gami8630 Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Following my previous post about Dale Earnhardt's Wrangler Jeans colored Chevrolet Monte Carlo Aero Coupe, I've now built the Wrangler Jeans colored Ford Thunderbird he drove during the 1982 season. The base kit is Revell-Monogram's Thunderbird Legends Combo, and the decals are Power Slide's #208 “1982-84 #15 WRANGLER FORD THUNDERBIRD”. For this build, I assembled the kit almost entirely as-is, with the exception of the additional modifications and changes listed below. ●Body Filled door panel seam lines with putty; enlarged left headlamp cover air inlet and added etched mesh; added vent hose outlet pipe to left rear body panel; added trunk lid seam line; installed homemade rear spoiler made from plastic sheet and embedded 3D-printed rivets; relocated and enlarged fuel filler port; added etched mesh to radiator grille ●Chassis Added safety pads and headrests to the roll cage ●Engine & Drivetrain Added spark plug wires, fuel lines, oil filter, and oil lines ●Suspension & Wheels Added 3D-printed 5-spoke wheels, disc brakes, and air valves ●Cockpit Modified the shape of the kit's window net after detaching it The body was sprayed with Tamiya Super Surfacer (Gray) and Fine Surfacer (White), followed by TS-16 Yellow and TS-93 Pure Blue. After an overcoat with TS-13 Clear, decals were applied. Once the decals were fully dry, another overcoat of TS-13 Clear was applied, then finished by polishing with compound. While the above additions and modifications do not faithfully reproduce the actual car Dale Earnhardt drove, like the previous Aero Coupe, I felt it captured the essence of a NASCAR race car from that era reasonably well. Therefore, I have completed its construction. 7
gami8630 Posted October 29 Author Posted October 29 Everyone, thank you so much for always checking out the kits I build!
bogger44 Posted November 3 Posted November 3 Very well done, all your mods and additions really bring it to life.
Volzfan59 Posted November 3 Posted November 3 @gami8630, Your Earnhardt, Sr Thunderbird replica looks great! Everything about it screams 80’s NASCAR. What did you use for roll bar padding, heat shrink tubing?
gami8630 Posted November 3 Author Posted November 3 12 hours ago, bogger44 said: Very well done, all your mods and additions really bring it to life. Thank you for your reply. It's not such a detailed modification or alteration, but I'm glad to hear you feel that way.
gami8630 Posted November 3 Author Posted November 3 10 hours ago, Volzfan59 said: @gami8630, Your Earnhardt, Sr Thunderbird replica looks great! Everything about it screams 80’s NASCAR. What did you use for roll bar padding, heat shrink tubing? Thank you for your reply. For the roll cage pads, I'm using heat-shrink tubing with a diameter of 1.5mm. I'm thinking of trying a slightly thicker material, such as urethane tubing or silicone tubing with an inner diameter of around 2mm. 1
Classic Plastic 56 Posted November 7 Posted November 7 Yoshimi-Fantastic paint and detail bumper to bumper! I love NASCAR and love Dale Earnhardt (Iconic). Thank You for a great build!
gami8630 Posted November 9 Author Posted November 9 On 11/8/2025 at 8:35 AM, Classic Plastic 56 said: Yoshimi-Fantastic paint and detail bumper to bumper! I love NASCAR and love Dale Earnhardt (Iconic). Thank You for a great build! Thank you for your kind words. It's very encouraging!
gami8630 Posted Thursday at 05:14 AM Author Posted Thursday at 05:14 AM On 11/10/2025 at 12:56 PM, Ben269 said: Nice job, this turned out really good. On 11/11/2025 at 3:02 PM, pulln4dejr said: Outstanding Thanks for yours reply!
Ben269 Posted Friday at 03:05 AM Posted Friday at 03:05 AM I like the details you added, with the wheels and the brakes, where did you get those brakes?
gami8630 Posted Friday at 05:27 AM Author Posted Friday at 05:27 AM 2 hours ago, Ben269 said: I like the details you added, with the wheels and the brakes, where did you get those brakes? The wheels, disc brakes, air valves, and rivets are products from a Polish 3D printing parts manufacturer, purchased from this company's website. They are reasonably priced considering their high quality. https://scomodels.com/
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