1962 Don Gay Pontiac Catalina, finished

[MarkJ]

Kit: Amt

Paint: Scalefinishes  Ensign blue metallic

Decals: Homemade by me on my computer. Inkjet.

The summer of 1964 was a fun time in my life. I was 13 years old. Two years earlier, my family moved from our home in Virginia to Texas. My father worked for NASA. The space center was built on pasture land that Lyndon Johnson owned south of Houston,

We lived nearby in the small town of Seabrook on Galveston Bay. It was a very exciting time as my family got to share in the beginning of the space program in the 60's. My best friend invited me to go with him and his father to the drag strip in Dickinson, Texas.

The stars of the show just about every Saturday night were Don Gay and his brother Roy. Their father owned a Pontiac dealership in Dickinson. Their cars were much better than their competition. So, they would always end up in the final stock eliminator race at the end of 

the evening's races. Don, seventeen at the time, drove an A/stock 1962 Pontiac Catalina. His brother, Roy, drove  a B/stock 1964 GTO. It was always high drama when they lined up for that final race at the end of the evening. The model I have built depicts Don Gay's

Catalina. I hope to find a 1964 GTO model. I would like to build Roy's car, also. Like I said, it was a very fun summer for me. I hope you enjoy this model as much as I enjoyed building it, and the history behind it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 17, 2017 by MarkJ

[GaryR]

NICE, just looking at this car in an ancient HRM coverage of the Winters.

The Polar Lights 64 GTO is just simplified, but IS NOT a bad representation of the real thing ( in my view) I have six of the, I'm going to build the spectrum in 64 65. From stock, to hot street, to drag stock, to early blown stocker to match racing funny cars. Take a look at 'em!

Again, NICE JOB ON A VERY HISTORICAL SUBJECT!

[Hubert Rollins]

That is awesome... and awesome to hear the history behind the project and the great memories it evokes...

[afx]

Nice work Mark.

[David G.]

Nicely Done!

David G.

[cobraman]

Looks great, well done !

[mr68gts]

Beautiful model Mark! Really came out well and appreciate the history lesson also. ( I enjoy the history of the actual vehicles as much as the models itself!)

[W-409]

Really nice work on this Pontiac, it turned out excellent! You did a great job with that body conversion and overall everything looks just right. I like to see 1:1 replicas in scale so a big thumbs up from here. Thanks for sharing the WIP thread with us and thanks for that interesting history too. Very nice job.

[Davewilly]

Great looking Pontiac!

[6bblbird]

Great car! Great story!

Isn't it cool that we can now build replicas of the cars that made such an impression on us? I too was 13 when I made my first trip to the drags. I don't remember much about that summer of '69 but that day at National Speedway is etched in my mind!

WF

[Old Coyote]

What a marvelous build ............ it turned out exceptional ................. I also grew up in Texas in the early to mid '60's and remember the Gay's very well ............ those screaming "Poncho's" were tuned by James O'Steen ............ a class gentleman himself

You have outdone yourself ............. a classic build of a classic Texas race car 

[MarkJ]

What a marvelous build ............ it turned out exceptional ................. I also grew up in Texas in the early to mid '60's and remember the Gay's very well ............ those screaming "Poncho's" were tuned by James O'Steen ............ a class gentleman himself

You have outdone yourself ............. a classic build of a classic Texas race car 

Thanks, John. Without your help on the build it probably still would not be finished. Also looking at your drag racing builds was great inspiration for me.

[iBorg]

I have to agree with Gary, the PL Poncho is often dismissed. Yours turned out quite nicely. Can you tell how you printed the decals? I'm guessing Alps, but if they're some other printer more information would be most appreciated.

[MarkJ]

I have to agree with Gary, the PL Poncho is often dismissed. Yours turned out quite nicely. Can you tell how you printed the decals? I'm guessing Alps, but if they're some other printer more information would be most appreciated.

Mike, Thank you for your interest in the build. You will probably scoff when I tell you how I make the decals.  I use an old adobe  photodeluxe  program that was bundled free with an old scannner I bought back in the 90's. I use the program to create the decals and put them on sheets. I then print them on white decal paper I purchased from micro mark because hobby lobby doesn't sell white sheets anymore. I use a brothers inkjet printer. After I wait a couple of days I coat the sheets with testors 1261 gloss clear lacquer. You have to use really light coats or the lacquer will make the ink run. I do 4 coats. I wait a couple of more days to use the decals. First I cut them out as close to their edge as possible and install them to the model. I wait for the decals to dry and then I trace around Them with a sharp number 11 exacto blade. I then use a tooth pick and tweezers to remove the remaining excess decal material. Its pain staking work, but it works pretty good unless the script is very small and then I just leave the black background on the decal. Some day when the price of Laser printers that can print white comes down, I will purchase one and do my decals the Fred Cady way with white underlays. If that ever happens, I think I could probably sell my decals. Thanks again for your interest.

[iBorg]

I've used Photodelux......that's an impressive outcome.

[MAGIC MUFFLER]

Way cool and nicely done!

[Reeves Racing]

Stunning work. That turned out awesome.

[W-409]

Mike, Thank you for your interest in the build. You will probably scoff when I tell you how I make the decals.  I use an old adobe  photodeluxe  program that was bundled free with an old scannner I bought back in the 90's. I use the program to create the decals and put them on sheets. I then print them on white decal paper I purchased from micro mark because hobby lobby doesn't sell white sheets anymore. I use a brothers inkjet printer. After I wait a couple of days I coat the sheets with testors 1261 gloss clear lacquer. You have to use really light coats or the lacquer will make the ink run. I do 4 coats. I wait a couple of more days to use the decals. First I cut them out as close to their edge as possible and install them to the model. I wait for the decals to dry and then I trace around Them with a sharp number 11 exacto blade. I then use a tooth pick and tweezers to remove the remaining excess decal material. Its pain staking work, but it works pretty good unless the script is very small and then I just leave the black background on the decal. Some day when the price of Laser printers that can print white comes down, I will purchase one and do my decals the Fred Cady way with white underlays. If that ever happens, I think I could probably sell my decals. Thanks again for your interest.

Wow! Cutting the excess decal material away sounds like a lot of work!

Now this decal thing got me interested. I think printing them might not be the problem, but I don't consider myself as very good computer user, drawing the decals is a problem. So on that Adobe Photodeluxe program, can you somehow open a photo in that program and then it can be put on the sheet and printed out, or do I have to completely draw the logos on computer? For example, if I wanted to print our race team logo as a decal, could I take a good picture of that logo, open that picture in the program and print it out... Or do I have to somehow "draw"  that team logo on my computer to be able to print it out?

I have several builds that need custom decals so I'd definitely need to be able to make them myself. Paying for someone else to do it usually gets too expensive...

[MarkJ]

Wow! Cutting the excess decal material away sounds like a lot of work!

Now this decal thing got me interested. I think printing them might not be the problem, but I don't consider myself as very good computer user, drawing the decals is a problem. So on that Adobe Photodeluxe program, can you somehow open a photo in that program and then it can be put on the sheet and printed out, or do I have to completely draw the logos on computer? For example, if I wanted to print our race team logo as a decal, could I take a good picture of that logo, open that picture in the program and print it out... Or do I have to somehow "draw"  that team logo on my computer to be able to print it out?

I have several builds that need custom decals so I'd definitely need to be able to make them myself. Paying for someone else to do it usually gets too expensive...

Niko, Most of my decals are saved images from the internet and then pasted into the program. I then adjust them for size making them 600 pixels per inch which makes them crisp and clear. You then save them to your pictures file and print them from there on  to decal paper. Some of the images are made from scratch but contengencies are usually borrowed from the internet.

[10thumbs]

Congrats Mark, just excellent.  A great model you pulled off, love it.

[W-409]

Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely try that!

[Dodge Driver]

Your Catalina looks superb, Mark. First rate work on the paint and decals as well.

[59 Impala]

Real nice work Mark.  Where did you get the sedan body?  I would like to build Royal Pontiac's Catalina that was a sedan also.  I built bill Knafel's Anderson Pontiac "Tin Indian" which is the hard top Catalina.  Dan

[bytownshaker]

Amazing build Mark. 60's stock & super stock cars are some of my favourite drag cars

[MarkJ]

Real nice work Mark.  Where did you get the sedan body?  I would like to build Royal Pontiac's Catalina that was a sedan also.  I built bill Knafel's Anderson Pontiac "Tin Indian" which is the hard top Catalina.  Dan

Dan, the wip thread is on the next page and it shows how I did the sedan from a coupe. Thanks for your interest in the build