StevenGuthmiller

I don't know if MCW's policy has changed recently, but in the past, they would custom mix any color that you would like, but required that you purchase 2 one oz. bottles to do so. That means that you will pay $15.00 for 2 oz. A 2 oz. bottle from Scale Finishes will cost you $9.99. Also keep in mind that MCW requires a minimum order of $10.00 to ship, so even if you wanted to purchase 1 jar for $7.50, you will be obligated to purchase more. Plus the shipping costs for orders under $25.00 is $11.00. Shipping for a single 2 oz. jar of Scale Finishes paint is $5.99, so there are some cost considerations if you're on a budget. Either way, I always order at least a half a dozen colors regardless of who I'm ordering from. It's more cost effective, and I always plan on painting another model at some point. You just need to think ahead. Steve

It's quite a bit of work, but just my 2 cents worth, I would sand it. That's how I eliminated the vinyl top detail on my '64 Grand Prix. Steve

No guesses on this one? It's from "Django Unchained". If you haven't seen the movie, at least check out the "Django Unchained KKK Horse Raid Scene" on YouTube. It's hilarious! Steve

Forest Gump? Steve

Well, this is a pretty subjective question. But from your answers, I'm guessing that you are referring to just our favorite kits overall, and not necessarily what we might think of as "the best" kits. In my case, the list would include what I consider my "holy grail" kits. The ones that that I am most excited to build. almost all I have already built, and one I have left to build, but the list would look something like this. #1. Johan 1966 Chrysler 300 (Done) #2. Johan 1961 Plymouth Fury (Done) #3. AMT 1967 Ford Galaxie 500 XL (Done) #4. Johan 1965 Plymouth Fury III (Done) #5. MPC 1967 Pontiac Bonneville (Done) #6. Johan 1961 Chrysler New Yorker (Done) #7. Johan 1960 Dodge Dart Phoenix (Done) #8. Johan 1960 Oldsmobile 98 (Done) #9. MPC 1966 Dodge Monaco (Still needs to be built) #10. AMT 1961 Buick Invicta (Done) Steve

As far as the size of metallic particles in Scale Finishes paint is concerned, my assertion would be that it's not quite s good as MCW, but better than most automotive or hobby paints. Both of these models wear Scale Finishes "base coat" paints with Duplicolor acrylic lacquer clear coat. Steve

I'm not sure about what the formulation of the paint is, but I have always been of the impression that the "Base coat" paints were "acrylic lacquers". Regardless of what they are made of, the base coat has the same basic qualities of an automotive paint. They spray on extremely well and very thin, dry almost instantly, and do require a clear coat. I have only used the enamel engine paint that they offer, and it worked well, but I have had peers who have used the enamels tell me that they take a very long time to dry, or cure. As a matter of fact, about a year ago, I had a very respected fellow builder offer me several bottles of Scale Finishes enamel for free, because he said that he won't use it again because of drying issues. Just something to think about. Steve

I've been using this method for years and believe me, short of PE parts, (which are available for the '58 Edsel by the way) there is no better better way to finish scripts. I use the same basic method as Bill. With paint of any kind, (Molotow included) you have to be reliant on a steady hand. (almost impossibly steady in many cases) With the "foil under paint" technique, not only do you not need to be completely steady, but you will end up with perfect scripts every time once you get the hang of it, regardless of how faint the lettering. My '64 Pontiac Grand Prix had very faint scripts, but as you can see, they turned out beautifully. Steve

A 2oz. jar of Scale Finishes "Saturn Gold" lacquer paint will cost you $9.99 not $18-26, and you're not going to have to guess and mix, and guess and mix, and still end up with a color that doesn't match your expectations, and 2oz. should be plenty to paint at least 2 complete models. A lot depends on how scrupulous you are about the final color match. Plus there's the fact that generally, acrylics are tougher to get a great finish with, at least in my experience. I understand your desire to work with acrylics, but keep in mind that although acrylic paints are basically non-toxic when applied with a brush, it becomes an entirely different situation when atomized through an air brush. Granted, a lacquer paint has a much stronger odor, but too often, because people are under the impression that acrylics are completely non-toxic, they mistakenly feel that they don't need to wear protection when spraying it. If it's not air, it's not safe to breath, so whether you're spraying enamels, lacquers or acrylics, it's just as important to wear a respirator. In a nutshell, if it's the smell that bothers you, by all means, use acrylics. If you are worried about inhaling paint fumes, use a brush. Steve

That is really sharp, and exceptionally well done! Nice work Mark!! Steve

I agree to an extent. I pretty much always mix my own colors for interiors and the like, but I'm a real stickler for accuracy for body colors. Being an almost exclusively "factory stock" builder, I like to get the body color as close to correct as possible, and I figure with Scale Finishes and MCW using factory formulations, I'm not going to get it any closer by eye. Especially when you look at a particular color on ten cars on line, and get basically ten different shades! Steve

Okay, I'll bite. 1. Subject matter is everything! If I'm not completely excited about the subject, the build will ultimately become a chore. 2. Box art is completely irrelevant to me. 3. Brand of kit is irrelevant as well. 4. I have several "favorite" procedures in the building process. I like foiling and I enjoy the painting process. I also enjoy to a large extent the process of scratch building and modifying modern kit parts to fit into vintage body shells. Nothing is more rewarding to me than seeing a bunch of parts come together seamlessly that were never designed to fit together. I don't like polishing paint, although I feel it's a must on every build, and chassis work kind of bores the hell out of me. 5. Parts count is also not a consideration for me. 6. Type of kit matters little to me as well. I'm not afraid to fully detail a curbside kit, or turn a highly detailed kit into a curbside for that matter, although I don't remember ever doing that. 7. Options really don't matter to me either. I suppose it's nice to have some optional stuff, but if the kit doesn't have something that I want, I'll find it somewhere else. 8. The only suggestion that I would make is to be certain that the body proportions are absolutely correct Far too often, our expectations are dashed when a highly anticipated kit finally arrives and is found to be a misshapen mess. As far as 7 cars that I would like to have goes, I really can't answer that. I love so many cars and my tastes change so frequently that I really couldn't be definitive. But you can rest assured that they would all be American cars built between 1949 and 1973! Steve

You can really make it easy on yourself and take Dave G's advice and just order a bottle from Scale Finishes. There is no possible way to go wrong with their product. Steve

Granted, pearl paints were not available in 1970, but a pearl paint will give you a more "in scale" look in 1/25th scale applications than many metallics will, so in the case of model cars, pearls or "mica" colors can often be more desirable than metallics. Steve

Very nice John!! You know it's interesting, but just this evening I was digging through parts boxes looking for wheels, and I was amazed at how common these Lancer style caps must have been as custom options in some of the old annual kits. They just seemed to keep popping up as I dug! Steve

With figures, washes and highlighting are really crucial to create realism. I am by no means an expert on painting figures, but I think that I did pretty well looking back on it now. These are a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons figures that I painted more than 35 years ago. They're pretty beat up and dirty, and the pewter is showing through in some places, but you can see from these pics how I depended heavily on washes and highlighting. Just to put them in scale, the women "warriors" in the 4th photo and the skeletons are about 1 inch tall, and the dragon in the final pics is a little over 3 inches high. Steve

The eyes are what always look bad in most instances. I haven't painted any figures since many years ago when I was on a Dungeons and Dragons binge. (I never role played, I just liked painting the figures) The biggest mistake made is painting the eyeball white followed by a black dot in the middle. Although it might be difficult to get this detailed on something very small, here is a general tutorial on how to paint eyes on figurines. Steve

The vast majority of chassis and engine parts are coming from the Revell '68 Charger kit. Steve

Primer is on and I think it looks pretty good. Steve

Thank you Carl. I haven't been able to spend as much time working on this project as I would like, but I have been able to get a few small things underway. The wheel base of the Revell '68 Charger kit is just a bit too long, so I have been spending a small amount of time moving the rear suspension forward rather that shortening the chassis. Likewise, the rear suspension is a bit too low in correspondence with how the chassis needs to sit in the body, so I've also been working on raising the rear end a bit. I will also need to widen the track a bit so that the stance looks a little better. I have also re-done the door panel that I had previously finished. The panel "cupped" somewhat from a little too liberal use of liquid cement, and I wasn't particularly happy with the "finned" portion of the panel anyway, so I purchased a sheet of Evergreen #2545 "Metal Siding" to replace it with and re-built the panel completely. I'm liking it better. The real test will be in a little while when I prime it. Steve

I agree. That bothers me as well. One more reason to ignore these vultures when they offer anything for sale. Personally, I consider any Modelhaus kit as a recently discontinued model kit and value it as such. There are some that I would like to have, but honestly, if I hadn't bought them over the past 30 years, do I really need them now? And if the opportunity to pick one up ever does arise, it's not going to be through dealing with one of these crooks. Steve

There are several different Duplicolor clears. I use the one in the short can called "Perfect Match" "Protective Clear Coat Finish". It works very well for me as I polish all of my models, but it doesn't gloss all that well straight from the can. Just wanted to let you know that polishing will be very beneficial to the finish. Steve

All I see are lines upon lines of text. Steve

I use Duplicolor primer and clear, but you can use pretty much any good lacquer primer or clear coat that you wish. Steve

Yes, the basecoat is lacquer. 2 oz. should be more than enough. When I painted my '68 Olds 442, I used less than 1 oz. Steve