Some Tobacco Open Wheelers

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Got a few ‘tobacco conversions’ done recently:

Rebaque

The 1979 Rebaque HR100 was basically a copy of the Lotus 79, constructed for the private Rebaque team and driven by Hector Rebaque. It’s a 1/43 scale Spark model which included the Marlboro decals. As usual from Spark, they went on beautifully, only the helmet visor strip requiring a little softener to wrap around.

Before.
After.

Penske

1994 Penske PC23, Indianapolis 500 winner with Al Unser Jnr. This is a special Mercedes-Benz release of a long obsolete 1/43 scale diecast model from Minichamps. Marlboro decals had to be sourced aftermarket. The existing Penske markings had to be removed first. Several other flaws were also corrected.

Before, with ‘Penske’ decals (which the car did not run)
The model arrived with the pushrods not even in their locating holes.
Stripping the Penske decals. Rear wing was pretty easy, just using a sharp knife to get under the decal and lifting it off. For others on the main body I had to carefully slice the clear carrier film first as the Penske signage was part of a larger decal that had to stay intact on the model.
Scraps of what came off.
Tiny Marlboro identification is supplied for Unser’s helmet. I also got those front pushrods back in their holes.
Marlboro decals on. I also cut down the pop-off valve and painted it black (the thing sticking out the top of the engine cover) plus painted the wheel nuts metallic grey.
Done and ready to go in the cabinet with my other Indy 500 winners.

Ligier

1985 Ligier JS25 (Jacques Laffite), Spark 1/43 scale. Spark provided the ‘E’s to complete the Gitanes signage. The ones for the sidepods were fine, but the ‘E’ for the rear wing was a tad oversize, a problem that Spark has had before when supplying just the missing letters rather than the full logo.

Before.

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