Petty '69 Talladega and '69 Torino

[Tony T]

Nice job on these, Scott. I've got plans to do the same builds, so your WIP will be helpful!

[Scottnkat]

Okay, both bodies have now had the BMF done to 'em! Yay! That part's over! I can honestly say that putting BMF on a car is not one of my favorite things to do. Well, here's a shot of the two cars - forgive the weird picture - it has some sorta weird "ghosting" thing going on:

I was also finishing up some work on the chassis for both and got ready to put in the exhaust pipes. I was expecting garbage from the AMT kit (and it pretty much was), but the Talladega kit surprised me - those exhaust pipes are only 2/3 pipes all the way down to the end - you then get just a round cap on the end. Well, that was not going to do. So I took the stock pipes and cut them just after they bend to head out. I then took some copper pipe and pushed that into the ends of the stock pipes. When it was all done, I painted it in Testor's Steel color. Here's how they looked while drying - note that you can still see that the part of the pipes really is only about 2/3 around:

When they were all dry, I was able to put them on. Boy! What a difference that makes! This is so much better than the stock pipes!

That's it for now - hopefully more tomorrow. Ciao

[roadhawg]

Pipes look great! I don't remember the Talladega having that much chrome around the windows, but maybe it's the picture like you said.

[Scottnkat]

yeah - it's the picture - it seems to have doubled all the silver in the picture and made a ghost image - look at the door handle or the rear window to see what I mean - it's not really that thick

[roadhawg]

Now here is something I could easily be wrong about, but I seem to remember those old Monroe racing shocks as being yellow.

[Scottnkat]

They may well have been. I couldn't find a picture of the underside from back then showing the shocks, so I just made a guess. I have no idea what shocks he used on these cars. I'm not going for 100% accuracy, but more of a decent representation - I realize going into any build that I will not hit 100% accuracy, so I just do what I feel. Please feel free to offer any further suggestions - I appreciate it. Thanks

[Scottnkat]

Well, I finally finished touching up everything on the chassis for both cars, so it was time to mount the bodies. Can I get a Woo hoo? He he he

Anyway, first up is the Torino. When I first set the body on, the front end sat up way too high. When I made the adjustment for where the wheels mount, I thought I had it right, but I ended up making the front end a tad too low. Well, this has been a learning experience for me, so I will just chalk this one up to a learning experience. Here's the Torino:

Then I started on the Talladega. I brought the back end down a touch so it wasn't quite so high. Overall, I think this one "sits" a little better since I made my adjustment. Here's the Talladega:

Finally, I wanted to show how that rear end cooler ended up working out for me. It took some working and a few shots, but I actually did get a decent picture of the part in the car. Remember this was not only my first time casting anything in resin, but this was also the first part that I actually made the master for. As a reminder, here's a shot of the actual rear end cooler I was trying to replicate, followed by a picture of the finished product in the car:

Well, I guess that's it for now.

[roadhawg]

I am very impressed with how you corrected the front end on the Talladega, you got it perfect. This make me want to get started on the one I've been putting off.

The Torino might look better if the rear was a tad lower, the Talladega looks great as is. And the chrome looks MUCH better in these pictures, lol!

[Scottnkat]

Thanks alot! I appreciate it. I'm glad these are finally getting to the end, but I have learned a bit about these kits. It's funny - this is only my second and third NASCAR model I've done (the Patty '64 Belvedere was the first). I have learned alot about these cars that I would not have known by doing these and getting so much input from everyone. Thanks alot.

[Bartster]

I couldn't say about NASCAR shocks, but I know Monroe street shocks were yellow, FWIW.

[Scottnkat]

Thanks for that, Bart - I couldn't tell what shocks he used that year - it could well have been Monroe, but I didn't know. Next time I will pay more attention to that.

As I was putting the grills and bumpers on, I noticed that the grill for the Talladega was inset much like the Torino's grill. Here's a picture of what I mean:

Well, the whole purpose of the Talladega's nose job was to make it more aerodynamic and flush. Having an inset grill just won't do. I had to get that grill more flush with the rest of the front of the car. So I cut a few strips of sheet styrene and used that as a shim to move the grill up. It's much better now and just about even:

Unfortunately, while I was doing this, I failed to notice a drop of glue that had fallen. When I turned the car upside down to work on it, the roof ended up right smack dab in the middle of the glue. When I pulled it up, it brought some of the glue with it and left some of the paint on the table I ended up sanding it down to make the top smooth again and I'll work on getting the top repainted. Here's the terrible blemish:

These cars will have hood pins on them, and not the molded on hood pins that came on the cars - nope!! As you can see, I've been working on making them with sequins, needles, and wire. For how I do the working hood pins, please refer to my previous build of the '64 Petty Belvedere - I'm not going to go into it here.

[Scottnkat]

Well, I repainted the roof of the Talladega. Of course, this is going to put off finishing this up as I want to allow time for the enamel to dry and gas out. He he - you can see the hunk of skin covering the distributor - yep, I painted it to match the distributor cap and wires. Note: I still need to add the piece that fits over the radiator up to the front end. Here's the fixed roof:

The Torino is almost done. I am building a NASCAR-style air cleaner for it (see the back rear quarter panel for a view of it), then it is on to decals. The hood pins are in and done. Also note the straps across the back window - yep, I didn't forget those. If I were to re-do this kit later, I think I would make a template of the rear glass and cut it to shape so it can fit within the frame instead of below it.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Scottnkat

[Tony T]

Good work, Scott! These are great!!

[Bartster]

It's now impossible to consider Petty a traitor for his 1969 "defection". Scott, these are awesome racecars!

[Scottnkat]

Thanks for the comments, guys - I'll be decalling the Torino pretty quickly here and I'll post pics of the progress. I have the original decals that came with the Talladega and a set of aftermarket decals. The one set is old and yucky, but we're going to do our best with 'em. You'll all see how it's going.

[Scottnkat]

I did get the decals on half of the Torino - I realize that the sponsor decals on the front are not correct for any race. Consider this just an interpretation of what it could have been like and not an exact representation. I hate doing something 100% accurate because no matter how hard you try, there is always something that was missed, done wrong, or completely forgotten. This should be fun and not stress-inducing.

[Jim0205]

Looks good, nice interpretation and execution

[Hiusken33]

I did get the decals on half of the Torino - I realize that the sponsor decals on the front are not correct for any race. Consider this just an interpretation of what it could have been like and not an exact representation. I hate doing something 100% accurate because no matter how hard you try, there is always something that was missed, done wrong, or completely forgotten. This should be fun and not stress-inducing.

sweet Build man

[Scottnkat]

If you wanted to know how the Talladega is coming along - I haven't forgotten about it. We've got the decals done on the back of the car - just need from the doors forward. See for yourself: