This is the 1998 #10 Tide Taurus owned and driven by Ricky Rudd, the model
is a #26 Taurus with no name decals! (With a few from slixx thrown in!)
Painting and decals:
The chassis and body interior are standard light grey. The body exterior
was first airbrushed with gloss white, then when the white was dry I
airbrushed the front two thirds of the body withTestors Model Master
florescent red. When the red was dry I airbrushed the yellow areas
between the red and white! Once all of this was throughly dry I masked
and painted the red on the rear of the car (Which I should have done when I
painted the forward part but well ... I forgot!!! ... I got to looking at
the body and thought something ain't right just before I was about to put
the gloss on it before applying the decals)once this was finished and dry I
then put a minimum coat of clear gloss over the whole body (the red dries
flat so I needed to gloss it in order to have a suitable surface for the
decals!). Now on to the decals! On this model I first applied the hood
decal ... this was a pain!!! I made sure I taped the hood down tight to
the body first. Then I applied the decal. I then waited for it to set
enough to cut around the hood along the separation line which was also a
pain! I then put a little decal softener on the pieces on the fenders
nose and panel behind the hood so that I could make sure they were all in
the proper position because some of the gaps between the hood and body were
wider than others. I also slit the hood portion of the decal in places to
allow for it to better lay down on the hood (softener just wasn't enough!)
Once I finally finished the hood decal I went on as I normally do. I
applied the roof number first and then the trunk decal. I then applied the
rear quarter Tide decals and the fender contingency decals. I then applied
the door number decals the headlight and grille decals, the front fender
(nose) contingency and remaining sponsor and misc. decals for the sides of
the body. Lastly I applied the Tide rear panel, Nascar 50th anniversary
and little #12 decals (front and rear). I then (after decals were dry)
applied a coat of gloss (testors high-gloss enamel overcoat) to the entire
body! I then masked and painted the clear parts. When the body was dry I
applied the skirt decals (made from black microscale decal stock) mounted
the body on the chassis, installed the clear parts and painted the
hood/trunk pins and fuel filler opening. Oh yes, one more thing...I used
black decal stock to make the black for the rear spoiler also! On this
car only the front of the spoiler is black! The rear of the car is all
red! (Actually it is more of a florescent orange but just a little bit
darker). All in all a very flashy model of one of the most flashy looking
cars in Nascar!!!
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!