Restored an old Nascar Monte Carlo Kit

[Toast]

While cleaning my Mom's house for Christmas last fall my brother and I stumbled upon a box of a bunch of our old model kits. I was surprised how well a few of them held up over the years. Most of them just ended up finally making it into the garbage but I had a little sentimental attachment to a few of them.

This one in particular. I remember sitting at the dining room table with my dad and brother while we built it. It was pretty much our dad building it and my brother and I just telling him what decals to put on it. It finally slowed down a bit at work so I decided to see if it was going to be worth trying to give it a fresh new look.

From what I researched online I believe it is an old Ertl kit. None of the parts are labeled with any manufacturer so I'm just guessing from what I've been able to find. I remember that it came with multiple front clips to replicate the different cars GM was running.

This is how she looked when we found her.

Pretty minimal cockpit, but that will make any improvements that much more noticeable. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wink.png

At some point in it's life we got a hold of a paint marker, and with hands steadied by gallons of Mt. Dew, we attempted to add some detail to the undercarriage.

After some careful prying everything came apart. I only broke one small piece of the roll cage, and I ended up having to cut the windshield apart to get it out. The front clip didn't come off very smooth but I've added the material I lost to one side and sanded the other side side smooth. Looks like new!

Cleaned the decals off. All of them lifted easily except for the driver's name for some reason.

Here's the fixed front clip.

With the front clip glued back in place, body sanded down, ready for her first coat of primer. You can see how warped to roof is from all the glue used to hold the windshield in.

This is where the fun started. These guide pins are molded right under each of the front hood pins causing the hood pins to sit in a sink hole.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/btoast/Monte%20Carlo%20Model/Monte-08.jpg

Edited May 23, 2013 by Toast

[Toast]

I ran a file across the hood and you can see it only filed down about half the hood pin.

The rear hood pins were solid so I decided to try and reproduce a few to replace the ones on the front. I used BMF to make a nice tight mold of the pins and covered it with JB Weld to keep the shape.

Then I mixed up some Milliput and pressed it into the mold. After it set I popped it out and carefully sanded it down to the right thickness. These little things are scary to work with, I almost lost my first two while sanding them. I wasn't sure if the Milliput would be too brittle when it was sanded that thin but so far it's worked perfect.

Here's the first two glued to the hood.

[roush16]

Looking good already. I like the molding idea. Keep pics coming.

[dwc43]

That's an interesting way to mold those. I'll have to try that some time.

[Boreham]

excellent resto project...Love the local hood pin Molds..

[hOLMS]

Great looking work so far...love these resoration builds. Thanks for sharing, look fwd to more.

[Toast]

Thanks for the comments.

Finished the hood pins tonight. The last one I applied turned slightly before the CA glue locked it down. Oh well, I'm really happy with the way they turned out.

Shot one last coat of primer to check the low spots and body lines are blended smooth.

Now I have to start getting color on her. I'm going to stick with the red and white paint scheme but I will be putting my Dad's company's logo on it and that is white so the car will be mostly red before the graphics are applied.

till next time.

[Tony T]

Great resto so far!

[Toast]

Hit it with some white a while ago and let that set before masking and shooting the red.

I'm printing my own decals. I figured to get a nice black edge without having to cut out the decal so precisely, I taped off the white areas and will just print the black outline on clear decal film.

Starting to look like she'll make a convincing race car.

I've made some good progress on the chassis as well, I'll get some pics up of that too soon.

[W-409]

This one looks like a great project! I like the job, you have done with it, especially those hood and trunk pins are looking really great, I like the way you made them. This Monte Carlo body is one of the best looking NASCARS of that era. Looking really good, paintjob is nice and just can't wait to see the finished product. I think, that I must get back building my Jeff Gordon Monte Carlo, finally. Keep up the good work!

[Tony T]

Nice save...looks like it is coming along nicely!

[Toast]

Thanks for the compliments, this is turning out to be a pretty fun build.

My first time using Bare Metal Foil. Cool stuff. I'm going to give the grille and ducts a black wash to bring out some detail.

Hey, the hood pins are covered with BMF again!

Mixed a couple sets of old Cup car decals from my stash, pretty good fit.

Printed my decals. I'm thinking I'll have to double up the #13 decals as it looks like the ink goes on in thin streaks since it can't wick into the decal film like it does on paper. The detail in the graphics is pretty good though.

[Toast]

The black outline on clear decal film worked great. You can see the streaks in the ink in this picture.

I printed out extras though and an application of a second decal gives it a nice solid black. You can see how much better the #1 looks than the #3.

Time to dig through the decal bin and find some secondary sponsers.

[dwc43]

Lookin good.

[Old Coyote]

Great start ....... looking really good

[Toast]

Wow! I hit the interior tub with clear and the red really popped! It's much brighter and deeper than even the cap which I went by when I picked it out.

Here's the dash and gauges so far. going to keep this pretty simple. I'll paint the needles and the gauge panel screws but nothing more.

The interior tub and seat so far.

I was trying to add some roll bar padding with wire insulation. this stuff looked a little big but the roll cage sits right up against the interior tub so I think I'll just paint the padding on so everything will fit back into place.

[Toast]

The interior is pretty much finished. I shortened some leftover pedals from a monogram stock car and that's a steering wheel glued to a piece of sprue.

For the roll bar padding I taped off the bars and hit it with a light coat of rocker panel coating from an automotive store. Just enough to give it some texture.

After that set I covered it with black and then gave it a nice clear flat coat to even everything out.

Looks pretty good in there!

She's coming together quick now!

[mr moto]

That's looking terrific! It's amazing what can be done with a really simple kit and then it ends up looking fabulous on a display shelf. Keep up the excellent work!

[Rdkingjay]

Very impressive work Ryan. I love resto's and prefer them to new kits. Your ingenuity with mold making for the hood pins and rocker panel guard for roll bar padding is terrific. Looking forward to the finished product.

[Gary66]

Nice work.

[nybuilder]

Sorry for the noob question but what is BMF?

[Nick Notarangelo]

bare metal foil = BMF

dont worry we have a few noobs every so often

nice work to a crappy kit

[nybuilder]

Thanks for the info.

[Toast]

Finally wrapping this one up!

Painted the chassi. I used Testors Window Tint spray to do a quick discoloration of the exhaust system.

The cockpit is mounted to the chassis.

I've been trying off and on to do the lettering on the back of the car. I shopped around and picked up so many dry transfer letter sheets but couldn't find ones I liked or that were close enough to the artwork I drew up for the car. I ended up getting a set of decals printed by Bedlam Creations. The decals were high quality and went on without a fuss. I would definately recommend them for anyone needing custom decals.

Just waiting for the clear on the body to gas out a couple days and the two big pieces will be going together!

[Lunajammer]

What a cool project. Glad you brought this back.