Lindberg's Petty Plymouth

[Scottnkat]

While I am working on a couple of Plymouth Prowlers (and as that build is subject to Damien's schedule), I have also decided to start on the Lindberg 1964 Belvedere of Richard Petty's. Here's the body and the rollcage with paint:

The color of the body is closer to what the actual paint color looks like - for whatever reason, the rollcage came out looking darker than it really is. Yes, I have a crappy camera.

I also started working on the front end, which included cleaning up the K-member - here's before and after shots - you can see the solid stock piece on the bottom and the cleaned up piece on top:

This build will be mostly a box-stock build. I do have some reference pics, but any other comments are appreciated.

[Mr. Moparman]

Keep it up!!!

[Scottnkat]

It's been a bit slow with the build lately - rain is not conductive to a nice paint job - go figure!!

[Scottnkat]

I have an update on the Petty car. Some of you may know this, but others may not. While Richard's cars are mostly painted in Petty blue, not all the parts are done in Petty blue. For instance, the engines, suspension, and the fuel tank cover are done in Industrial blue, which is a darker blue. Here's a shot of the frame showing the two different colors:

Forgive the blurriness - my camera is cheap and sometimes just doesn't quite like to take clear pics for whatever reason.

Here's an overall shot of the chassis so far:

[fastram]

Nice work so far! Keep up the good work.

[Scottnkat]

I have a couple of updates on the Belvedere. First, I wanted to point out that while many people do this car with Petty blue wheels, or with the darker Industrial blue, when Richard ran the car at Daytona (and other races that year), the wheels were painted silver. Hence:

I had to go back and repaint the radiator. I had originally painted it all black because I honestly thought that was what the color was. However, I found this picture of Lee Petty working on the '64 and realized that the radiator is actually silver-ish in color:

As such, I had to repaint the radiator like so:

That's about it for now.

[Scottnkat]

Okay, it seems I was a bit off on the silver color of the radiator. From what I have been able to find out, it was actually aluminum. Not much progress made today - just started doing some of the Bare Metal Foil on the body. I'll try to have another update tomorrow or the next day.

[Scottnkat]

Oh, wow - those pics are a great help!!! Thanks alot, man!!

[Scottnkat]

Well, I have a small update. Here is a pic of the seatbelts that came with the kit.

While I am sure they will fit on the seat, you can see just how thick these things are. That's like a scale inch-thick seatbelt! Well, I decided that I should do better. I got some black ribbon, but it was too wide. So, I took my trusty scissors to it:

I was going to simply glue the ribbon to the existing buckles, but then I remembered some old PE seatbelts in my old parts box. I pulled those out and made these instead:

[Scottnkat]

Finally, tonight's last posted update: The valve covers. This is what the stock Lindberg valve covers look like:

While chrome with the three breathers would be more correct for Lee's car, this is not what we just found out to be the case for Richard's car. These need to be black and there is only one high-rise breather. So I cut off them, did a bit of sanding, glued the larger ones back on, and here's how they look:

Next up - remove the rest of the chrome then paint them black as they should be.

Dang, I need a new camera for these smaller pics - I tell ya!!

Edited January 6, 2012 by Scottnkat

[Bartster]

Great attention to detail on my favorite racecar! Makes me wanna build one. I'll be eagerly watching. Very nice work.

[Scottnkat]

I've been doing more painting - we're starting to get an assortment of useable parts now - pretty soon, we can start on some more construction - woo hoo!!!

PS - notice the newly painted black valve covers - yep, they are just about done

[Scottnkat]

HA HA HA HA HA!!!! You got an out loud laugh not only from me, but from Kathi as well!! Yes, we are grateful for that - thanks for the smile!!!!!!!

[Scottnkat]

Well, I found something that I hate about this Lindberg kit now - just look at this thing they call a carburetor!!

That's not a carburetor! That's a sad piece of plastic. Unfortunately, I don't have a large spare parts bin, so I have to make due with what I have. Lucky for me, this sucker is gonna be under the air cleaner and invisible to all!

I did make some progress today. Here is the (almost) completed engine sitting in the frame now.

I am not very good at wiring up an engine (this is my 2nd time trying it), but I did at least find out the firing order and I believe I got it right. I realize that the fan is not exactly how it would have looked, but this is one of those "personal touches" I mentioned earlier. Behind the radiator, it will be practically invisible anyway, but I know it's there. Ah, my first hemi build...

Edited January 8, 2012 by Scottnkat

[Scottnkat]

Oh, one last thing - I had to re-paint the body again after I decided to drill some small holes here and there... Why would I do that, you ask? Ah, you can guess or you can wait for the surprise. He he he

[440 Dakota]

looking good Scott

[Bartster]

I'm guessing body panel fasteners

[Scottnkat]

Here's a pic of the finished chassis. One thing about this to note - it has disc brakes on this car. If I remember correctly, disc brakes weren't used in NASCAR until later - cars of this era had drum brakes still. I could be wrong, but I think that's right.

I also completed the interior. The kit came with decals for the gauges, so I didn't have to worry about that. The dash insert was chrome, but on the car it would have been steel instead. I removed the chrome and just painted this in silver - the brush marks kinda add a texture to the "steel" dash insert. The floorboard/back deck area was warped (which I didn't notice until I decided to glue it all together). It was rubber-banded all through the night, so it was good and straight this morning.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Scottnkat

[Scottnkat]

Remember when I mentioned that I had drilled small holes in the body and had to re-paint? Well, here's a close up shot of those holes:

Yep, we are going to try doing functioning hood pins. Here are the "tools" I will be using to do this:

My wife provided the silver thread and the needles, and she picked up these sequins at Wal-Mart for $0.97. Now, you may be thinking the same thing I did when she handed me sequins - namely, "hey, jerkwad, sequins have those funny facets on the sides - they won't look right". Well, my wife has a plan to use the larger diameter sequins so we can cut the facets off and make nice round FLAT pieces. I don't know about everyone, but I am sure many of us are like my family - one income, lots of kids, so little to no extra funds to buy PE sets and stuff, so we have to make due with what we have. If this works, then this will be something that (hopefully) alot of people can do for cheap.

[Scottnkat]

I'm guessing body panel fasteners

Heck of a good guess there and I suppose in a way that would be correct (depending on how loosely we want to interpret it, eh?) I hadn't even thought of those - well, maybe for a future build - you have a good idea there, man!

[Scottnkat]

Okay - here's how we are using the sequins... ready?

First, you need a hole punch that's 1/8 inch.

My wife has one for her crafting stuff, but it shouldn't be too hard to find one. Why 1/8 inch you ask? Well, 1/8 inch works out to a three inch round disk at 1/24 scale, so this will be about perfect. Once you have your hole punch, pick out a sequin that has at least 1/8 inch flat area.

Then you simply center the sequin on the hole punch and punch that sucker!

This is just about a perfect size for the scuff plates on the hood pins - sorry it's not centered - I just placed in on there to show it in place

The hard part about it is getting the sequin perfectly centered. When Kathi did it, she got one or two bad ones for each good one she did, so it will take some time - good thing sequins are so cheap! The nice thing about this is that you can use all the colored sequins to make these as well in different colors - while it may not be correct for a period piece, it would look great on a new tuner-type car. Check out the blue one we did just because... :cool:

Edited January 9, 2012 by Scottnkat

[Scottnkat]

I've got the engine compartment done. It's currently got tape holding it all in place while the glue sets up. Here's a couple of pics:

[roadhawg]

I am not very good at wiring up an engine (this is my 2nd time trying it), but I did at least find out the firing order and I believe I got it right.....

You are better than you give yourself credit for.....you got the "droop" of the wires correct. Looks great! One of my pet-peeves are those plug wires that defy gravity, lol.

And you are correct about the brakes....this car would have drums. Disc brakes didn't show up until the 70's....72 or 73? I think the Penske Matador was the first.

[Scottnkat]

thanks, roadhawg - I appreciate it.

[Scottnkat]

Okay - final update on the Belvedere for tonight - the scuff plates for the hood pins are on the hood and trunk now:

Also, the rolling chassis is done and (minor victory when it happens) all four wheels are flat on the ground! Woo hoo!!

Kinda reminds me of a dirt track racer from Hell as it is... he he he