Slipster17
-
Posts
23 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by Slipster17
-
-
-
What began as a pipedream in December is now reality. Using promotional/ diecast box art I recreated the Superman image on the side of this car as a full vector-based graphic for a Sim-Racing project. Once I was all done with that I got the itch to see what else I could use it for...The result - A one-off build of Jeff Gordon's special paint scheme from the 1999 Winston Select. Sporting custom decals from 3 Amigos Decals . Sam was able to take my Superman graphic and build the rest of the decal set around it - with awesome results! I cannot say enough about how rewarding it was to work with him on this project! We passed a few test pages back and forth, I would print them out and test fit them to the Revell body to verify the scale and coverage was correct and then get back to him with any changes I thought might be needed. Just about every decal on the car also has a separate white underlayer to help the color pop like it should over the darker paint. The awesome paint I chose, BTW, is called "Darth Blue" and is a colorshift airbrush paint available from GreenStuffWorld. The chroma effect looks about as close to the real deal as I could have hoped! Some supplemental decals under the hood and on the wheels from older Slixx sheets.Custom interior touches include a newer version of the Revell drivers seat, self-fabbed leg protection, ignition module under the dash, more accurately positioned fire extinguisher, self made Earnhardt bar and the rear shelf from a Ford model to better reflect the look of the real car. This was also my first attempt at cutting out the stock plastic window net and fashioning my own from strips of painters tape.Enjoy, feel free to comment and thank you for looking!
-
1
-
-
Home stretch on this one - time for a few coats of clear!
-
1
-
-
Chassis is done!
First attempt at creating my own window nets - cut and layered strips of painters tape to make the effect.
-
Dreading tackling the last few decals on this guy - mostly due to the 'ribs' on the back of the Pontiac body. Going to take a lot of patience and solvent!
Most of the white decals you see here are double layered BTW - the cracks visible in the rear stripes will be covered with the second layer.
-
Decal Progress!
-
Chassis update - only a few more pieces to go.
I ended up adding a 'Ford' rear parcel shelf to this build as well because the Chevy ones included with the kits from this time period look horribly inaccurate when looking through the rear windows of the real cars.
-
This. Is. Going. To. Be. Epic.
-
Mail call from 3AmigosDecals!
-
Final color chosen for the body - 'Darth Blue', again part of the colorshift line from GreenStuffWorld.
-
Pushing forward and trying a few more interior modifications than I had done with Andretti's Pontiac. I had a pretty decent in-car image of Jeff Gordon from 1999 sometime that I was going to try and base the look off of.
I knew the driver seat that came with the model wasn't quite going to cut it. So I dug into my junkyard and found one of the newer driver seats after Revell made the after change over.... so like >2003ish? I had to clip the driver side 'wings' off of the seat as they prevented the seat from sitting straight inside the chassis. But I'm going to attempt that little secondary triangular window net that was used during this time period so they weren't needed. Cut the plastic window net out as well - going to try and create my own! I also clipped the ignition modules off of a newer brace bar and relocated the fire extinguisher to a more accurate spot. Fabbed up my own leg protector for the side of the seat using some layered painters tape and glued that in place as well. Gauge dials were painted with my ever trusty toothpick! I'm leaving the steering wheel off because I have an idea to put a driver figure standing outside of the car. I think it is coming together nicely!
-
I got the itch to look into building this scheme from two sources.
The first - I painted/ recreated this paint scheme in the computer sim-racing game NASCAR Racing 2k3. Moreover - I did so using a 3rd party program that allows users to create a faux 'chroma' effect for the cars in-game. And I was ecstatic with how it turned out. In the process of making this paint scheme in game I drew and shaded my own full-layered vector image of Superman for the side of the car based on diecast box art. And then I got thinking.... I have this asset now..... how else can I use it?
The second - the family and I were in Hobby Lobby and I wandered through the model kits to see that Testors in-fact had their own line of colorshift paints now. The Blue Galaxy color in particular caught my eye and looked pretty darn close to what I had seen of the actual Superman scheme while researching the car. Wheels turning....... What would it take for me to be able to use the vector graphic I had created and build an actual 1:24 scale model of this car using the colorshift paint?
I got it touch with Sam of 3AmigosDecals, who I've had previous dealings with, and put forward the idea to him. I asked if he would be able to use my Superman asset and then build the rest of the car decals around that to make me a custom printed set of decals. He loved the idea and we set about trading some test files back and forth to make sure we had things like scale and color correct. I was printing out the test sheets and then taping them to a body-in-white and letting him know if we needed to adjust anything. He DID clue me into the fact that a 3rd party decal company had produced a run of these decals waaaaaaay back in the day - but there was next to no chance of me locating a still unused sheet and (if I'm being entirely honest AND humble.....) ours was going to look better, lol.
We both agreed that because of the dark final color of this car - the decals would probably all benefit from white underlays. So we finalize a full sheet of decals with a full slate of underlays as well. Sure - some wouldn't be used. But they would be there if I needed them. Queue happy squeals. Now to do some paint experimenting while waiting for the mail to arrive!
-
Moving Forward on the decals. Slooooooow and steady with generous use of solvent!
-
LOVE the stance on this build!
-
Borrowed an airbrush from my Father-in-Law (a huuuuuuge scale train nut!) to lay down this colorshift and I gotta say..... I think I need to go buy my own. So much more control over the flow and finish than a rattlecan!
Seeing how this turned out gives me goosebumps - only a tiny bit of residue from the painters tape that needs to be addressed. I can't wait to get started on decals!
-
Tried my hand at creating a masking template using a super spiffy technique I saw a modeler use on a YouTube video. The basic gist is that you find a pane of glass (like from a photo frame) and place the decal sheet below it. Then you cover the top of the glass with painters tape and use a hobby knife to trace the design you need off of the decal sheet. You can then easily peel the tape up from the glass and transfer it to the car body.
Rather than freehanding the side swoops with 2mm tape on this one - the above method is what I went for. Made sure to burnish the edges to press them down good. Only had one small instance of spray leakage on the trunk so I consider that a huge win! Laid down a base coat of black before 3 coats of the Celestial Azure colorshift.
-
Moving on to the paint booth.......
Primered and then shot the whole body with TS-36. Wet sanded between a few coats.
(IGNORE THE OTHER SPICY BIT TO THE RIGHT IN THE PHOTO..... we'll discuss that one in due time 😉)
-
On the outside I did my best to putty and sand the the seam between body and front bumper and make it disappear, as well as completely smooth out the lower grilles so a later decal lays flat. Then, because I am making this one a single side exhaust, I cut out a chunk of the driver's side-skirt to leave room for the larger pipe and then puttied in the gap on the passenger side.
-
On the chassis I scuffed the rolling surface of the tires, borrowed a single side exhaust pipe from my scrapyard to make this build race accurate, chopped the rear springs a little bit to get a completely level stance and cut a little extra piece of parts tree to create an 'Earnhardt Bar'. Also from the scrapyard, the larger more period correct engine air cleaner.
-
I intend to build this kit as 'mostly' box stock with only a few year/ race specific changes being made to the chassis and body.
-
This is my first deep dive into a modelling project after being absent from the hobby for a loooooooong while. So of course I wasn't going to go easy on myself! 😅
The special reverse & chameleon colored STP / Glasurit Paints scheme that Andretti drove in two races at the tail end of 1998 (the Pepsi 400 'Thank You Firefighters' version specifically)I've wanted to build this paint scheme for since the early 2000s but never really felt I had the skills and know-how to do it properly. But this new urge is spurred on partially by seeing the Testors line of colorshift spray paints available in my local craft stores. I bought a few colors, played around with them on some test bodies and decided the effect wasn't exactly what I was looking for...... but then I went on a search to find one that did match the real car as close as possible. The original paints that the actual car was painted with have long since been discontinued - but I landed on GreenStuffWorld.com and sampled a handful of their airbrush colorshift paints. All I can say is, WOW. Color, quality, ease of application - these guys have it covered! Their 'Celestial Azure' (a teal to purple shift) was my final choice for this build.
Paint chosen - I bought 2 sheets of the old Slixx decals for this car from Mike's, a Revell 96-2000 Pontiac donor kit and set to work!
-
Just popping in to introduce myself.
Friends call me Slip and I'm a long time Sim Racing painter/ designer and have been building scale NASCAR models since I was like.... 8. My uncle was big into the model and RC car hobby when I was young and to this kid in the early 90s, tiny cars I could build was coolest thing ever. I have no idea how many NASCAR models I built (or attempted) before heading off to college in the mid2000s, but it feels like I had to buy every new Revell / Monogram box I ever saw in the local hobby shop - and I made weekly trips there on my bike! Only a handful of my original cars from then survive today because I really didn't have a sentimental attachment then - but man, looking back on some of the paint schemes I had on my shelf I wish I had saved more of them!
After college life got in the way of most of my hobbies. Jobs, several big moves, marriage, kids - all the good stuff! I seriously only built one kit between 2004 and 2019..... But, we are pretty firmly planted now in the mountains of Central/ Western MD. Kids are both in school now, we finally own our own home, life is allowing the wife and I to get back into some of our respective passion projects - and for me, that means scouring shops/ online for decades old kits and decals to start building again!
My sweet spot is like 1997 - 2002 NASCAR. That was the peak of my (original) building talent and interest in NASCAR as a whole. But I know that I can bring some of my professional skills learned in the last 15 years as a graphic artist to the bench and probably tackle some builds I was always too anxious to try back in the day. From this point forward, I don't see myself building many 'box stock' kits - but using the old kits as donors for custom paint schemes that Revell never produced. I have a 2022 plan firmly in place and it is, so far, right on track. I'll post more about those in the build threads.
Anyway, enough rambling. I look forward to seeing everyone's work and learning new tips and tricks I can apply to my own work!
#24 Jeff Gordon Dupont/ Superman Chromalusion (1999 The Winston Select)
in NASCAR
Posted