StevenGuthmiller

Wow, you mean you have to assemble it? That is lousy!!! ? Steve

There are a couple of much simpler ways of dealing with this sort of issue. first is to treat the door locks and other small features as you would a script and use the “foil under paint” technique. cover the feature with foil, paint the body and then remove the paint from the door lock, or whatever, with some thinner and a small conical swab or tooth pick. The other even easier solution is to use PE door locks. Steve

? This is a little like the technique I use for vinyl tops, but in this circumstance, a little more for the variation in sheen rather than texture. Steve

Something simple, but I decided to try splattering a little clear from a distance over my flat black Hemi valve covers to try to give them a little bit of that "speckled" or "wrinkle" finish. Doesn't look too bad, but I might try to add one more thin coat of flat now and give them the old "finger rub" treatment. Steve

I try to get at least a couple of hours per week at the bench, usually stretched out to many short jaunts. I would love to do more, but there are more often than not too many other things that take precedence over my modeling time. Steve

I believe that all of the main parts for the Hemi are cleaned up and ready for paint. I'm looking forward to finally starting to sling some color around on this project! While waiting for the parts to air dry, I whipped up a fuel splitter and fuel filter. Steve

The boys did a pretty nice job! Steve

That's a pretty car Helmut. Steve

Yeah, there doesn’t seem to be much about the conception of this thread that was constructive at all. Steve

Parchment was a pretty popular interior color back in the later ‘60s, and as Oldcarfan47 stated, it wasn’t pure white. As a matter of fact, in some cases, there were other variables of white available in the same vehicle. For instance, my 1:1 ‘69 Pontiac Grand Prix was available with either parchment, or pearl, which was a very light bone color like parchment, but with pearl metallic in it. Steve

Thanks guys. Just living the dream. ? Steve

My school's "driver's ed car" was a red station wagon. I have no memory of what it was, but I really did the majority of my learning in my father's second car. A tan 1968 Buick Skylark 4 door sedan. Steve

Very cool!! I’m especially happy to see that you kept the characteristics of the ‘60 Dodge intact. just goes to show that a very nice and tasteful custom can be accomplished without destroying the character of the original car. terrific work!! Steve

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you Steve. Those types of cars have never held any interest for me at all. An occasional mild custom or day 2 build is likely as wild as you're ever going to see from me. I'm more interested in the "history" aspects of a particular car than I am turning one into a daily driver or race car. A good portion of my enjoyment of the hobby comes from researching the cars that I'm building and trying to keep them as close to what the manufacturer intended as possible. Steve

Looks like a worthwhile project to me Bob. I never object to cutting up certain aspects of a rare kit as long as the character of the original car remains intact. Removing a top to turn it into a convertible is completely acceptable in my opinion. It only makes me shudder when the would be customizers begin altering the car to the point of becoming unrecognizable. I think you're off to a terrific start!! I'm curious about a couple of things. First, I was wondering about the hubcaps that you have pictured. They appear to be the Modelhaus '59 Dodge pieces and not the '60 Dart. If you're interested, I have a pair of original Johan '60 Dart caps. I know, a pair doesn't help much, but you could cast them, or keep them for seed in the hopes that they will reproduce. Second, I'll be very interested to see what your solution will be for converting the Impala interior into the Dodge. That's going to take some consideration, but something makes me think that some signature Bob Spedding deluxe decals will be coming into play. For the first time in some time, I'm very excited to see the progress of someone's project. Keep 'em coming! Steve

Sat down today and moved that spring bracket and then began the task of figuring out how I want to do the linkages. I think this approach should work okay. Just using pieces of small plastic rod and stretched sprue. Steve

Still wouldn't go so far as to call it a lousy kit. There are virtually dozens of newly tooled kits that have proportion issues as well, but I haven't seen a lot of people proclaiming that the new '68 Chevelle is a lousy kit because of the rear quarters and bumper fitment. Just another issue that you might want to address......or not. Steve

True, but it could have been brought up with a little more tact. Maybe "What do you think of this kit?" or "I was disappointed" might have sounded a little less abrupt. I think the OP might find that on a forum such as this, you'll catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. Steve

Someone must have told him that some of us use stretched sprue for parts! Steve

There's nothing wrong with the original AMT '57 Chevy kit. This kit has probably been built, often very successfully I might add, at least once, by every car modeler who's ever touched a tube of glue. Probably millions of them since their original introduction I've built them in the past, and while they might not be up to the standards of the more modern kits, to say it's lousy is a gross over statement. Steve

You're probably right. I positioned the carb to check again and it would probably be okay where it is, but it won't be too difficult to move it out a little. Steve

Finished up the carburetor return brackets. Steve

I felt mildly challenged when a member of a Facebook group suggested that being as I had created the "kick down" bracket along with the throttle linkage parts, why not continue all the way to the transmission. Okay, I'm up for a challenge. Steve

A little more test fitting to be certain that the new parts will fit. I think I've decided to go with an automatic transmission on this project. I think I'm going to add an automatic on the column with the center arm rest in place of the console......just to be different. Steve