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NASCAR MODELS by MR NASCAR

Mark Martin's "VALVOLINE RETRO" Taurus


Will he, or won't he? This colour scheme is the "retro" scheme Mark used in the NEXTEL ALLSTAR CHALLENGE at Lowe's in May as a part of his "Salute To You" 2005 retirement tour. Problem is... Mark is having a heck of a season, currently sitting 7th in points, and likely to make the Chase for the Championship. Add to that the fact that Roush Racing does not have a replacement for him until 2007, as of this writing in early August, and my mortgage money says we'll see him extend his career by a season, to accomodate his old friend and architect of his NASCAR success, Jack Roush. That's the kind of guy Mark is, loyal to his friends.

And Mark has had quite a career! He was one of the "Big Dogs" in ASA, when they ran the Camaros back in the late '70's/early '80's. He seemed a natural for the NASCAR bif time, and decided to go for it in the ealy '80's After a false start in the early '80's as a driver-owner, he finally hooked up with Jack Roush in 1988, and a great partnerdhip, one of the longest in NASCAR, if not THE longest, was formed. From 1989 to 2004, he has missed the top 10 only twice, with three 2nd-place Championship finishes. The hardest one to take was likely 1990, when he and Dale Earnhardt went into the last race as contenders, only to have Mark's car - a borrowed one from Yates, I believe, fail in the race... I suspect that brought a lot of second-guessing to this still-maturing team at the time!

Mark has an immaculate racing reputation, using his head, driving consistently, staying out of trouble, and not inclined to the "rubbin' is racin'" mindset.

Sam sent me the files for this decal several weeks ago, and I spent a lot of time setting it up to make the decal application as easy as possible. These decals were designed to fit the 2000-2002 vintage Taurus from Revell, although a more accurate 2004/2005 body is available from Perry’s Resin. This body, in conjunction with the kit chassis, was used for this model, and is recommended for maximum accuracy.This is the body in the pictures. You can contact Perry’s resin thru their website: www.perrysresin.com for more info on price and availability. (See my write-up on Matt Kenseth's SMIRNOFF car for more info... Click Here)

This is a complete set for the car, including 2005 contingencies. Only the NASCAR Racecar logo for the A-pillar was needed from the kit sheet. I developed two building options. Lhe large stripes on the sheet that have the numbers embedded in them can be used, which is what I did for this model.

The body was primed with PlastiKote white aerosol primer, then topcoated with a white lacquer. I then masked and sprayed the back end dark blue per reference pics, using the black “hockey stick” provided on the decal sheet to determine the correct position and angle of the breakline. The front edge of the slanted portion should intersect the bottom front corner of the rear sidewindows. The blue on the model shown here was sprayed with a blend of TAMIYA TS15 and TS10 before decal application. Prior to that, the rear spoiler was sprayed flat black.

Since I was using the large decal stripes, decal application order was critical. I started with one of the side stripes, and aligned it so that the red wass parallel to the blue/white breakline, but left a narrow strip of white as shown in the pictures. I then repeated for the other side, then applied the roof decal so that the white stripe separating the blue and red lined up with the stripes on the side decals, above the doors. Once those were in place, other decals were laid down in any order preferred. I found this more difficult than anticipated, so for the actual sheet, for those who might prefer masking and painting over applying large expanses of decal, the numbers were provided free-standing. If they choose to mask and paint the stripes, I suggest cutting the embedded numbers free from the stripe decal, simply staying within the black outline of the number, and applying them first, then after a few hours drying, apply the freestanding numbers over top, to minimize colour showthough.

Chassis was built box stock, except for seatbelts, and the mandated dashboard ignition tray - again I used a piece from Modern Motorsports.To find out more about these and Modern Motorsports' other offerings, Click Here.

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.

The last items to be added prior to mounting the body on the chassis was to add hoodpins, using the excellent photo-etched hood pin kit from Detail Master (Catalog #DM2320). I have used these with great success on all my Perry's Resin Taurus projects!

Well, I suspect the NEXTEL Challenge did nothing to cement Mark's determination to retire, as he won the darned thing! He took on 4 tires before the final segment, and flat blew off the competition, helped of course by the inevitable wreck behind him. Mark's comment: "This was a miracle tonight. We are looking for another one, and that's the championship." Doesn't dound like someone just hangin' in until retirement, does it?

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

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