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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Mark Martin's 2006 AAA Fusion


Well, as it turns out... he didn't...
In my write-up of the '05 VALVOLINE Retro Taurus, I speculated, "Will he, or won't he?", referring to the prospects of Mark actually retiring at the end of the year. Mark is back for another year, with AAA sponsorship, in the spanking-new Ford Fusion. So far, he's having one of his bettter years of late, currently sitting in the 6th spot in The Chase, mostly due to consistently finishing, and not wrecking, with just 2 top 5's. Typical Mark... Mark has an immaculate racing reputation, using his head, driving consistently, staying out of trouble, and not inclined to the "rubbin' is racin'" mindset.

As we all are ruefully aware, there will be no FUSION kit from Revell, so we are left to fend for ourselves. In spite of this most of the ALPSTERS, us included, are forging ahead with 2006 FUSION paint schemes... ya never know... same situation as the '05/'06 Charger....

Sam first sent me the unique files for the FUSION grillwork, lights, and nomenclature a few weeks ago, and my first attempt at a FUSION was to fiddle with the recently-issued 2005 Taurus, cobbling together decals for Carl Edwards' Daytona test car. Not bad, but the greenhouse was a tad out to lunch...

Recently, he sent me the files for Mark's AAA ride, which looked like a must-build (aren't they all?...). In the meantime, I had been looking at shots of the FUSION, and came to the conclusion that the greenhouse was virtually identical to that of the Revell Intrepid. Stands to reason in the "Common Template" era...I decided to try mating the Taurus front clip to an intrepid body, and see what I ended up with. It actually didn't come out to bad! It's an improvement over the Taurus-as-Fusion effort on the 99 OD car, and as far as I'm concerned, it's at least as accurate an interpretation of a NASCAR FUSION as Revell's Taurus is of a NASCAR Taurus... (I'm kicking myself for not taking pics of the process, I'll do that on my next conversion!)

Without going into gory detail, main items in the conversion are to cut the front clip down each side from the A-pillar to a point about one cm behind the rear of the front wheel opening. Mate the proper sections, and use lots of cyano glue and baking sode to join them. Finish up with putty, and you're good to go.. Except that with the new greenhouse, you need to use the Intrpid window piece. This does not match up very well at the base of the windshield with the back of the Taurus cowl you just glued on, so you'll need to make a thin, crecent-shaped piece to glue on the rear edge of the cowl... more glue, more baking soda... I also extended the rear bumper a bit.

The decals comprise a complete set for the car, including 2006 contingencies. The NASCAR Racecar logo for the A-pillar are an interesting story. We had this and the goody sheet pretty well ready to go when we noticed that the logo had been significantly changed for the first time in years. In spite of my best efforts, I could not track down a good enough shot of it to use as a decent reference for artwork. I put out a call on this Board for help, and got great references from several folks, including a couple guys who, in the real world, I suppose, would be our "competitors". Very much appreciated, and perhaps shows the cameraderie of this hobby.

The blue and red "swoops" are on the decal sheet, and were coaxed into place with minimal effort. All I had to do, once the bodywork was done, was prime and paint the body white, then paint the rear spoiler, cowl, and front airdam black. Everything else is decals. istarted with the rd decals for the sides and geenhouse, as their placement would help me align the blue decals. I found that the front blue decal was easier to apply if I split it into two parts by cutting it at the crown of the front fender opening.

Once they were in place and dried, I shot a couple coats of TAMIYA TS13 clear (warmed in hot tapwater) to protectthem while the rest of the graphics were applied.

Once all the decals were in place, and had 24 hours or so to dry, I applied successive light coats of clear (TAMIYA TS13), again from a warmed rattle-can, and after a day of two to dry, polished it all up with terry cloth and Turtle Wax, to a nice shine.

So now I read in the most recent NASCAR SCENE that Mark "has not ruled out" racing in NEXTEL cup in 2007. Quite a change in thinking from this time in 2005!

(This decal sheet is now available from 3 Amigos (Click here for our catalog page).

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