Fireball Roberts 62 Pontiac Restoration

[Dan Hay]

I bought a decently built AMT 62 Pontiac on eBay that was built to the Fireball Roberts/Smokey Yunick livery. It had decal and paint issues, but was a nice build beyond that. I paid way too much for it, but thought I could fix what was wrong and have a nice piece for the shelf. 

Here are the pics from when I bought it.  The decals were poorly applied, peeling, and it looked like the roof came in contact with a heat source. The hood also had a weird spot on it, and was dusty from sitting. 

 

[Dan Hay]

My first task was to figure out what gold color was on the car. Tamiya gold? Nope.  Testors Pure Gold? Nope.  A forum member in another thread I posted enquiring about the color suggested GM Granada Gold. I believe that this might be the actual color Smokey used, but it doesn't look like it would match this car. It's a gold with a very brown hue, but not bronze.  I decided to proceed repainting all the gold with Testors Pure Gold. You can see the hood here painted Pure Gold, in comparison to whatever Gold is on the car. 

[Dan Hay]

So I knew that taping off the gold would mean the decals would come right off. So I ordered a new set of powerslide decals from Mike's. I decided to paint it in sections to ease with taping. 

[Dan Hay]

Most of the deals came off with masking tape applied over and over, but the little bits required a finger nail wrapped in a wet wash cloth.  A wash cloth because it is rougher and has more "bite" than a fine towel. It also took some light sanding with a 6000 grit micro-sand square.  So this is how it sits now. I have detailed the middle of the wheels with a black wash and lugnut detail, as well as painted the bottom of the decklid black per the real car.  Next I will bare metal foil the trim on the quarters the previous builder neglected, as well as the chrome trim on the trunk. I really like how this is turning out, and it's a new challenge to correct a built model than building from scratch. I'm not a huge fan of floor polish clear coats, but because this car is built and I don't want to rip it apart (he must have used super-glue, it is very solid) I will clear it with floor polish after foiling and decaling. Stay Tuned!

By the way, the 63 Chevy in the background will be the #13 Johnny Rutherford/Smokey Yunick car. 

Edited June 3, 2021 by Dan Hay

[Dan Hay]

Fully decaled, and applying the first coat of Pledge

[DoctorLarry]

Looks great so far!

[Dan Hay]

And, finished! Turned out really nice.

[gks1964]

Really nice!!