Click here for catalog!

NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Kasey Kahne's 2004 MOUNTAIN DEW Intrepid

It has become a tradition for the 9 and 19 to run a Mountain Dew scheme each year. This is the car Kasey drove in 2004 in the June Michigan race, the DHL 400. Brandon sent me these graphics back in the summer, and I was thrilled - and decided that I needed to do this one for myself! (The deal between Brandon and I is: he designs the decals, sends the files to me, I do a quick cut-and-paste, and if all looks good, I am supposed to send him a set of decals so he can do the first build, and send me pics for the website/catalog. But, as soon as I saw these, I knew I had to build it. What you see here is the result. I also had concerns over ensuring that the big "swoops" would work, so that was further incentive!). Sure enough, it took about 12 tries over several weeks to get the nose/hood swoop "tweaked" so that it looked like the 1:1 car. During that time, I consulted with Jose Gonzalez, the Brooklyn NASCAR building wizard, and "guru of all things 9". He pointed out a couple of other minor discrepancies that were corrected to make it as accurate as we could.

The graphics were designed to fit the 2004 vintage Intrepid from Revell. Everything needed for the car is on the sheet, except the grilles, which came from the donor kit (Sterling's 04 COORSmobile) Prep and painting was very simple - once I'd figured out how to duplicate the yellow/green colour...entire car is painted yellow/green,except the cowl and rear spoiler which are black, everything else is decals. After a light scuff-sand of the unpainted body, I laid down a couple medium coats of PlastiKote white primer (aerosol warmed in hot tap water for a smoother spray), then wetsanded it with 1500-grit until it was smooth. I mixed the yellow green by spraying commercial fluorescent yellow from an aerosol can into a bottle, then hitting it with a fluorescent green until the shade "looked right" - more on that later...I then laid down several coats of this concoction - and it was - the two fluorescents didn't much like each other and a gel would start to form after 5 minutes, that meant I was constantly stopping to add thinner after each coat thru the airbrush. There is apparently a better way. According to Jose, the actual paint is a lime-green pearl that is available from one of the specialty hobby paint makers (Black Gold? Jose wasn't sure) which would also explain the odd colours seen in various shots at different angles. But I'll live with what I got...

Once the yellow was applied so that the colour was consistent across the body, I left it a few days, than applied several coats of TAMIYA TS13 clear, starting with some light dustcoats, to smooth out the rough surface I'd gotten with my "concoction". Then I masked and sprayed the cowl and rear spoiler black, praying that nothing would peel during demasking... nothing did...

Decal application was fairly easy.. I started with the sideswoops, being sure to get them aligned as per references, then the front airdam decal (I suppose this could have been masked and painted black as well, in hindsight...). Next came the "spears" that run forward from the B-pillar, and rearward from the C-pillar. The roof swoops and decklid swoops were next, and were done togehter, to align them as if they "flowed" through the rear window opening in a nice curve. Last but not least was that great big nose/hood swoop. which actually went on much easier than I'd expected. I

I let it dry a couple days, than applied a couple light coats of TS13 to protect them while the rest of the graphics - numbers, sponsors, contingencies, etc,. were being applied. They went on without a hitch.