StevenGuthmiller

Welcome aboard Joseph! Steve

Finished up the small interior and exterior chrome parts today. The interior door handles and window cranks are scratch made. The antenna base is a Grandt Line railroad bolt and washer. Console vacuum gauge and shifter are modified kit parts. The exterior door handles are of course the venerable Fireball Modelworks pieces. I also made a set of door lock buttons and a blinker switch. All finished with Alclad chrome. Steve

I agree. In my view, the swooping lines around the headlights of the Plymouth are a much better match with the similar shape around the tail light of the Dodge than either one of these cars had alone. Both the '61 Plymouth and the Dodge looked completely mismatched front to rear in my opinion. Steve

I could do one myself if I could find suitable donors of the back half of a Johan '61 Dodge, and the front of a '61 Plymouth without breaking the bank. I've drooled over this car for quite some time and it remains an intriguing concept for visitation in the future if I find myself with nothing else to do. Steve

Speaking of forums, does anyone know if the SA forum will go away as well? Steve

This is what is referred to as a Canadian "Plodge". A '61 Dodge body with a Plymouth Front clip and interior. I have found no evidence that this example actually existed, but it was a common practice to combine Dodge and Plymouth parts in Canada to create their own unique cars during this time frame, much like the Chevy/Pontiac conglomerations. Anyway, it looks cool as hell!! Steve

I have used clear parts cement with good luck in the past, and still use it in certain circumstances. As Keith stated, I also try to "pin" everything possible, especially parts glued to the body where they are easily knocked off. It makes them immensely stronger, and they can often be glued from inside of the body to completely eliminate the possibility of any visible glue. Be careful with CA glues for glass and chrome. The glue can fog them very easily. I have had it fog paint as well. I find myself using very little CA glue anymore. Steve

An interesting looking project Steve! When you've finished this one, how about a go on this '61? Steve

I use Alclad whenever it's possible to spray a part. Alclad will give you a far superior metal finish to anything Testors offers anyway. Steve

I have been having good luck using clear 2 part epoxy for this sort of application. The thing that I like about it is the ability to apply the glue to one of the surfaces to be adhered and then let the glue set to a pretty highly tacky consistency before joining them. This helps eliminate the possibility of parts sliding around as you try to fasten them, and helps guard against glue "squeeze out". You can glue directly to the paint, and epoxy will give you a pretty tough bond. Steve

The primer/sealer is my go to primer. Steve

I'm sure that MCW will carry them if they don't already. Scale Finishes already has engine enamels in premixed, ready to spray airbrush paint. Picked up this bottle of Scale Finishes Pontiac Blue a couple of weeks ago. They currently carry 29 engine colors, from "Chrysler Hemi Orange", all the way to more obscure colors such as "AMC Metallic Blue", "Austin Healey Green" and "Detroit Alpine Green". Steve

I agree. If you have an airbrush, 2 oz. of Scale Finishes paint is about the same price as a can of Duplicolor, and the color choices are virtually endless. With MCW introducing jar paint, I really can't imagine ever missing Testors. MCW is absolutely superior to Testors, and with 1,500 colors coming around the corner, it will make the Testors line of enamels look like an amateur attempt. Steve

I have done it different ways. On my current '64 Pontiac project, I painted it with white primer before any paint went on the body. I then masked it and did all of the body painting. A little more work, but I like the results better than brush painting, and I really don't want to risk any over spray onto the finished body after paint. Steve

Thanks Scott! I hit a little snag recently with a sheet of BMF with insufficient adhesive, but a new sheet arrived yesterday, so I'm back on track. Managed to get a little over half of the body foiled. Steve

I believe that this series of kits are 1/32. Steve

Probably the most common interior color for that color would have been blue as well. If you're going with white, it likely would have been a combination of black and white, although substituting a light metallic blue for the black would look great. Steve

While I agree that getting it directly from the source is probably the safest, it doesn't guarantee a good sheet. Age and mishandling may cause cracking, but a pebbly texture, wrinkling and often insufficient adhesive comes right from the factory. The last sheet that I purchased had this going on in a couple of places. This is a factory defect. Doesn't much matter where it was bought. Steve

What color are you painting the body. I might be able to offer some interior color suggestions if I knew the exterior color. Steve

I kind of agree. I won't miss much for Testors spray paints. Most of them were never really all that great in the first place. I'll miss a couple of the lacquer primers and clears just because they were easy to find, but they're not irreplaceable. I will miss some of the bottle paints if they go away. I still use quite a few Testors enamels for small stuff. But there again, not irreplaceable. Steve

They are referring to "Low Volume, Low Pressure" touch up guns, such as this. Steve

I was making an educated guess based on the box art. I realize that models of this vintage were rarely accurately depicted on the box, but the maroon and white car on the box screams '55 Dodge and I know that there have been resin recreations of that car. I thought that this might have been where the molds for those resin copies may have come from. Steve

Thanks guys! Haven't had much time to spend in the shop lately, but I have managed to carve out a few minutes here and there to get a little work done on the interior door handles and cranks. Just one door handle and a couple of rear window cranks left to do. Also managed to throw together an automatic shift lever. Steve

I'm thinking the missing model would have been a '55 Dodge. Steve

Absolutely! Contact the seller. If it didn't look like that when yo bought it, he should want to make it right. He might try to blame the shipper, but if it would have been packaged defensively, as any rare model should be, it wouldn't have happened. Steve