StevenGuthmiller

Consider 2 part epoxy for anything that you are gluing to the body and for glass. If you mix it up, apply it to the parts to be installed and then let it set for 5 minutes it will become very tacky and easier to work with than a white glue. The bond will be infinitely stronger than white glue as well. I use JB Weld "Clear Weld". You can pick it up very easily at nearly any auto parts store or online. Steve

Is there anything more essential? Steve

I had a set of Keystone "Raiders" on one of my cars in the day. Close in style to Cragars, but a heck of a lot cheaper. Steve

Mine was a "repeat" as well. Cold meat loaf sandwich and water melon. Steve

The "M.A.D." distributor that Brian has pictured comes with a length of slightly larger wire to be used as boot material. You need to strip the jacket from the wire and use the jacket for the boots. Drill the holes in the heads large enough and deep enough to accept about 1/8th inch piece of the boot material and glue them into the holes first. It's a good idea to use some sort of pointed instrument to slightly stretch the boot material on the end that will except the wire. This makes adding the wires much easier later. Once the boots are in place to your satisfaction and the glue has dried you can slip in the wires. Of course this is all dependent on the fact that the distributor is already installed. That needs to be done first. By the way, don't throw away any of the left over wire that you cut from the leads or the wire that you stripped for the boot material. These will both come in very handy for other wires, hoses and fuel lines throughout the engine compartment. On the '64 Grand Prix that I'm working on currently, left over wire from M.A.D. distributors was used for all of the fuel lines, battery cables, power steering hoses, brake line and the brake booster vacuum line. It's extremely useful stuff! Steve

I do exactly the same thing. Free shipping is one of the first things that I look for. You have to be careful about checking shipping costs before you buy. There's nothing worse than spending $8.00 shipping on a $4.00 item. It's also a good idea to at least give a quick glance at the sellers feedback. You don't want to send your money to some joker that has had a lot of issues with buyers in the past. Steve

CA glue is extremely useful for a great number of the small details that you have mentioned. Just be very cognoscente that CA can fog clear parts, chrome and even paint if you are too heavy handed with it. Just remember that a little dab on the end of a tooth pick can go a long way, and be wary of gluing in glass or fastening parts to the body with it. By the way, I use "Plasti-Zap medium CA" for these sort of applications, if that's worth anything to you. Remember that there are a whole host of other adhesives available to us. Just think about what task you are trying to accomplish before deciding which adhesive will perform best for you. Steve

I buy a lot of my stuff on ebay or Amazon. Many times you can stumble across some very good deals. Even if you prefer to stick with an online hobby shop, it's worth checking ebay occasionally. There are a lot of little hobby stores that you will stumble across there that you didn't even know existed. Steve

It is Jim. The vast majority of the engine bay parts came from the MPC '69 442 kit. Most of the engine parts came from either the AMT '66 or the Lindberg '67 442 kits. Everything else was scratch built. There are virtually no "after market" parts to speak of. This was just the example that I wanted to present to show how even a 52 year old kit with substandard detailing by today's standards can be made to rival a modern kit with a little ingenuity and extra effort. I just wanted to make the point that we don't have to sit around and wait for the kit companies to produce newly tooled kits of subjects that have already been around for a half of a century or more. I often hear people complain that they really want to build that '65 Pontiac Grand Prix or '63 Ford, but they can't get past the bad chassis or lame interior. Well, unless you're willing to do something about it and jump in with both feet, it's not going to happen, because there is very little possibility that Revell, Round 2 or Moebius is going to offer any new tooling for the vast majority of these old American cars. It's just a fact that we all are going to have to learn to live with. So my message is, get busy and build what you want to, because if you're waiting for Revell to offer a new '69 AMX, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Steve

I'll be there if the show is on. Not gonna let some little ol' virus spoil my fun anymore. The Grand Prix might wait until the 2021 show though. Steve

That is a fact. But then again, so was Bob Dahl when he was in charge of Kustom Khrome, as well as Chrome Tech, both of whom were very reputable. The issues have nothing to do with the the company doing the actual plating. Nuff said. Steve

I haven't dealt with him directly yet, but this is exactly why I've been reluctant to pull the trigger with him. I've heard far too many of these types of stories. Steve

Hopefully a '55 Chevy? Steve

The ones from some of the old AMT kits have pretty nice detail, along with the "Cragar S/S" logo on the center cap. I think this set might have come from the '65 ElCamino kit. Steve

I hear you. Mine gets re-organized possibly once a year, but that lasts for about 2 days before I start rifling through everything looking for parts. Steve

Still making some progress. I had to figure out the best solution for head light buckets and came up with this. Sheet styrene with thin slices of tubing for the outer wall with a piece of plastic rod for the bulb. I'll paint these with Alclad, glue them to the back of the bezels and add the lenses from the front. Should look fine. Got the glass cut for the windshield, back light and vent windows. Added a tint stripe to the front glass and will polish them up in preparation for installation. Got the sun visors painted as well as the dome light and tail pipes finished with Alclad. I also started detailing the tail light lenses. I decided rather than mess with trying to foil the thin strips in the lenses, I covered the entire lens with foil, painted with Testors metallic red enamel and then cleaned the paint from the ribs. Steve

In my shop, this is where the new kits show their usefulness. Parts! I utilize them by pirating the engine and other components from a new kit and transplant them into an old body. Best of both worlds. And it's a large portion of the fun and gives me a great feeling of accomplishment. Anybody can throw together a kit as it comes from the box. It takes a little more skill and commitment to combine parts from several kits and make it presentable. We are modelers after all, and not just assemblers. Steve

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge Revell for producing yet another Mustang kit. I understand how trying these times are for the kit companies and how they need to produce what they think will sell. After all, they are a business like any other and turning a profit far outweighs making us all happy. It's just not something that I am interested in. Granted, if I had to build a Mustang, I might consider this kit rather than the multitude of '64-'70 Mustangs that exist, but luckily for me, I don't have to build one. Above all, I'll be quite interested to see how this kit, like every other in recent years, will be picked apart for it's inaccuracies when it finally hits the shelves. It's always quite fascinating. In the meantime, I think I'll continue to covet those awful vintage kits with their horrible interior and chassis detailing, metal axles...........and accurate bodies. Steve

Only kind of stash that's worth it's weight IMO. Steve

Oh good! Another Mustang kit! I'm giddy! Steve

Pretty sure it's the same here in Minnesota. Consider yourself lucky that they're not assessing the cost of the street expansion to you Jeff! Steve

It is kind of wonky. But that's how the truck looked. Maybe something a little later. Steve

Yeah, but who wants diecast! Steve

Make it a Olds 98 Holiday Coupe or 98 convertible and I'm with you. Steve

AMT 1965 Ford Galaxie, '70 Impala and 1937 Chevy kits. Steve