Some great looking stuff so far... I'm almost afraid to post what I got goin' on here...
But I will anyway...
My Racer is of course, the classic 1970s Monogram T-6 Texan (diguised as a Revell kit) and is built pretty much SOB with a few exceptions... I vacuformed a new cowl for it, one that was slightly oversized to increase the airflow past the jugs, which is needed in the climate at Reno, given that the engines will be running full-bore, throttles slammed against the firewall...
Today, it's finish with the cowl mounts (I've got one in there, as you can see. It's just a piece of .030 strip), clean up the trailing and leading edges of the wings & tail, and then it's off to paint...
The panels are the decals that came with the kit, cut close and pressed down hard over the molded-on relief detail, and set it with vinegar. The front seat was given red cushions, detailed with a foil tape set of belts and some PE buckles. The rear seat isn't going to be in it, since I figure that , in race configuration, the seat would be removed to save weight.
I also took out all the "ammo cans" and the racks for them from the rear bulkhead, painted the fire extinguisher a modern red instead of the copper-color of WW2-era extinguishers, and did the framework of the cockpit in black & interior green, with Testor's Silver applied to the interior walls of the fuselage... It brightens it a bit in there so the detail is easier to see, although once the canopy sections are in place, it'll largely disappear..
Once the overall black color scheme is applied, I'll start playing around with some red trim areas, and make the decals for "The Hammer of Hell"..