What I've been doing instead of cards Part 2

 Still haven't been doing cards...the modeling has taken over. I have been in the hobby for 21 years, but these last two months are by far the best. Both in enjoyment of the building and the quality I'm turning out. I have brought my completions on the year to 23 NASCAR models, which is the second most I've ever done in a year, however, the 1st in quality! Since I shared a first 10 post, here's a second 10 post...

While I do expect to finish more models on the year, the time is running short. It's getting too cold to paint outside, where is where I do the bulk of my painting. (It's too cold and rainy right now, which is why I'm posting this instead of building more). I MAY set my new personal record for a year, which currently stands at 30 models, and I have 23 completed...and 10 more that are close. But I am not sure if I can get them all done before it's absolutely too cold. There are a couple I'm absolutely sure I CAN finish, but all 10 may not happen. Time will tell...

Here's a blurb about each model, copy and pasted from the captions on my website. 

1982 David Pearson: One of David Pearson's more obscure cars, he drove this scheme in only six races, a limited schedule in 1982, and while he won 2 poles including the first time out with the car, he suffered 4 mechanical failures resulting in DNFs, with the only truly good run being the Firecracker 400 where he placed 5th. This was the first time Pearson teamed with sponsor Chattanooga Chew. They would remain with him for the remainder of his career as a driver in 1986, and would sponsor the family team with Larry driving in both Busch and Cup through 1989. They would then leave the sport and never sponsor another NASCAR team or driver.

This car was an essential build for my NASCAR by the Numbers project, since it's the only #03 car I have decals and a kit to put them on (and one of only three sets I know to exist) so it had to be the representative in the 03 slot. Monogram Buick with Tamiya white and black paint. Wetworks decals, which included the yellow panel- unfortunately the bottom of the left side ripped and was blown away by my fan.

2003 Jamie McMurray: Way back in 2006 I decided that I wanted to build all the Rookie of the Year Winners in NASCAR history. It's been on my mind since then, but this is the first time I've finished one since I began the project! Jamie McMurray beat Greg Biffle for ROY of that year, despite the fact that Greg won a race and Jamie did not. The decals were issued then and include everything. Only painted part is the black.

JWTBM decals and Tamiya Black on Revell Intrepid.

My new goal going forward is to build at least one Rookie of the Year winner every year. I've narrowed the plan from all of NASCAR history to just the Winston Cup and Nextel Cup eras, mostly due to lack of availability for earlier and later than that. Despite not finishing any for 14 years after starting the project, Jamie's car here is one of three I expect to finish during the month of October.

2004 Jimmie Johnson: I've never been a huge fan of Jimmie Johnson, mostly because I felt like they took away from Jeff Gordon to favor him, when Jeff has always been one of my favorites. But, Jimmie HAS won the most amount of Championships in my lifetime, and the second most amount of races, and he's retiring after this season, so the least I can do is build one of his cars. Plus I needed a #48 for my NASCAR by the Numbers project.

Testors silver which was cleared and polished, JWTBM decals on Revell kit. The blue is all decal, and was not easy. This isn't my best build, but it's also not my worst, either. The numbers are neon but neon doesn't photograph all that well.

1982 Mark Martin: Mark Martin drove this car in 5 races in 1982, the year he ran for Rookie of the Year, with his best finish being 5th at the season finale in Riverside. I chose it to be the representative for the #02 in my NASCAR by the Numbers project. The build was simple, just a Monogram Buick, Tamiya white paint, and WetWorks decals, which provided all the striping. The 5-hole wheels came out of my parts box, I believe from a Thunderbird kit. I built this concurrently with the #03 David Pearson car but it got delayed some by the fact that I dropped the headlight and couldn't find it. I found it and eventually got it finished off. Unlike the #03, I do have other #02s that I will build at some point, including a couple others driven by Mark himself.

1996 Steve Grissom: (My favorite caption, since I wrote it to the Flintstones theme) 

Grissom

Meet Steve Grissom

He drove the Chevrolet you see

From the, town of Gadsden,

he's now documented in scale model history

his season, really wasn't all that great

he was, replaced by Robert Pressley at a later date

When you, use Slixx decals, you have a great old time!

2000 Geoff Bodine: This build is a first for me in that I used Testors Decal Bonder for the first time- although the Grissom car I finished the day before was the first one I completed using it. This car caps off an incredible week for me of completing 5 models in 5 days, and fairly high quality models at that. (4 of them NASCAR, three of them new numbers I've never built before!) And this car was a must for my NASCAR by the Numbers project, as it's the only #60 I have decals for. This is my first build of Geoff Bodine, who is the winningest Cup driver from my home state. The year 2000, though, would be the last time he attempted a full season, and at that he only ran 12 races in this car, with a best finish of 12th at the Brickyard 400. His 2000 season got off to a horrible start in the Truck race at Daytona, where he somehow managed to live through one of the scariest accidents I've ever seen, and absolutely the scariest where everyone survived. He missed the first 10 races of the season while recovering from the injuries he sustained, and while he raced until 2011, this was the end of the line for him being a full time driver.

Slixx decals and Tamiya black on a Revell kit.

1987 Steve Christman: The first model I've ever completed on my birthday, it would be the start of something amazing- 4 models completed on my birthday! I sort of cheated by saving three that I could have finished at any time, specifically so I COULD finish them on my birthday, needing a total of about an hour to finish them all. The fourth model was a natural completion, something I didn't expect to finish that day.

This is also my first ever completed Salvinos JR kit. They debuted in 2019 and while the 1986-87 Pontiac 2+2 was not the first kit they issued, it was one I was really looking forward to...and when they came out, I jumped in to several builds right away...only for each of them to have problems. Not anything I couldn't fix, obviously, or else this would not appear here, but it was somewhat frustrating. This model was painted three times, for example, and it's not perfect, but it's good enough to complete. This build is the only #62 that it's possible for me to build, so it was absolutely needed for my NASCAR by the Numbers project. Christman would attempt to run for Rookie of the Year in 1987 with this car, but it was not a great season. He only qualified for 20 of the races, with a best finish of 11th at the fall Richmond race. To put it in perspective, of his 20 starts, 10 were DNFs, and his second best career finish was actually a DNF, in 15th at Charlotte. He would never run another NASCAR race, although he did find success in other series. One interesting anecdote- all 20 races were apparently using the same car! Considering 4 of the DNFs were crashes, that's actually really impressive. And now I've replicated that car in scale, using the aforementioned Salvinos JR kit, Tamiya white and bright red (which is not very accurate, but it's supposed to match the decals) and Pattos Place decals. Masking was actually not as hard as it looks.

1996 Johnny Benson: Of the three I saved this one needed the least amount of work. All I had to do was assemble the suspension and do the Sharpie bits, which are the hood and trunk pins, the fuel filler and overflow, and the wheel hubs and lugnuts. When I started my Rookie of the Year project back in 2006, I always knew this would be one of the first cars I did for the project...I just didn't know it would take me 14 years to do it! But it's still the second car I've completed for the project since it became a project. I always liked the Pennzoil cars and had already built Michael Waltrip's, which didn't change all that much...although I could build the 1993/94 or 1995 bodies, but that's besides the point.

I used one of the ProFinish kits, which in retrospect was a mistake- the overall Pontiac body style was the same from 1996-2002, but the side rear windows changed at some point before 2000. The kit has the new shape, while the older kit has the more correct shape. But I doubt anyone would notice if I didn't point it out...the paint is Testors yellow, which I polished- the paint, not clearcoat, it has none- and Carolina Motorsports Graphics decals, which were excellent, and so good in fact that I've actually moved up some other CMG decal cars on the building order, although probably not until 2021.

1980 Buddy Baker: Funny story about this kit...It's one of the Salvinos Oldsmobiles, with their decals, but not the kit the decals came with. The Gray Ghost was actually the first kit they issued, but when I got that kit, I set the decals aside and used my copy of the kit to build Cale Yarborough's First National City car from 1978 with Cady decals. Well, it went poorly, though I could save it...if I could find the hood. When Salvinos JR issued the same Yarborough kit in 2020, I decided to build the Gray Ghost after all. I wasn't intending to build it at all- scared off by the masking- but with my 2020 success rate I grew my confidence and decided that I COULD in fact pull it off...and so I did.

Paint is Tamiya Silver Leaf, which I clearcoated before adding the Tamiya black. The silver part of the car was polished, the black didn't need it. The silver foil decals look really great in hand but don't photograph all that well...but note the reflection.

1991 Dave Marcis: While I knew I would finish the other three on my birthday, this one was a surprise to me! I knew it was coming along nicely but I thought I still had a day or two before completing it. It practically fell together, and I finished it late- hours after the first three, but still before midnight.

This car was run in 1991 Daytona 500 only. Due to the start of Desert Storm, Winston stepped up and put the five branches of the US Military on 5 unsponsored cars. I plan to build all 5 eventually, although 3 of them are very complicated paint schemes. This is actually the second time I've done this body. Way back when I first started, I painted up a body for Dave's Big Apple Market car, but then got a copy of the JNJ decals for the Coast Guard car, and promptly applied them. Then I thought to look at a photo of the real car, and I discovered that the Coast Guard car was darker. The color was totally wrong. It's sat in a box ever since, unsure what I should do about it. The car is totally wrong but the decals layed down well. Now, I built this one, using the significantly better PowerSlide decals, and the correct paint (Tamiya French Blue) making the other body redundant...I did use the original #2 on the windows as a nod to the original build. PowerSlide only included one, when two are needed, and since I never did the windows the original JNJ 2s have been rattling around my decal parts box since circa 2005. A nice nod to my history with this car...

Dave finished 35th, completing only 40 laps before going out with a bad valve, but he still managed to beat two of the other military cars- Buddy Baker placed 37th with an engine failure and Greg Sacks finished last, 42nd, after a crash. (Mickey Gibbs placed 17th and Alan Kulwicki 8th, for the record)

Since I can't work  on models now, I may actually scan some cards...which is not something I've done a lot of lately. But as we get more into the winter months cards will return to the forefront. I actually used cards in some of these models. When I was decaling the Johnny Benson car, I pulled up his 1996 Racer's Choice card, which has a great photo of the car, to use in decal placement. I may spend much of the winter going through my NASCAR cards and pulling the ones that have car photos to scan...I have so many models I want to build, for years I never thought I would be able to. Now, with the skills and confidence I have, I believe I likely WILL be able to build them, and I'm so enthusiastic for the hobby right now, for the first time in more than a decade, I don't want to stop.