NASCAR Mobil 1 Taurus by Mike Sells

(Never Volunteer!)

(It seemed like such a simple thing: In return for acquiring one of the Scalextric NASCAR Taurus for me, I told Russ Kennedy I would paint and decal one in Jeremy Mayfield's colors for him when I did my own. No body work, no chassis detailing, just a straightforward paint change: NOT! Jobs for other people always seem to be trouble and this was no exception.)

The Mobil 1 Taurus is a beautiful and striking paint job; combining the traditional winged Mobil horse and the slick, sleekly modern (and entirely fictitious) current Ford racer. The Mobil 1 colors are not among the Scalextric offerings but that's where Bruce Paterson in Australia comes in. He produces computer-generated markings for many strange and different cars, including most of the necessary Mayfield markings, in three scales: HO, 1/32 and 1/24. They are designed to be used on slot racers but are accurate and crisp enough to use on shelf models as well.

Begin by disassembling the Scalextric racer and stripping the original paint. When the body is totally clean, prime with your favorite white primer. Paint the nose gloss white, let dry, then mask the entire white portion of the body, inside and out, and paint the balance a dark metallic blue.

(Problem no. 1: the first paint job went well enough until I pulled the masking tape and with it some of the dark blue paint. It seems that the auto lacquer I was using didn't stick to the gloss white paint nearly as well as to the white primer. Back in the kitty litter tub to be stripped for attempt 2. After priming, it was sitting on the paint stand when it started to rain. And it rained. And it rained. But it stopped raining and dried out enough to get the white paint on the nose and then it rained again. And again. I seriously thought at one point we were going to need an Ark but when it quit, briefly, I added the blue, fogged as it was because of the still high humidity.)

There is also a white strip across the tail between the spoiler and the rear bumper but I chose to create that with white decal film to reduce the masking - your choice.

The interior plate is as original but the Scalextric roll bar was replaced with the top half of the roll cage from a Monogram NASCAR shelf model kit. Some additional holes have to be drilled in the plate and modifications made to the cage for fit but there are a lot more bars in there than provided by Scalextric which increases the realism. The Monogram (or AMT, for that matter) bodies would fit the Scalextric chassis with almost no effort if one wanted to create a Chevy, Pontiac or T-bird NASCAR machine. The interior and cage are painted bright red and the seat and window netting flat black. The driver was left alone because I have no idea what color Mr. Mayfield's driving suit or helmet is. I cheated on the inside of the roof, painting the top of the glass insert red rather than the roof itself which hides the white and blue overspray very easily. The wheels should be black, not red, but this chassis is from the Mark Martin #6 car and is not dedicated to the Mayfield car.

The decal installation is very straightforward; I found enough photos in various magazines and on the Internet to have an excellent idea of what the car should look like. Note that the markings can vary somewhat from race to race: what you see here is a "typical" #12, not a dead accurate car from a specific race.

(Problem Number 2: the original set of decals from Bruce fit the body poorly - not his fault as he reduced the original set I sent him faithfully - but the numbers were all too small. Emailing him with the revised sizes, I waited another week or so until the new markings arrived from Australia.)

Trim the decals as closely as possible, use warm water to soften, and take your time! I start with the largest chunks of decal first, getting them in the proper position and letting them dry before placing the smaller ones. The horses on the rear fenders have to be trimmed to fit the wheel opening and I did that after the decal had set using a very sharp hobby knife, applying more setting fluid along the cut edge. Make sure all of the setting solution has been cleaned off the body before applying the final clear coats to seal everything down. Most of Bruce's sheets contain enough decals for multiple cars but I strongly suggest two layers of decals, one over the other, for the white numbers. The film is thin enough that the second layer is unnoticeable; one layer just isn't quite white enough over the dark blue paint. Make sure to let the first layer set completely before applying the second. When the body has cured and been clear coated; re-assemble, load the car in the transporter and head for the race track!

(Right: so now the body has the decals in place and I have put on the first clear coat. Several models are ready at the same time and in removing the AC LeMans Cobra from the booth, the Taurus falls off the stand into the dust on the floor. Not one of mine, you notice, but the customer car. Praying fervently, I scoop it up, set it aside to dry and go upstairs for a stiff dose of liquid attitude adjuster. Several days later, after the trauma - both kinds - has worn off, it's time to inspect the body for damages and it's not good: no damage to the body or paint but there is quite a bit of dust imbedded in the clear coat here and there. Mineral spirits gently applied with a cotton swap in selected spots removes much of the dust (hooray!) but also the clear enamel and the decal ink - bummer! Some of the specs must be polished off with 8000 grit paper and then re-touched by spraying the original paint into the cap and applying with a brush. The third set of new decals were applied and clear coating proceeded once more to a more successful conclusion. The "Project from Hell" has been shipped to it's new owner but I may never do one for myself; just can't seem to get interested - maybe the Cheerios Taurus instead? Russ, this is the real story of why it took so long.)

There are a huge number of current NASCAR markings available in 1/24 scale, many of which would lend themselves to color copier reduction: markings for white or light colored cars work the best. There have even been some produced in 1/32 scale but they are hard to find. Bruce can be reached at www.zip.com.au/~patto/index.html and one can only hope he will produce more NASCAR markings in the future. There is no particular reason these beautiful markings should be restricted to the big stockcars either: I can visualize a Viper or even Porsche GT1 in this color scheme very easily!