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Although I’ve never really been a Penske fan, I was
quite pleased when Rick Mears became the third (and so far,
last) driver to score his fourth Indianapolis 500 win in
1991. For one thing, it added a third member to what had
been A.J. Foyt’s exclusive little fraternity (I’m
really not a Foyt fan!) and for another, I’d always
liked the relatively quiet (off track, at least) Mears, who
seemed to prefer to let his driving speak for him. I’d
have been a lot more impressed if I’d known then that
he drove the race with a broken bone in his foot.
Mears’ problems started when he destroyed his primary car in a crash the
day before the first qualifying session. Unknown to anyone but his team and doctors
at Methodist Hospital, he’d broken a small bone in his right foot. The
next day his team lifted him into the backup car (trust Penske to have an equally
good replacement car available) and pushed it to the pits with Rick already in
place. He quickly found that moving his throttle foot was very painful, so he
resorted to the simple tactic of using his left foot to hold the right one— and
the throttle— flat to the floor for the four qualifying laps. The result?
Mears and the Marlboro Penske PC-20 were on the pole for the 1991 Indy 500!
Although he stayed off the foot as much as possible for the next two weeks, it
was still bothering him on race day. Nobody noticed, though, since he already
limped badly after having both legs shattered in a crash several years earlier.
Rick took an immediate lead, but lost it to Mario Andretti a few laps later and
then fell behind Michael Andretti as well. Mario’s usual Indy luck took
care of that threat, but Michael led most of the mid-race laps. By then, Mears’ foot
was really hurting again and he resorted to using his left to hold it down on
the throttle for the last 70 laps or so. "The faster I went, the better
it felt" he said ten years later in a "Racer" interview. "There
was less moving the foot and less time to think about it." He re-took the
lead on lap 182, lost it to Michael on 187, then swept by Andretti the next lap
and pulled away, actually turning his fastest lap of the day on lap 196.
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We
have models of almost all the Indy 500 winners from the postwar
years through
the 1970’s, but relatively few from the 1980’s and ‘90’s.
Formula Models seems to be working hard on the latter decade (along with the
most recent winners) and when I saw their kit of Mears’ 1991 winner (FOR014)
announced in FSW I had to have one. Having built their 1995 and 1996 models,
the Penske kit was pretty much what I expected, with one major exception; the
chrome-plated photo-etched suspension arms. More on that later.
The multi-media kit includes a smooth, clean resin body with separate interior
padding, 37 white-metal castings, 42 brass and 22 chrome-plated photo-etched
pieces, rubber tyres, and miscellaneous parts for a total of 112 components.
Not an entry-level kit by any means, but as it turned out, not especially difficult
either. The large double-sided instruction sheet includes a clear exploded view
with complete painting information, eight detail photos to help with the rear
suspension assembly, numbered drawings of both photo-etch trees, and actual paint
chips for both the Marlboro and Mobil 1 cars. Two chips are included because
the kit contains a complete decal sheet for both Mears’ winning #3 and
Emerson Fittipaldi’s #5 1991 cars and another one for Paul Tracy’s
1992 PC-20. There’s also a second sheet with six colour photos for decal
placement.
I began the preparation process by drilling out all the mounting holes for the
suspension and small bits, which are indicated by small "dimples" in
the surface of the resin body. There wasn’t much cleanup needed, but be
sure to remove the "ragged edges" inside the air inlets and exits and
open up the small scoop on top of the tail. The white-metal parts have very small
mould lines and presented no difficulties at all. I glued the roll hoop to the
body before priming, but also went ahead and attached the front wings. These
have their end plates cast integrally but the tiny "Gurney flaps" are
separate photo-etched strips that are best added during the final stages of construction.
I built up the rear wing subassembly at this point, leaving off the Gurney flap
and photo-etched mounting bracket.
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The
usual soak/scrub/prime process left me with a body (and
appropriate white-metal parts) that was ready to paint— no
putty or filler of any kind was needed anywhere. I simply
block-sanded the body with 3200-grit cloth to get a smooth
primer surface and sprayed it — and
the rear wing— gloss white.
Formula Models includes paper templates to cut masks for the white sections of
the body, and there’s a fluorescent red decal for the segment just forward
of the cockpit. A test-fit of the paper templates convinced me that getting a
single "mask" to fit over the complex body shape and the side air deflectors
didn’t have a high probability of success. I just cut thin strips of Tamiya
masking tape and used that to "outline" the white sections of the body,
and then filled in between those with more pieces of Tamiya tape. I also doubted
that my "Marlboro Red" would exactly match the decal provided, so I
taped the forward section to allow that to be painted, too. There are several "Marlboro
Red" paints available and most, being fluorescent, dry pretty flat so some
clear coats are necessary before the decals can be applied. Don’t forget
to give the rear wing the same number of coats of red as the body so it will
match.
There are LOTS of decals, so several application sessions are necessary, but
they’re crisply printed and very easy to work with. They also respond well
to a mild solvent. You can figure out where they all go from the photos provided,
but the larger photos in the 1991 Indy 500 Yearbook are a lot of help if you
can find one. In between decal applications I built up the interior, wheels,
and got the engine/transaxle ready. I departed from the instructions slightly
by painting the interior and seat semi-gloss black and the baseplate flat black,
with a slightly "greyer" shade for the seat upholstery and steering
wheel rim. I painted the engine/transaxle with steel and a couple of "aluminium" shades
rather than "gunmetal" (a very dark blue-grey shade over here) as called
for, and painted the brake disks silver while I was at it.
Now for the fun part!
The suspension arms have been chrome-plated after the etching
process was completed. This makes them much more realistic than stainless steel
pieces, but it also makes the thin "fold here" lines VERY brittle.
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You can fold them once but I wouldn’t count on a second time. It’s
very important to note that the middle part of the lower arm (just outboard of
the junction) folds up at just less than 45 degrees with the outboard piece then
being folded to the vertical. Remove the tie rods from the upper arms— they’re
attached but that’s just to maintain their position in the tree— before
bending and fitting the upper arm. I also found that it was best to glue the
upper mounting plate (part 39) to the transaxle and glue the lower suspension
arms to that before sandwiching them with the lower plate (part 18). Fitting
the upper and lower arms, tie rods, shock pushrods, half-shafts, and inner rear
wheel plates all together is a challenge— that’s why Formula gives
you eight step-by-step photos. Study the photos, study the exploded drawing,
look at the parts, and then study it all again before applying the first drop
of glue. If I can get them all together, anyone can and I did, and it results
in a highly realistic rear end. Once all the parts are glued together it’s
very sturdy, too. When you’ve built the rear suspension and fitted the
body, the front end is a breeze— just be sure to note that the long pin
on the front disk goes through the photo-etched upright and the white-metal part
that fits behind it.
The rest of the assembly process was quick and easy, as the small bits and the
rear wing all fit well. Formula provides a spare vac-formed windscreen, but it
was easily cut to shape and I didn’t need the spare. I did dip the windscreen
in Future Floor Wax, which got rid of the slight haze on the surface.
My finished model matches the photos in the ‘91 Indy Yearbook from all
angles and the graphics match race-day photos just as well. The chrome-plated
suspension arms really are worth all the careful handling required and look much
better than I could achieve with either stainless steel or polished white-metal
parts. If the dimensions in the Penske Team Marlboro press kit are correct, Formula’s
model is closer to 1/42 scale, but that’s less than 0.1 inch at most and
is no problem as far as I’m concerned. I suspect that variations in just
how the suspension and rear wing are mounted can more than account for the "errors".
All in all, I’m very pleased with my model of Mears fourth Indy winner
and it makes a fine addition to my collection. Of course excellent factory-built
versions are available (FOR014M3) if you don’t feel like tackling the kit.
As for me, after a few deep breaths I’m ready to take on the 1992 winner
now, if you please Formula!
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