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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Robby Gordon's "THE WINSTON" 2002 CINGULAR "Reverse" Monte Carlo

Once more, 3 Amigos' resident artiste, Sam Lopez came through with some great graphics, and I fine-tuned 'em to fit the Profinish model, although I checked, and they will work on the regular Monte kit as well...

I used the ProFinish 2000 Jeff Gordon silver car for this one, since I think this body is more accurate than the glue kit body. I also reworked the nose to add the extra couple inches forward extension that NASCAR gave the Montes to try and "level the field". Again, I followed directions that had been given on Randy's NASCAR Modeling Forum, basically cutting the spoiler at each corner, then bending it forward, and using plastic and putty to fill and reshape it. I also cut off the rear spoiler, made a slot across the decklid, and installed a slightly larger rear spoiler using Plastruct sheet plastic. Trick here is to use the top of the cut-off kit spoiler as a template to get the shape right...

As well as the above body mods, I also tried a couple new things. First, some resin pieces I'd gotten from Bill Coulter, specifically designed to upgrade the ProFinish kits. Included were some very realistic rear springs, disks with calipers, and a front oil cooler. I used the springs and calipers, and was very happy with the result. I did not try the cooler, as I was unsure how to mount it. As I understand it, these parts will be made available either from Bill, or thru Modelhaus. (They might actually be available now, since I've had them a couple months...)

Here is a quote from Bill on these parts:
"The resin upgrade kit is designed specifically for the Skill Level 2 R-M kits. Examples include the Elliott Dodge, all the pre-dec kits and any of the ones described by some modelers as the "screw and glue" kits. I also made a set of three plugs for the screw holes in those kits. When I asked Don about making them in resin, his response was, "maybe we should offer to build it for them too!" " Thanks, Bill and Don, these are good parts.

I also added a couple twists of my own, seat and shoulder belts from masking tape, and replacing the kit molded-in-place driveshaft with one made from Plastruct tubing, with original kit universals cut off and glued in place. All these helped bring some added realism to the interior and underside. I also took about 1 - 1.5 millimeters off the body mounting posts to get the body to sit lower on the chassis.

The body was primed with PlastiKote white primer, then shot with a dayglo orange to match references. Roof was masked and painted black. Note - the outside of the roof rails must be black also.

The black for the side swoops are part of the decal sheet. All graphics except contingencies are on the sheet. Contingencies came from the kit decals.

Robby drove this scheme twice, at Lowes Motor Speedway in May, in the WINSTON and the Coca Cola Family 600. The car, s represented here, with white hood and quarterpanel graphics, ran in the WINSTON, He started the final segment in 2nd place, thanks to the fans' inevitable vote to reverse the field, but ended up in 7th, after Kurt Busch punted him into a spin, claiming afterwards that he did it 'cause he "needed a yellow" to rebunch the field... Guess that was kind of a reversal for Robby... The following week, Robby did double duty, takin' on the Indy 500, and then flying to Charlotte for the 600, in which he finished 16th.. THAT car had black graphics on the hood and quarterpanels... decals pending...

With its bright orange paint, this is certainly an eye-catching model. I can see how ol' Kurt might have picked this one out as his strategic pawn under the Lowes lights...