NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR
Usually, there are a lot of quite spiff paint jobs at this event, as it gets high publicity, bein' right in NASCAR's backyard and all... Dupont is no exception, and for the second year, used the race to publicize their ChromAlusion@ brand of special effects pigments. This year it was "Steel Blue Prizm" and SUPERMAN gracin' the Monte's sheetmetal. This was a neat followup to last year's "FirePrizm" celebrating NASCAR's 50th Anniversary. (Not sure what the Superman motif was celebratin'... likely a nice hunk o' cash from the studio...)
JG did pretty good in the race, leadin' a bunch, and goin' into the final ten-lap segment in front. Problem was, he'd only took two tires in the break, others, including team mate Terry Labonte, took four. Gordon did well to bring the SUPERMAN Machine home in third, behind winner Labonte and second-place Stewart. At least he didn't run out of gas....
The third multinational effort with Sam Lopez and Alex Kung was the creation of decals for the car Jeff Gordon ran in this race. Once again, Sam sent a file of gorgeous graphics in the latter part of the summer. I fiddled with them to get them sized to the Monte body, then forwarded the file to Alex. A couple weeks later, I had two lovely sets of SUPERMAN decals!
While all this was goin' down, I had procured a few grams of "STEEL BLUE PRIZM", and painted up three bodies - one for each of "The Three Amigos" - myself, Alex and Sam. (Wonder if the Federales opened the box I shipped Sam's Monte to him in? "?Que?")
It should be noted, as you look at the shots, that I have not yet figured out how to position my lighting to show the whole body in the "Superman Blue" shade, but you can see hints of it on some areas of the body...
I began the process of applying the decals provided by Alex. The fit was perfect, and things progressed nicely. The decals were Superthin, and I had to work carefully to avoid tearing, or folding, them. But they worked very well. One of the advantages of the thinness of the decals was that I was able to double up the roof numbers and side decals and the Superman logo on the hood.
The ALPS printing process, as I noted in the GOODWRENCH write-up, makes it difficult to lay down a heavy enough coat of white as an undercoat to hide the dark background, be it black, or ChromAlusion@... There was bleedthrough (showthrough) that made the images dull-looking. A second decal on top of the first cured this problem. To finish off the car, I used SLIXX contingency decals, and extra decal bits from the Monogram Terry Labonte kit, and from sets of SLIXX 1998 ChromAlusion@ and 1997 ChromaPremiere@ decals.
I found the Dupont oval, and "Automotive Finishes" script Sam had incorporated into the side decals too dull, so I overlaid them with the offerings from the SLIXX sheets. As well, rear panel, and C-pillar decals were scrounged from these decals. Once I had the decals installed to my satisfaction, I had the decision to make as to how, or if, I should apply a clearcoat.
One of the challenges Alex has had is finding a proper clear that would protect the decals without damaging them. As with the GOODWRENCH hood, he had settled on an airbrushed coat of Future brand floorwax. I had successfully coated the GOODWRENCH hood decal with TAMIYA TS-13 clear, and was gonna do likewise with this model. My main concern was the SLIXX decals can be troublesome to clear, without blistering, and I did not want to be faced with havin' to redo this puppy if I botched it..... gettin' new decals from Mr Kung, more paint from Mr Dupont....
So I decided to go the Future route on the whole car, applying it thru my airbrush. Had a couple scary moments as it did not wet out well over the ChromAlusion@ basecoat, and was real peely, although it looked GREAT over Alex's decals! I let it dry a couple days, then was able to lightly scuff-sand the Future clear, then apply a second coat. After about three coats, I had a smooth surface.
I let that cure about three days, then, using good old Turtle brand car wax, was able to polish the whole body up to a very satisfying gloss.
The rest of the build was typical: add the Earnhardt bar; make up proper exhaust dumps; wire and plumb the engine; detail the interior, and there I was - another unique model, thanks to the international conspiracy of "The Three Amigos".
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