StevenGuthmiller

I usually just paint them as well. I don't see much point i getting too carried away with them. They will probably never be seen, and most times, by the time the glass is installed, it doesn't look great in there anyway. Occasionally I'll add a couple of rudimentary details, but that's all it really takes. Steve

Sorry, double post. Steve

"To a New Yorker like you, a hero is some sort of weird sandwich, Not some nut that takes on three Tigers!" The last half of that line is a dead give away! Steve

I don't even have a spray booth and I still spray lacquer inside. I have my hobby room in the basement. I throw on my mask and gloves and go in and spray a coat, then leave the room and close the door for an hour or so at least, until things settle down. Sometimes I might be able to faintly smell the paint in other parts of the basement for a short time, but I've been doing this for most of my life. I've never had any issues. Steve

I use these distributors in virtually every build I do! I did a trade with him some time back. A '61 Mercury promo for a couple dozen pre-wired distributors. Needless to say, I haven't had to re-order for quite some time. I echo the others! I had nothing short of a great experience with them. Steve

I'm really surprised at how the clear coats brought out the color of this paint! I can't say as I've seen this much of a transformation before. It's definitely turquoise now! 5 coats of Duplicolor clear on and ready for polishing. I'll paint the vinyl top black once the polishing is finished. Steve Before After

Let me know when you're ready Mark. I might have some stuff that you need, if you have what I need. Trading and selling is probably going to be your only real option to get SOME of these models restored. Steve

Sorry, I missed it. But I believe it was in the $140.00 range the last I looked. If it's any indication, Model Roundup has one for sale in their "vintage vault" for $349.90! Boy! I'm glad that I got mine when I did! Steve

That's all well and good Mark, but what do you think that your family is going to do with a collection of scattered and broken parts? My guess is that they would be much more likely to cherish and save a few nicely restored models as a monument to their loved one, rather than a bunch of boxes of busted up plastic. I wouldn't want to leave my family with the task of trying to figure out what's of value and what's not, and then burden them with trying to figure out what to do with it. Steve

That's actually kind of cool! Although I couldn't justify spending $3,000.00 on it, and my wife would never let me use it as a coffee table in my family room! Steve

This is true. Testors white enamel will discolor all by itself without clear coat. Steve

If I could make a suggestion Charlie? At a very minimum, you should lay down a strip of masking tape along either side of any body moldings that you're going to paint silver. If not, you're better off not doing them at all. Steve

Depends a lot on what kind of paint your base color is. I've been using Duplicolor "Protective Clear Coat" over automotive lacquers for quite a few years and have never seen any yellowing. I agree with everyone else. Stay away from Testors enamel clear, especially over light colors!! It will yellow horribly in a relatively short period of time. This '37 Chevy started out as a pale beige. Now, thanks to Testors clear enamel, it's a beautiful shade of yellow! Steve

Great work!! I love seeing these old Johans get the attention they deserve! Steve

I have to agree with Joe, Mark. You're only real option might be to admit the fact that you will likely never find everything you need to restore all of these old kits, especially on a very limited budget. Your best bet is probably going to be to let some of them go in order to save others. It can be nearly impossible to find some of these parts, even if you are willing or able to spend a significant amount of money on them. I know this first hand as I still have parts that I cannot locate for a reasonable price, if at all, after years of searching. If I were you, I would gather up a dozen or so models that you know you will never be able to find parts for, and can find it in your heart to let go, and either put the parts up for sale on ebay, or post them for trade on the forums with the hope of finding parts for some others that you definitely want to save. I think you're realistic enough to realize that the likelihood of finding everything you need in the way of parts, for little or nothing, in order to restore everything you have is virtually zero. At some point you will need to make the hard choices of what to let go in order to save others. If not, there is every probability that you will save little or nothing and your entire collection, (or the major bulk of it) will languish and wind up someday becoming nothing more than a collection of parts which will in all likelihood have no meaning to your heirs and wind up in a land fill somewhere. I think you would agree that this would be a sorry fate for you're father's prized collection. Just some points to think about. Steve

I can't remember the last time that I had a metallic paint job that didn't wind up with at least a couple of dust specks in the base coat. In most circumstances, these speck are small and basically colorless. I just leave them alone, spray my clear coats over them and let the final polish render them virtually undetectable. It absolutely beats the alternative of sanding and "smearing" the metallic particles in the paint, and/or attempting what could be endless re-coats. The likelihood of getting dust specks in concurrent coats is just as high as in the first coat, so where do you stop. I guess if you really need a "PERFECT" paint job, you might want to obsess about things like this, but I'm absolutely happy with a good paint job where an occasional random dust speck might be detected under magnification. Steve

And he would be correct in doing so! Cars have mirrors. Steve

Sorry Bill. I almost never read these threads when people post responses this way. So, yeah..........What he said! Steve

It takes almost no skill, special equipment or materials at all Brian. This is one of those cases where one can say, "anybody can do it". You can cast your own lenses using 3 simple items. A head light lens to make a mold from, a package of Silly Putty from the checkout aisle at the local dollar store, and a UV setting glue like Laser Bond or Bondic, which are widely available on line if nowhere else. All you need to do is press your existing lens into the Silly Putty to make the mold, squirt a little Laser Bond into that mold, hit it with the included UV light for 3 seconds, and viola! Instant lens. You can do the same thing with a myriad of different resins, epoxies and mold materials, but this is the simplest version. Steve

I'm in! Where do I order?! It's been a long time coming! With all of the casters out there, I don't understand why someone didn't do this a long time ago! Steve

I'm not certain, but I believe that the Johan '66-'68 Chrysler 300 kits all used the same seat backs if that helps at all. Steve

They look terrific Bruce! Thank you again for helping me out with them! They were exactly what I was looking for! Steve

I appreciate that Brad, but I think I have settled on the engine for this build. I can bug you later if I need another Mopar engine.......Which I no doubt will! Seriously, thank you for the offer Brad! Steve

Sorry Dan. I spoke too soon. It appears that I was wrong about the hood ornaments. Each kit has only one. I guess I was thinking of the Johan '63 Plymouth Fury kit. That has a pair, but unfortunately, they are a different style. You could always steal one from the Lindberg '64 Belvedere kit. There's not a lot of difference between the '64 and '67 ornaments. Steve

I have a very nice un-built '67 that will go under the knife at some point. Can't remember what I paid for it, but you can bet your behind that it was more than $60.00! I'm pretty certain that most of these Johan Plymouths came with a spare hood ornament on the chrome tree. I have the '65, '66 and '67, which would translate into a few extra hood ornaments if I'm correct. I might be able to help you with at least that detail. Steve