“From so-so to wow!” Converting a 1:25 promo model into a 1982 Indy 500 Pace Car

RoR Step-by-Step Project PC1982* – “From so-so to wow!” Converting a 1:25 promo model into a 1982 Indy 500 Pace Car

 

Review and Photos by Doug Cole

 

If you’ve followed this site for a while you’ve noticed that I love Indy 500 Pace Car models. I guess you could say it’s my thing. The problem is – they tend to be expensive, so when I decided to get a model of the 1982 version I was seeing the MPC kits going for three figures in sealed condition.

I opted for a partial kit to cut the cost and in my search I noticed quite a few “promo” models of the 1982 Chevy Camaro. They are pretty cheap so I bought one online for $10 and a set of Fred Cady #229 decals for $6. With the help of a $4 aftermarket rooftop light bar accessory and some Ultramarine Blue paint, I was able to build this gorgeous curbside version for about $25 and so can you. You may need some stuff from the parts box but with a little patience you can put one of these on your shelf!

 

 

Fig 001) Begin the conversion by disassembling the promo. Take the two screws out of the chassis toward the front of the car and pull it out to remove it. You can push the headlights out (red circles). Grind off the heat bosses (white rectangles) and remove the interior section and window glass.

Fig 001a, b)  Grind off the heat bosses for the rear taillights here.

 

Fig 002) This pace car had T-tops so use a piece of tin that it has a straight line along the back edge. Match the front of the roof and trim the contour on your template with a pair of scissors. It doesn’t have to be exact because you’ll finish this off with files and sanding. Wrap it around the roof so that it slides back and forth into position to cut the roof out.

 

Fig 003) Use a hotwire, hot hobby blade, scribe or rotary cutter to follow along the template and remove the middle roof section.

 

Fig 005) Use a file to get the rough shape then finish with sandpaper or sanding sticks to finish it off. You’ll need about 3/16^th “for the forward roof line. Be very careful not to put too much pressure on the windshield frame while working on it.

 

Fig 006) Place the window glass into the roof and mark where it needs to be trimmed for the new T-top.

 

Fig 007) Use a rotary cutter to remove the center section. You can get close to where you need it trimmed but finish it off with sanding sticks or pads.

Fig 008) Moving on to the interior use a hobby knife to cut the base of the front seatbacks.

Fig 011) After you’ve gone over it a couple times with a blade they can be sheared off the rest of the way just by pushing them toward the backseats. Once removed, the interior can be painted to match the real pace car design. The base color is already a dark blue so I opted to leave it that color and just paint the trim in silver with some Testors 1146.

 

Fig 012) After the paint has dried you can mock up the fit and then stretch a piece of tape across the sides for a backstop to glue the seats back into place.

Fig 026a) It actually time to start placing decals so take a look at the Fred Cady sheet and locate the gauge decals for the dashboard (red circle).

 

Fig 013) This decal maker uses a on color process and many decals like the gauges are made by placing the white circle decal behind the actual gage decal. After this with circle dries place one of the gauge deals on it. I recommend a decal setting solution to help them conform to the dashboard instrument nacelles.

 

Fig 014) Place two of the Z28 decals on the back of the headrests. They are both off-center right.

 

Fig 015) Now it’s time to borrow the body from the parts kit (MPC #1-0833) to use to make a template for the T-top frame. If you don’t have one email me and I’ll send you a paper version. I used some Evergreen .010” sheet stock and traced around the frame right onto it with a pencil.

 

Fig 016) Here’s what it looks like. I came down the sides at the rear of the C-pillars to the doors to emulate the rubber seals there.

 

Fig 017) After you’ve got good pattern trimmed to fit the contours of the roof line use some liquid adhesive to cement it in place

 

Fig 018) Next cut a short piece of .040 X .060 strip styrene to length to provide the panel divider for the T-top and glue it into place right down the centerline (black stripes).

 

For 020) Prep the body by using some fine grit sand paper to remove any seams. Wash it off in some mild detergent and warm water then prime it (Dupli-Color) with a light gray and spry it with a bright silver body color. For this I used some Testor’s 1246 spray. Give it a few days to dry.

 

Fig 021) Mix-up some detailing “juice” for those black wash areas. I use a mix of three equal parts water, dish soap and black acrylic paint. I used some Sargent Art brand black acrylic paint I found at the craft shop. Apply the black wash and let it dry. Use a damp cloth to remove the excess from the body panels. If it isn’t what you wanted just apply some more black wash and try it again until you get the results you want.

 

Fig 022) After your detailing is done, use some good quality tape (I use the blue 3M Scotch Fine Line #471 automotive tape available at automotive refinishing shops) and tape off the body along the center line and the line that runs just above the bottom of the doors all the way around the model.

 

Fig 023)   Seal off the upper portion of the body with some wide painter’s tape or paper. Make sure there are no gaps or places where the body isn’t sealed off. I used an airbrush here to paint the blue pane using Createx transparent Ultramarine Blue #5107. Form the original car it appears that there is a gradient on that panel that is a little deeper blue at the top than the bottom so I needed a transparent color to try and duplicate that effect.

 

Fig 024) Let the paint dry a couple hours then carefully remove the tape and set it off to fully dry for a few days.

 

Fig 025) Now that the body is safe to handle; use a dark blue highlighter with a chisel tip to shade the fender wells like the original car.

 

Fig 027) After the fender wells are fully dried get out the decal sheet and start applying all the body decals. I started with the hood stripes using some decal setting solution to help them settle in. wipe off any air bubbles with a soft damp cloth or makeup pad.

Fig 028) I used the blue stripes shown here for the accents along the lower line of the blue panel but not the red decals. On most models you won’t see the red lines that go on the top line of the blue panel because it’s nearly impossible to get a straight line decal to go smoothly around the top of the fenders like the real pace car.

 

Fig 029) Here again the single color decal system used by Fred Cady is required. First cut out the whole blue 500 decal including the separated area in the middle and apply it all in one piece to preserve the spacing and let it dry. Next, add the red Indianapolis decal right on top of it and center it in position.

 

Fig 030) At the back end I blackened the valley in the bumper then used a white Jelly Roll pen to highlight the script there.

 

Fig 030a) One decal not included in the FC set is the Camaro hood badge. I felt this was an important feature so I whipped up a replica in a computer “Paint” program using some simple geometric shapes and printed it out on some white decal paper. Simply spray the decal with a little fixative and use some setting solution to get it to adhere to the body feature.

 

Fig 031) As I mentioned above I chose to forgo the red decal accent stripes in favor of some 1/64^th inch red pin striping tape I got from the hobby shop. It takes patience but this really help by making the line between color panels crisp and can be nudged all the way around the fender wells to provide that extra touch that is missing from most models of this Pace Car. I went all the way around then cut it in the wheel wells and glued the ends back on the inside to keep them in place.

 

Fig 032) I used some Testors Turn Signal Amber paint (#2723) here to fill in the recess. Where you see the paint away from the accent line here I touched it up with a brush and nudged that tape down into position and the issue disappeared.

 

Fig 033) Here’s that same front fender shown on the completed body shell. After all the tape was applied I used some DupliColor Ceramic Engine enamel to clear coat the model. After a few days to let it dry I carefully polished the panels with some Meguiar’s Plastx and burnished it with Meguiar’s Cleaner Wax.

 

Fig 035) To get a more realistic looking headlight assembly I painted the headlamps with several layers of white glue. After I had about 4 layers on it I painted them with a coat of Boyd’s Clear enamel for a shine and depth. Just glue them back into place.

 

Fig 036, 036a) Most of these models find that the taillights are left plain red. I taped of the various lenses and added a base coat of silver to help with reflectivity then painted the orange and white colors in order.

 

 

Fig 040) I dip the windows into some Pledge Future to really make them clear.

 

Fig 041) I put them on a couple clips to dry. They seem to dry properly when they lay flat as opposed to vertically.

 

Fig 042 When they have dried carefully add a little 5 minute epoxy glue (I use Bob Smith brand) to the mounting bosses under the hood (red circles) and along the top ridge of the windshield and place the unit into the opening. Glue the back window in. It should nestle right in to its opening so use a little epoxy glue on the forward and trailing edges.

 

Fig 043, 044) Use a little Micro Sol setting solutions and place the black windshield tint decal in the front window. Squeegee out any trapped air bubbles with a soft damp cloth. Next add the Camaro banner lettering decal on top of the tinting.

 

Fig 045) Here’s how the two piece decal goes together.

 

Fig 046) Add the other Camaro logo to the top of the rear glass. I also added a small blue decal to the passenger side that I cut out of the flag decal of the set to emulate the GM engineering sticker on the real cars.

Fig 050 Turning toward the wheels, the stock wheels and tires aren’t too bad. The one thing you need to know is that the come apart with difficulty. I used a flat blade screwdriver between the wheel backs and the chassis frame to pry one wheel off each side. I then put the wheel still attached to the axle on the other side of a large pair of pliers and pulled the axle out of it.

 

Fig 051) Soak the wheels in bleach to strip off the chrome.

 

Fig 052) Spray them with the silver spray and add some black wash made from thinned flat black paint to pick out the detail around the lugs like on the real car. Paint the wheel hubs flat black too.

 

Fig 053) The wheels have a raised outer rim that needs to be painted bright red for accent. I used some red Window Chalk here because of the nice applicator and painted a flat piece of glass to provide a thin coating for the wheel feature. I then placed it on the glass and turned it around a few times to get some of the acrylic paint on the ridge. You need to keep it thin on the glass so it might take a couple applications to get the perfect look and depth of color.

 

Fig 054) Once the ridges are dry sand off the raised letters from the tires and paint the tire face with a clear gloss paint. This is needed to get the decals to adhere to the rubber tires. After they have dried put the tires back on the wheels by inserting the wheel backs from the front of the tires to avoid messing up the red trim ridge. Cut out the decals and apply them to the tires.

Fig 055) Spray them with some clear flat and you’ve got four Goodyear Eagles from your promo car.

Fig 056) Tap the axles back into two of the wheel backs and slide them through the holes in the chassis. Add the other wheels to the open end of the axles and apply a little pressure to squeeze them together. If they wont seat lay the chassis on it side on a table and put a soft block of wood on the upper wheels tapping them into place with a small hammer.
 

Fig 057) The rolling chassis looks good when reassembled.

 

Fig 058) Not too bad when it’s all done.

 

Fig 060) I purchased a light bar set (Model CH17000) from Police Car Models dot Com because it has a very similar shape to the real car but found that it was too wide compared to the original in scale. In 1982 they were just moving toward lightbars from the familiar pace car flags so both appeared on the vehicle.

Fig 061) You’ll need to section this lightbar by removing the center ¾ inch.

 

Fig 062) Carefully use a hot knife or plastic cutter and cut them as accurately as possible as they need to be lines up and glued back together.
 

Fig 063, 064) After you’ve cut the middle section out, sand off the recently cut edges so they are square and will fit together well. Use a slow setting cement so that adjustments can be made and glue the reflector back together first. Then place the reflector into the casing and glue the edges of the casing together.

 

Fig 065) After the assembly is dry use some of the Testors Turn signal Amber to paint the casing and give it a translucent yellow appearance. Finally, add the base back to the bottom. Since the base is too tall, after the whole assembly is dry sand off the bottom of the bracket uprights with a little angle to straighten it out on top of the roof. Test this but making frequent mock-ups.

 

Fig 070)  When doing a mock-up to test fit the chassis/interior to the body I found some interference from the from the tab at the back of the chassis so I trimmed it to the same length as the interior tubs. I also removed some of the flash at the rear from the area of the taillight bosses to ensure a good fit for the wheels in the wheel bays due to chassis position.

 

Fig 071) Separate the interior tub from the chassis and insert it the rear tab in the corresponding slot at the rear bumper and place the front over the locating bosses ( red circles) under the hood. Use some epoxy glue to hold it in place.

 

Fig 080)  Add the front license plate with some slow setting cement to adjust position. I made these on the white decal paper as well and just glued them down without taking them off the backing.

 

Fig 081) Add the rear license plate and taillights.

 

Fig 082) Mock-up the position of the lightbar and use a pencil to mark the bracket location. Have a strong heart and use a steady hand to scratch off some paint to provide an adhesion spot for the bracket. Use some slow setting cement and position the lightbar centrally on the roof.

 

Fig 083) Here’s how she looks: ready for action.

 

Fig 084, 085) The pace car flags are scratch built and I used a little Evergreen tube and rod to put these together. Just bend the tube (3/16^th inch) so that it comes up from the underside of the rear end to about the top of the bumper. Glue a smaller. 1/32^nd inch rod into the top that reaches about the height of the rear window when installed. You can test this with mockups. The larger diameter lower portion is painted flat black and the upper portion is aluminum. You can also notice that after paint I ground a length of the larger tube down at the end to pride a flat paint-free surface to glue to the cars underside. The chassis is not detailed for this build so I glued them right to the fuel tank. Had it been finished off I would have built a bracket around the fuel tank for mounting the tubes.

 

Fig 086) Again I used the computer “Paint” program to provide the flags. The bowtie is simple geometric shapes with a black fill printed on gold paper stock. And the Camaro flags use stock TrueType fonts. It’s close but not exactly the same font that Chevy uses. If you look close you can see the differences.

 

Fig 087) After you cut out the flags put a drop of slow setting glue on the shaft of the flag to keep the paper in place and then smear a light coating of white glue on the inside of a pre-folded flag. Insert the flagpole in the middle leaving just a little of it showing at the top then fold the flag closed around the pole.

 

Fig 088) Eureka – flags are us! The one with the bowtie goes on the driver’s side.

 

Fig 089) Glue them to the fuel tank so they come up on each side of the rear license plate. They had a slight backward rake to them tilting about 15 degrees from the vertical.

 

I had a great time building this replica of the 1982 Chevy Camaro Indy 500 Pace Car and it includes features that are rarely found on 1/25^th scale models of this subject at all for less than the cost of a steak dinner. If you would like to try one and need some advice leave comment on this post and I’ll get back to you soon.

Fig 999)
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