Post by landoflogic on May 1, 2023 20:05:57 GMT -5
Hello,
Over the summer I built a model of Butch Hartman's '69 Dodge Charger. This one in particular I modeled after his "win" at Syracuse in 1970. This was one of the quickest builds I'd say I've done. There aren't any race car '69 Charger kits available, so I had to do a lot of modifications and buying after market parts for a preexisting kit. I randomly chose the MPC Dodge Charger 500 kit. Not a great kit, but considering I had purchased a resin stock car body and interior, it didn't need to be. The only parts of the kit I used on this car was the underbody, the engine (probably not accurate but I didn't know where to get a stock car engine), the interior seat, wheel, and dash, and the fire extinguisher. I used an aftermarket roll cage that fit into the car, and after market stock car wheels. The exhaust system was completely removed (the racing exhausts jutted out the sides, not at the back like the street cars) and I replaced it with exhaust pipes I made out of metal rods. I labored over whether the word "special" appeared on both sides of the car, as video from the race clearly shows it, but the photo from the other side during qualifying does not have it. I later found an ad for the race that said qualifying was an hour before the race, and concluded that it would make almost no sense for the team to add the word "special" to both sides of the car an hour before the race, hence it only on one side. Lastly, the contingency decals are rough guesses. I couldn't get a good pic of the car's contingency stickers from the race, so I did the best I could.
As for the real car, I initially was going to do Hartman's '71 championship Charger, but I screwed up with some silver paint trying to paint the door handle covers. I now use Bare Metal Foil... To cover up my error I opted to make the car he won at Syracuse with in 1970. That car had a sponsor right under the handle, and was included in the decal sheet I bought. Hartman won this race in odd fashion. He and Roger McCluskey dueled most of the race, but were caught up in a huge crash on the main straightaway that wiped out most of the field on lap 68. Instead of continuing the race after the cleanup, USAC officials opted to call the race and gave Hartman the win. He walked to victory lane, as his car was totaled.
Over the summer I built a model of Butch Hartman's '69 Dodge Charger. This one in particular I modeled after his "win" at Syracuse in 1970. This was one of the quickest builds I'd say I've done. There aren't any race car '69 Charger kits available, so I had to do a lot of modifications and buying after market parts for a preexisting kit. I randomly chose the MPC Dodge Charger 500 kit. Not a great kit, but considering I had purchased a resin stock car body and interior, it didn't need to be. The only parts of the kit I used on this car was the underbody, the engine (probably not accurate but I didn't know where to get a stock car engine), the interior seat, wheel, and dash, and the fire extinguisher. I used an aftermarket roll cage that fit into the car, and after market stock car wheels. The exhaust system was completely removed (the racing exhausts jutted out the sides, not at the back like the street cars) and I replaced it with exhaust pipes I made out of metal rods. I labored over whether the word "special" appeared on both sides of the car, as video from the race clearly shows it, but the photo from the other side during qualifying does not have it. I later found an ad for the race that said qualifying was an hour before the race, and concluded that it would make almost no sense for the team to add the word "special" to both sides of the car an hour before the race, hence it only on one side. Lastly, the contingency decals are rough guesses. I couldn't get a good pic of the car's contingency stickers from the race, so I did the best I could.
As for the real car, I initially was going to do Hartman's '71 championship Charger, but I screwed up with some silver paint trying to paint the door handle covers. I now use Bare Metal Foil... To cover up my error I opted to make the car he won at Syracuse with in 1970. That car had a sponsor right under the handle, and was included in the decal sheet I bought. Hartman won this race in odd fashion. He and Roger McCluskey dueled most of the race, but were caught up in a huge crash on the main straightaway that wiped out most of the field on lap 68. Instead of continuing the race after the cleanup, USAC officials opted to call the race and gave Hartman the win. He walked to victory lane, as his car was totaled.
