StevenGuthmiller

Absolutely not! Just wanted to put it out there because only the photos still exist now. The model itself has been stripped and prepped for a re-do. Steve

Thanks people! I appreciate that fellas! I suppose it's just my way of saying that if I were to do it over, I would do a much better job. You may be interested to know that this particular model has been disassembled and stripped in preparation for a probable upcoming rebuild. I've always wanted to do one of these oddball Mopars in a full detail configuration, and this is the prime candidate for an all out Dodge Dart D-500 build project. Hopefully I'll get on it soon. Steve

I got to digging back into some old photos and decided that I should probably post some of these old builds that I probably have not posted before, and if I have, it was a long time ago. These models are from a far gone era when I was still building minimally, with very few additions and limited detail. This was back when I was pumping them out, one every few weeks to a couple of months, and when I was still honing many of my paint, foil and general detailing skills. Even though these models are far from my best efforts, they are representative of the progression of my modeling skills, and in the end, I suppose they should get some exposure and a little love too. This is a Johan/X-EL 1961 Dodge Dart, and the date on the photos say that they were taken in 2012. Not as far back as I had anticipated, but I'm pretty confident that the model was built some time prior to that. Could have been as much as 10 years earlier. It's become very difficult for me to track time anymore. In any case, it's an old curbside build from a time gone by, so please don't expect much. My photography skills back then were obviously even worse than my building skills. Steve

Just for the color. I use primer and clear right from the can. Steve

If I would have known, I could have sent you several sets. My wife ordered a bunch online to give to co-workers for both of us, but the forecast here is rain all day. Lot of good they'll do us. Steve

Use what you have. You can drive yourself nuts with minutia, but it's not rocket science. If you have Testors acrylic, thin it with water and use that. Steve

Also looks like a pretty rough casting. Lot of pinholes, dimples, etc, along with a warped hood. Steve

Just for future reference, you can install those magnets before paint, fill them with a little putty, sand and paint. That way, they'll still do their job, but they'll be almost entirely invisible. I use these magnets for creating removable hood hinges, installing them in the body and hinges prior to painting, and adding metal strips to the hood. You can see in these photos where the magnets have been circled in blue, and then the finished pieces and model. Steve

Yes, absolutely! Stay away from any solvents that may damage the chrome. Remember, you're only creating a simple "wash". There's absolutely no need to over think it and go out and buy a bunch of unnecessary products, or to nerd out over the thinning question. Thin aqueous acrylics with water, and enamels with mineral spirits, and you'll do just fine. Steve

You know, I've knocked over far more paint bottles, thinner jars, wine glasses, beer bottles, milk jugs, gas cans, etc, etc, etc, than I've ever spilled glue bottles. If I spent all of my time trying to devise "spill proof" solutions for everything that I've ever dumped at one time or another, that's all that I'd be doing. Not quite sure why we have to always go through such contortions for solutions for every simple little problem. Must be something in our modeling DNA, but it sure begins to look like a whole lot of silliness after a while. Steve

That’s the one that I use almost exclusively. Steve

You can use basically anything. This is Testors flat black enamel thinned with mineral spirits. Steve

Thanks guys! Just finishing up the basic layout for a removable air cleaner, as I've done with my most recent projects. Still some refinements to do, and of course some more details need to be added to the intake manifold, but it's beginning to take shape. Still trying to determine if there's an option for an air filter element, or if I'll just go without. I'll have to see if I can dream something up. Steve

Part of it is just the "good old boy" mentality, which I was somewhat aware of from my last visit there some years ago. But the biggest problem was the fact that it was quite obvious that some of the judging was done on pure emotion rather than the overall quality, or complexity of the models. By that I mean that as is the standard practice in any contest, judging is done using a number of factors to determine which models are "the best", whether that be per category, or overall. It appeared to me that the judging (in some cases), was essentially done on a single appearance feature rather than the technical ingenuity required to complete the model to the highest overall quality possible. I never enter a contest with the expectation of winning any awards, but I do expect that the judges will be professional in their approach to picking "The Best" models to receive whatever awards are being given. I get the feeling that the judges in this circumstance were either not aware of what was required to build each model, or were just not very good at judging in general. Forgive me, but I don't think that they really knew what they were looking at. At least I like to think that that was the case. Otherwise, there were more nefarious reasons for some of their decisions. Another turn off came at the end of the show as I was packing up to leave when I heard one of the area club leaders/judges discussing gleefully with a patron about how they "recycled" their awards from year to year, by collecting medals and trophies won by, I assume club members, and reissuing them again at the following year's show. I suppose that you could call that being frugal, but I found the practice of recycling awards to be quite tacky. And, if they were able to collect and recycle awards among club members from year to year, that speaks to the "good old boy" issue that I opened with. Anyway, the whole situation just seemed a bit "seedy" in my estimation. I believe that in the future, I'll just stick with the shows where I know that the organizers, and when applicable, the judges, have the utmost integrity, which is the rule rather than the exception. Steve

Thanks so much fellas! It's your encouragement that keeps me going! Thanks to the generosity of Gerry Paquette, (Exotics_Builder) the conversion of the 4 bbl intake that he was so courteous to send to me, is taking shape as a 2 bbl intake. I'll likely be doing a bit more detail work on it, but it appears that it will do the trick very nicely! Thanks again Gerry! The generosity of many of the members here never ceases to amaze me! Steve