1967 Mario Andretti Daytona 500 winner

[Volzfan59]

Excellent work as always Mark!

[MarkJ]

13 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Mark, thanks for the compliment on my struggle to achieve the quality of your builds. I am currently plodding along trying to make a '32 five window coupe stockcar from '50's era. Struggling as usual to fit my modifications to it. I'm plunking a '40 Ford flathead in it, so far.

I will need to find the wip on your build. is it here in mcm forum?

[MarkJ]

10 hours ago, Volzfan59 said:

Excellent work as always Mark!

Thanks, Steve. Its slow going. As usual every step forward, I take I take two steps back. I keep trying to use the Tamiya liquid glue, but it takes forever to actually hold the part strong enough to continue the build on the piece I'm working on, so I revert back to the old testors tube glue that also takes forever to set but at least it holds the parts together once it does. I wish somebody would make a fast setting glue that actually holds the parts together that isn't dangerous for my lungs.

[Volzfan59]

@MarkJ, you’re a way more advanced modeler than I probably ever will be so I feel that advice from me is unwarranted. That said, I’ve had a great experience with Bondene if I need something to take hold quickly. I’ve got CA glue too but not crazy about it.

[MarkJ]

6 hours ago, Volzfan59 said:

@MarkJ, you’re a way more advanced modeler than I probably ever will be so I feel that advice from me is unwarranted. That said, I’ve had a great experience with Bondene if I need something to take hold quickly. I’ve got CA glue too but not crazy about it.

Thanks, Steve. I will check it out.

[Anglia105E]

Excellent work on the chrome moldings Mark, and also the gold roof. You must be really pleased with that shade of blue, which looks perfect to me.

You are well organised with your paint reference details and I know how important that is from dealing with Rolls-Royce paint codes.

This Daytona 500 race car is going to be a stunner . . .

David W.

[MarkJ]

14 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

Excellent work on the chrome moldings Mark, and also the gold roof. You must be really pleased with that shade of blue, which looks perfect to me.

You are well organised with your paint reference details and I know how important that is from dealing with Rolls-Royce paint codes.

This Daytona 500 race car is going to be a stunner . . .

David W.

Thanks , David. Your work with the sharpie reminded me to try that silver paint pen with the sharpie tip on it. I never tried to use it before with masking tape and that's why I never got good results. So, you led me to a new way for me to do my chrome moldings. I believe the body might finally be ready for clear so I might try to do that today.

Mark J.

[MarkJ]

Got the body cleared and I will have to sand the blue and maybe reclear it if I go through to paint. The blue did not go on as smoothly as the gold. I don't know if it was because it was a mixed paint and the gold was not. Maybe with mixed paint the ratio of paint to thinner needs to be tweaked a little. maybe a greater percentage of thinner to paint. I'll wait a few days before I try polishing with sanding pads. probably start at 3600 and go up to 12000 being very careful not to go through. the clear. Got the head support done and the seat except for harnesses that go on after painting.

[Anglia105E]

15 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Got the body cleared and I will have to sand the blue and maybe reclear it if I go through to paint. The blue did not go on as smoothly as the gold. I don't know if it was because it was a mixed paint and the gold was not. Maybe with mixed paint the ratio of paint to thinner needs to be tweaked a little. maybe a greater percentage of thinner to paint. I'll wait a few days before I try polishing with sanding pads. probably start at 3600 and go up to 12000 being very careful not to go through. the clear. Got the head support done and the seat except for harnesses that go on after painting.

The blue and gold colour combination looks good outdoors in natural daylight, and the seating position for the driver is well protected.

David

[MarkJ]

5 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

The blue and gold colour combination looks good outdoors in natural daylight, and the seating position for the driver is well protected.

David

Thanks, David. The finish is now glossy but grainy at the same time especially on the hood. I will post a photo later showing this. My aim is to get the graininess gone and have a smooth glossy finish. That will take a lot of polishing and probably another coat of clear. I will wait a couple of more days before I start the polishing process. In the meantime, I will try to prime all the interior pieces and get them painted and then assemble the interior. I also need to decal the tires with firestone decals and a gold stripe. This is very painstaking work to get the gold stripe evenly all around the tire using a toothpick to nudge it into place and hope that the decals are not too old and brittle. A tiny drop of dish detergent in the decal water will help in making the stripe move easier into place. Then I can start thinking about final assembly.

Mark

[Anglia105E]

52 minutes ago, MarkJ said:

Thanks, David. The finish is now glossy but grainy at the same time especially on the hood. I will post a photo later showing this. My aim is to get the graininess gone and have a smooth glossy finish. That will take a lot of polishing and probably another coat of clear. I will wait a couple of more days before I start the polishing process. In the meantime, I will try to prime all the interior pieces and get them painted and then assemble the interior. I also need to decal the tires with firestone decals and a gold stripe. This is very painstaking work to get the gold stripe evenly all around the tire using a toothpick to nudge it into place and hope that the decals are not too old and brittle. A tiny drop of dish detergent in the decal water will help in making the stripe move easier into place. Then I can start thinking about final assembly.

Mark

I remember putting the gold stripes and gold lettering on the Firestone tyres for my build of the 1:12 scale Tamiya Lotus 49B, which was the 1968 Graham Hill car. This was done with the fine tip of a cocktail stick (toothpick) and gold paint if I remember correctly . . . Here are three photos of the Firestone's . . .

Good luck with those decals.

1:24 scale is way more difficult than 1:12 scale of course . . .

David

[MarkJ]

Great job on those stripes, David. So that's what a 1/12 scale model looks like. You did a great job on the whole model too. Below are the pictures I mentioned, glossy but grainy at the same time. I have my work cut out for me.

Mark

[Anglia105E]

I see what you are up against Mark, and that is something that would worry me . . . When you have the glossy clear finish, which is what you do want, but the grainy finish underneath is what you don't want, what on earth do you do to fix it ?

Somebody might suggest sanding it all down and starting again, but I could not face that option, and I would guess you don't wish to go down that route.

You did mention using fine grades of wet & dry paper . . . maybe that could work ?

David

[MarkJ]

12 hours ago, Anglia105E said:

I see what you are up against Mark, and that is something that would worry me . . . When you have the glossy clear finish, which is what you do want, but the grainy finish underneath is what you don't want, what on earth do you do to fix it ?

Somebody might suggest sanding it all down and starting again, but I could not face that option, and I would guess you don't wish to go down that route.

You did mention using fine grades of wet & dry paper . . . maybe that could work ?

David

David, yes it should work because I have had to do it before when I use to bristle brush everything. It would come out glossy but have brush strokes in it so I would clear it with a brush and use very fine grits of sanding pads from 3400 to 12000 to get it smooth and glossy but it was always a lot of work which I don't usually have with the air brush. As you will notice the gold is already glossy and smooth, so I won't have to sand or polish it. I didn't have to sand or polish the Monte Carlo I finished before I started on this build.

Mark

[MarkJ]

The tire decals were very old and very brittle. I pieced them together on the tires the best I could and will have to live with the results. I will try to fill in the gaps with a very sharp toothpick and gold paint. It is what it is. I'm not buying another set of tires hoping the decals enclosed will be any better.  Not worth the time and effort. I can never remember anyone posting a model with these tires with these decals on them. Now I know why.

[dwc43]

On 10/19/2025 at 7:44 AM, MarkJ said:

The tire decals were very old and very brittle. I pieced them together on the tires the best I could and will have to live with the results. I will try to fill in the gaps with a very sharp toothpick and gold paint. It is what it is. I'm not buying another set of tires hoping the decals enclosed will be any better.  Not worth the time and effort. I can never remember anyone posting a model with these tires with these decals on them. Now I know why.

Got an idea for ya. Don't fill them in. Sand the treads down to make it look like these tires have been used for practice or scuffs. Make it look like it's been around hte track a lap or two. 

[MarkJ]

6 hours ago, dwc43 said:

Got an idea for ya. Don't fill them in. Sand the treads down to make it look like these tires have been used for practice or scuffs. Make it look like it's been around hte track a lap or two. 

 

Thanks D.W. Sounds like a good idea but I'm never going to have any views of the build from below because there is no engine or anything else under the car except places to hold the tire assembly's and two exhaust pipes so the treads will stay perfect on this model.

[dwc43]

15 hours ago, MarkJ said:

 

Thanks D.W. Sounds like a good idea but I'm never going to have any views of the build from below because there is no engine or anything else under the car except places to hold the tire assembly's and two exhaust pipes so the treads will stay perfect on this model.

Understood. Still looks good though.

[MarkJ]

7 hours ago, dwc43 said:

Understood. Still looks good though.

Thanks, D.W. for stopping by and sharing your thoughts about the build. Appreciate it very much.

[Kevinjr26]

looking good mark! that blue is nice as well just a little info on the tamiya glue green top i had issues with it (working) until i used a bigger brush (definitely applies more glue) when applying and it works like a champ now. hope this helps you in the future.

[MarkJ]

20 hours ago, Kevinjr26 said:

looking good mark! that blue is nice as well just a little info on the tamiya glue green top i had issues with it (working) until i used a bigger brush (definitely applies more glue) when applying and it works like a champ now. hope this helps you in the future.

Thanks, Kevin for the advice. I will give a bigger brush a try and see if my results are better. 

[MarkJ]

Made places where the huge tires can be mounted to the build and have the correct stance. Trying to make the suspension like the real car would have taken so much time and effort it would not have been worth it. So, I just went for the easy route instead as the photos below will show. I will have no views of the bottom of the car when I post the final photos. They are not necessary. This is a pure shelfer and that's it.

[MarkJ]

Got the upper surfaces polished. Pretty happy with it. You can see the reflection of the desk lamp in the hood and the trunk. The gold is a hint better looking too and the decals should adhere better as well. I painted a bunch of black stuff with a spray can I found in the garage. I believe it got the job done. I still need to polish the sides of the model. I'm using polishing pads dry because they tend to come apart when you wet them. I start with 3200 grit and work my way up to 12000. 

[Rattlecan Dan]

Looking fine, as usual.

[MarkJ]

3 hours ago, Rattlecan Dan said:

Looking fine, as usual.

Thanks, Donato. Always appreciate you stopping by.