Competition Resins -Trans Am Mustang Conversion Body
By John Jameson
Introduction
You may not be familiar with Competition Resins. Competition Resins is the resin division of Slixx decals. This is the same Slixx that produces a large number of NASCAR aftermarket decal sets. You may not have been aware that Slixx has a larger product line up than just NASCAR decals. In addition to this Mustang resin body they also produce another 30+ resin conversion bodies for mostly funny car applications. . If you haven't checked out their website you really should, there are a LOT more items than just NASCAR decals available.
The conversion set
This resin body is a conversion to a '97-'98 SCCA Trans Am series Mustang car. Kit #CR-1015 retailing for $25.00. The base kit specified by Competition Resins is either the Revell Sunoco Camaro or the Rain-X Camaro, kit numbers 7635 and 7358 respectively. I also imagine that the Hot Wheels Camaro kit #7357 would also be good base kit. All of these kits, as well as, this conversion body are 1/25th scale. This conversion kit contains a resin body that is accompanied by two small sheets of clear acetate for the windows. Not provided with the conversion kit and needed is the actual set of decals. Slixx does offer two different sets that could be used with this body. The Raybestos Mustang of Dorsey Schroeder from the '97 season #1340/12TA or the '97 Valvoline Mustang of Brian Simo #1341/22TA. These decals set retail for $8.00 each.
The resin body is molded in a white almost styrene-like resin that I haven't seen before. There are absolutely no pinholes or flash on the body, again it seems it is almost styrene. The windows on the body are molded in and will need to be scored with a knife to be removed. There are some panel lines molded in but no fuel fillers or indentations for such and these are provided as decals on both of the above mentioned decal sheets.
The windows are provided as flat clear styrene that will need to be sized up and glued in place. From looking at the body and the flat styrene it won't be an easy feat in getting the flat sheet to mold to a curved body. A rear wing will also need to be built from sheet styrene as this is not molded onto the Mustang body.
The Raybestos set of decals and livery will be difficult to do. This livery has a fading or feathering of red to yellow to white near the front wheel arches and this will have to be done with an air brush and LOTS of practice. I haven't attempted one of these fading or blending paint schemes yet, but that was one reason I purchased this resin body and decal set, to learn!
Now you may be asking yourself why a Trans Am Chevrolet Camaro base kit is specified for a Ford Mustang Trans Am racer. This is because in the Trans Am series the cars are basically a cage frame with a Camaro or Mustang 'shell' body. The majority of Trans Am teams utilize a cage frame from Riely and Scott. So really the frame is independent of the shell. The other feature of note is that the Revell Camaro kits actually have a Ford engine supplied. The Trans Am series was designed to keep the cars even and competitive by keeping the equipment very similar and this is eveident when modeling these different cars.
Conclusions
I was very pleased to find this resin body and additional sets of decals to model more SCCA Trans Am cars. I didn't really know it existed until I stumbled upon it on Slixx' web site. The decals look to be of high quality with interesting and attractive liveries. The actual resin body is made of a unique resin that makes it very appealing although I would have liked to have seen a little more detail included in the mold such as fuel fillers, but overall it is a nice little body. It's not a cheap conversion and I wish it was a bit more inexpensive, but at the same time I want to support efforts such as this in hopes we will see more SCCA Trans Am stuff in the future. With a $25.00 base price plus another $8.00 for the decal set and an additional $10 or more for the base kit, you're up to $43.00 before you add any other details or paint.
