Randy Ayers Nascar Modeling Forums

[Dan Belcher]

After a long time, and some bad weather for doing any outdoor painting or clear coating, I am finally done with building Davey Allison's car as it looked on "One Hot Night" when the green flag dropped for the 1992 running of The Winston. This was the first speedway event run under the lights, and it was quite the memorable affair as well with an incredible finish, with Dale Earnhardt spinning from the lead in turn 3, then Kyle Petty and Davey Allison banging fenders to the checkered flag. While Davey's car got destroyed in a crash right after the finish line, I opted to build his car as it looked earlier in the night, as it was in my opinion one of the best looking racecars ever to hit the track. Plus, Robert Yates wouldn't let them push the damage car into victory lane, so I guess it's only fitting to make the car nice and clean for this build!



I even used my Kyle Petty build to recreate a photo from the side-by-side run to the finish line!


Here are some other shots of the car.











I always get questions about how I did specific things during the build, so hopefully some of you all find this information helpful. But please ask if I didn't mention something!
Monogram 1991 Davey Allison kit with Powerslide decals.
Tamiya TS-14 black with Tamiya TS-13 clear for the body. Tamiya TS-8 Italian red for the chassis.
To make the grill, I used Future acrylic floor finish to glue some metallic silver mesh material (I got it from the ribbon section at the hobby store) onto a thin piece of evergreen plastic that was painted black. I then cut it into shape, and used Tamiya Smoke to tone down the brightness and darken it overall. The left bottom section was a bit brighter than the other pieces of the grill on the real car, so I tried to recreate that here.
The rollbar padding is made from heat shrink tubing sliced open and painted red, with sewing thread used for zip ties.
I used a piece of white dental floss for the in-car camera wiring (there were both front and rear facing cameras in the cockpit for this race).
For the body, I filled in the side lines, smoothed out the bumper transitions, and built a new spoiler from scratch. The antenna is made from thin brass rod painted black, with a small piece of evergreen tube painted silver for the base. I used pieces of evergreen sheet painted silver for the jack plates.
For the chassis, I used the 1991 Monogram Davey Allison kit as the base, but ended up making a lot of the bars from scratch using evergreen rods since the kit rollcage was very inaccurate. I also added a lot of interior detail made with evergreen plastic to match the real car, such as a shoulder brace on the seat and the cooling box behind it. The radio cable is made from scale mode plug wire that I wrapped around a thin brass rod to get the coil shape, then pulled off the rod and glued into place.
The cooling hoses are made from extension springs and held in shape using a thick brass rod bent into the right shape.
I made a new right rear quarter window without the NACA duct, and added a NACA duct to the front corner of the passenger side window, using clear PETG. The bolts for the quarter windows were made with the tip of my hobby knife, since it made them look lighter than the surrounding black, but not as obvious as painting would have been. I felt that was a better fit for how this car actually looked.
I used photo etched bolts for the rear spoiler, and a piece of aluminum tube for the fuel overflow.
I drew the front air dam adjusters by hand with a Sharpie.
The exhaust pipes are made from evergreen tube smashed into shape and painted, then stained with Tamiya Smoke.
To make the red and blue stripes on the inside of the wheel rims, I used white primer, then black paint, and after the paint dried I used the edge of my hobby knife to scrape away two rings of paint. It was tricky because of the position of them, so I had to do some touch-up paint on the black. Finally I colored in the white stripes using a red and blue Sharpie. I added valve stems made from small pieces of evergreen tube.
For the tires, I cleared the sidewalls with TS-13 to get a smooth surface before applying the Goodyear decals, and I drew the tire markings by hand. I then used some more Tamiya Smoke to take away some of the bright white finish, and TS-80 flat clear to finish the sidewalls.

[randman]

Beautiful!

I was going to ask about the wheels, but thanks for the description. They turned out great.

[gks1964]

Dan
You did a wonderful job!!

[sentsat71]

FANTASTIC job on this one!!!


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Ed. K

[Henryjint]

OUTSTANDING build!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Forum member since 10/25/2010

[MarkJ]

Dan, congrats on another perfect build. Exceptionally beautiful.

[jsgoodson68]

[BW]

WOW! What a piece of art that build is! I admire and appreciate all the meticulous fine details, and the hard work, you put into this build. The result is spectacular. The black paint is about good as one can achieve. Well done Dan! You've certainly inspired me to build one of Davey's black Havoline cars.
Thanks for posting and keep'em comin'!
-Bobby

[Dan Belcher]

Thank you for the nice comments everyone!

[Toys4Don]

Absolutely amazing detail work.

[Wakefan77]

What a great build and a beautiful racecar!

[Pierre Rivard]

Dan, your work is nothing short of stunning. The stance, the paint and the detailing are absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for sharing and inspiring all of us.

_________________
"When you arrive at a fork in the road, take it" - Yogi Berra

[MarkJ]

Dan, I had to go back and see one of your finished models using the black mirror effect set up. It adds so much to the viewing enjoyment of seeing your finished build. I bought some glass and some black poster board. I already have the black paint, and I'm going to try it myself. If it looks okay, you will see the build I just finished here in the showroom, in the near future, using my method. If it looks terrible, you won't. It will just be sitting on some light gray poster board as always. Hope you don't mind me trying your method, sort of. Mine is not going to look as refined as yours.

[Dan Belcher]

Looking forward to it Mark! You can PM me if you have any questions about it. One quick tip: make sure you clean the glass right before you use it, and then frequently wipe it down between every picture you take. Every little speck of dust will show up bigtime, and even with frequent cleaning I have to edit out tons of little white spots that stick out like a sore thumb in the raw pictures.

[MarkJ]

[#3forlife]

damn good looking ride DEAD ON!!!!!!!!

[Shunter]

Excellent work, great to see such a nice build of one of Davey’s cars.

[TiminToledo]

That is an amazing black paint job. Well done! I love the extra touches, and the look of the tires is spot on.

How did you do the dash/gauge details. Very crisp and clear! Thanks!

[Slipster17]

Magnificent - truly. That color looks like it was poured on. I loved the #42 when you posted that one a few months back and this is an awesome addition!

[Dan Belcher]

Thanks all!

[TiminToledo]

[Crime Dog]

Good Lord! What a Build! That's fantastic!

[lefty1820]

Beautiful build!

I remember that night like it was yesterday! How exciting!