NASCAR MODEL TIP by MR NASCAR

1/ INSTALLING A RACE READY REPLICAS FRONT AIRDAM

2/ BRINGING THE 2000/2001 MONTE CARLO UP TO DAYTONA/TALLEDEGA SPECS


There are two parts to this tip. The first involves adding an updated nose to the 2000/2001 Monte, which was approved by NASCAR about 5 races into the 2000 season, to the fury of the Blue Oval camp... This can be applied to any 2000 Monte Carlo, in fact should be. The Race Ready kit is quite nice, cleanly cast, and fits like a charm, if you follow the insructions re removal of the kit airdam. I learned about this product through posts at RANDY AYERS' NASCAR MODELING FORUM, one of the best sources of NASCAR modeling information on the 'net. Ron's Hobbies in Paducah, Kentucky. (E-mail Ron here for info) was my source, I ordered a bunch from him, and they arrived even to the barren wastes of Canada in winter within 10 days. (I keep thinking, if I used my plastic credit cards to build spoilers, instead of buyin' stuff, I wouldn't be so far in debt... but I digress)

Along with the nosecone, RRR provides sheet plastic for the roof spoiler and larger rear spoiler. Templates were provided on the instruction sheet for the Talledega/Daytona configuration. I chose to not use the templates provided for the spoilers, deciding to try something else instead...

First of all was the front airdam installation:
Step 1Not much to this, remove kit dam as per instructions, and crazy-glue new dam in place. Don't forget to clean the resin well, to ensure good paint flow and adhesion to it ...
Step 2putty, sand, putty, sand, until you've hid all the seams... and the front dam is done...

Now comes the roof and rear spoilers:

Step 3Now the scary bits... Using a round sawblade (available from MicroMark) in your dremel, cut a slit in the roof between the rails. Mark it out first... "Measure twice, cut once" isn't just for carpenters... I used the little indentations in the roof rails as alignment guides to mark the cut area...
Step 4Before you chop the rear spoiler off the body ... yes, you read that right... trace an outline of the spoiler onto card stock. Lengthen it a bit on each end, following the fender contour, and trace it onto the sheet plastic provided. Make sure it is nice and tall, allow about 20 millimeters, as there needs to be a "tab" to go into the slit you are going to cut in the rear deck....
Step 5Now... chop off that wimpy little kit spoiler, clean it up, and mark a line to cut a slit to accept the new spoiler. Make sure you hold the dremel at about a 45 degree angle, so the spoiler angle is right when you insert it... Cut notches in the spoiler, so the tab is the width of your cut in the body. The height of the full-width spoiler above the tab should be 7 millimeters, to look talladega-right. Add the "wicker" a strip along the top edge of the spoiler. I used Evergreen .015"x.040" strip plastic for this. This is not mentioned in the RRR instructions. More easily seen in Step 4 picture...
Step 6Here it is, ready for priming, with the roof spoiler (cut from thin sheet plastic), Rear spoiler and new front airdam in place. The infamous "NASCAR Taxicab"! DO NOT glue the rear and roof spoilers in place at this time. Finish painting, decalling, clearcoats, polish, etc - then install them! Oh, and don't do what I did. The split in the rear spoiler in the middle for the body template... don't wait until the body is completly sanded, decalled, cleared and polished, and the spoiler glued in place, to remember to cut it!

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