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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Terry Labonte's 2001 ROADRUNNER Monte Carlo!!

Sam Lopez came up with these great graphics, along with those for three other TOONS-related schemes, that had not already been done as decals. These are all well underway on my workbench!

Everything you see on this model, except the fender contingency decals, are on the 3 Amigos sheet we have put together. Contingencies came from the SLIXX 2002/2001/2000 individual sheets. (For once, I actually took the time to lay them out exactly as in reference shots - that's how excited I was about these graphics!)

The starting model for this project, and the other three in the series, was the REVELL ProFinish Monte Carlo kit, which, as I have indicated before, is far more accurate bodywise than the regular kit. This model is built box-stock, no changes were made to the body or chassis, except the addition of seatbelts.

The main challenge in building this model, and the others in the series, is the fogging in of the background colour on the lower half of the body. The body was first sanded with 600-grit paper, to remove as much of the tampo-printed original graphics as possible, then washed thoroughly with warm water and dishwashing detergent, and scrubbed carefully with a stiff toothbrush. This is to remove as much of the mold-release agent from the body as possible, to prevent fish-eyeing in the primer coat. The body was primed with PlastiKote grey sandable primer, from the heated (hot tap water) rattlecan. First coat was applied very light, so it would not be fluid enough to form fish-eyes in any spots I missed cleaning. After a couple more medium coats, I let it dry overnight, then wetsanded to remove any trace of raised edges of original graphics, then primed it again. This left me with a nice smooth primer finish, that was lightly wetsanded with 1500-grit paper.

After careful review of the references, I chose a rich blue pearl colour, Chrysler's Code B35 Electric Blue, from the paint rack at Canadian Tire (CTC 47-8345-2 for us Northerners...). As per usual practice, it was warmed in tap water, and applied over the entire body in medium coats.

Now came the exciting bit, applying the fogged-in areas. This was done thru my airbrush, first using a basic white touchup lacquer sprayed into a bottle from an aerosol can, with an extra 50% of lacquer thinner added. I took my time, working slowly around the body, using very fine atomizing, to allow maximum control of the fogged areas. Once I had the white done, I applied a custom light sand colour over it, that I mixed using the remaining white in the bottle, by adding black, red and yellow to it (other touchup colours, just sprayed into the bottle) until it looked right vs reference shots. I then repeated the spray process used with the white, and had the background nearly where I wanted it. But somehow, it didn't look quite as "alive" as the actual 1:1 pictures, but the next phase, which was just luck, fixed that.

I noticed that in spite of my care, there were a few specks of white overspray on the blue just above the fogged area, and that I had actually fogged it higher than I should have. To remedy this, I sprayed some of the electric blue into a bottle, added 50% lacquer solvent, and carefully covered the overspray, then started to fog the blue over the white/sand-coloured area to lower the fogged break.

WOW! As soon as the blue was fogged over the white, the area came alive as in the pictures! The white showthough added the visual appeal I hadn't gotten in just applying the white fogging. It is likely that this more closely duplicates how the actual car was sprayed. So, the trick is to capture the fogged white area in a sandwich of the main colour. This learning is being applied to the other three cars.

Once all the paintwork was done, I applied a couple coats of TAMIYA TS13 clearcoat,to give a nice, smooth suface for the decals. Decals are simple to apply, I made sure to trim close to the graphics, to minimize carrier film on the model. First step was to apply the backgrounds around the base of the body. Once these had dried in place, the rest of the graphics were applied. After the body had had a couple days to dry completely, I applied some LIGHT coats of TAMIYA TS13 clear (heated in tap water), and after two or three coats, lightly wetsanded the clear to knock down the edges of the graphics. One more medium coat of clear, some polishing out with Turtle Wax, and it was done. I had a great new, if somewhat whimsical, addition to the shelf. It's models like these that make you realize what a great hobby this NASCAR modelling is. Oh, sure, the primary purpose is to sell more diecast, but what a hoot to build and show, and you hardly see anything like them in any other part of the model-building hobby!

In the race itself, Terry started in 26th place, and finished in 38th, after losing his exhaust system and backing hard into the Turn 1 wall on Lap 255. Hmm.... how Wiley Coyote-like... musta bought the headers from ACME...

The Four LOONY TUNES from 3 Amigos!

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