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SHORT TRACK MODELS by MR NASCAR

Ed Howe's "BRAND X" Javelin

decals by BULLRING GRAPHIX!


Ed Howe is one of the legends of Short Track racing, particularly in eastern North America. He has parlayed that into a major racing supply company, Howe Racing Enterprises, centred in Michigan, that supplies bodies, chassis, ...you name it..., to the racing community, including NASCAR.

A couple years back, Rod had developed graphics for two famous Howe Camaros from the 70's, The Ed Howe GONE, and team mate Tommy Maier's GOING. They are in our line-up and do attract some interest.

I had never heard of the Ed Howe Javelin (I'm Mr. NASCAR, remember...) until I got a request from Bob Kennedy, a model builder from London, Ontario, asking what would be involved in providing decals for the Javelin, plus a couple other local racer projects he had in mind.

Well, as soon as I saw that Javelin, I thought it was just a great car! According to my short-track guru, Rod, "The car was primarily a pavement car and may have run a few times on dirt. As I recall Ed built the Javelin to prove his chassis superiority, going up against the industry standard small and big block Chevy engines, with a rare and unheralded AMC. It ran in 1974 and I believe that it used Traco powerplants, the same company that did the Trans Am engines although I'm less sure of that." So this was a marketing exercise for Ed - he was obviously ahead of his time in marketing innovation as well as in chassis innovation - although having TRACO in your camp certainly wouldn't have hurt!

I took it upon myself to develop the graphics for Bob, and became interested in building one for myself. As it happened, I'd been sitting on an old JoHan Javelin for years, not quite sure what to do with it. After getting the go-ahead from Bob (after all, I didn't want to steal his thunder...) and once the decals were finished, I started work on the model.

My main goal was a reasonable shelf model, I don't do contests; so the graphics and body mods, plus convincing wheels, and a reasonable interior were my main focus - bottom line - the hood doesn't open on the JoHan kit, I had no intention of opening or detailing the engine compartment, so the engine block is basically something to glue the exhaust headers to. (Besides, it's hard to get excited about detailing an engine that has a big hole in the oil pan for the metal axle to go thru...)

In poking around thru my stash for kits to use for the chassis, I decided that the recently-issued Saturday Night Thunder '70's Chevelle from Model King - a repop of one of the old AMT NASCAR kits, would serve as the main contributor for chassis, interior and engine. I had originally considered using the wheels, but closer inspection of the references showed them to be hopelessly inaccurate. After consulting with Rod, I went for a set of Fred's Resin Workshop finned wide 5's (P/N R-018) which Rod generously supplied... and I have yet to replace, come to think of it... Rod also recommended dumping the Chevelle tires and using a set from one of the '90's vintage AMT NASCAR kits. Got a ton of those, so no problem...I also, upon looking over the Saturday Night Thunder chassis, decided to commandeer a few more parts from the AMT stocker - specifically the seat, fire extinguisher, steering wheel, gear shifter, and the wheel backings.

Narrowing the wheel backings was a pain...I had to thin them by at least 1/4" to get them, plus Fred's rims, to fit inside the AMT tires. That involved cutting away the "bead" plus a millimeter of the rim, then removing all the rest of the wheel down to the backing plate, and reglueing them together (right illustration). A lot of work and sanding to get them square, but it was worth it in the end! Fred's wheels really help make this model!

Next step was to assemble the rollcage, and do a test-fit to the Javelin body. The good news was that the rollcage was a virtual plop-fit into the greenhouse. Only concern was that, due to the bob-tail nature of the Javelin body, the chassis pan was too long behind the rear wheelwell. This entailed removing about 1 cm from the rear, behind the wheelwells, and grinding a bit off the sides at the rear to accomodate the slightly narrower body. (Had to reshape the firewall from the SNT kit as well, to fit inside the Javelin front fender/cowl area).

I reworked the gas tank and frame rails to get rid of the seams (below). The window netting was simulated using window screen lined with thin strips of TAMIYA masking tape, then primed with PlastiKote white primer. All in all, it came out not too bad... for a shelf queen...!

Once I had the chassis modified, I test fitted the wheels, then with the body in place, marked out the areas on the wheel openings to be hogged out, as per the actual car. Other body modifications were to remove the molded in wipers and all emblems, and drill out the gas filler opening on the rear fender. I also ground down the lenses in the chrome front grille, then painted the openings silver. The rear lenses were replaced by sheet plastic painted silver during final assembly.

Next step was to prime and paint the body. I had chosen NOT to make decal graphics to represent the dark green two-tone areas on the body, choosing to mask and paint it instead. To make up the lighter overall green colour, I blended TAMIYA TS35 Park Green and TS43 Racing green, about 1:1 ratio, then added a shot of yellow to lighten it a bit more. (I have learned NOT to use white to lighten greens, as it makes the colour too "milky" looking...) This was thinned about 50% with lacquer thinner then shot over the entire grey-primed body thru my airbrush. Once it had dried a couple days, I then masked it, using pinstriping tape to get clean edges, and no wrinkles in the curves, to allow me to apply the dark green. For this I just used TS43 straight from the can. The most difficult masking area was getting the hood two-tone symetrical from side to side. Once I had the body demasked, I applied a coat of TS13 clear, and wetsanded the body, then recoated with clear, and applied the decals as per references. After the decals had had a couple days to dry, they were clearcoated with TS13, then the body was polished to a high gloss.

Meantime, I had finished assembling the interior, and detailing the wheels. I cannot say enough about Fred's wheels, they really brought this project to life! I primed and painted them silver, then used Testors Metallizers (with a brush...) to add different metallic effects, like stainless steel for the rims and magnesium for the centers and hubs. I also dullcoated all the chrome (front and rear bumpers/grille) as the out-of-box parts were too bright for a race car! Final step was to bend exhausts out of aluminum tubing and mate them to the headers, and there it was, a pretty good replica of a very cool race car!

Now all I need to do is figure out where it fits into my shelves of NASCAR models!!

These decals are now available from BULLRING GRAPHIX - Click Here!"

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