DoctorLarry Posted February 8, 2021 Posted February 8, 2021 In the interest of having multiple projects that will take forever to get done, I am starting on an actual build instead of another resin. I just finished the formal roof Buick Century that was used by a few teams (Dale Earnhardt, Buddy Baker and A. J. Foyt, I think). I have decals for all three but I am starting with the Earnhardt car. YellowSportwagon has don the Baker car by cutting up Salvinos cars and doing the body that way. This body is my own version done in resin. I will use a modified T Bird chassis and engine from one of the Monogram NASCAR kits (got a few cheap and their engines have good detail). I will plumb it and detail it out. From pictures I have (there are very few) it looks like the interior is black. Anybody know? His 77 Cutlass was blue inside.
DoctorLarry Posted February 8, 2021 Author Posted February 8, 2021 Based on some other posts about using the Krylon paints I may go back to Tamiya or Testor's lacquers. Fast dry, easy to fix mistakes and polish out nicely. As Tim points out, they do shrink and dry out over time versus catalyzed paints but they are much less hassle than urethanes. On my 1-1 cars, different story though. Any ideas on a yellow lacquer? Other boards suggest Testor's Big Bad Blue or Tamiya TS-23 for the "Petty blue" color.
Ironman63 Posted February 8, 2021 Posted February 8, 2021 (edited) Model Car World has the yellow and blue. Look in the list for Mike Curb. The numbers are different from the Wrangler colors. Love the pics of Dale and the cars too. Edited February 8, 2021 by Ironman63
DoctorLarry Posted February 8, 2021 Author Posted February 8, 2021 Looked at the web site. No listing for the blue, just the yellow. Thanks for the info!
DoctorLarry Posted February 9, 2021 Author Posted February 9, 2021 They did not show it in stock. I saw the two Curb numbers but only the yellow showed in the search.
Ironman63 Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 OK. I thought they mixed when ordered. I haven't bought any in while.
Jonathan Posted February 9, 2021 Posted February 9, 2021 Looking forward to seeing this build. Very cool!
Dave Van Posted February 11, 2021 Posted February 11, 2021 There are much better decals out there than those printed on white paper kind. You work is to good for those.
Captain Spaulding Posted February 11, 2021 Posted February 11, 2021 20 minutes ago, Sledsel said: Imagine wandering around in a wrecking yard back in the day and coming across that
DoctorLarry Posted February 12, 2021 Author Posted February 12, 2021 Got it. GTO is in the works now.
DoctorLarry Posted February 17, 2021 Author Posted February 17, 2021 Shot some paint and started on decals. Some guess work as the pictures on the net are not very clear. I used Tamiya Yellow and Tamiya light blue. I have used Tamiya paint before and had no issues but this was a challenge. The yellow was thin and did not want to cover and I kept getting fish eyes in the paint even after cleaning it multiple times with wax and grease remover. Then my masking tape bled through in spots so I had to sand and gently rub to get the paint lines clean. Not my best effort by a long shot. Still needs more decals, clear coat and trim paint. Oh, and a chassis!
Ironman63 Posted February 17, 2021 Posted February 17, 2021 Good choice on the colors. They look really close. Great job on the paint and decals!
DoctorLarry Posted February 17, 2021 Author Posted February 17, 2021 If it were a real car it would be a "20 footer". The pictures make it look better than it is!
wrenchr Posted February 22, 2021 Posted February 22, 2021 On 2/17/2021 at 2:49 PM, DoctorLarry said: If it were a real car it would be a "20 footer". The pictures make it look better than it is! The real ones were 20 footers at best.
Dave72 Posted February 26, 2021 Posted February 26, 2021 On 2/11/2021 at 3:12 PM, Captain Spaulding said: Imagine wandering around in a wrecking yard back in the day and coming across that I would take a seat in that car for the rest of the day and ponder on the fact that I’m sitting in the same seat as the late, great Dale Earnhardt! A story to be told for years to come! Ok, I’m coming back to reality now! Lol!
DoctorLarry Posted March 1, 2021 Author Posted March 1, 2021 More progress. Started on a chassis based on photos I have of Cale Yarborough' Busch Olds. It was for sale a couple of years back and they had about 20 or so high resolution pictures of all aspects of the car so I figure it is a fairly good representation of a typical "Holman Moody front/back half" stock car chassis. I use a representative floor pan and chassis from that area. In this case it was a 72 Cutlass. It has the same wheelbase as the Century and tucks up in the body nicely. I cut the front frame horns off and measure the front of a Bill Elliott T Bird chassis and glue the front frame stub on, then reinforce it with plates. I cut out the floor pans in the back to mount the T Bird truck arm. I move the springs forward so I can mount a second shock in front of the rear end. Then I fill in the floors like they did with new plastic sheet. I cut out the gas tank and put the tank and floor tub for the tank in from the T Bird. For the cage, I start with the T Bird tunnel and firewall and trim the cage down to fit in the car. Then I make a new main hoop, top hoop, front bars and fill it in. The seat is from a later model NASCAR Olds as is the engine. Using Tim's advice, I use the oil pan from the T Bird to locate the engine in the chassis. It is closer to the real thing but obviously more work than using the T Bird chassis.
DoctorLarry Posted March 1, 2021 Author Posted March 1, 2021 Chassis in the body and rear suspension mock-up on a spare unpainted body: (workspace as usual is a disaster area)
gks1964 Posted March 2, 2021 Posted March 2, 2021 I'm liking it!! Glad to see I'm not the only one that has scraps of plastic everywhere!!!
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now