It is early in the Chase for the Cup, but already Jimmie Johnson has the lead. Can anyone catch him before he extends his run to five consecutive championships? Teams are lined up, from Gene Haas-Tony Stewart to Joe Gibbs Racing and fellow Hendrick Motorsports racers, ready to try to take the lead from the reigning champion. Could Tony Stewart (a co-owner with Gene Haas), the last Cup champion, win another championship? Could Jeff Gordon return to form and win his 5th lifetime Cup?

The Top Six From Denny Hamlin To Gene Haas-Tony Stewart Racing

The top six drivers still have a very strong chance to overtake Jimmie Johnson as the championship season progresses. Kevin Harvick won the regular season as the points leader and is closest to #48. Denny Hamlin is always dangerous and Jeff Gordon has a championship lineage behind him. Tony Stewart caught fire late in the season and propelled Gene Haas-Tony Stewart racing into a good position. Don’t count out All-star race winner Kurt Busch either.

Long Shots

The bottom six drivers are by no means out of contention, Tony Stewart-Gene Haas racing proved that any driver can get hot at any time. Kyle Busch has 3 wins already this year and can easily add to that total. Carl Edwards and Jeff Burton are both within reach of Johnson’s point total and have the time to make up the difference.

When it comes to NASCAR, all it takes is one race to change everything!

My mom thinks that she has to get my opinion on everything. But now it’s getting a little more difficult than just telling her that she should go to this or that dinner party over the phone. She’s redecorating the living room all by herself now that she has an empty nest and lots of time on her hands. But that doesn’t mean that she isn’t asking me to approve everything, just like always.

She wanted to make sure that I would be available to approve things all the time – and be able to do my homework too – so she looked up internet providers by zip code and settled on one that seemed pretty reliable for my new apartment.

I’ve gotten so many e-mails from her about paint swatches that I can’t tell the difference between. If I see one more off white, antique white or linen white shade – which I can’t tell apart – I think I might just scream.But I’m excited to see the end result of the room when I go home for my first visit!

Creating a custom paint job for your new radio controlled cars lexan shell is great fun, I’ll show you how to do this with perfect results every time, no artistic skills required, you don’t need an airbrush or an entire weekend to do it, and you will be amazed at the fantastic results you can get with a little know how.

For the purpose of this article I have selected an old favorite of mine, the flames. The techniques can be applied to any design you can dream up, all you need is a little imagination.

First things first.

The first thing you need to do is clean the shell, use warm water and soap, be sure to rinse all the soap off and let it dry before your continue, it’s critical that the lexan shell is clean or your paint job won’t hold, or will have blemishes once your done.

The second thing you need to do is cut the shell out, we do this first for two reasons:

1. It’s easy to line up the wheels and body posts to the chassis
2. After it’s painted you will scratch the paint while you cut out the shell

Imagination is key

Now that we have the body cleaned and cut out we need to look for natural lines on the body that we can use to keep our design perfectly symmetrical, it’s often difficult to paint over vents and other highly detailed parts of the car so pick your locations wisely.

So after much debate we have decided to More…

Years ago I studied with an amazing painter by the name of Jack Reilly. He taught me how to use an airbrush, and really see color. I studies with Jack for several years, and learned a lot. Eventually Jack left the studio, I took over the studio and the students. I taught surfboard makers, car painters, illustrators, fabric designers, model makers, and special effects guys. I taught a beginning airbrush class, and learned a lot also from my students with all of the different applications they were using.

We used an H1 Paasche airbrush, it being a single action. The single action brushes are very easy to use for beginners. You press a button and that gives you spray, then you use the appreture setting at the tip to give you line/spray width. To start out with, I find it’s a lot easier to work with your paper or canvas hung on a wall, you standing in front of it level. Instead of worrying about learning over and spilling ink or paint out of your airbrush, with the artwork on a wall your body can move an adjust. It’s very important to keep a good stance, loose, and be able to move with fluidity. You are strifing for fluidity with the use of an airbrush, so when you FEEL fluid this helps your work. Bend at the knees a bit, and plant your feet apart even with your shoulders. You will feel steady and in control, a good thing to be while airbrushing.

Look through a magazine for a photograph of folded or draped fabric in a solid color, or shoot a pic More…

It gets pretty boring when you driving down the highway and you see all the same colors of vehicles. Sure they are different makes and styles, but color wise they are all the same and uninteresting. Then every once in a while something really dynamic pulls up beside you. Its one of those cars that has been painted with a custom design. To paint a car is one thing but to custom paint it is a whole new world.

At least when you went to buy your car you had a few more color options then perhaps your grandfather did in his day and age. Now today, not only do you have to decide on color, you need to decide if you want metallic, or rust free or even scratch proof finishes.

When you get down to wanting to paint a car with custom colors you have to really give some thought as to what you want. It isn’t cheap to custom paint a car. The paints are a very high grade poly urethanes.

When it comes time and you want to paint a car and you have decided to have a custom design put on it, then you are going to have to choose which type you want. A few years back the burning flame was the rage. To see a black car with those flames running down the sides was the envy of every avid car lover.

The flames are still very popular but the designs are somewhat different. They cover more of an area.

Another popular design is animals such as the wild mustangs or the flying eagle. Then there are designs that are just abstr More…