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1994 Bobby Dotter #08 DeWalt Tools Lumina - with a twist...

 
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AMB



Joined: 26 Nov 2021
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:52 am    Post subject: 1994 Bobby Dotter #08 DeWalt Tools Lumina - with a twist... Reply with quote

This is an old build from something like 20 years ago. It's always been a favorite. Stance and 'track prescience' are just right + the paint and decals (which were clear coated then) have held up really well. In person the yellow is a bit brighter than it appears here.





This is a Monogram Kellogs Lumina with a Scale Racing Products BGN sheet from back in the day. I remember them going on without a hitch. The yellow is a Model Master shade (cannot remember which exact one any more?) that was airbrushed. Same for the chassis grey, another airbrushed MM shade. The clear was rattle canned. Though a Lumina, this car was built on a Monogram 89-93 T-bird chassis - more on why below.



In case it wasn't already a bit apparent, this was once an R/C car that I raced on and off for a while. That accounts for the obvious wear & tear, some of which was lightly touched up (then, not now). Back in those days when I was without responsibly but with free time, I got involved in scale R/C racing for several years. I've always been a scale modeler (of cars, aircraft and even HO trains) since ~8-9 years old and it seemed like (and was) fun.






About a dozen or so of us ran several 'series' then so I had a Cup car (a few different T-birds), a Chevy Supertruck and a BGN car (first a Buick then this Lumina) as well. I also ran a Street Stock using a 70 Chevelle body. Like the real things, each one was very similar under the skin though this car was from my development 'peak' in terms of chassis refinement. Wink

The tracks we ran on were made from masonite that had been matt roller painted with latex - it looked very much like scale concrete and had just the right amount of tooth to it so if you were a good driver, you could get the tail to drift sideways a bit coming out of corners. We could set the cars up just like they do the real ones (loose, moving weight around, etc.) and the rear end could be run locked or open. Much easier to drive when locked BTW. All the cars cars were home made using off the shelf r/c parts (Futaba controllers mainly for example) with Monogram kits (and tires) being mandatory as the starting point. Both the body shell and chassis were reinforced using 'Shoe Goo' type adhesive and Plastruct L-shaped channel. The battery boxes came from Radio Shack.

Through trial and error I found that the 89-93 T-bird chassis was the easiest one to modify and also had the best clearance for the motor (in back) and the steering servo so each car that I built rolled on one of those, regardless of body shell. Though I only have this car and a cup T-bird left, neither have been raced in a long time. I have kept my stuff and recently took this one to show a few people at work. It still runs quite good.

Anyway, sorry for the long story here - hopefully some of you found it interesting?

Thanks for looking as well.
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Dennis O
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Joined: 28 Jan 2018
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Location: Louisville, Ky.

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very cool.....
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Dan Belcher



Joined: 10 Feb 2020
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Love it! Such a neat idea.
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hurricane21



Joined: 05 Feb 2018
Posts: 208
Location: Fayetteville NC

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really dig the damage. Looks like a typical stock car after a race.
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AMB



Joined: 26 Nov 2021
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks everyone.

The scrapes along the body sides by the tires have never been touched up as they just look to darn 'real'. Only areas that were cleaned up are the lower part of the front spoiler and a bit of the corners of the bumpers such as below the Mac tools decals.

The tire sidewalls were once more uniformly black but ended up the way they are now due to contact with other cars and walls. I took one set of tires and put yellow sidewall decals on them as an experiment. Even though they had been clearcoated, they only lasted a couple races by which most of the script had been rubbed away.
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Lionpride



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 245

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 3:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for sharing. Great story. I bet you had a ton of fun back in the day.
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RacerRon13



Joined: 12 May 2021
Posts: 27

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 4:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's pretty cool!!!
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Henryjint



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 1957
Location: NY State's Hudson Valley

PostPosted: Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice!!!
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Toys4Don



Joined: 31 Jan 2018
Posts: 226

PostPosted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is really cool. Had I been aware of such RC racing I may have gotten involved. At first I really thought the car had been expertly weathered. Neat post.
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DaveVan



Joined: 27 Jan 2018
Posts: 1572

PostPosted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 1:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Side note: Good to see them win Saturday
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AMB



Joined: 26 Nov 2021
Posts: 32

PostPosted: Sun Feb 27, 2022 3:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Glad people have found this interesting. A lot lower 'price point' versus buying the current readily available R/C stuff but the downside is 'some assembly required'. Another good thing was the racing was always done indoors (garages or basements) so not weather dependent.

I found out about this then via a friend. Everything was developed at home modifying over the counter R/C components. The 2 guys behind it were both ex-short track racers from the Chicago area who'd been in the automotive repair business and weekended as racers for a long time. They had other R/C stuff and were apparently 'dinking around' and came up with this?

I've not had any contact with either in a long time and last I heard, one had moved out of the area so I tend to doubt they're still at it?

With work and all, I barely have time to even build static scale models these days so carving out time to be able to do this every week is just not viable any more sadly.

Fun times they were though. Smile
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Billy Kingsley



Joined: 29 Jan 2019
Posts: 108
Location: Hudson Valley NY

PostPosted: Wed Mar 09, 2022 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is really, really cool and the damage just adds to the realism!
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