StevenGuthmiller

Ah, well maybe that’s why I’m using garbage to assemble models. I really don’t care about my stuff! 😊 Steve

Mostly because I asked you more than once if you had used the product “specifically” and you never gave me a distinct answer. Steve

Yeah, it’s clear, and no, I don’t take it as a personal affront. Just wanted to be clear on the assessment that something that you’ve never used is garbage. Now I think I’ve got it. 😉 Steve

I wasn’t trying to make it a contest about who has more experience with epoxies. I’m not going to pretend that I know anything that you don’t. I just wanted to know if you’ve ever used JB Weld “Clear Weld” or “Plastic Weld” specifically for model car stuff or not. It’s easier to determine the weight that one should give to a person’s argument if you know what their experience is. Steve

Hey, whatever you say Bill. I’m just trying to make sure that I’ve got everything down. I suppose my question should be, how much 1st hand experience do you have with JB Weld, Plastic Weld, just out of curiosity? Steve

Okay, so I’ve been mistaken? It’s not garbage? I guess I’m just confused. Steve

I suppose you could say that I’m “countering” the insinuation that a material that’s available through a hardware or auto parts store is by default, “In a word, Garbage”, or is “just a compromise”. If it does what it’s supposed to do for our particular purposes, and there’s no evidence of later failure, which I have yet to see, then I’m not sure what makes it a compromise or garbage. I , like yourself, don’t give two sh*ts what product anybody wants to use for whatever purpose, but it does chap my backside just a little bit when because that product happens to not be up to the “standards” of some, that they’re therefore “garbage”. That’s all. Steve

Isn’t there something to be said for ease of use? Everyone keeps saying that the “hardware store” stuff is a compromise, yet they also talk about how finicky the “good” stuff is to deal with. Personally, I’d rather have a little less bond than to have to break out the scales to be certain that the mixture is correct. Again, I have yet to see any compromised bond even once in all of the years that I’ve been using the JB Weld product that I use. I understand that an argument could be made for a better epoxy solution, but before one can be convinced, one has to be shown evidence that what they’re using is inferior for the application that they’re using it for. I remember having a similar discussion on this board some time ago, and if I remember correctly, I put together a video experiment to show what type of bond you will get with the product that I’m using. I’ll have to try to dig it up and post it again. Of course this is not to say that there couldn’t be deterioration of the bond over time, but really......who knows. If anyone has factual evidence of that to show us, rather than just conjecture, I would be quite happy to see it. Steve

You can get a PE set for the ‘68 Charger that includes a HEMI badge. That’s what I used for my Coronet. Steve

I pin small parts as well, but not in every circumstance. Only where I feel that extra strength will be needed for whatever reason, such as door handles, mirrors, antennas, and occasionally some engine parts that may have to endure some stress, (ie, pulleys, etc, where a belt may put extra stress on the parts) Otherwise, I’ve found the epoxy that I use to be far superior in bond to nearly any other glue I’ve used over the years, at least initially. As a matter of fact, I’ve had the occasion arise where I’ve had to take something apart that was assembled with epoxy, and let me tell you, it’s been a real bugger to get them apart in every case! Steve

I understand that you probably have a lot more experience with these kinds of things than I do Bill, without a doubt, but we are just building static models. ”High performance aerospace products” seem to be maybe just a little bit of overkill for holding on a 1/25th scale hubcap. But, as you say, “people can use whatever works for them”. In the end, I can’t tell you what caused Ferby’s problem. All that I can say is that outside of a MEK glue for fusing bare plastic, and Elmer’s for applying embossing powder for carpets, the only other glue I use for all of my assembly jobs, from gluing in engines and chassis, to gluing on window cranks and door lock buttons, is JB Weld “Clear Weld”, and so far, I haven’t had a single issue with adhesion, whether it be 10 days, or 10 years later. I even use it for gluing in glass! That said, anybody who’s reading this thread is probably going to be much better off following Bill’s advice than mine, cause seriously, what the hell do I know? 😁 Steve

Basically, no, I don’t worry much about any of that. I usually use epoxy in the syringes, so I let them do the mixing for me. I do mix the epoxy well, but I never scrape, sand or rough up joints. To this point, I’ve seen no evidence that tells me that I need to, so I don’t. So, at this point, I guess I’ll continue to rely on my luck. Seems to have worked pretty well for me so far. As they say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Maybe all 5 minute epoxies are not created equal? I’m no expert, but thought I’d just add that to the mix. Steve

Guess I’ve been pretty lucky. I’ve got models assembled 10 years ago almost entirely with 5 minute epoxy, and they travel quite often. Can’t remember ever loosing a part on any of them....except for when a trophy tipped over on the back of my ‘65 Fury, and in that case, there were more broken plastic parts than separated joints. In all honesty, I’ve had FAR more problems with parts falling off that were glued on with CA glue. To the point where I almost never use it any more. Steve

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the kind comments! Thank you! Steve

Sad part is, it wasn’t even a Fury. It was a Belvedere. But I suppose “Fury” sounds much more sinister than “Belvedere”. 😊 But, I agree, Christine was the only movies that I’ve ever watched a second time just because I wanted to see the cars. Otherwise, as is often the case with a good number of “car” movies, it wasn’t all that great. There are a lot of movies that I wouldn’t consider car movies that had a lot of great cars in them, but the movie wasn’t just a cheesy story to highlight the cars. One that comes to mind is “Tin Men”. Great movie with a lot of nice Cadillacs, but the cars weren’t central to the story. Steve

Yup. 😋 No major issues, but there’s always plenty to consider any time you’re doing any swaps like this. If I remember correctly, I did have to move the rear suspension slightly forward, and widen the rear stance a little to get it to sit how I wanted it to. I wanted a raised, more aggressive looking stance, so it’s not 100% accurate for factory stock. And yes, I did used the engine bay from the Charger kit. Way better detail that what’s included in the Coronet kit. Steve

The nice thing about having a doorbell cam is that it doesn’t matter if they knock or not. I’m alerted every time someone comes to the door. Probably part of the reason why they don’t knock half the time. They figure that you know that they’re there regardless. Steve

Everything EXCEPT a work ethic. Steve

That’s exactly what they did. All of the mail for 8 homes has been being dumped into a box at the post office for the past week. The women at the desk at the post office had to spend about 10 minutes going through all of that mail to find ours, and all because our mail carrier is a prima donna, or more likely, just doesn’t want to roll down his window because it’s too cold outside. I remember the good old days of “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” Yeah, right! 🙄 Steve

My wife had set up a mail hold for a couple of weeks while we’re on vacation starting on January 24th. Thinking that the USPS had made a mistake and started our hold too early, I went down to the post office today to find out if this was the reason why we hadn’t received any mail for the past week. Upon talking to the post master, I discovered that the reason that we have not been getting our mail had nothing to do with the hold. Our street is equipped with “cluster” mail boxes, and according to the post master, the carrier had not been delivering our mail for the past week because the approach to the mail box was not adequately cleared of snow! I told her that I drive a Honda Civic coupe and have had absolutely zero problems over the past week pulling within 2 feet of the box and checking my mail without exiting the vehicle. She explained that it is up to the discretion of the carrier, and that there is nothing that she can do about it! So, ineptitude or just plain laziness on the part of the carrier, and no recourse for the customer because there’s no accountability by the post master. This coupled with the fact that we routinely receive our neighbor’s mail, and they ours, please tell me why we haven’t yet privatized the USPS. Steve

The same tools that Robert depicted above. I will usually let it dry first, and then lightly dampen a swab with a little mineral spirits and lightly wipe the paint from the high spots. If you get your wash thinned just right, you barely need to do anything. The color will wick right down into the recesses leaving almost nothing to remove from the high spots. Steve

Depends on how "used" you want it to look. I just use the same "oily dark brown" acrylic craft paint wash that I use for anything else that I want to look dirty. Steve

Plain old Testors flat black enamel thinned to wash consistency. Steve

The heat wave has begun! A whopping 9 degrees ABOVE zero!!!! 😁 Steve

I wish! Just part of life in my neck of the woods. Nobody gets the day off because it’s cold. Steve