1994 Budweiser Lola Michigan 500 Winner

[illeagle10]

Back in 2010 I did a WIP of the 1994 Budweiser Lola of Scott Goodyear in which Scott won the 1994 Michigan 500.  I've had this build on the Open Wheel board.  When I came to the Indy Car Modeling board I thought I had brought over most of what I had done.  I did put the built model in the Virtual Museum, but never brought over the WIP.  In addition, lately there has been some chatter concerning the 94/95 Lolas.  This is one kit I wish I wouldn't have built and would've like to have kept it as a master to cast some extra bodies.  I was fortunate to do that with the 95 Lola resin I had.  Hind site is always 20/20!  Since I have been slowly going through and replacing my photo hosting site from Photobucket to Imgur, I thought I'd post the 94 Budweiser Lola WIP on the Indy Car Modeling board.  With that said, here goes!

May 6, 2010 at 7:51pm

I purchased this resin body of a 1994 Lola from Bill Jorgensen some years ago. This is an early rendering of Bill’s work. It was and still is the best game in town for a 1994 Lola in 1/25th scale. As with most of Bill's early renderings not many parts came with the bodies. When I received it, all that was included was the body (as seen here), under-tray, windscreen and decals for Scott Goodyear’s Budweiser Lola. I set about cleaning up the body of excess resin flash and many bubbles (mainly on the bottom of the body). I also had to add the side plates on the rear body tire kick up ramps.

I started going through my spare box to find suitable suspension pieces. The under-tray provided by Bill was quite rough. So, I used the under-tray from a spare AMT Penske. I believe that’s what the resin under-tray was molded from to begin with. I fitted the AMT kit under-tray to the body. I also used the front suspension from the AMT Penske kit . It seemed more suited to the task than the AMT Lola suspension. By using these pieces I had to relocate the locating holes for the front suspension.

I used the wheels and tires from a spare AMT Lola kit. I used Eazy-off oven cleaner to strip the chrome off the wheels and added valve stems using brass rod. I cleaned off the raised Goodyear lettering from the tires and polished the sidewalls smooth.

Continuing to cannibalize my AMT kits, I used the transmission and lower suspension arms from the Lola kit. It is not the correct suspension, but it’ll do. I fashioned a wing support by using Evergreen plastic strip and sanding it to shape. I also used the interior from the AMT Lola kit. I had to sand and shape the interior tub to fit. I also used the buckeye and blank for the fuel filler inlet areas from my spares. I think they came from a cannibalized Revell Reynard kit, as did the pop-off valve. For the upper rear suspension I used white metal A-arms from my spares. They seemed to fit perfectly with the Lola kit hubs. I glued a piece of plastic rod to the hub to fit into the upper A-arm hole.

I used the AMT Lola kit front wings and added correct endplates. I also scratch built the wing fences in front of the side-pods. I used the rear wing from the AMT Lola kit, thinning the width. I scratch built the wing endplates from Evergreen plastic card stock. Once the major pieces were set in place, it was time to take apart and start priming. 

Well that's it for now. I'll report back when I have a little more work done.

Jim

[illeagle10]

May 8, 2010 at 5:43pm
The wheels were painted flat black after good washing, making sure there was no residue was left from the Eazy-off oven cleaner. I used Shabo dry transfers for the Goodyear logos. The wheels were then inserted and glued into the tires. A little trick to pass on, that I learned from good modeling friends, is to rub the flat black with your fingers after the paint is dry. The natural oils in your fingers will give the flat black a somewhat of a satin sheen, giving it a more metal-like finish, than flat black.


Here is the Lola after painting. I used at least 3-4 coast of Testors Model Master Italian Red. It seemed the best match. I know there are many opinions about Testors, but I’ve always had success with Testors paints, I guess from using Testors so much, I know what I'm going to get. I guess that comes from my aircraft modeling experience. It's just a matter of preference for each person. I used a Paache single action air brush cutting the paint about 50/50 with Testors air brush thinner.


A quick polish and a good clear coat of Tamiya Acrylic clear and “ta-da!” No more orange peel!  I like the Tamiya Acrylic because I found it does not yellow as quickly as most clear gloss coats do.  I find that even Future will yellow after time. 


Well, I have some minor detailing work to do before decaling. Be back soon I hope!

[illeagle10]

May 8, 2010 at 11:15pm shunter said:
Excellent finish. Did you polish prior to the clear coat? Is it 2K you have used? And what polishing compund are you using? I have always worried about a polish then clear for a reaction of the two. Looks great.

May 9, 2010 at 12:29pm
You are correct! I have an OOP Millenium 2k polishing kit. Since this was a pretty good paint base to begin with, I only used the last two grits of 8000 and 12000, then the compound. I am always cautious of edges and rounded areas. I ususually hit those areas harder with the paint, so as to not rub through as easy. I have done that already and that's why I usually polish after paint and before gloss. Just in case I need a touch up. You can also wait to polish after you glosscoat, it's just a matter of preference.

I always wiped down the model with a soft damp cloth then a soft dry cloth prior to gloss coat. Making sure there is no fibers, hairs or streaks left. The biggest problems most people have with paints is mixing enamels, laquers and acrylics. What I mean by that is what not to spray on what. Even when it comes to primers. That would take a whole expose' on painting.

Most of the time I get lucky and have no orange peel. I was close with this one. I just wanted others to know that there is a way to overcome problems with paint and not to panic. There are many opinions out there and you have to find out what works for you. That just comes through trial and error as many of us on this site have done.

Jim

[illeagle10]

May 19, 2010 at 5:02pm
Well as you can see, I've been doing a little decaling in between other minor work. I've decaled the interior walls of the driver's area of the car with carbon fiber. I also did the same with the interior walls of the tub. Still some minor work to go on the tub. The hubs, wheel nuts, and housing at the rear of the transmission were painted gunmetal gray. I will next paint the transmission and bell housing aluminum.

[illeagle10]

Jul 17, 2010 at 6:33pm
It's Done! It's Finally Done! Sorry it took so long and my apologies for not getting to all the how to's. I didn't think I'd get'er done before we leave on our mission trip to Haiti.





I'm happy with the outcome. However, I think I might attack this type of kit in a little bit different way next time. Probably won't be posting anything new until the middle of August when we get back.

Jim

[illeagle10]

One draw back for the Jorgensen Resins 1994 Lola is that there is not much of a decal selection out there, which is a shame. Maybe that's why is wasn't such a great seller of Bill Jorgensen. Most likely that is why they're so hard to find. If anyone has one they're looking to part with, please let me know.

Jim

[gks1964]

Like a prayer answered! I needed this post transferred with great detail pic's!!

Jim thanks a lot.

Gerald

[gks1964]

Jim
Might start over with a PC-17.

Gerald

[shunter]

Oops great and nice to see a 94 Lola done. You cannot go wrong with a Bud scheme either.

[illeagle10]

Well I finally finished replacing all of my Photobucket pics with Imgur. It's taken me about 2 weeks to do it!

Jim