StevenGuthmiller

Don't worry about it. Get some Ceramcoat acrylic craft paint at your local craft store, (Hobby Lobby carries it). Get some beige that is slightly darker than the body color. Thin it down very slightly with a little water and flow it into the panel lines. The acrylic will cover the black and give you a good looking panel line. any paint that you slop on the surface of the body is no problem either. Let it dry for a half an hour or so and then wipe it off with a lightly dampened cloth. I do all of my panel lines with acrylic craft paint this way. Steve

They are INCREDIBLY rare!!! I don't remember the last time I saw one on ebay, other than the occasionally incredibly expensive promo, and it seems that you see nearly everything on ebay at some point. I was absolutely ecstatic to receive one in a trade a while back!! No Greg, you can't have mine! It will be my next project right after my '65 Fury project. Steve

Then I'm not sure why I have heard some people say that Super Clean won't touch Tamiya paint. If the solution will dissolve the primer like it does Duplicolor, all that's needed is for the Super Clean to be able to get to the primer and the paint will peel off. Steve

I've never had an issue removing the under coat with Super Clean. Steve

Am I alone in my thinking that as you get older you appreciate nothing else like a good burger? 1/2 pound of ground beef and 2 strips of thick cut maple cured bacon cooked on the grille with American cheese, a big slab of raw onion and Famous Dave's "Devil's Spit" BBQ sauce. Along with some fresh watermelon to cool the heat of the sauce. It was delicious!!!! Steve

I did manage to get some time in the shop today, and I got a bunch of parts painted. The chassis parts and exhaust are painted and ready for detail, as are the interior parts. I also got the arm rests and window cranks finished with Alclad chrome. The final piece of the puzzle will be the engine, which I'll get a start on at a later time. The small parts on the jar in the interior parts photo are the arm rest pads. It's also hard to tell from the photos, but the steering wheel and lower half of the dash are the body color minus the clear coat. Steve

Thanks Wayne! That was where I decided that I wanted to go with this one. I have this '65 and a '66 convertible, and I wanted to do one of them a little different. They are such similar designs that I thought that I would be bored with building both of them factory stock. Besides, I needed something to put on the street rod table next year at the NNL North show! Steve

There was never really anything to take over from Chrome Tech. They were merely a middleman who would mount parts and send them out to a plater. In all fairness, that's what most model parts re-platers do, but short of obtaining their plating racks and some information on how to manage things, there's really no business to take over. GT Kustom Khrome was previously owned by Bob Dahl who is now the owner of "Bob's Paint". When he was in charge a couple of years back, the service was beyond reproach and the finish of the chrome was unmatched! He is a terrific guy and I really wish that he would have continued with his plating operation! Since it was taken over by George Hernandez, things have become questionable. I have tried multiple times over the past several months to contact him by e-mail and have never received a response. And now the rumor is that he is either not able, or not willing to keep up and people are either waiting for months for the return of their parts, or are being forgotten about altogether. Granted, this is just what I am hearing, but if true, I don't expect him to be around for long. We sincerely need someone to pick up the baton for us. Steve

Right! Chrome Tech is gone. I hear that LMK is probably going away soon and that wait times are becoming long. I also hear that there are pretty major problems with GT Kustom Khrome. That pretty much leaves us in the wilderness if we want show quality chrome. As far as I'm concerned, no amount of Molotow ink is ever going to replace real chrome.........period!!! I'm glad that I at least had the fore site to get a good dozen or so of my annual's parts re-chromed before the sh*t began to hit the fan! Steve

No problem John. No, I am not on social media of any kind. I have enough going on in my life without it! Steve

I have a bit of an inside scoop on a possible new plater coming on line in the near future. Nothing is set in stone, and I promised that I wouldn't divulge any information yet, but I'm hopeful that he will be the answer to our plating prayers if all works out. Steve

The stance will probably be a little higher, at least in the front, when the model is finished. I really didn't intend for it to have this much of a rake. Steve

I have several of the old AMT annuals from 1958. Pretty much the beginning of the annual model kit era. I have 3 that I have restored. The AMT '58 Ford Fairlane, '58 Pontiac Bonneville and '58 Buick Roadmaster. Steve

Well, originally I had painted that strip black before clear coating the body and was planning on just foiling around it. After trying that approach, I found that it wasn't working as well as I had hoped. So I just masked off the the exposed chrome trim and then ran some flat black down the middle. Then I removed the tape and went over the foil with a Q-tip with a little mineral spirits to clean up any edges. It seems to have worked out pretty well. Steve

Just a few more teaser pics now that the body is fully polished, the vinyl top is complete and some of the trim is foiled. I really wasn't certain how well I was going to like this body style, but now that I see how aggressive it looks with the skirts removed and the right wheels and tires, I'm really starting to like it! Please excuse the usual bad photography! Steve