Since I personally hi-jacked my own original thread, I have started this thread for updates. Here are all the parts & pieces ready to be airbrushed. It is supposed to hit 70 degrees with very low humidity, so I need to take advantage. I am spraying Tru-Color bright silver as a base. I have added "Play Doh" to the hubs on trailer and tractor chassis to keep axles normal size. I need to spray today so they can dry for 5-6 days before masking for the black color. I have some bare metal foil that I might use, I shall see. Stay tuned and best wishes for Happy Holidays ! carl
Thanks Deacon, I sprayed the silver base today and it has exposed a lot of filling/sanding work to do on the trailer. Also several little lugs (?) where the print supports were cut off of the cab. Must fix, but I am not going to rush into this build.
As the Dullass Cowboys say "here we go !" Not sure what it means for them but following is my here we go. 1st, I wish all of my TB friends and others, as well, a safe, sane, happy New Year celebration. Momma and I will be at home and my Crown Royal is handy. To the important stuff as I would like some input from y'all as to what you think would look best. 1. This is by no means even close to wrapping up. 2. The black decal I made is printed on computer paper and is taped on. "The Intimidator is shown as it will go on top. 3. I show the cab to show the silver paint that I put on it and the trailer. After some masking it will be airbrushed gloss black. 4. The cabinet that goes on front of trailer is covered with chrome Bare Metal Foil to compare to the silver paint. Suggestion I am looking for : Use the chrome foil on the bottom 1/3 of the trailer and roof OR spray with the bright silver ? BTW, there are red stripes to go on the black/silver line of demarcation. The head-end and rear of trailer will be black. The foil is easy to apply BUT it shows any imperfections on the underside after being burnished. Any and all thoughts/comments are appreciated ! BTW. I have tested the chrome foil by painting 2 different brands of sealer, onto the cabinet shown, with no dulling, still looks good. BE WELL! Carl
Carl, if I saw these in person I might think differently but based on the photo I would go with the silver paint. It’s less shiny but looks much smoother to my eyes and I just like it better.
I'm with Joe on this one Carl, go with the silver paint for the trailer. Going to be cool when you get it done!
I side with the silver paint. The silver strip on Earnhardt’s car and and body of the hauler also were more of a grayish silver than a chromish silver, although still reasonably bright.
Thanks for the responses and suggestions, much appreciated. I am going to airbrush the "silver" color rather than using the foil. I will save the foil for bumpers and such on future builds. I agree with C&O MM and will try mixing some "lettering grey" into the silver and see what I can come up with. Not too concerned about the brightness as I will gloss coat this puppy. Thanks again and happy New Year. Carl
It has been a couple of weeks now since my last post and plea for comments. I did decide to go with the silver airbrushed paint rather than the BMF. Thank you all for your thoughts, that's what TB is great for ! The weather in the USA has sucked since the 1st and today in El Paso we are experiencing our 3rd major dust storm, so bad you can actually stare at the sun so painting is out of the question. Not surprising for an area that only had a tad under 4-1/2" of moisture for the entire 2023. Yesterday our temp was 62* with low humidity so I was able to apply white to the trailer. Here is where I stand as of today: Cab unit is ready for gloss black after a couple more adjustments around windows : The trailer is white and the top 2/3's will remain white in an effort to help the white parts of the decal show better. After the white cures for several days I will mask off the bottom 1/3 and airbrush the silver as well on the top of trailer : The next 2 images are the "test sheets" of the decals. I have printed them on white and clear decal paper and after they dry for a day or 2, I shall seal with a clear coat : The actual decals look great but these images were printed on computer paper. The red stripe will go between the black/silver. Yes, the long black decals are only one decal and will be applied accordingly. The smaller black areas are for the tractor and will be cut out and applied as normal. BTW, all of the logos were downloaded as raster files (in jpg & png extensions) and vectorized to make the decal. I have not decided on painting black on the tail gate or head end as I may just make a decal for them. I need to add cabinet on head end as well as observation deck on rear of top, and airconditioning fans on front of top. I'll post more as I go forward. Thanks for looking !
Teaser : I will be applying decals this week onto trailer then I can work on tractor. Thanks for looking and be well !
Anothet update as of today 01/23/2024. This is what I started with: You can see thhe skin on the roof, I added that all the way around. Here is an "in progress" shot that shows the painting I have done as well as the roof detail, the little white strip on the backside was just to hold the trailer in place for the image: Here is 1 side with the decals added. The black is one decal, the stripe and ads on the bottom are individual decals. I have made clearance lights for the top of the sides and each end piece. I have a lot of touchup and things to do like add the wheels: I have not even started on the tractor, as a matter of fact I ordered a different KW tractor for this rig. Thanks for looking and for your patience! Be well ! ! !
1st off - thanks to all for your "likes", much appreciated and helps keep me going ! Joe: Here is an image of the rig I started making. It is a picture of a toy, not sure if Dale ever had a tractor like this : That woulld make a nice looking "tribute" model but then I found a picture of the actual hauler used in 2001, at the Daytona 500, obviously Dale's last. I like it too because it looks more "big rig" to me : Thank for asking, hope you enjoy, Be well !
Holy ****, that tractor is almost as long as the trailer it's pulling! If you haven't been to the NASCAR HOF in Charlotte, NC, I highly recommend it, and they may have more info on your subject.
