gami8630

Thank you both for the replies. It took a lot of work to modify the body, but I managed to finish it.

Thank you for the compliments

Thanks for the replies. Combining multiple kit bodies into one body is risky, but very motivating when done well. By the way, making one body from two pieces is called “Nicoichi” in Japanese.

Thank you all for the compliments. Your replies are always very, very encouraging.

Thanks for the reply. When converting a production car kit to a NASCAR race car, the parts from the POLAR LIGHTS kit are very helpful.

This car is the 1969 Mercury Cyclone of the Hallman Moody team, which Bobby Allison drove to seven wins from the midway point of the 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. For the previous two years, Bobby Allison had competed in a Dodge Charger Daytona in the four-car “Aero Warriors” competition between Ford, Mercury, Dodge, and Plymouth. However, for safety reasons, the engine displacement of the “Aero Warriors,” which competed in high-speed battles, was limited to 305 cu.in. in 1971, which was virtually a ban on the use of the "Aero Warriors. Bobby Allison switched to a Charger without the huge nose cone and high wing, but the aerodynamics were not as good as he had hoped, so he switched mid-season to the Hallman-Moody team's 1969 Mercury Cyclone. The base kit is the “Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II” from POLAR LIGHTS, which was re-released by ROUND 2 in 2018 with the addition of new Bobby Allison decals. However, the car Bobby Allison drove was not the “Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II” from “Aero Warriors,” but a 1969 Mercury Cyclone commonly known as the “W-Nose,” so the first half of the body had to be modified. At first, I was going to combine the resin W-Nose Cyclone body I had already purchased with the chassis of the kit, but the resin body was not in good shape from the A-pillar to the rear. So I decided to use the resin body from the front edge of the door to the front and the kit body to the rear. I cut each body at the front edge of the door and combined the two hoddies into one body. It took some careful crafting, but I think I was able to combine them fairly well. After the body was modified, the position and shape of the fueling port was changed, and the height of the rear spoiler was reduced. For the chassis, the front frame and hoop were shortened and modified to fit the body modified to W-Nose, and the front suspension tension rod mounting area was modified based on AMT's GEN4 Thunderbird chassis. The body was primed with Tamiya Super Surfacer (gray), Fine Surfacer (white), and TS-13 Clear, then sprayed with TS-49 Bright Red and TS-21 Gold, overcoated with TS-13 Clear, and then applied the kit decals. Near completion, I made a mistake and scratched the front edge of the roof, which I repaired and repainted, but unfortunately, I could not repair it beautifully.

This is a great piece of work, very beautifully painted and detail crafted.

Thanks, everybody. The Nascar race cars of the time are good in that each car's unique body style and simple coloring give them a very “stock car” racing feel.

Thanks, everybody. My build is not an exact replica of the actual car that Bobby Allison actually drove at the time. I create them as long as I can reproduce the atmosphere of the car.

Thanks both of you for your comments. I like the fact that NASCAR race cars these days are “real” stock cars modified from production cars.

I may also incorporate a few aftermarket precision parts. However, my knowledge of the actual car is not that great, so as long as I can reproduce the atmosphere of the actual car reasonably well, I am satisfied.

I have built many NASCAR kits for various kit manufacturers and have kept many parts from discarded kits. Combining them and putting them together as one model car is like completing a puzzle.

Each manufacturer's NASCAR kit has its good points and its shortcomings. I like to combine the parts of those kits well and make the missing parts by myself to create a car that satisfies me in my own way.

Thanks everyone for the compliments! It motivates me to create more and more.

This car is Bobby Allison's Chevrolet Monte Carlo, which won 10 of the 31 races in the 1972 NASCAR Winston Cup Series. This was the beginning of the “modern era” of NASCAR, when the number of races was reduced from the previous year's 48 to 31, all dirt tracks were eliminated, and the minimum race distance for oval tracks was set at 250 miles. The base kit is AMT's “BOBBY ALLISON MONTE CARLO STOCK CAR,” which was re-released by ROUND2 LLC in 2017. The packaging design follows that of the original 1972 release, with all-new decals added. This kit is not a 3-in-1 kit, but a kit that can be assembled only as a full display NASCAR race car. The body style is a good reproduction of the real car design, but the chassis and cockpit had to be modified in various ways. 1. Body Looking at the photos of the actual cars that Bobby drove during the 1972 season, most of them looked like the 1971 model with the narrow radiator grille and the turn signal lamps in the bumper. Therefore, I cut both ends of the radiator grille and filled the gap inside the headlamps with plastic plates. The rear window was cut to fit the window opening of the body and fixed. In addition, a vent hose and an overflow hose outlet were added on the left side of the rear of the body. 2. Chassis This kit does not reproduce the engine compartment pipe frame or front suspension. Therefore, I created a front hoop with Evergreen rods and incorporated upper A-arms, twin shocks, and a radiator diverted from AMT's GEN4 nascar kit. The engine is unmodified, but the exhaust pipes were replaced with plastic pipes. The chin spoiler was made by myself with thin plastic plates, and the ride height was lowered a little. 3. Cockpit The roll cage of the kit was not very realistic, so I made a roll cage combining parts of AMT's GEN4 nascar kit and Evergreen rods. The dashboard was similar, so I replaced it with a combination of plastic sheets and monogram meter panels. The gauges are made from Powerslide decals. The shifter was modified and installed from parts of an old JO-HAN kit. 4. Wheels and Tires The wheels are 5-hole type wheels found in a junk parts box, and the tires are PPP 1965-1969 Goodyear Tires. 5. Painting and Marking The body was painted with Tamiya Super Surfacer (gray), Fine Surfacer (white), and TS-13 Clear, then sprayed with TS-49 Bright Red, TS-21 Gold, and overcoated with TS-13 Clear, then applied the kit decals. Finally, after the decals were sufficiently dry, I sprayed a final coat of GSI Creos water-based topcoat premium. As mentioned above, I made various modifications, but since I could find few images of the engine and cockpit of Bobby Allison's actual car, the images reproduced are only based on the specifications as a NASCAR race car in 1972. Note that the Coca-Cola glass bottle in the image was sold in 1981 by the former Tokyo Coca-Cola Bottling Company, established in 1956, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the company's founding.

Thanks,Jim N !

Thank you Trevor. I have always loved the traditional Wood Brothers coloring as well.

Melvin Alan, I also like the Throwback paint scheme, so I try to look for Throwback paint decals when I build models after CoT.

Thank you slusher for all your compliments.

Thanks you the replies, James, Bob, Garner.

Thank you all for the replies. Modifying a production car kit into a Nascar version is a lot of work, but it is also a fun time. In addition, I have added a description of the cockpit to the text.

This car is Tiny Lund's Ford Galaxie, which won the 1963 Daytona 500 with the Wood Brothers team. During Daytona Week that year, Marvin Punch of the same team raced a Maserati in the sports car race, but Punch was left in the burning car after an accident during the race. Four or five men ran up to him and pulled him out, one of whom was Tiny Lund. Tiny Lund was then asked to stand in for Punch, and with the help of the team's well-thought-out strategy, he made the most of the opportunity and won the race. The base kit is AMT/ERTL's “1963 FORD GALAXIE” released in 2000 as a “YEAR 2000 SPECIAL EDITION” product. This kit includes the engine and is a “STOCK/CUSTOM/ADVANCED CUSTOM” 3-in-1 kit, but it does not include parts to make it NASCAR spec, so I had to modify it in various ways this time. The decals are JNJ #88-144 purchased through eBay. Unfortunately, the “410 H.P.” on the engine hood is different from the real car, and the sponsor decals on the front fenders are missing. The body has been modified by removing the moldings, emblems, and wipers of the production version, and adding race-spec fuel filler, overflow pipes, and front and rear lamp covers. The cockpit has been replaced with a 60-64 Ford Interior Tub, a resin product. The cockpit is fitted with a meter panel with Powerslide meter decals, a roll cage made by myself with Evergreen rods, a fire extinguisher and racing seat adapted from the Monogram Nascar kit, and a steering wheel wrapped with a thin strip of masking tape. Wheels and tires are PPP HM-9 Holman Moody 9” Wheels 1960-64 and 1960-1964 Firestone Tires. The engine hood is glued to the body and the engine plate parts from AMT's “1964 FORD GALAXIE 500-XL” kit are used instead of the engine. The body color is sprayed Tamiya white and pure red, and JNJ decals are applied, but the missing sponsor decals on the front fenders are from stock. For this build, I found Bigchef2112's “Tiny Lund 1963 Daytona 500 winner” published in 2023 on this forum very helpful. Thank you very much. My build this time has many differences from the real car, but I was able to reproduce the atmosphere well enough, so I am satisfied as far as I am concerned.

Thank you all for your comments. Sometimes I look for this Fusion and Chevy SS kit on eBay and Yahoo auctions, but when they are listed, they are very expensive.

This car is the “Carolina Ford Dealers Ford Fusion” entered by The Stewart-Haas Racing in the Spring 2018 Southern 500 at Darlington, with driver Clint Bowyer. This paint scheme pays tribute to Ned Jarrett's historic victory in the Darlington Southern 500 in 1965. The base kit is Revell's “DANICA PATRICK Aspen Dental Ford Fusion” released in 2017, the first new kit in almost 10 years since the 2006 body kit of GEN4's Monte Carlo SS was released, This Revell kit was released together with the Chevrolet SS. I bought and assembled this Revell kit when it was first released, and I remember being impressed with the detail of the GEN6 bodywork, chassis, engine, etc. Unfortunately, due to the termination of the US-level business in 2018, this kit is not currently being reproduced, but I acquired this kit through an internet auction about two years ago. The decals are Powerslide's “#300 2018 #14 CAROLINA FORD DEALERS FUSION”. This time, as minimal detailing, a lip spoiler was added to the lower front bumper, a racing seat from a 2005 Monte Carlo SS kit was diverted, a small rear view mirror mounted on the roll cage, and front and rear suspension spring parts were replaced with hobby-grade stainless steel springs. I also tried to use 3D printed aftermarket parts for the wheels and brakes. These two afterparts are products of “scalecars.online”, a Polish company that develops and sells 3D printed model car accessories. (https://scomodels.com/) The wheels and brakes are very precise and high quality parts, which enhance the precision of the kit. The body was sprayed with Tamiya Super Surfacer (gray) and Fine Surfacer (white), then sprayed with TS-44 Brilliant Blue and coated with TS-13 Clear, After applying the decals, I coated with GSI Creos Waterborne Premium Coat. The last image shows the Ford Galaxie of Ned Jarrett, which I built last time, side by side.

In Japan, where I live, there are not many NASCAR-loving race fans, so when I receive warm messages like this from everyone, I am very happy.