Fireball Roberts 1963 Ford Galaxie

[Pierre Rivard]

This build was completed 6 monts ago and posted on another site but I was unhappy with the photography. kit.I have reworked my setup before posting on this forum, so here it is.

Fireball Robert's 63 Galaxie based on the AMT road car kit. Livery is my best estimate of Fireball's last win at the Augusta 510 (Nov 1963) 
I did not have a nice Starliner chassis so I had to manage with the basic one piece kit chassis. 
Chassis mods: chiseled out molded exhaust and built in dumps with 4mm Evergreen, Removed rear passenger footwell tubs, built fuel tank tub, Added front suspension from spares and extra rear shocks. 
Chassis painted black with some metalizers here and there, brushed in pigments for weathering effects. 
Underhood/engine area dressed up a bit: fabricated Holman Moody oil filter/cooler combo, race style air cleaner & some wiring/blumbing 
Interior: modified seat, IP and door panels. Scratch built roll cage with Evergreen tubes 
Gauges made with craft wire, PS decals and Krystal Klear. Safety belts scratch built from Evergreen and craft wire. 
Body: sanded down all moldings and emblems, built rear close out panel, windshield clips, rear window straps, fuel filler, lamp covers. 
All finishing brush painted: 
Vallejo light gray primer, 3 thin coats, 6-8-12k polished 
Vallejo color coat is my own mix of violet, dark blue and metal medium 
2 step clear process: first 2 coats Tamiya with thinner and retarder, 6-8-12k polished, then one Future coat, decals and a final Future coat. 
Bumpers recoated with Metal Color, dry brushed + washes for weathered effect. 
Excellent ACE decals, 64 livery rearranged to reflect late 63 theme. 
Thank you again to all the collaborators helping with research and advice.

[bbowser]

That's a beauty!  Well worth the time you put in.

[Zippi]

That is such a great looking build.  just love the old race cars.  

[Phildaupho]

Very well built vintage stock car. Well done.

[ChrisR]

Awesome!

[Tom99]

Very nice!

[drodg]

Beautiful job.   

[sflam123]

Spectacular!!  Very well done!

[gks1964]

Great work!!!

[Ace-Garageguy]

Great build. One of my heroes when I was a kid. Nice to see him remembered.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thank you all for the nice feedback. Lots of carving & sanding but happy I really wanted this one done.

I have a 64 Galaxie kit, need to decide which car to do with it. Junior Johnson, Fred Lorenzen, Marvin Panch, Ned Jarrett...so many to choose from.

[TransAmMike]

Excellent build Pierre.  I almost never look at NASCAR builds of the new gen cars but I do like the oldies (real stock cars) .

[Nitrobarry]

Well built! Stance is perfect! Love the color too!

[happy grumpy]

Beautiful build, I like the chassis details and the appropriate background.

Félicitations !

[PappyD340]

Super nice!

[Bainford]

Great looking build. Very nice work on the finish. All round lovely model.

[Pierre Rivard]

Thank you all. Feedback much appreciated!

[bisc63]

Beautiful model of a real Stock Car! In your research, did you find the actual color of Fireball's car - was it some obscure stock color or a custom mix? I love the shade you came up with. Well done.

[Pierre Rivard]

6 hours ago, bisc63 said:

Beautiful model of a real Stock Car! In your research, did you find the actual color of Fireball's car - was it some obscure stock color or a custom mix? I love the shade you came up with. Well done.

Best info I could get was that the color of Fireball's car was 1956 Ford Regency Purple and possibly with a pearl coat on top of it. It's a color that is very sensitive to different lighting conditions so it can look more red or more blue on various pictures. In the end I mixed my own color to match what looked right to my eye.

[Rich Chernosky]

Pierre,  what a beautiful conversion. All the trouble you went to and the changes you made certainly paid off.   Well done...very well done.  Did you know how Fireball Roberts got his nickname ?  He was a baseball pitcher in high school  and his fastball pitch was so fast it was called a "fireball" .

[Pierre Rivard]

7 hours ago, Rich Chernosky said:

Pierre,  what a beautiful conversion. All the trouble you went to and the changes you made certainly paid off.   Well done...very well done.  Did you know how Fireball Roberts got his nickname ?  He was a baseball pitcher in high school  and his fastball pitch was so fast it was called a "fireball" .

Thanks Rich, I really wanted to do this car as an hommage to Nascar's first superstar. The kit was very basic so tons of work was needed to convert it.

Now if I can only find the courage to take on work on a 64 Galaxie (this kit is even more basic) in homage to another pioneer.

[catpack68]

Awesome work!?

[spencer1984]

Very clean work, that looks great!

[1959scudetto]

On 5/18/2022 at 11:19 PM, TransAmMike said:

Excellent build Pierre.  I almost never look at NASCAR builds of the new gen cars but I do like the oldies (real stock cars) .

x 2: Very well done - excellent model!

[Pierre Rivard]

Thank you all. This was a very interesting project considering it started out with a very basic street car kit.