StevenGuthmiller

Terriffic! I was hoping that it made it to you unscathed. Looking forward to seeing it finished. By the way, I agree with Steve and Snake. If it’s custom, there are no rules. This is part of the reason why factory stock is not always as easy as some people like to make it out to be. It can take a lot of research to get it right. Customs have no such rules. Anything goes. Steve

I keep all of my molds that I have made over the years in a plastic sandwich bag on a shelf in my shop. I have molds for everything from various headlight lenses and buckets, to window cranks and mirrors. You can do all sorts of small cast parts with Laser Bond or Bondic. Steve

Just arrived in Cancun Mexico on Saturday for a week of sun and sand. Don’t know what the exact temp was today, but it was in excess of 80 degrees. I think we deserve this after the 30 below temps that we endured last week! Steve

Any sign of that tail light lens yet Steve? If you haven’t gotten it yet, it should be there soon. I sent it quite some time ago. Steve

I take no credit for this technique. I didn’t invent it. I picked it up somewhere, but I have no idea from whom. I like the silly putty idea. Saves some time and your finished product looks great. The nice thing about using mold putty versus something like silly putty is that you can save those molds and use them over and over again. Steve

I feel like a broken record every time I respond to this question, but I have yet to find a better glue for mock ups than “Laser Bond”. What other glue will give you an instantaneous bond that can be easily taken apart in seconds. I recently mocked up an entire Ford engine, (I’m guessing in excess of 20 pieces) in less than five minutes, then took it apart again in probably less than 1 minute. If you can do that with any other glues, I would be interested to hear about them. Steve

I've heard of a similar phenomena that can happen at other times of the year as well. Don't remember what the cause was. Steve

Still chuggin' along. Got all of the engine parts and a few chassis parts painted. Testors "Ford Engine Blue", flat and gloss black, and several different shades of Alclad. Still have some "refining" to do with some of the chassis parts before painting, but I'm really very happy with how quickly this project is moving along. It's surprising how much bench time a guy can get when he gets a break from home remodeling! I'm sure that won't last, so I need to keep the pedal to the metal! I have a pretty good mix of parts that I've assembled for this engine. The majority of the engine comes from the AMT 1967 Cyclone kit. The Intake manifold is from the '67 Galaxie kit, valve covers from a '68 Mustang, and air cleaner from a '63 Galaxie. I scratch built a few parts including a fuel filter and radiator brace. I also added a "fuel bar" for the dual quads to the intake, and removed the ugly oil filler caps from the valve covers to be replaced. Steve

You're a braver man than I ! I would rather freeze to death, or for that matter, starve to death, than to shop at Walmart! Steve

And now a little paint. Steve

Looks fairly acceptable with a little primer. Steve

I don't doubt that this phenomena is real. I'm just stating the fact that these types noises are much more likely to be coming from your house itself than from the ground around it. It can be pretty obvious at times when the loud crack is coming from somewhere over your head that it's originating in your attic and not from your flower bed. A few weeks ago when our area went from a relatively warm spell to very cold in a short period of time, I laid awake one night listening to my house make all sorts of noises coming from many different areas. These sounds ranged from small pops to cracks as loud as the sound of someone hitting the house with a baseball bat. Steve

Thin strips of aluminum cut from a soda can and bent to shape. Steve

This is not really my style of building, but I have to admit, it's pretty neat. What's cooler than a space ship in a classic 60s color scheme! A two tone paint job with some stainless trim to separate them would have really been the "coup de grace". Steve

Not only that, but you are likely to get a much better price for your items on ebay. Modelers on this forum are notoriously cheap! Steve

Generally, the loud snapping or popping noises are in your house itself, not in the soil around it. I've never heard of these "ice quakes" but I've heard a lot of noise coming from the tortured lumber in my homes many times over the years. The lumber in your exterior walls and roof joists absorbs quite a bit of moisture during warmer, wetter weather. When it gets this cold, that moisture freezes and makes the lumber twist and contort, causing loud popping and cracking sounds. It's generally not enough movement to cause any damage, but I have seen instances where a drywall joint will basically explode cracking it wide open. Steve

Been there, done that. You're getting what we had yesterday. By the way, that translates to in the ballpark of around a 55 to 60 below zero windchill. Steve

I occasionally will work out a deal for cash when a member wants something I have but doesn't have a suitable trade, but it is done between the members with no site involvement. The way I see it, it's still a trade. That being said, I don't see any need to screw things up with a "for sale" section. Things seem to work pretty well here as is. Steve

You're right, no kit was made of the '63 Olds except the Johan Starfire. As a matter of fact, full sized Oldsmobiles in kit form had pretty much run their course by this time. After the '63 Starfire, the only other full sized kit produced was the AMT 1965 Dynamic 88. I doubt that there was enough interest in these cars for any resin casters to produce much for any parts for them. Steve

Haven't given up yet! The firewall and inner fender wells on this kit had absolutely no detail of any sort except for a rudimentary master cylinder, which I removed to be replaced. So I decided that I needed to add some wiring of some sort. I didn't have any small coated detail wire to add later, so I decided to add some now. I'll paint it all along with the firewall and chassis now, and then I'll pick out a few details with some paint later. It just needed a little more going on under the hood. Steve

Very nicely done Clif! Steve

Ha! I have boxes of these stupid things laying around! We bought them for my daughter when she was a kid and she wound up with probably 100 of them. But then again, so does half of the population! I'm pretty certain that I have one of the ones pictured above somewhere in the mix. At least I know that it's a purple bear. Steve

Right now I would trade places with most of you! Current air temp is -24 below zero, with a NW wind at around 25 mph, gusting into the 30s, making the wind chill at around -56 below. Air temp is headed down to around -36 below zero tonight. I live in the "warmer" part of the region. Steve

I use regular 1 inch blue painters tape cut into whatever size strips I need with a straight edge. Wider strips work fine for straight trim, but the thinner the better for curved areas like wheel arches. Thinner strips are easier to get to conform to curved areas such as this. Steve

Still worth asking. I'm sure that the glass from all of the AMT 1/16th tri-five Chevies is the same. Someone might have one. There are a ton of the '55 Nomads out there. Steve