It's May! Al Unser Jr. in 1989

May is one of my favorite months. Well, at least the last couple of weeks of May. Indy doesn't really have a month of May anymore. But it's still worth celebrating!

I finished this one up a while ago, but had been saving it. It's Al Unser Jr.'s 1989 Lola Chevy. If you don't know the story, Little Al and Emerson Fittipaldi were battling for the win late in the race. Emmo went low inside of Al in turn 3 with two laps to go, they touched wheels, and Al ended up spinning and hitting the wall. When Fittipaldi came by, Al applauded.

Who says no one remembers who finishes second? I suppose I should do Fittipaldi's car at some point. I have the kit and the decals.
Later, when the Speedway did its renovations to meet NASCAR standards for the Brickyard, that included all new, higher walls around the track. Many of the old wall sections now line the pond in the infield golf course. The turn 3 stretch? Little Al somehow got a hold of that and set it up on his property in Albuquerque. :)

Anyway, standard AMT Lola T-8900 kit with Indycals and Tamiya paint.

Fast Friday: 1978 Tom Sneva PC-6

I realized it has been a while since I actually posted one of my models on a Fast Friday. With Indy practice set to start, it seemed time to remedy that.

 

Here is Tom Sneva’s 1978 Penske PC-6. While not the first over 200 mph (Tom did that the year before in a McLaren), this was the first to complete all four qualifying laps over 200, including a one-lap record of 203.620, good for the pole.

Driving for Roger Penske, Sneva also ran a strong race, but came up just 8 seconds short behind Al Unser, contributing to his “bridesmaid” reputation. Sneva would finish second at Indy three times (1977, 1978, 1980) before finally winning in 1983.

This was built with the venerable AMT PC-6 kit. It’s actually the Bobby Unser version, which carries the No. 1 Sneva had at Indy in 1978. So mostly I was able to use kit decals (believe it or not), but I did create my own SNEVA for the cowling. I did not make all of the corrections really required to make this a good model, such as the bulkhead behind the seat. If memory serves, I used straight-up Testors enamel rattle can paints. I may have used a couple extra contingency decals from other sources - I can't recall!

Space Cadet

I guess I can be a bit of a space cadet at times. At least in terms of focusing on one hobby!

So just in case I needed something different, I was inspired over the weekend to order this collection of US manned space launch vehicles from Squadron. It's an old kit, AMT's Men in Space set, and includes five rockets from the golden age (read: early days) of manned space flight: the Mercury Redstone, Mercury Atlas, Gemini Titan II, Saturn 1B and the massive Saturn V. Even in 1/200 scale, apparently the Saturn V checks in at about 21 inches high.

I also ordered a replacement set of decals from Indycals. If this project goes well, I'm looking at a Hasegawa 1/200 scale shuttle to complete the set.

Part of the inspiration came from plans to visit the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, this coming weekend. We're heading to Florida for a week, and decided to stop to see an old friend (and best man in my wedding) who works at NASA there. We don't have a ton of time, but have scheduled a tour with him.

I think I've just been getting burned out on some other hobby aspects, and just need something different on the table.

Updates as events warrant!

Fast Friday: End of an Era

This isn’t a record for the longest it ever took me to finish a model, but it was a long time. More than two years. I have GOT to pick up the pace!

Earlier this week I finally finished this, A.J. Foyt’s 1964 Indianapolis 500 winning Watson roadster. The basis is the venerable AMT Watson roadster kit. After that, a lot was added and done:

• Lance Sellers’ 1964 Watson conversion set. This supplied the nose, and the main part of the body around the cockpit and the rear, as well as the wheels and tires.
• Indycals decals. Both the main livery and all those dzus fasteners you see. Highly recommended.
• Cockpit rebuild: the black and white checker pattern on the seat is a decal, the seatbelts feature photo etch buckles. I also redid the instrument panel with photoetch gauge bezels.
• Paint I think is Testors pearl white with Tamiya Italian Red.

The 1964 500 was one of mixed emotions. It featured many accidents, including the horrific Sachs-MacDonald crash in the early stages. In the end, the day belonged to Foyt. It was a bittersweet win, though, and marked the end of an era: it was the last time a front-engine car would win the 500.

Fast Friday: Arie Luyendyk 1988 Lola Cosworth

Yes, it's true. This week you got not one, but two Fast Fridays.

Today I present you with a straight up out-of-the-box build of Arie Luyendyk's 1988 Lola Cosworth. Indycals has since done a much better set of decals for this car as it ran at Indy, so I may redo it some day. There's just something about a black race car, no?

AMT kit and decals, and I think it was Testors enamel spray paint. Nothing special, but it looks all right on the shelf.

Fast Friday: "And Mario is Slowing Down..."

Few racing names transcend the sport to resonate with almost anyone on the street. One of those is Mario Andretti.

Indy 500 champion. Formula 1 world champion. Daytona 500 champion. If it has four wheels, Mario has probably been there, won that. But despite all his success and fame, Indianapolis remained somewhat of a fickle beast throughout his career. Time and time again, Mario seemed poise to get that elusive second victory to follow his first in 1969, but something always seemed to go wrong, and Tom Carnegie would belt out that famous announcement once again, "And Mario is slowing down..."

Perhaps Mario had no better chance to win than in 1987. His Lola Chevy was the dominant car all month, and ultimately sat on the pole with a speed of 215.390. Then he dominated the race like few ever have. Through 177 laps, he had led 170 and had a one-lap lead over second place, and a two-lap lead over third place. In fact, there were only 12 cars left in all.

Then, misfortune struck again.

An electrical failure in the fuel metering device, part of the fuel injection system, began flooding the engine with raw fuel. And Mario is slowing down...

He managed to coast back to the pits where his crew replaced a spark plug and wastegate, but despite the tremendous lead, it took too much time and Roberto Guerrero took over the lead. Disaster struck Guerrero shortly after, however, when his engine stalled during a pit stop. That gave the lead to Al Unser Sr., who went on to win his fourth 500 in one of the greatest upsets in race history. His car had been a showcar literally weeks before. More on that in a future installment.

I built this version of Mario's '87 ride a few years ago from the AMT Lola Chevy kit. Painted with Tamiya Italian Red and finished with Indycals.

Fast Friday: 1978 Rick Mears PC-6

Now returning to regularly scheduled Fridays in 2012...

In 1978 a young rookie named Rick Mears qualified for the Indy 500 driving for the Captain, Roger Penske. Perhaps you've now heard of Rick Mears? He went on to win the prestigious event four times.

I'd guess anyone who has ever dabbled much at all in Indy car model building has built one of these old AMT PC-6s at one time or another. It was the first Indy car I ever did as a kid. I think I've done at least five of them over the years now. This one turned out the best, though of course there are still flaws. The main additions were filling in the bulkhead behind the seat, adding skirts and wiring. Painted with Tamiya, decals the always superb Indycals.

Fast Friday: 1975 Bobby Unser Eagle

Here's another that could technically be better, but for what it is didn't turn out half bad.

I like to call these '70s Indy cars winged monsters. They were brutes, and speeds were going up like crazy. In 1975, Bobby Unser piloted this Eagle to his second Indy 500 win.

I built this replica from the old AMT kit, which for the 1970s probably wasn't bad, but is lacking in some detail now. The Bill Jorgensen resin upgrade kit would be more accurate. Still, I forged ahead, and did the best I could with it and am pleased with the outcome. I like how the engine is just out there for the world to see. The paint was simple - Testors sky blue from the little square bottle, though again a Tamiya spray would probably be better. The kit decals are trash, no surprise, so I used the always superb Indycals. The Indycals set is probably designed to fit the Jorgensen kit, so some trimming was necessary here and there, but I think the overall impression works and this one holds a proud spot in the display cabinet.

Fast Friday: 1988 Raul Boesel Lola

I built this one close to ten years ago, and it probably shows. This is the one that got me back into car modelling - I hadn't built one in probably 15 years. Most of that time I spent either painting minis or building other models. I built a lot of 1/72 WWI airplanes. One of the main reasons was the prospect of attempting to lay down a smooth gloss paint job on a car terrified me.

But this one was worth a shot, and it was still before I was married and I was living alone, so what the heck. I probably should have picked a single colored car for the first one! This one was a bit tricky to mask off and paint with three separate colors. I'm sure I would do better now. The other main issue with this one is the mirrors are missing! I distinctly remember taking them out to my "spray booth" (read: a cardboard box in the garage at the time...), but from there I have no idea. I searched and searched, but they never did turn up.

Anyway, there is really nothing special about this, other than it was the first of many Indy car models to come after, and served as a good practice run. The decals are from the Domino's kit, which actually represents a March. However, Boesel ran a Lola at Indy, and so I used a Lola Amway kit. The decals are awful, and I've been tempted to redo this car with decals from Indycals. Standard Testors paints from the square bottle applied with an airbrush.

Fast Friday: 1986 Indy 500 Winner

Before 2011 winds to a close, let's take a look back 25 years in Indy 500 history.

That year was memorable for a number of reasons, not the least of which was it was deemed "The Greatest Spectacle in Raining" after days of rain pushed the race back from its traditional Memorial Day weekend date to the following Saturday. I remember making the return 300 mile trip, and it was as nice a day as you could want for a race. And it ended up a thriller, with Bobby Rahal winning the closest 1-2-3 finish in race history to that point.

This model represents Rahal's winning 1986 March Cosworth. It is based on the AMT '86 March kit based on Al Unser's 1987 winning effort. Not many modifications are necessary to make it a true '86 - fill in the hole on the side of the cowl, add the airscoop at the back, adjust the rear wing strut and make some bigger winglets on the rear wing.

As is usual in model building, not everyone agrees on the color. Some say straight up Tamiya works best for Budweiser red, but I mixed my own from Testors enamel, mostly gloss red, with some dark red thrown in to deepen it just a bit. I'm happy with the result. Decals are of the usual excellent quality delivered by Indycals. One of my favorites!