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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR Kyle Busch's 2005 STAR WARS Monte Carlo

It was interesting, going into 2005, to see how the Kellogg's team's fortunes would go, as one of the winningest veterans in NASCAR, 2-time Champion Terry Labonte, turned over the famous 5 Kellogg's ride to one of the youngest (19 years old...) drivers to race at NASCAR's elite level. Kyle, interestingly, started his NEXTEL CUP career the year after his older brother won the Series Championship, so he was kinda in his shadow, as had been the case thru his career to that point.

(Bio info on Kyle from www.hendrickmotorsports.com)
Kyle’s first race behind the wheel came at age 12 at a track in Salt Lake City, Utah. (He was too young to compete in his home state of Nevada). In 1998, shortly after his 13th birthday, Kyle’s driving career officially began. From 1999-2001 Kyle won over 65 times in Legends cars claiming two track championships at the “Bullring” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, before moving up to Late Model Stock Cars. He captured 10 victories in Late Model Stock Car competition at the “Bullring” in 2001. His reputation and success began to pique the interest of car owners in NASCAR and on Aug. 3, 2001, at age 16, Busch made his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park, starting 23rd and finishing ninth. Shortly after, a ruling by NASCAR enforcing age limitations for competitors forced Kyle "retire" until his 18th birthday.

To keep racing,he moved to the American Speed Association (ASA) circuit and ran the entire 2002 schedule, posting five top-fives and 10 top-10s in 20 starts, ending the season eighth in points. He joined Hendrick Motorsports in February, 2003 and won his first ARCA race at Nashville Speedway from the pole position, and then his second at Kentucky Speedway in the very next outing. That same year he entered seven NASCAR Busch Series, earning a runner-up finish at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (Concord, N.C.) in his first start. He rounded out the year with two second place finishes, three top-10 finishes and five top-10 qualifying efforts.

The 2004 season started off on a high note as he nabbed an ARCA Series victory in his first ever start at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 7, 2004. During his first full season in the Busch Series, five records fell to Kyle as he became the youngest top rookie in series history by finishing second in the championship point standings at age 19. He also qualified for six NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races in the No. 84 CARQUEST Chevrolet, posting his best effort at California Speedway where he started 18th and finished 24th. With that level of commitment, and results, it's not hard to see why he was a natural for the high-profile 5 team...

This model is the special STARWARS “Revenge of the Sith” colour scheme that Kyle used at Richmond in May 2005, in the Chevy American Revolution 400. (Can't wait for the first "TOYOTA American Revolution 400 km"! Can you?)

It took Sam a while, but he finally pulled all the images together and came up with these great graphics. After a bit of fine-tuning and adding a few missing contingencies and tire decals, I tackled the build. These decals are designed to fit the 2004/2005 Monte Carlo from Revell, and is a complete set for the car, including correct 2005 contingencies. Just need the NASCAR RACECAR logo from the kit sheet, and maybe the bottom airdam grille, which I noticed I forgot while preparing this... The graphics are designed for the REVELL 2004 Monte Carlo; in this case I used a Tonymobile....

The entire body was primed with PlastiKote grey aerosol primer, then topcoated with GM black aerosol automotive touch-up lacquer (Canadian Tire), all warmed of course, in hot tapwater. That was it - painting done! Everything else was on the sheet. I started with the hood decal and thelava?/flame? decals on the sides and the front air dam, making sure to bring the front airdam decal right to the bottom of the dam, covering the splitter, as those graphics are lower than the side graphics. (Another option would have been to trim an equivalent amount off the bottom, as there is a yellow stripe decal that needs to go there anyway...)

Once those had dried in place, I applied the “Character” graphics (Yoda, etc) and the yellow strip on the lower front airdam. After suitable time to dry, the rest of the graphics - numbers, contingencies, etc - were applied. I have included extra numbers on the sheet, which I applied, to minimize effect of colour showthrough. The second set was overlaid on the first after a couple hours drying.

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.