Richard Petty Belvedere - Started!

Modeling Subjects Autos
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Well I started on this kit last night, I already sprayed the body, but I think it looks too dark of a blue. What do you think?

And I’m done with the engine pretty much, except for the wiring. I can’t post a picture of it just yet though my camera battey died, so that’ll be posted later.

As far as the car itself, I’ve researched and hunted and tried to find a style I liked. I saw this same car, all labeled as 1964 Petty, but with different decals, the only ones that were the same were the hood HP, the “Plymouth” on the rear fenders, and the numbers. All the rest had different contengencies, and different decals below the “Plymouth”

I decided to go with the chromeless version, which took lots of sanding and cutting since the chrome was of course molded in the body. It kinda looks right kinda doesn’t, because I think the sand paper I used wasn’t fine enough, and you can still see the rough marks through the paint if you look closely, but I really don’t think its bad considering this is the first kit I’ve ever actually done any body work on. And as far as the decals, the main annoyance I see is that about half the pictures show “400 HP” on the hood and half show “405 HP”, which is what came with this kit.

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Hi! You’re correct about the color being too dark; there’s a thread a few subjects below this thread titled “NASCAR” that shows a Petty blue Intrepid. That’d be the color to shoot for. It’s almost a baby blue. If you have an Autozone, Advance Auto, or even a Walmart around, the auto paint sections have finer sheets of sandpaper (up to 2000 grit) that’ll help take care of the scratch marks, too. You’ve overcome the biggest challenge, removing the chrome (why mine is still in the box after all these years). Thanks for sharing!

Glenn

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I gotta go to walmart anyway tomorrow, so I’ll end up looking for the sandpaper there, and probably some paint too (I already had the blue I used “true blue”, I’m sure they’ll have a nice can of light blue I can pick up)

But my camera is charged now so heres pics of the engine and the interior.

For the engine color, I looked at several old cars with Hemi’s… and then found someone that actually had a picture of a 1964 Hemi from a stock car, so I used it mostly as a paint guide. The orange is the right color, it just looks bright here. I don’t have the wiring done (because I don’t have any wires right now and won’t until sometime next tuesday or so) and I left the air cleaner off because I won’t put it on til I put the body on, but I really like how the engine came out.

And for the interior well that was A LOT harder to paint. I couldn’t find any good reference pics of the actual inside of the car, and even only a couple where you could see the colors of the inside. From the best I could tell though, the roll cage bars were the same color as the body, but everything else looked black to me. I did add the detail to the gauges by hand, I never could get those little tiny decals to fit. The bars are “light blue”, the flash just kinda washed them out, and also made the difference show up between the spray flat black and the brushed flat black where I messed up with the blue, which is something you can’t see without that bright flash.

Now my next big thought is… should the underside be painted the same color as the body, or should it be black?

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the actual color Petty used was called electric blue. I think there is even a paint chip number for it.

gary

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I’ve seen it called “electric blue” in race articles but never seen a can of it anywhere. There was a Ford color in '69-'70 called “Grabber Blue” that was a good match and the lighter Ford Engine Blue is a good match. The later red and blue cars seemed to use a much lighter blue than the earlier all blue cars and the eighties and ninties cars seemed even lighter.

If you can find it, there was a line of colors called “Racing Colors” that had both colors. Here’s my build using that color and even it looks lighter than the one I remember seeing back in '64 due to the bright sunshine. Instead of “Electric Blue”, they should have nicknamed it “Elusive Blue”

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Thanks for more info. I noticed the change over the years too while doing all this research. The odd thing to me is the box for this one looks like a medium~dark blue color, but it does seem to get progressivly lighter. I also have the “racing petty’s” combo kit, which is the red and blue ones from 81 and 82 I beleive, then looking at the newest ones its something completely different haha. I’ll have to check the auto store’s touchup paint to see if they have any.

Yours looks great mitchum, I hope mine looks even half as decent.

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Whoa wingform, I didn’t check to see if you had started or not. Yes, you are too dark right now. The closest thing commercially I’ve found to Petty Blue as it mostly appeared is Tamiya Light Blue. You could still use that here by very lightly shooting some Tamiya white or gray primer there after lightly sanding. This will of course give you the chance to remove some more of your sanding marks. Really, for early Petty cars the old Testors light blue enamel did a fair job, but my photographic references from the book, “Cars of the King” by Tim Bongard and Bill Coulter do show the more bright electric blue on the mid season versions of this car which is what you are going for here with the side chrome removed. This is what the Tamiya color matches. For this version, your wheels should be dark blue too, not too much darker than the color the car is now. So, just do a good bit of fine sanding, prime and use the Tamiya light blue. You’ll also find it very forgiving, glossy and easy to use. May even be acceptable without polishing. But, You’ll need two cans to achieve full coverage too, because…

The chassis, firewall, inner fenders, radiator bulkhead etc. should all be the same color blue, with the suppensions black or semi gloss black. You are fine on the interior I think. The floor boards could have been blue too, but the black was ok for some cars as long as the cage was petty blue.

The hood Horsepower decals are both correct, changed race to race. If you want a Daytona type car, go with the 405’s. Frankly it was all a joke, the factory HP rating was 425 which was also a fallacy, close to 600 was about accurate.

Your engine looks ok, The Hemi orange, regardless what people may tell you is fine, that was as they were, sayeth the King himself.

So, you’re doing fine. The color faux pas on the body actually gives you a better base now for your paint job and will help fill in the scratch marks.

One last thing for now. The Tamiya paint is laquer, generally verboten over enamel if that’s what you have already sprayed. However, if you sand it and lay down your laquer primer in very light coats over it (sneak up on it so to speak) and then spray the color coat you should not get any crazing or lifting of the paint underneath. Tamiya is apparently a very cool, not hot laquer, I’ve done this several times with never a problem.

Dave B.

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I just have one question about the light blue from tamiya. Since the LHS doesn’t carry tamiya paints, I decided to research and find the colors on tamiyas website, but the only problem is they have TWO paints called light blue. XF23 Light Blue and PS3 Light Blue. To me, the PS3 light blue looks closer to the right color, the XF23 is a more sky blue.

I won’t be able to get to the hobby shop that has the good selection until Tuesday or Wednesday, if even that soon because of gas suddenly shooting up, so no big rush in the answer.

I ended up using today to sand down some though with 2000 grit sandpaper and smoothed out the scratches/small dents made from removing the chrome, so at least that part looks better for now. But since so much of it has to be painted these colors, I’ll end up not working on this one again until I get that paint.

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Wouldn’t RP have a website featuring a FAQ or Q&A option about Petty’s particulars?

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wingform 84, I replied today but for some reason my post didn’t go up so I’ll try again. Computer crashed on Friday, trouble with a capital T. We just got Dell to restore things and I had to switch to Firefox since Internet Exporer wouldn’t let me onto the Forum for some reason.

Anyway, you want the color on the right, which is actually P63. That’s the slightly darker one and is a gloss, the light one on the left is a flat. Just remember to put a light primer under. A couple more things about Tamiya paints, they respond very well to the soaking of the can for a few minutes in hot tap water, more than other brands. You do need to have an even primer coat underneath though with no sanded through blotches, theres a bit more show through than with some other brands. And you may think that the spray valve is too heavy or uneven the way it comes out. Just ignore this. It won’t come out fine and fast like with what you look for with Testors. Rest assured, it hits the surface, covers and evens out beautifully. You probably won’t need clear with a solid like this, or even to polish, use your discretion. The metallics I’ve noticed do benefit from a clear coat.

Of course you don’t have to use Tamiya, its just a good match and good paint. Testors Model Master Lacquor System AMC Big Bad Blue also will work well, (Ford Grabber Blue isn’t quite as good unless you are going to do one of the 69 Torinos the King drove). With this paint however, follow the rather strange instructions on the can to the letter. Yes, put down 4 light mist coats to achieve coverage all at once one right after the other, and then withing 2 minutes put down one or two even medium to heavy color or finish coats. Do not take your time, you must follow this or the paint will be soft and tacky, never dry and even worsen with age. Then, you have to put on a clear coat, about 2 medium coats one after the other, at 2 hours after the color coats, no more, no less. In two days it will be rock hard and ready to polish, mask, whatever. Strange but true.

I still recommend Tamiya for your Petty project however. Stay in touch. thanks.

Dave B.