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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Rusty Wallace's 2003 "VICTORY LAP" Intrepid


Rusty wheeled this car in the August 2003 Sharpie 500, to commemorate his 1989 Championship, part of the ongoing Victory Lap celebrations in ’03. I am slowly and inexorably rediscovering Rusty Wallace. I was quite a fan back in the late '80's as his career developed until he took the Championship in 1989. Rusty was always one to speak his mind, and continues that refreshing trait in the sanitized NASCAR of the 21st Century. A welcome change from many of the too bland racers out there these days. Of course the fact he can still be competitive and win the odd race helps!

Sam sent me these graphics several months back, but with other projects always popping up, that seemed more interesting, this kinda sat on the backburner. So, in May, I finally got to workin' on it, and once the car was painted and the graphics were applied, my first question was: "Why did I wait so long??"

To my eye this is the prettiest of the "VICTORY LAP" fleet.

The starting model for this was the 2000-vintage COORS Light Intrepid. I had just got a couple sets of T.J's resin nose conversions from Modern Motorsports, so just HAD to try 'em out! My concern was exactly how to cut the body to ensure everything was aligned and fit properly, but the instructions with the piece were very clear and dispelled that concern. The replacement of the nose, and puttying and cleanup afterwards only added a couple hours to the build, but the end result was very satisfying. The resin piece itself is very clean and smooth, and took primer and paint quite well. All in all a welcome upgrade!

Once all the bodywork was done, I applied PlastiKote White Primer (rattlecan heated in warm water as per my usual practice..) then applied a basic GM white touch-up lacquer arond the base. The bottom white band was masked off as per references, then I painted the silver, again using a CTC Toyota Silver touchup lacquer. Once this was complete, I masked off the part to remain silver, left on the white masking, and was ready for the blue.

Rusty's car is not just a straight-shade blue, but is a dark blue "tricoat" system. The first coat is a dark blue base colour, much like the old Havoline Blue. I used a mid 90'd Honda Baltic Blue touch-up lacquer for this. The second coat of the tricoat is a transparnet blue pearl coat. I made this by adding a "match-head's worth" of blue pearl pigment to a couple ounces of Tamiya TS13 clear I had blown into an airbrush bottle. A further 30% or so of lacquer thinner was added, and the mixture well-shaken to disperse the pearl.

I applied this in several light coats thru my airbrush, using sulight to assess the pearlescent effect until I was happy with it. It does not show up in the photos with this article,but I know it's there! You don't see it in Rusty's car on the tube either... The third coat was several layers of Tamiya TS 13 clear to bury the pearl, and bring it to life.

After all the work on the paint, the application of the decals i'd prepared from Sam's graphics was very easy. There are no critical "I need to go on first" decals, so I followed my usual routine - roof, hood, trunk, left side, right side, front, back, contingencies... (ME? In a rut?? Never!!) The sheet has all the graphics except the contingencies, which came from the SLIXX 2002/2003 contingency sheets.

The final touch was to apply several LIGHT coats of clear (TAMIYA TS13 from rattle can heated in hot tap water) after decals had had a couple days to dry thoroughly, then polishing with Turtle Wax compound. The chassis was built box-stock, with some flash clean-up necessary. TJ's nose piece did not present any problems while locating the body on the chassis.

As for the race itself, Rusty would likely prefer to forget about this one. On Lap 90, he tangled with Michael Waltrip, and was eliminated, finishing last in the field.... But it’s a pretty paintjob!

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