StevenGuthmiller

It's a restoration in progress. Steve

Just a quick, (and very poor) teaser pic. Now I'm glad that I decided to dump the skirts and go with the Torque Thrusts! I think it gives a very aggressive, muscle car vibe. I like it! Steve

agreed! Don't toss them. Especially if they are vintage kits. The parts alone could be worth a small fortune. I don't mind the smell. Seriously Mark, sorry to hear of your bad luck. Steve

It has my excited to start my Johan '69! I'm planning on doing it as a "not so rare" basic Road Runner that you would have seen a lot of back then. A bench seat post car with a 383 automatic. Now there's a rare car in model world! Steve

I can't say that I really like the wheels either, but they're a hell of a lot better than most of the modern chrome wheels that you see! Very nice work Steve! Steve

I agree. I have nothing against "Musmarcudas", they were beautiful cars. But honestly, everything gets old after a while. I love steak, but I sure as heck don't want to eat it for every meal. Variety is the spice of life. I get a true excitement every time I get started on a new old annual build that I could never possibly get going from building a '69 Camaro RS/SS, straight into building a '69 Z-28. I guarantee you that if I couldn't continue to build unusual subjects, I would give up the hobby and go fishing! Steve

Yeah, the '63 Polara is a pretty rare one. Both the '62 Dodge and '63 Plymouth were re-popped and are not terribly difficult to find. The '62 Plymouth convertible is not really hard to find either. I have a very nice '63 Polara convertible that I hope to restore in the not too distant future. Steve

This is the one that I have Ray. Steve

You could be right about the distance. I will be spraying another coat on this body tomorrow if possible. I'll try to pay a bit more attention while I'm doing it and report back to you. Steve

I just went and took a look at that kit. A very nice one, and as you say, with more than 5 days left in the auction, I would be surprised to see it go for much less than $200.00, possibly much more! I'm glad I picked mine up some time ago, and even then, it wasn't cheap! Steve

I have really gravitated towards premixed air brush lacquers over the past few years mainly because of the huge color pallet available. I hate nothing more than being limited to what's available in a spray can. With these paints, the sky is the limit for colors and there is much better control in spraying with an air brush once you play with it for a while. The brackets were drilled and "bolt detail" added to the top, but no u-bolts. I contemplated doing that with wire, but decided that it was a detail that was very unlikely to be seen and not really worth the effort. I drill narrow parts like this with the smallest bit that I have first, and then cut the part to length after drilling. It makes handling much easier. Steve

Hmm, a lot of interesting questions, and I'm not positive that I can answer them, but I'll do my best. Equipment used?........I am currently using a Dewalt 6 gallon pancake compressor for my air, set at about 35-40 PSI, and have been having great luck using a "Mr. Hobby Procon Boy Trigger Type Double Action Air Brush". That's a mouth full! I picked it up on ebay for about $100.00 and I really like a couple of features. The trigger makes it especially easy to use. Most double action air brushes require you to push the button down for air flow and pull it back for paint flow, an action that I was never really able to master successfully. With the trigger air brush, their is only one action required, pulling the trigger back. The first half of the pull starts air flow, and the second half paint flow. Easy peasy! I also like the fact that it is a fairly heavy flow brush with a wide fan spray nozzle. Weather or environmental conditions?......I rarely pay a lot of attention to these factors. In my neck of the woods, winters are dry, and in the summer the air conditioning is on, which means I rarely need to consider humidity. Temperature in my house in generally somewhere in the 70s. Thinner used?........Not a factor either. These paints are premixed for air brush use and require no thinning. They can be shot straight from the jar. Cheap lacquer thinner is sufficient for clean up. Distance?.....Hmmm, I guess I would say that I hold the tip of the brush about 2 to 3 inches from the work. Speed of sweep?......That's a tough one. Maybe 1 to 2 seconds from one end of a body to the other? Sorry, it's one of those things that just comes naturally after a while and you don't really pay much attention. Heaviness of coat?......I guess in general I would say that I spray a medium wet coat. Too light can make the paint grainy, and too heavy can compromise the evenness. I set my air brush almost wide open for paint flow, but then again, this particular air brush sprays a wide pattern, but not a particular heavy one unless you slow down the speed of the sweep. Video?.....If you're waiting for a video, you will be waiting a while! Magic paint?.......probably not, but good paint makes a huge difference, and great paint combined with a good surface is a giant step in the right direction. I hope this information is at least slightly useful. Steve

For Memorial Day, a typical cook out with a bacon cheeseburger with everything, potato salad and a cold beer. Steve

Last night we grilled a couple of big fat T-Bone steaks and roasted some potatoes and carrots. Delicious! Steve

Finally!! Some color on the body! And I have to say after my first time using Scale Finishes base coat lacquer.......it's an absolute joy to work with!! It lays down perfectly smooth and even with no effort whatsoever! I will go out on a limb after my first time and say, it's the best paint that I have ever used!! The color is correct 1965 Plymouth "Medium Turquoise". It appears a little more blue than what it looked like in the jar, but to be fair, I used a blue base. There will be one more coat of the turquoise before clear coating which might possibly drag it back a little more on the turquoise side. Either way, the color is nice and I absolutely loved how well it went on! Now I can't wait to move on to some of my other up coming projects that will be using some pretty exciting colors! At least exciting to me! Steve

Problem is, it's an oddball 1/20th scale. Steve

The scratch built exhaust system turned out quite well. Primed and ready for paint. Steve

I agree as well. I love to see anything different, which is why I've been so excited about Moebius' offerings over the past few years! Without them, we just get more Camaros and Mustangs. I'm sorry, but somehow the big kit makers have managed to make Camaros, Mustangs, 'Cudas, etc, boring!! Steve

I sand them as well as a final step. But a little more aggressive approach is necessary when dealing with good sized ones. Some sand paper on an eraser will do the trick, but you had better have a couple of free hours and a good arm to deal with something like this. Steve

Although I still greatly appreciate the fact that Dan Carlson, (garagepunk66) was so gracious as to send me a bunch of engine parts for this project, it turns out that the intake, heads, etc, will not work with the Lindberg block. Apparently, the Lindberg engine is too long making it difficult to decide between sticking with mostly Lindberg parts, or scrapping the whole thing and beginning a search for an entirely different engine. At this point I have decided that, at least for this project, I'm going to stick with the Lindberg engine to be certain that there will be no need for further modifications to the chassis or other parts that are, for all intensive purposes, finished. So, I guess I will go back to plan A. Oh well, I guess the Lindberg intake that I modified previously doesn't look half bad in primer. Thanks again Dan! I have no doubt that I will be able to use the parts that you provided on a future project. Steve

Certainly, everybody has their own preferences. Personally, I would choose Duplicolor over Tamiya simply for the much better spray nozzle alone. Steve

This is the first part of this project that you can call finished! Steve

Today I received 2 packages in the mail. The first was from fellow forum member Dan Carlson, (garagepunk66) and consisted of some very nice resin cast and kit parts to help dress up the wedge engine in my '65 Fury build. His generosity is greatly appreciated!! The second package was from Fireball Modelworks and consisted of a couple of sets of AFB Carters for the Plymouth, a pair of Rochester Quadrajets, and 2 sets of door handles. I still can't quite comprehend the level of detail that Joseph managed with these resin carbs! Unbelievable!! The guy is a genius!! Steve

Thanks so much guys! Steve

Nice Tom! Looks better already! The rear quarter mods make a big difference! Steve