Seeing all of the great models pictures posted here recently inspired me to get my airbrush out of mothballs and get back to work. This is my rendition of Jim Rathmann's 1959 Indianapolis 500 car. It's built from the AMT 1963 Parnelli Jones/Willard Battery kit, and was built mostly box stock with a few aftermarket upgrades. The numbers and main sponsor decals are from Fred Cady and the contingency decals are from Indycals. The tires (and their decals) are also from Indycals and are not period correct for the car. The oil tank and injector stacks are from the Model Car Channel Store on eBay. This is my first attempt at one of these kits, and there are a few improvements I plan to make on my next one. I don't really like the looks of the torsion stops and the way they connect to the torsion arms, so I plan to use round stock to replicate the torsion bars in the future. Also, the windscreen that comes with the kit is not to scale, so I purchased one from the Model Car Store that I can't seem to attach with the glues I have onhand. Any advice in that regard is greatly appreciated. I do have a few modifieds in the works too and will post some picks when I'm done.

Great job on the paint match. There are glues that dry clear that I have used that work well. I think testers makes it. Love old roadsters. 

Steve, that is amazing! As a kid I had both the 1963 Jones roadster and 1964 Foyt roadster AMT kits. Unfortunately I never had the skill nor the patience to get very far with either of them. Wish I still had them.

Thanks guys! It was my first attempt at heat staining the headers too. I need a better airbrush to perfect it. 

Fantasic!  At first I though it was one of the Carousel die casts from a few year's ago.  Excellent job!

Nice job Steve.  Although I am into building vintage stock models, I commend your blend of kit and aftermarket parts.  I enjoy that challenge with my model building.

Real nice Steve! 

Steve- Great job!  Your efforts on detail make me want to do better on my models.  BUT, it probably ain't gonna happen.  Scott Ely

for the complements! Having been away from the hobby for so long, I was surprised to find out (in the middle of the build) that Testors was no longer in business. It forced me to research what was out there as an alternative to their enamel paints. I found that Alclad offers a wide variety of laquer paints that are pre-thinned and airbrush ready that I use for most of the metal colors. I still have a few 1 oz. bottles of Testors paints that'll get me through for a little while longer, but eventually, I'll have to start using the Tamiya acrylics. I welcome any advice on other paint options that you guys may be using. 

 Another problem area I've encountered is finding the correct glue/adhesive to use. As I said, this kit was produced in the early 60's and the plastic is not as the same as the styrene kits that are made nowadays. 25 years ago, my go to glues were the different Zap products out there. Unfortunately, they didn't work at all on this kit even when using the accellerator. I wound up using Gorilla Glue applied with a toothpick for most of the build. 

Hi Steve,

I would suggest staying away from Revell enamels.  First of all, the miniature paint cans are a pain in the butt to open.  I used it only once on my model of Bob Banghart's B6 and it came out flat.  Fortunately I saved the paint job with a clear gloss coat.

Take a look at the MCWfinishes.com website.  They have picked up a lot of the colors that Testor's Model Master discontinued.  Costs a little more that the old Model Master but MCW makes a nice products plus they offer some original car colors as well.

Ray

Thanks Ray! I just checked them out and bookmarked the site. Lots of color options to be sure!

Steve

Nicely done Steve!!