This is the 1996 #11 T-Bird driven by Brett Bodine commemorating Lowe's
50th anniversary. It is a Monogram 1996 kit with the usual body treatments
which you will already know about if you have checked out my other T-Bird
models! Just in case this is your first visit and you started here then
I'll explain it for you! The bodies on these kits were updated for 1996
with a new nose to match the nose now used on the T-Bird but the sides
still have the wrap under sides like older WC cars and current BGN cars
have. This means that you have to make the sides straight (like a slab,
hence the term:"slab sides") and add skirts to the bottom (most of my
models have the sides extended far enough down that the skirts are part of
the new slab sides and just have to be painted (most of the time they are
black) up to where the bottom of the body would be! I also notch out the
skirts for jack posts and exhaust pipes which I make for the T-Birds from
scratch using plastic tubing. These bodies also don't have a long enough
airdam extension in the front so I add a strip of styrene ( same plastic as
models are made of which can be purchased in sheets at most model shops) to
lower the nose!
Decals:
Decals are from Chimneyville Hobbies and are very good (they were made
for the wrap-under body though so in order for them to reach the rear
windows I had to leave them as you see them! I didn't feel like trying to
find some decals materia to match and I didn't want to try to match a paint
sample either!!! As you can see in some of the pictures the decal (clear
part still shows depending on the lighting ... they are definitely not
slixx but they still make this a very nice model!
Painting:
This was another very straight forward painting job. The chassis and
body interior are standard light grey (2 to 1 white and gray) and the
exterior of the body was done with testors gold spray enamel ... I don't
normally use spray cans unless there is a special color (like Petty Blue or
Interstate Green) that I need but testors metallic sprays apply very
smoothly and dry very fast! The gold has a semi-gloss finish when dry so I
sprayed a coat of gloss before applying the decals (decals don't adhere
well to non slick surfaces) I then applied the side stripes and the stripes
between the side windows and the rear glass ... the contingency decals will
overlap the stripes ... and the stripes on the front airdam ...these
required quite a bit of softening (microscale softening solution) to get
them to lay down around the corners of the airdam! Then after the stripes
were set I applied the contingency, number and various sponsor and misc.
decals and allowed them to dry. I then applied a second coat of gloss to
seal the decals! Then I mounted the body on the chassis and installed the
painted and dried clear parts on the body with clear craft glue!
Complete instructions for painting and assembly of chassis, clear
parts, and construction of slab sides can be found at the bottom of the main page!