How do they do it

[Narampa]

Anybody have a picture of the body being lowered onto a NASCAR? Need this for a Diorama. Also any pictures of the inside of Nascar garages would be appreciated.

[knarf]

i'm fairly certain the bodies are built onto the chassis rather than seperately and lowered on. as for the inside of garages, make it look high dollar and meticulously clean.

[slusher]

I believe their spot welded on like real car quarter panels and such..

[VW93]

I have a friend that is a fabricator. Next time I see him I'll ask him how it is done and in what order.

Also, what era diorama are you doing? Current Cup cars use quite a bit of carbon fiber panels where in the past they would use a factory roof, trunk lid and hood skins. The doors, quarters and fenders would all be formed by hand using an English wheel and other metal shaping tools.

Edited November 20, 2014 by VW93

[kalbert]

Believe it or not, Days of Thunder has a pretty good car building scene. Obviously it doesn't happen in a barn like that anymore but shots of the car are pretty close to how its done.

[bobthehobbyguy]

For all of the current cars I've seen the body added to the chassis in segments. Will be curiuos to see your diorama.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Try a Google image search: "Nascar shop". Bodies are built up one piece at a time, on a chassis plate, using jigs and templates.

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Car being built up on a chassis plate...

A body template...

Template being used in a fabrication bay...

Edited November 21, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

[10thumbs]

I'd like to see firsthand the work those guys do. Probably none better.

Michael

[Ace-Garageguy]

I'd like to see firsthand the work those guys do. Probably none better.

Yeah, the teams have the money to hire the talent that can do the work right.

[Narampa]

I have a friend that is a fabricator. Next time I see him I'll ask him how it is done and in what order.

Also, what era diorama are you doing? Current Cup cars use quite a bit of carbon fiber panels where in the past they would use a factory roof, trunk lid and hood skins. The doors, quarters and fenders would all be formed by hand using an English wheel and other metal shaping tools.

It would be around the Dale Ernhart era.

[Narampa]

Thanks for the replies I will be doing as a lot of you have suggested. This is going to take some time just to figure out what am going to do to make it realistic. And yes it must be spotless which makes it extra hard not to look toy like. I never thought of Nascar shop for a search but will get right on it. Thanks!

[horsepower]

I'm not sure how much it would help you, but one of the first fabricated bodies of that era was done by Tom Hubert from Cottonwood, California. It was the Bahari Racing,# 30 Country Time Lemonade car that premiered in Daytona.

Tommy is now a fabricator, and pit wall tire catcher for the Rick Hendrick Racing teams, you could possibly get an email,or snail mail to him care of Hendrick Motorsports, and he would probably tell you anything that he could that might help you. I've known Tom since before he won his first drivers championship at Shasta Speedway,in Anderson, California in the bomber division at seventeen years of age, he went on to a couple of late model championship runs, and gained the reputation as a road race specialist partly because of his background in shifter carts. He won one televised Northwest Tour race at Portland, Oregon's road race track in a last lap run from tenth place to the win on a white flag restart, before the green, white, checkered rule. And qualified several times for other teams and drivers at the road course in Sonoma, he also ran part of a season in the trucks before the ride went to a driver with sponsorship money.

Tell him you were referred by Del Streetman, Pat Norris's buddy. Good luck

Edited November 24, 2014 by horsepower

[VW93]

Lawrence, I spoke with my friend yesterday and can give you this info so far.

If you are doing a Lumina or older Monte Carlo they used the following factory pieces; roof, trunk lid and hood.

The "skinning" process would start with the roof, tops of rear quarters and trunk lid. Next would be the placement of the cowl and hood.

The rest of the body would then be hand formed usually starting from the tops of the quarters and front fenders working down and to the bottom of the car. The rear quarters and front fenders would take multiple pieces to be hand formed to get the desired contours.

I believe he said the doors were one of the last pieces to be final fitted. I'll have to ask him to clarify a few things.

With some careful cutting you could probably duplicate a body being skinned in any stage of the process.

Are you doing this with 1/24 Monogram or 1/25 AMT kits?