Ben269

I also use the Krylon Pewter gray, can is almost out. I hope I'll be able to find it again. Krylon is getting harder to find.

Nice job so far, this kit needs the help for sure.

Nice job grafting the front end on there, this turned out nice.

I think you achieved the look you were going for, good save on that old kit!

Its a shame, too, because the window on the AMT is better. The Revell window has these weird cloudy parts, not sure how I'm going to address that. Maybe sand it down and polish it?

Mike, you are right about the AMT body, readily available, and inexpensive. I tried that one too, but unfortunately, its a bit too narrow at the top. I took a couple pictures of it. A guy could probably narrow the yellow roof and taper it down to the gray, and maybe add a sliver of plastic to widen the back part, but it was more work than the purple one. The purple one was also too narrow, due to the scale difference, but not as much.

A few coats of filler and primer, and the seams were almost gone. I painted the white first, but that lead to some challenges masking. Should clean up ok with some light sanding and touch-up painting. the gold stripe decals will cover the masking lines.

I am building Buddy Baker's 1988 Red Baron Olds. I shaved the roof rails, and removed the side skirt to backdate it.

The purple car is the Revell 1/25 pro stock kit. Found a body on eBay and decided to give it a try.

Those of us that build the NASCAR kits know that this kit just isn't right. That back window on the Olds is not reflective of the real car. So what do we do? Saw this from one of the guys on Instagram, and decided to try and replicate it.

Really nice execution on this one! I want to build this one as well some day.

Thanks, guys. Bruce, I used medical tape for the window net, worked out ok.

this one is done, pics in the under glass section.

Finished up this Bud Moore 1987 Thunderbird. I tried to replicate the headrest that was in the Bud Moore cars during the 80's. Powerslide decals, and raised the window openings to make a more convincing 87 thunderbird body. I showed a couple pics of it in the WIP section.

These are some good examples from that era. It looks like there was some variance between teams, or between speedway cars and short track cars. It would be great to get that Monogram body more accurate. All comments or ideas are welcome, I'm sure some of you have tried this, or at least had ideas?

Side note, the blue body looks real crooked from the top, but its not, just looks that way in the photo. I need to take better photos, and try to center the model better. I think there are a few good write-ups about taking photos I should go and re-read.

I think everyone who enjoys building NASCAR kits has noticed that the 83-86 Thunderbird has a few noticeable flaws, especially in the front. The openings on the fenders are too large, and the nose seems to be too short. the bumper and grill appear to be the wrong shape altogether. There was a very detailed breakdown on the Randy Ayers site several years ago, with a pretty good attempt at fixing it. Not sure that model ever got finished, but it was headed in the right direction. I tried to fix it a different way, but I am not too pleased with the results. I thought since the biggest problems were the shape of the front fenders, and the nose being too short, I would try to graft in different fenders. I had a Buick Regal NASCAR body without a hood, so I cut those fenders off and grafted them on to the thunderbird. I then cut the front bumper and headlights and grill apart to get it more narrow. The grill on the unmodified white body shows how they laid it down too flat, and didn't point out the beak enough. I attempted to stand it up a bit more, but push out the middle so it has a more pronounced curve. The result is too narrow in the front compared to the back, and the grill looks too tall compared to photos of the race cars. Its been sitting in the box of NASCAR parts, and was in the back of a picture on my Ricky Rudd 1987 build, when Shark noticed it and asked about it. I figured that was a good time to open up a thread and see if anyone has had better luck trying to fix this body?

Chassis is completed. Should have the rest of it done tomorrow.

Does anyone know how to fix these windows? it looks like a tire, or a sprue pressed into them, its a pretty deep groove. Can you fill it with canopy glue or something? I assume they are beyond saving, but maybe someone knows a trick.

Yes, the blue one is the 83-86 body, and I am trying to fix the front end. They just don't look right. I'll start a new thread for that one, I think its a subject that others have tried to fix in the past, and would like to get other peoples thoughts on that.

Dave, you are right about the shape of that A pillar. I didn't sand it like you did, but I think its too prominent, and when I do the next one, I would like to address it, maybe straighten and thin out the bottom part so its not so thick at the bottom?

Almost done, just a few more parts to paint.

Chassis and cage are not complete yet, but I wanted to show the headrest and seat that I made to replicate the style Bud Moore used through most of the 80's. Need to make the pad for the headrest still, but I am happy with it so far.

I filled in the seam where I raised the door line, and sanded it smooth. I didn't take any pictures of it before paint, though. Worked out ok, and now it fits over the sides of the roll cage as well. Powerslide decals.