StevenGuthmiller

I have found that nothing works better for a temporary "mock up" than one of the UV light setting glues like Laser Bond! Put a dab or 2 on the parts that you want held together & zap it with the light for an instant bond. No waiting for glue to set. You can mock up an entire engine or chassis in a few minutes. This, of course, only works well for unpainted parts. When you break the parts back down, you can just chip off the glue with a finger nail & it can chip off the paint with it. This glue also works well as a "tack" to position parts before gluing permanently with a CA or epoxy glue. I use it for casting very small parts as well, like window cranks, head light lenses, etc. This stuff is a must for any modeler in my opinion. It has a million & one uses! Steve

I had no doubt! I have plans for the '63 that you sent me as well. Hopefully quite soon! Steve

Getting very close to finished. Tile has to be grouted, a little paint touch up, and I'm going to paint the brass vent louvers. Not going to make it by Thanksgiving, but shortly after. Then I hope to have a little time to possibly finish my '60 Imperial build between Thanksgiving & Christmas. Steve

Wanna trade for a very nice built up I got from a guy a while back? By the way Joe, the Olds fender wells are on their way. Shipped on Thursday. Steve

The one from the Moebius '65 Comet Cyclone kit looks spot on to me. Steve

Your best bet will be Super Clean. It will take a while, but if you let it soak for a week or so & the Super Clean can get under the paint, it will dissolve the primer & the lacquer will lift off in sheets. Some folks will use Isopropyl alcohol, but I'm not convinced that it won't make the plastic brittle. Purple Power and Simple Green are in the same family as Super Clean, but they are not as powerful. At least I have had little luck with them. Easy Off oven cleaner can work as well, but it's more difficult to work with and the fumes are very harsh. Bleche White is pretty mild & will work for enamels & chrome, but not so much for lacquer. You can soak plastic in Super Clean for weeks with no damage to the plastic, it's easy to deal with & you can re-use it over & over again. Steve

I agree that some of these Johan "bubble" windshields look too exaggerated. Strange because I have used some of them in some of my '59-'61 Johan Mopars and most of them look right. Although some have been Modelhaus vacuuformed pieces, if that makes any difference. Steve They don't start looking a little out of whack until I look at my '59 Fury & '60 New Yorker.

Actually Joe, that "bulge" at the top of the glass is not entirely incorrect. While it is overly pronounced, many of the '60 Mopars had this bulge in the glass. The Plymouths and Dodges had them & it appears that at least some of the Desotos did as well. It appears that at least with the Desotos, it depended upon the model, although I have seen photos of Adventurers with either one. Possibly an option? Steve

It was pretty good! It was one of those "mail order meals" from Home Chef. We have had really good luck with these meals. More often than not, they are very good and we get great ideas for easy dishes down the road. With this one, I really liked the sauce! Just a simple combination of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce & teriyaki glaze. It was delicious! Steve

Japanese BBQ Burgers with roasted potatoes. Steve

I haven't been able to follow a single answer since the thread began! Steve

Yes, but for the sake of this argument, "waiting to see what Lindberg & MPC bring out" is kind of a moot point. MPC and Lindberg are no longer in charge. Round 2 is calling the shots for all of them. Steve

Working for me. Has been all day. Steve

All well deserved "kind words". I have an old Johan '55 Pontiac that I would like to do as a mild custom using the '55 Chevy guts and converting it into a convertible. This is exactly the kind of result I'm shooting for! Steve

I was going to mention the fact that there is no longer an AMT, MPC or Lindberg. They are all under Round 2. But then I thought.......what's the point? Steve

Thanks Terry, but believe me, anyone can do it. Just takes a little patience. Steve

I have to say, I'm not big on customs, but this is one of the best I've seen! Clean and simple. So often we see cars chopped & channeled, front and rear ends modified, huge intakes sticking out of the hoods or worse yet, some God awful hood scoop, all wrapped up in some gaudy, tasteless color. With yours, it's absolutely classic and so well done. A simple nosing & decking, a tasteful Buick grille, a set of nice Chrome reverse wheels & white wall tires, (versus some horrible giant aftermarket wheels & rubber band tires) all wrapped in a gorgeous fiery red paint job. They don't get any better than this! I would be proud to put it in my garage! Phenomenal work ATHU!!!! Steve

Looks pretty good. Just be certain that the edges of the piece of foil are burnished down well before paint application. If the edges stick up a little, they could possibly show through the paint. Personally, I do larger trim pieces such as the rear quarter "vents" after I'm finished with all of the painting. I only use the "foil under paint" technique for very small items that are difficult to finish after painting, such as scripts, small emblems & door and trunk locks. I would probably do the small emblem under the Thunderbird script as well. Another fun thing that can be done with this method is after cleaning off the foil, you can add detail paint to small emblems & clean it off the same way giving you some nice colored emblems. This '61 Buick trunk emblem was the ultimate test of this technique. It was a very faint detail, but it came out well. Steve It should give you a nice affect on the fender badge. Steve

You don't necessarily have to "foil before paint and clean up between coats". You can wait until you are ready to apply your last color coat or 2 before applying the foil. That way, there is less paint to clean off of the foil & you don't have to do it repeatedly. Steve Here are a couple of photos of what to expect when you are finished.

So realistic!! Steve

Yes Bruce, in this case the seat pattern is a decal from "Scale Motorsport" called "Boomerang Pattern". I use a drop of "Laser Bond" glue for my gauge faces. It gives more depth than clear paint. Steve

The same technique that I have used for years. It's sometimes referred to as the "foil under paint" technique, and it really doesn't require any particularly precise skill. There are several different ways of doing it, but the one that I have settled on that works best for me is to apply foil to the scripts just before the final coat or two of color. Apply the foil to the script cutting as close to the script as possible. Then you apply your final one or two coats of color. Then you simply dip a conical swab or sharpened tooth pick in lacquer thinner & carefully clean the paint from the foiled script. Once finished, you can clear coat over everything if you wish. Steve

Yeah, I'm pretty much lost as well. Steve

I use "Bare Metal Foil". The adhesive is already applied. Just cut it, and stick it! Steve

Just a couple more photos of today's progress. Got the headlights drilled out & ready for buckets & lenses. Interior is nearly finished except for a few minor details. Steve