StevenGuthmiller

Of course. As I said, "personally, I think......." Steve

My 2 cents, you need to be very careful about sanding color coats if using a metallic paint. Sanding can "smear" around the metallic particles and leave striations that are only amplified under clear. I will also add that while it's best to get your color coats as smooth and perfect as you can, it's not always going to happen that way, and yes, you can get a great finish over some orange peel with ample clear coats and careful polishing. I don't even worry anymore about getting perfect primer and color coats. A lot of evils can be corrected with clear and polishing. This was a very freeing revelation to me during the course of my modeling career. It's great to be an expert painter and get perfectly smooth substrates on every project, but it's not always in the cards for some of us. Some of us might struggle with that task for most, or all of our modeling careers, to the point that some give up. But it doesn't need to be that way. With some mediocre painting skills, good materials and some elbow grease, anyone can turn what might be viewed as a subpar paint job into a true gem. Personally, I think that unpolished paint can look too shiny anyway, akin to a piece of hard candy. Polishing can add that little extra boost of realism. Anyway, I'll just add this example. This 1960 Merc was painted the same way that I do them all. No sanding between primer coats, (unless there's a little junk to remove) no sanding between color or clear coats, (again, unless there are imperfections) and then just a good polishing job at the end. I look at it from this perspective. Either you can spend your time sanding between every coat of paint, or you can spend that time polishing once at the end. It's really a wash. After final color coats, complete with orange peel. After clear and polishing. Steve

Or go to “Scale Finishes” website. I would be very surprised if the didn’t carry it. Steve

I’ll give it to you, but it’s not an Electra. The Electra actually had a more formal roof line, same as the ‘61 Cadillac coupes. This photo is a ‘61 Buick Invicta. The interior upholstery pattern was unique to the Invicta sport coupe. Steve

Here's a photo that I happened to have on hand. Steve

obviously a Mustang fastback. But I'm not a Mustang guy, so not sure what year. I'll guess 1966. Steve

Minneapolis is still there, but I don't know if you would want to show your face there right now anyway with all of the rioting. Sure would like to see all of you guys at the NNL North show in Bloomington in May, but it's not looking good, is it. Steve

Is Canada still there? Steve

I used to use it many years ago as well, and liked it. Later, when I couldn't find it anymore after my LHS closed, I moved on to other polishes. Never felt any need to return to wax. Steve

Thanks for all of the input guys. I just ordered a set on Amazon that should keep me stocked for some time. Steve

I don't use wax at all. A good liquid polish is all that's needed. Steve

The "Treatment" is just carnauba wax. Any automotive wax with carnauba will do basically the same thing. Steve

"Modelhaus Tires" makes exact replicas of the old Satco whitewalls. #428 Here is an example of a model with the Modelhaus tires. Steve

I need the smallest bits possible. I have plenty of the larger bits, and my vices will accommodate the smallest bits. A set with bits small enough for a single strand of wire for fuel lines, and smaller. Steve

Who can recommend a good set of the smallest pin vice bits? I have a couple of sets, but one doesn't go as small as I need, and the other's smallest bits are about as useful as drilling a hole with a sewing needle! Steve

Well, if it works for you, go for it. Steve

I suppose that you could do it then if you prefer, but then the type of paint you use would have to be considered. I use automotive clear lacquer on my projects. Spraying acrylic lacquer over acrylic craft paint would probably not be advisable. I do the panel lines as one of the final steps before assembly. Steve

In this case, a dark brown wash of acrylic craft paint was flowed into the panel lines and then cleaned up around the edges. That is another recommendation that I can offer. If you do use a wash at the end, it's a good practice to not just wipe the surface clean, but to try to clean at least a little way down into the panel line to expose the door and fender edges a little bit. Not always easy to do depending on the depth of the line, but it will help make the line appear "less heavy". Steve

This question pops up quite frequently. There are a number of ways to tackle the issue. I have tried darkening the panel lines before paint as mentioned above, but have had no luck with this technique, probably due to the fact that I use multiple coats of automotive type lacquers which can be very opaque and will cover up the color in the panel lines very quickly. Deepening the panel lines by scribing is a technique that I will try in the near future, but it will remain to be seen whether it will produce the desired affect with the paint regimen that I use. For quite some time, I have been darkening the panel lines at the final stages of the build with acrylic craft paint with fairly good results. Not the optimum solution I suppose, but it works pretty well in most instances. I agree to an extent that black looks too stark on a lighter colored car, but I believe this has much more to do with the width of the panel line, and less to do with using black to do them. You frequently will hear the argument that black looks out of place, but if you look at the panel lines on the average 1:1 car, you will see nothing but black in the recesses, but the lines are very thin making them look as you would expect. In any event, I usually will use a darker shade of the body color to mitigate the starkness of the panel lines. But again, all panel lines are black. It's just that most models have too wide of a gap between panels for black to look correct. Steve

I see that you are just as surprised as I was to find out that my '65 Fury was on the cover as well as inside, along with my '68 Olds as part of the "dscV-16" contest coverage. Think of it this way. No prizes or remuneration, but you get to see one of your models in print, along with everyone else that buys the magazine. What could be cooler than that! Better pick up a copy! Steve

Looks pretty typical for s good number of automotive customizers that think they have some great flair for automotive design. more often than not, it winds up just looking stupid. Steve

I have to offer my congratulations to forum member Gareth Muldoon, (doorsovdoon) for his full page spread in the "forum finds" section of MCM issue #208 of his 1971 Thunderbird! Great work Gareth, and a hearty congratulations!!! Steve

That’s exactly how I do it. just trim as close to the script as possible. Steve

I’ll bet it’s considerably more than half. ? Steve

Just have to be sure to wash the model well before any additional paint work or decals are applied. Steve