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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Jeremy Mayfield's 2004 "NHL ALLSTARS" Dodge

Jermey's career at the top flight of NASCAR started with a single race in 1993, then a good rookie season in '94 driving for Cale Yarborough. From there he moved on to the Kranefus team in 1996, in a controversial swap with John Andretti. 1998 saw the team, which had been #37, purchased by the Penske organization, with Mobil 1 as the sponsor. By late 2001, the 12 team was struggling, and Jeremy saw the writing on the wall. In a career-saving move, he resigned, and when the opportunity came to take over from Casey Atwood in the Evernham #19 Intrepid at the start of the 2002 season... with Bill Elliott as his partner... Jeremy jumped at it. From all accounts, it seems to have worked out there for Jeremy, and he is now the grizzled veteran to Kasey Kahne's exuberant youthfullness.

This is the car that Jeremy drove in the 2004 Bud Shoot-out to promote the NHL Allstar game. Although it is not a particularly elegant scheme, as a red-blooded Canadian lad, I just had to have it. Apparently, Sam got the bug too, and these graphics arrived back in November. I just this week got the model finished, due to other stuff on the go. On the actual car, the green numbers are a bright fluorescent colour. The rich green you see here is the closest I was able to achieve with the ALPS process, but I am quite happy with it.. I could have subbed numbers from a silkscreened sheet, I suppose... but am not sure if there is one out there with the correct green.

The starting kit was the 2004 COORS DODGE. I ground away the thick plastic around the wheel openings to a more stock-appearing thickness. Then the entire body was primed with PlastiKote white aerosol primer, then topcoated with red aerosol automotive touch-up lacquer (Canadian Tire), all warmed, of course, in hot tapwater. Then the windshield cowl and rear spoiler were masked and painted black. Then came the tricky bit - masking off and painting the silver portions. I photocopied the decal and made a template from the side graphics that separate the red and the silver (the swoopy bit with the pine trees). I used this as a guide to mask the separation line on the sides, so it would be in the centre underneath the graphics. I then masked off the rear spoiler, the roof and the front end. It is critical when masking up the centre of the A-pillar and the roof to the roof rails that both sides are symetrical. I then shot it with some grey PlastiKote primer to cover the red, then followed up with a silver, using a Toyota touch-up aerosol from Canadian Tire. After all had dried, I applied a coat of clear (TAMIYA TS13), then scuffsanded the breaklines between the red and silver.

Decalling started by applying the "pine tree" swoops on the sides and the "shooting star" on the front fenders, then the black pinstripe dividing the red and silver on the A-pillars and roof. This was where close attention to aligning everything during masking paid off! Once those had dried in place, I applied the numbers, hood graphics, DODGE lettering, etc. After suitable time to dry, the rest of the graphics - numbers, contingencies, etc - were applied.

Once all the decals were in place, I let them dry for a couple days, and applied several LIGHT coats of TAMIYA TS13 clear (rattle can heated in warm tapwater for a fine spray), followed up a day later with TURTLE WAX polishing compound.

The chassis was built mostly box-stock. I increased the track width at the front and rear ,as I have always felt that the wheels on the Intrepid kit were too "tucked away" and needed to be pushed out closer to the plane of the wheel openings. I cut 1.5 mm lengths of Evergreen tubing that would fit over the metal axles/pins and glued them in place on the front suspension assembly, and the rear axle housing on each side.

The rear metal axle is long enough that I could still use it. For the front, I ground away an equivalent 1.5 mm from the inside of the pin opening, so the pin would still protrude enough on the outside to hold the wheel securely. I also added a layer of equivalent thickness to the front frame rails just at the location where the front axle pins would be, to provide backing for when I pressed the wheels on. I feel this make a quantum difference in the final appearance of the model, and when I took it to our Group 25 meeting, there was general agreement from the NASCARnauts there.