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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Jeff Gordon's 2005 STAR WARS Monte Carlo

Being a Dupont retiree, and seeing Jeffie's on-track results as a key contributor to the fortunes of Dupont, ergo to the health of the pension plan I paid into for 36 years, it is understandable that I tend to root for the young feller... altho he is becoming quickly the senior statesman among the drivers... who'da thunk it as he crossed the finish line in tears 11 years ago at Charlotte for his first win??

Anyhoo, I was very pleased when a set of graphics arrived from Sam to allow us to build this winning car. Although Sam provided his usual impeccable artwork, I knew I had a challenge to convert the big rectangular "starburst" he sent me into a usable decal to cover the whole car! It took me about 6 weeks before I was happy enough with it to print them out, and take a stab at the actual build. Happily everything worked just as I'd hoped.

We designed these decals to fit the new REVELL 2004 Monte Carlo, which is identical to the '05 racer.(Of course none of them remotely resemble a road-going Monte, but we're all past that now, aren't we?... Aren't we??

The body was primed with PlastiKote white aerosol primer, then the rear spoiler and front airdam were sprayed with TAMIYA TS16 yellow, followed by several light coats of Fluorescent yellow until the number colouring on the decal sheet had been matched. That was followed by a coat of TS13 clear. They were then masked off for the application of a light blue, TAMIYA TS10 French Blue, before decal application. This colour was chosen so that if there were any showthrough of the painted body after the decals had been applied, it would not be noticeable. Ideally, 100% of the body except the airdam and rear spoiler, would be covered in decals.

Decal application order was critical. I started with the large front decal, and centered the solid blue “bullseye” on the hood. The hood and fender are all one big decal, to ensure that the stripes align on the transition from the hood to the nose, cowl and top of fenders. Once it had dried in place, I carefully cut around the hood with a SHARP exacto knife.

Several relief cuts were needed along with a lot of coaxing to get the decal to lay down properly - I exhausted my basic AngloSaxon vocabulary on this one . Most of these relief cuts would be subsequently covered by contingency decals, so I wasn't too concerned.. (Note – the big hood/nose/fender decal was applied to the body shown in one piece. If I were to build another ... hah...I would cut the sides away vertically at the A-pillars and apply in three pieces, ensuring the stripes align properly. These cuts would be in an area mostly covered by contingency decals.)

Once these were in place and dried, I applied the decklid and tv-panel decals, being sure to center them and aligning the stripes. Next, the two side pieces were applied. (Again there is an option to cut away the A/BC pillar portions that surround the windows and apply separately.) I followed these up with the roof decal.

Now I had a body 100% decalized. Before applying the rest of the graphics over these, I allowed a couple days for the decals to dry, (and for me to regain my composure…) then applied light dust coats of clear (TAMIYA TS13) to protect my work so far.

The rest of the decal application was normal process. I printed duplicates of all graphics I felt might have showthrough of the striped background. Sure enough, there was showthough especially on the numbers, and the Dupont logos. Faint, but objectionable to me. I let the first set dry overnight, then applied the second set as needed. (These have been included in our decal sheet.)