Richard Petty Dodge Dart

Richard Petty Dodge Dart

    

I found this kit at Michael's one day when I was picking up some canvases for a commission project. As a Mopar guy I couldn't really turn it down, and I haven't built race cars in a while so I thought it would be fun to do one.

I ended up building this kit over about a week, after a very long workweek that left me physically and mentally drained. I just wanted to build a model like I did back when I was a kid - knock it out as quickly as possible, without getting too bogged down in details.

This is a reissue kit from the 70's, with the original tooling so there is not a ton of detail. Fortunately since it's basically just a body shell and roll cage it doesn't need much. One cool feature not often seen even on newer car models is the trunk is molded separately and has a complete interior, with fuel cell and filler neck visible.

They even kept the original box art.

I built the entire cage and suspension at once. Since everything is painted the same color for the most part, there's no need to pre-paint.

 I test fit the wheels just to make sure everything squared up well.

Once the glue had cured, I sprayed the entire cage and floorpan with Petty Blue from a rattlecan. No clearcoat. Two wet coats was all it took.

The body got the same two coats. I also sprayed the hood, wheels and trunk lid at the same time. Please forgive the mess in the background. ;)

All the detail painting was done with Vallejo Acrylics. Most of the interior details were painted black or silver, with a few touches of red.

Undercarriage details were painted black, rust brown and a few shades of silver or steel. I painted the backs of the wheels black so they wouldn't stand out too much.

The engine on this kit is pretty simple, there wasn't much detail to worry about. I did add sparkplug wires and looms just to dress it up a little. The only tough part was the headers - they are molded in multiple pieces and were a little tricky to line up.

Getting the engine into the chassis was tough....with the headers in place it was impossible to put in, so I had to take them off and maneuver the block in without them. Once the engine was in, I managed to do enough gymnastics to reattach the headers. I also mounted the seat and steering wheel and painted the fuel cell.

Once the body was cured, I glued in the glass and applied Bare Metal Foil for the trim. The grilles and spoilers were painted aluminum. The body mounted perfectly to the frame with no adjustments needed. I did not glue the hood or trunk down as I wanted to be able to open them for display.

I did manage to lose ONE piece.....the filler neck for the fuel cell. Fortunately a piece of round sprue was very close to the same diameter and made a good replacement.

Now for the fun part.....decals and dirt!

All of the decals were applied with water and a little bit of Micro Set to help them stick. Other than one decal that tore I had zero issues with them.

 

The most fun part of all though was the dirt.

I used PanPastels and a soft brush to add lots of dust and dirt to the whole car.

I used black for brake dust in the wheels and several shades of brown and ochre for the body and undercarriage. I also put a lot on the tires to dull them down.

I didn't use any reference for this, I just pushed it around until it looked about right. I glued in the exhaust pipes after finishing out the undercarriage.

This was a very fun build, and just the kind of relaxing project I needed. I should try to do these more often! This kit would be a great candidate for superdetailing too....there is a lot of potential if I decide to buy another one. :)