JADA ‘69 Dodge Daytona

[Snake45]

Bought this one at Walmart a couple weeks ago. JADAs are traditionally listed as “1/24 scale,” but they’re quite liberal about it, with most of their stuff somewhere in the 1/22 area; their motto seems to be “As Much Metal As We Can Stuff Into Our Standard Box!” With that philosophy, I kinda thought their Dodge Daytona might actually be a real 1/24 for a change, or maybe even 1/25, so I bought it. Well, waddaya know—turns out it’s a good 1/25, at least back to the rear wheels/rear edge of the roof. The trunk/rear quarters area looks to be about 1/4” (6 scale inches) short. Oh well. I’ll make it work.

These pics show the short rear end compared to a 1/25 stock Charger.

That, along with the giant oversized wheels and rubber band tires, convinced me to Snake-Fu this one as a modern-day restomod/pro touring/customized/tribute/clone/street cruiser. You know, something like the stuff that Richard Gas Monkey builds (or watches his crew build as he swills beer).

The NASCAR-type numbers and lettering had to go. This was among the most difficult-to-remove tampowork I’ve ever seen. The Walmart non-acetone nail polish remover would just kind of dissolve it and smear it around instead of removing it cleanly. It took several treatments with the stuff to make the tampo-ing disappear to my satisfaction.

That done, I sanded the tire treads, Silver Sharpied the window trim and door handles, and hit the rear side markers with a red Sharpie. I painted the grille black (though it’s body color on the real cars, but that looked unfinished on the model) along with the backsides of the front fender scoops and the two air vents on the front valence panel. I thought I’d have to paint the front spoiler black, too, but discovered with a google-image search that it’s body color, too. 

I was going to cut a strip of black vinyl tape to wrap around the front where the nosepiece meets the fenders, but I couldn’t find my black tape. Oh well it’ll turn up sooner or later.

I got my money’s worth of fun out of this one, and it looks pretty good on my shelf, at least until I can get around to building a nice plastic kit. Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.

Edited November 27, 2019 by Snake45

[Gramps46]

Looks pretty good Snake.  

[Dave Van]

To bad about that rear deck......pretty easy to see something is wrong. I'd get me one if not.

[57peppershaker]

That looks pretty good Snake. We get the JADA F & F models here in the UK, sometimes can be picked up cheap. Looks like the F & F Daytona is the same as yours bar different paint tho I was never drawn to it until seeing yours.

The F & F Chevelles have ARE style 5 spokes, wonder if a wheel swop would make the Daytona look different / more track inspired ?

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Gramps46 said:

Looks pretty good Snake.  

Thanks Gramps! 

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Dave Van said:

To bad about that rear deck......pretty easy to see something is wrong. I'd get me one if not.

Yeah, and I forgot to mention, it's not only too short back there, it's also way too deep, like they've built it up (or down) for "ground effects." Someday I might chop about 1/4" off the lower body behind the rear wheels, but it'll take a Dremel cuttoff, a hacksaw, and/or a file to gitter done. Too bad that 1/4" can't magically be transformed into length of the deck. Oh well. I display my stuff angled out on the shelf, and the rear end doesn't really show that much anyway. Why not go ahead and get one and just have some fun with it? 

[Gramps46]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Yeah, and I forgot to mention, it's not only too short back there, it's also way too deep, like they've built it up (or down) for "ground effects." Someday I might chop about 1/4" off the lower body behind the rear wheels, but it'll take a Dremel cuttoff, a hacksaw, and/or a file to gitter done. Too bad that 1/4" can't magically be transformed into length of the deck. Oh well. I display my stuff angled out on the shelf, and the rear end doesn't really show that much anyway. Why not go ahead and get one and just have some fun with it? 

Have you thought about first putting some black tape on the bottom edge back there and if it looks better just paint the edge with flat black.  I am sure that is somewhere in  your Snake Fu handbook.

[Snake45]

55 minutes ago, Gramps46 said:

Have you thought about first putting some black tape on the bottom edge back there and if it looks better just paint the edge with flat black.  I am sure that is somewhere in  your Snake Fu handbook.

Interesting idea! Actually I have a '65 Chevelle diecast (Maisto? I forget) that has a "deep" body that I've considered doing that with. On that one the problem is the whole lower body, most notable in the mid-body between the fenders, and cutting it would require re-engineering the entire model. Also thinking about maybe hiding the lower body with side exhausts. 

[Dave Van]

Well I found one of these (no box) for $5 and issues and all bought it. If not for the short deck really not bad.....thanks for posting yours. 

[Snake45]

3 hours ago, Dave Van said:

Well I found one of these (no box) for $5 and issues and all bought it. If not for the short deck really not bad.....thanks for posting yours. 

As I said, don't think about it too much, just have fun with it. 

[57peppershaker]

I guess the interior is stock looking rather than bucket seats out the box Snake ?