StevenGuthmiller

I would have thought that the Falcons and ‘63 Nova kits would have been huge sellers judging by the apparent interest in the Round 2 Nova wagons and the Moebius ‘62 Novas. Steve

A modified Johan 1962 Olds F-85 tranny. (like the red one above) I did some stuff with the bell housing area, and lengthened the tail shaft. Not perfect, but about as close as I was going to get for my ‘64 Pontiac Grand Prix. Steve

And what he has to say isn’t all that interesting. ? Steve

I kind of like the poverty caps. But I agree. On a convertible........probably not. A hardtop, on the other hand, would give you the “you don’t know it yet, but I’m about to kick your ass” impression with those wheels. ? Steve

Again, the $500.00 is obviously collectors price for someone that wants an original to grace his shelf. That kit will never be built, guaranteed. There are better, or at least equal and much cheaper options for someone who actually builds models. ? Steve

There’s Alclad. ? Steve

Sooo....he made a 12 and a half minute video bitching about how it doesn't bother him that people are dissing him? Watched part 3. Another snooze fest unless you're big into stock cars. Steve

Thanks Steve. Yes, I use embossing powder all of the time. Personally, I have good luck using slightly thinned Elmer's glue for the adhesive. Roger, you're correct that the glue can pool when it's applied, but I've found that the glue will shrink up and look just fine after it has dried. That said, any thing that you care to use for an adhesive should work just fine as long as it stays wet long enough to get the powder applied completely before it begins to dry. My understanding is that you can paint over it with no problem, but I don't do that. I just use an embossing powder that is close to the color of the interior, and I usually have pretty good luck matching colors. On occasion, I have had to mix colors to get the hue that I want, but this only works for doing something like making turquoise from blue and green. I don't think you would have much luck making orange from red and yellow for example. The colors need to be close to each other for mixing to work. This '65 Plymouth interior was achieved by mixing blue and green. The other one came straight from the bottle. Steve

I’ve got another idea for you to try Bob. If it doesn’t work, there’s no harm. Put a little mold putty over the speedo face and make a cast with some clear epoxy. If it works out, you could replace that as well. ? Steve

Sounds simple, but how do you do that? Joseph’s door handles are cast on blocks with a couple of handles per block with the base of the handle molded to the block. The handles then need to be cut from the block at the base. Add a pin to the back and it changes the whole dynamic of the mold. I don’t think that it would be as easy as it sounds. Steve

I should warn people that have not used these door handles that they are very small, extremely thin and not the easiest thing in the world to work with. Luckily, the resin that Joseph uses is very tough and flexible, so they hold up to handling pretty well. They are just large enough on the backside of the button portion to be able to drill and pin which makes them a whole lot easier to install. I used Alclad chrome on them, but I don’t think that Molotow would work very well on the finely engraved detail of these handles. It would be quite easy to bury the detail with something like Molotow and make them look like a chrome lump. Steve

Fireball Modelworks makes extremely nice GM style, early and late B Mopar and GM truck handles. I used the GM style handles on my last couple of builds and was very impressed. Steve

I don't know. But I'm going without on this one. Steve

Looking great Bob!! I'm kind of at that, "make it work, or not" stage with the steering wheel and column I'm working on right now. It would take no extra work whatsoever to install the steering wheel so that it turns, but being as it won't actually steer the wheels, I guess it's kind of pointless, although it's going to be just as easy to do either way. Same thing happened when I made the buddy seat for my Coronet. Really very little more work to make it functional, so why not. Steve

I've done the spring thing a couple of times. They're really not difficult to do. Easier than carburetor return springs anyway! She's looking great Roger!! Steve

Thanks Bob! I think that I have all of the steering column components finished and ready to paint. I kind of wish that I was doing them in a color other than black. They would stand out better. Steve

Got the steering wheel about where I want it, so now it's time to scratch build a steering column. It's probably not easy to see in the photos, but the window in the gear selector is a piece of clear plastic from a vent window wrapped in a piece of thin plastic strip. The selector window is a separate part so that I can add it after paint. Steve

On another note, it might be helpful to know that there are several "USA Oldies" kits that have incorrect interiors or interior parts. For instance, as is widely known, the interior in the '62 Chrysler 300 kit is not a '62 interior, but rather the interior from a 1965 Chrysler 300 promo with a '62 dash. Likewise, as far as incorrect interior parts go, the USA Oldies '64 Cadillac has a correct tub, but the front seats are not correct. The upholstery patterns don't come close to matching between the front and rear seats. There are others as well. Just a little more info to those that might not be aware of these anomalies. Steve

I have it bookmarked on my desktop and it works just fine. Be sure that you're trying the new tire website and not the old Modelhaus site. The old site no longer exists. The new site is, www.modelhaustires.com. Steve

I didn’t mean to insinuate that you have any problems with your paint jobs Peter, I’m only referring to the “why did the plastic craze”, “why did I rub through the paint” and “why can’t I get my paint stripped” type of questions that along with other questions, pop up quite frequently on the forums. I’ve had all of these kinds of problems over the years, which is how I’ve come to use the paint regimen that I use. I just wanted to stress that it is possible to use a lot of paint without the model looking like it’s buried in paint, and that there are some pretty strong advantages that can come from using many coats of paint. Steve

It can be. But then again, age is often the culprit when it comes to brittle plastic. Old kits from other manufacturers can often be brittle as well, and as we know, there are no new Johan kits. ? Steve

The number of coats of paint that you can apply depends a great deal on the paint that you use. As I’ve said repeatedly, (probably ad nauseum to some of you) I routinely use as many as 6 coats of primer, 5 color coats and up to 5 clear coats. I use almost exclusively automotive primer and acrylic lacquer paints and clear, and I think that anyone viewing my builds will recognize that there is no detail hide or other issues commonly associated with heavy paint whatsoever. There are reasons why I use this number of coats of primer, color and clear that I won’t discuss here, but let’s just say that it’s because of problems with painting and finishing that I see others experience often on this forum and others. ? Steve

All Johan kits were manufactured from molds produced prior to the 80s, so like most kits from that era, they are generally simple kits with simplified tub interiors and slab chassis. While the Chassis and interiors are not great, they're really no worse than other kits produced by AMT or MPC in the 60s and 70s. Johan's engines are generally on par with the competition from their era, but where Johan really shines is in the body accuracy department. I think you'll find little argument that Johan produced some of the most accurate bodies ever produced in 1/25th scale back then, and you can make the argument that it still holds true today. Steve

I don’t think it’s so much that some of us were disappointed in the contents of the purchase, but more that we found it a little humorous how they got so excited about some pretty common or mundane items and pretty much just kind of passed over some of the most interesting or rare items. Maybe that was by design? Maybe they didn’t want anybody to notice the stuff that was actually worth something? Or do they just not have a lot of knowledge in that area of the hobby? I have my doubts that the latter is the case, so I suppose it will remain a mystery. Steve

The real answer is......who cares!!? we’re painting model cars. They’re not going to be exposed to any harsh environmental conditions. They will sit for decades on a display shelf or be hermetically sealed in cases for all time, and if they ever are to be rebuilt, the easier the paint is to remove, the better. Use whatever paint you’re comfortable using. Regardless of what type it is, if you do it right and care for your models afterwards, they will very easily outlive you. It’s just a bit humorous to me that we’re having a discussion about what the durability properties of different paints are, and yet a growing number of people have no compunction whatsoever with using a complete durability mystery like Molotow ink on their models. In my opinion, if there was ever a potential for the complete failure of a product, Molotow is it. ? Steve