NASCAR MODEL TIP by MR NASCAR

Building a NASCAR 2007 Charger from 2005-2006 body I built from the REVELL INTREPID Kit!


Well, back in January, I finished up a 2005/2006 Charger with the idea of being able to cover the 3-year gap in MOPAR products from Revellogram...
(Click Here...) My first planned build was the Kurt Busch 07 Bud Shootout car, and while waiting for Perry's Resin to cast me some bodies, I worked on the Shootout #2's graphics - based on what I could find online. Then... DISASTER! Those danged MOPAR owners whined and fussed, and NASCAR allowed them a brand new nose! Nothing like the nosecone on the body I'd so lovingly built up and turned over to Randy... it's enough to make you go back to your short-track roots - I hold Evernham responsible....

A couple weeks ago, I got a couple of the 05/06 bodies in resin from Perry's Resin, and was very happy with them. I decided to take a shot at converting one of them to the 2007 speedway version, so I could complete the Busch Bud S/O #2 car. After all, how much different could it be?...

As it turned out it was very complex. The most obvious difference is that the top section of the grille is canted back, so my plan was to work over the nose of the resin piece with a file and sandpaper to simulate that. That's when it got tricky.

It was immediately clear that the whole hood and top of the nose in front of the grille would need to be lowered. To provide enough material to permit this, I had to crazy-glue sheet plastic onto the underside of the hood and remove the fan shield plate and front mounting post, as I ground it down so much they were paper-thin or non-existant. (I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures, but it was gonna be so easy...) The good news was that resin is actually easier to rework than styrene...

As with the 2005/2006 project, it was mostly "eyeball engineering", until I had it right. As near as I can tell, changes behind the cowl were nonexistant, or so minor as to be undetectable in 1/24th scale...I had to reshape the top grille openings slightly, and of course, on my first attempt, I overdid it, and ended up with the nose/hood TOO FLAT.. and had to rebuild it with cyano/soda/putty...

But what you see here is what I hope will be my next master for Perry's Resin to cast. I plan to show it to Randy this weekend, and see where we go from here...

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