1980 David Pearson Hawaiin Tropic Chevy DONE!

[Billy Kingsley]

The build that if anything could go wrong, it DID.

Here's what I wrote in an email about it-

The 1980 David Pearson car has fought me at literally every step. Here's a list of the things that went wrong. I've been working on it on and off since 2005. It's an MCW body and chassis, mated to a Monogram. Let's see...the roof was not mixed right (as diagnosed by a fellow TNMCC member), I broke the right side A pillar, the spoiler broke (so I scratchbuilt a new one), the hood didn't fit the body which was warped but didn't show it until after it was painted, even though I DID test fit it so I had to super glue it on. Which of cource fogged the area all around it. I had to scratchbuild three back windows, in that I got super glue on two of them and completly lost one. The front widshield is the first one I scratchbuilt but when gluing it in I got it crooked-oh well. They also fogged but I can fix that; I just havn't yet. I also went through the trouble of modifiying some of the under hood chassis shots, including the engine itself, however it is now unseeable unless you take the body off. In addidion, part of the resin dashboard broke off and got lost, and the left front wheel got broken, so it was super glued on. I joked with my mom that the decals would shatter when I went to put them on. And of cource, they DID. The stripes, which came from my 1/64 decal parts box, shattered. Luckily I was able to save it and I used some Micro Scale liquid decal film on the rest, which saved them. The Wetworks decals silvered on me-they didn't want to come off the paper or conform to the car. The nearly decade older JNJ decal (the Craftsman on the right) and the Slixx decals (Jesus) on both sides didn't so I know it was a problem with the Wetworks. Go figure! Oh, and, I also lost the shifter I had painted and detailed so I had to go into the spares stash to find a replacement. It took me nearly an hour and about 2 dozen boxes before I found one. On the upside of that, I found a zip lock bag that had a bunch of Quarters, probably about 20 dollars worth, so that at least worked out! It is my first David Pearson build.

I had regarded this as one of my "lost builds" and had pretty much resigned myself to it never getting completed. I still had the bumpers chrome plated by Bob at Chrome Tech USA at Toledo last year and when I recieved them less then a month later I pulled the car back out, and I've been working on it slowly ever since then, in November. That is why the build is done, or ever got done.

For what it's worth, with all the trouble it gave me, I still want to get some more of them from MCW. I still love this body style and would like to build several more-this, along with the comparable Olds, would make great kits-I would buy tons, myself!

I don't know why both cars washed out. They shouldn't have. Sorry about that!

[Clay]

Another clean build, keep it up!!!

[bobss396]

All's well that ends, period. Sometimes it pays just to slug it out and finish it although it was a fight the whole way. Use it as a learning experience. It came out nice though. I'm not a big fan of resin bodies though, just too much work for my liking.

Bob

[Bill Coulter]

Unless I missed it tell me something about the chassis etc. What color red did you use? I inherited one another guy built but it's not quite finished. Looks like No. 3 red which doesn't look dark enough to me based on reference photos I have.

Another nicely done piece of vintage stock car work.

Thanks...

BC

[randx0]

is that the same car that was in cannonball run? I think it was terry bradshaw and who was the other guy mel something.

[Slim Louis]

And it still turned looking really nice, Billy, good job wrestling with it!

[Guest promodmerc]

is that the same car that was in cannonball run? I think it was terry bradshaw and who was the other guy mel something.

That's what I was thinking too. Mel Tillis (SP) was his partner.

[62SS]

Glad to see you stuck with it Billy, It turned out great in spite of all the problems you had.

Nice job. I really like it!!!

Ed

[Billy Kingsley]

Bill, sorry I missed your post until now. The red is simply Tamiya Italian Red over Gray Primer, which was also Tamiya. Under that is a coat of Tamiya white and Model Master Lacquer white. The chassis is the MCW conversion mated to a Monogram 83-vintage GM, specifically a Monte Carlo Notchback donated it's life for this one. I didn't do anything special on the chassis-nothing scratchbuilt or anything cool like that.

This was NOT the Cannonball Run car. That was an S-3 Laguna. It carried the same markings, as did a real NASCAR race car. I am not sure however if the S-3 in the movie was NASCAR prepped or even provided by Hoss Ellington. (who owned the #1 car in NASCAR for many years) or if they just used his paint scheme.

Thanks for all the comments everyone, I am glad you all like it. I had hoped to get the Oldsmobile I bought at the same time done in time for Toledo but I now doubt it, as it's too hot to build for right now

[MarkJ]

Very nice save on the resin body. No one makes a styrene kit of this car?