for me, I built a little bit of everything. I remember building the Lunar Lander, I built some cars, I built some boats and I remember building a fairly large scale version of the Tyrrell 6 wheeler F1 car. Then in the early 1980s I got into NASCAR. And once I was hooked by NASCAR, I started building the scale versions. And I built A LOT of them. I was totally obsessed. I needed to build every car on the track and I wanted them done immediately. I wasn't too worried about quality, to me it was all about just getting it built and moving on to the next one as quickly as possible. In fact, I would even just buy 3 o4 4 kits at a time, build the chassis without even painting them and then just spray them all flat black after they were assembled, while I spent some time painting and decaling the bodies. All in all, I probably built 250 cars in about a 10 year period (I still own everyone one of them too). Making a long story ridiculous, I ended up splitting up with my wife and moving out of my house and living in apartments for a few years. So while I was bouncing around apartments and re-establishing my self in a new relationship I didn't build anything for well over 10+ years. Then about 10 years ago, my Dad bought me a 1/18 Ford Mustang GT kit for my birthday (The exact replica of the car I was driving at the time). At first, I thought "what the hell do I want a model kit for" so I let it sit for probably a good 6 months. But then one day, I decided to pick it up and started it. And guess what......I was hooked again! I then bounced around building only cars, but did some NASCAR, did a couple of Indy Cars, Built some street rods, a few Rat Rods, and even got on an Indy Pace Car kick for a while. but it was soon after that, that I realized my true passion was building Stock Cars. So around 3 or 4 years ago, I sold off any unbuild non-NASCAR kits, I had and now only focus on only building stock cars. This time around though, I build decent quality kits. I don't have the ability to build "show quality" or "magazine worthy" finished products but I can build a "decent" final product. However, the main thing that I do to keep myself inspired and not worrying if a kit is not perfect, is that I tell myself, I build for my enjoyment and my satisfaction ONLY! If I am happy with the finished product, than I am fine with it. I don't build for anyone else's approval or up to anyone else's standards. The other thing I don't worry about is building an "exact" replica. I don't worry if my car is missing a contingency sticker, or if one small associate sponsor sticker is there or not. If its a decent looking representation of the main car, I am fine with it. Again NO ONE I personally know, that will see my cars, will know that Mark Martins 1998 car was supposed to have a small Gatoraide sticker behind the front wheel or not. Last year, thanks to a year of less-to-do and being home a bit more than normal, I finished exactly 20 stock cars. I only build one kit at a time, but do have a list of cars on my to-do list. As I wind down to finishing one kit, l start researching photos of the car I plan to build next. Then go about searching the kit and decals. So that's my story, more or less. Thank you for letting me join the site. I look forward to chatting with everyone about their builds and eventually showing off some of my work.

Hello, My Name is Scott. I live in a very small rural town in Genesee County, NY which is about half way between Buffalo and Rochester. I am Buffalo born and raised and consider it my home and LOVE Western New York. I am primarily a NASCAR builder now. I have been building all types of models since I was a little kid (I am 52 now). However, in the early 1980's I got into NASCAR "BIG TIME" and started focusing on just building stock cars. At that time, I build somewhere around 125-150 NASCAR stock cars, but then took about a 10 year break (not on purpose) to get married, raise a kid, get divorced, date, remarry and have another kid). I then got back into building models about 10 years ago when my dad bought me a Mustang model for Christmas. For a few years, I bounced around between building street cars, hot rods and mixed in a few NASCAR kits. But then I realized my true passion and enjoyment cane from building stock cars, so I returned to just building those. Right now, I build somewhere around 10-15 stock cars a year. I don't build show quality cars but feel I can build a "decent" looking car. The main thing I believe in with my builds is that I do not build for anyone else's approval. I build to the best of my ability and if I am happy with it, that's all that matters. I don't worry about building an exact car either. I don't worry if the car didn't have a Gatoraide sticker on it, but my build does. I don't worry that an associate sponsor sticker is missing here or there. I try to match the primary colors as close as possible but don't freak out if a color is one hue lighter or darker by a little bit. Again, if I am happy with it, that's all that matters. No one else is going to see it. I have been "lurking" on the site for about a year but never registered. I am looking forward to being an active member and discussing modeling and maybe even posting some pics of my builds. However, I registered a few weeks ago and got the message that I would get an e-mail to complete my registration. I have been waiting for a few weeks now and never received one. Is there something I am doing wrong or someone that can help me out? Thank you and I look forward to some good modeling conversations. Scott