StevenGuthmiller

I don't normally cut body panels off of a body, but if I were going to, I would use the same procedure that I use for scribing panel lines. I start with the sharp side of a #11 blade with a few passes to get the line that I want and then a few passes with a sharp dental tool to give it enough depth to use a scribing tool. Then I would use the scriber to get at least half way through the thickness of the plastic. From there, once the panel line is well defined & deep enough to guard against the blade wandering, I would use a sharp #11 blade again to complete the cut. Steve

Yes, and the Johan kit represents a 300H. The custom wheel covers from the AMT '58 Impala are a fair representation of the 300H wheel covers. Steve

They were Germans that immigrated to Russia, and then came here. The funny part is that most of these traditional "German dishes" did not exist in our household. Hell, we rarely ate sauerkraut! I never tasted sauerbraten or schnitzel until I was an adult in a German restaurant. Even spaetzle was pretty much non-existent. Neither. The dough isn't coated with anything. The ingredient list is extremely short. The dough consists of flour, eggs, salt and water. Slices of ham are layered in the bottom of a dutch oven, followed by a layer of cubed potatoes. A little salt and pepper, some water & the strudla on top. My mother told me that she would cook this on the stove top so I thought that I would try it this time. I think baking it in the oven works better. You know, a little bacon grease might not hurt, but then it wouldn't be the way my mother made it. If anything, it would have been coated with butter. Some day soon, I would like to make a dish that my family called "Kraut beere", (pronounced "grout bayla") Supposedly it translated into something like "cabbage berries", but my grand parents thought that it was a form of the word pierogi, or "cabbage pierogi". A lot of the people in these parts call them "kraut burgers" and use sauerkraut in them. But we did not. They were a lot like a pasty, but with only ground beef, onions and cabbage inside of a risen bread dough & baked. I've never met anyone who didn't like them. Even if you don't like cabbage. Steve

Mine too. But in her defense, leftover salad is not great! Steve

Especially something like chili. I think it's pretty safe to say that most slow cooked, one pot dishes are always better leftover. I make a pot of Swiss steak occasionally that is nothing more than round steak with onions and tomatoes cooked it a dutch oven for several hours. It's always better the next day. letting the flavors meld for a period of time makes it much tastier. I recently brought home some leftover mixed fajitas from a local Mexican restaurant. A couple of days later I warmed it up. I really don't remember it being that good in the restaurant!! Steve

I was always very excited to come home for dinner when I was young. My mother cooked nothing fancy. It was all very basic "comfort food", but she was very good at it. I owe all of my love for food to her. I would hang out in the kitchen while she cooked & quietly absorb everything she did. Now I thoroughly enjoy experimenting & cooking things that she would never have dreamed of trying herself. But there are times when I find that urge to return to those simple times & try to replicate those basic recipes that she had learned to prepare from her mother. Most times I fail miserably, but the basic flavor is there & it takes me back. Steve

Here's one that I'll bet none of you have ever seen or tasted. I grew up in a very German family from a region of the country that is full to bursting with Germans from Russia. The entire center of the country running all the way from central Canada, all the way to Texas has a lot of them. Especially in South & North Dakota. This dish is something the my mother simply called "Strudla & Ham". A little bit like a savory version of the traditional German dessert, "Strudel", (which we never ate by the way) it is basically a very dense rolled dumpling (especially dense when I attempt them) with potatoes & ham. This is very typical of the type of food that the German farmers from this area ate 100 years ago. A lot of dough, potatoes, butter & cream. When there was meat, it was usually pork, including vast quantities of "German Frying Sausage" which was always present. It was served for almost every meal, including breakfast. My grand parents would can it & there was always cold sausage in the fridge for a late night snack. Any way, this was my poor attempt at recreating a dish that I haven't attempted in probably 20 years. The Strudla were too heavy, & the ham & potatoes over cooked, but man it sure tasted like a great memory! Steve

I'm impressed Joe! Yes, Knoephla are a dense dumpling, usually small and used in soup with potatoes & cream. Kase Knoephla are like a Pierogi, but actually the ones my mother made were much larger. Usually rectangular shaped about 6 inches long and maybe 4 inches wide. They are filled with dry curd cottage cheese, onions & eggs. Usually boiled & either made into a soup, or fried after boiling. The Kuchen is a pastry about the same size and shape as a pie, but the crust is a lot like a sweet roll dough. The filling is basically a custard consisting of eggs, cream, sugar & cinnamon, but there can be all kinds of fruits added. Traditionally prunes or apricots, but I've seen everything from strawberries to peaches although they are not traditionally German/Russian. My favorite is cheese which is the custard filling with dry curd cottage cheese. Tastes a great deal like a cheese danish. Check out the "What did you have for dinner" thread a little later. Tonight I attempted, (although not entirely successfully) to make a traditional German/Russian dish that I grew up with. Steve

Parts are quite easy to find for this one. There are a lot of them around. I have at least three of them & will probably not use the stock hubcaps for any of them. Especially due to the fact that they're not correct for a 300 anyway. Steve

I use flank steak. Any time I'm grilling a piece of steak for slicing. It doesn't need marinating at all to be tender. Slice it thin & it's great stuff. Steve

Is it an unbuilt kit? $29.99 sounds like a pretty good deal for one of those. Steve

I want my money back! Steve

A couple of the really bad ones that come to mind for me are the "Evening Orchid" and one of the metallic turquoise colors. (I forget the name) I use almost no Testors spray paints anymore, specifically because of this issue. Steve

If it's a Johan '62 Chrysler Newport, I'd snap it up! Considering that Johan never produced one! Steve

With all of the Corvette pictures on the walls behind it, I suppose Corvette would be the safe bet. Steve

Super Clean! I do this the easy way. Super Clean for everything! It will strip your chrome parts squeaky clean in most cases in about a half an hour. I usually drop in the parts & let them soak over night. I can't think of a single time where it did not strip to clean bare plastic in that period of time. Steve

Sounds a lot like what we call "boiled potatoes" around here! Nope, never heard of a Hoffman hot dog either, but 2 can play at this game. Ever heard of "Knoephla Soup", "Kuchen" or "Cass Knoephla"? Steve

You're right Curt! I shot a little bit of it on a piece of cardboard the other day & I didn't see any metallic in it, but I didn't shake it very well. After a read this post, I pulled out a spoon & tested it again. I guess the thing that surprises me more than anything is how fine the metallic particles are in this paint! It actually looks very nice! As a rule, the Testors metallics are so far out of whack that I don't even consider using them anymore. But this one is so nice that I will have to use it now! Hmmm.......which kit to use it on. Thanks Curt! Now I can use a can of paint that I thought that I would probably never use. Steve

My main question is, what are "salt potatoes"? Steve

What drew my eye in this photo is the 1961 Dodge & the Tucker Torpedo in the background! Steve

My whatta what? Steve

I would have traded it all for a half of a meatball sub!! Steve

These tops are both kit pieces original to the kits. The '62 Ford top was pretty much a paint, drop in and done affair. The '62 Chrysler was much more involved. The Johan up tops were generally pretty bad & required quite a few modifications to look nice. Steve

Nothing better than a meatball sub! Tonight we went to a picnic at a coworkers house that she puts on for all of us once a year. Teriyaki chicken with potatoes. Everybody brought a dish to pass. The usual's. Baked beans, potato salad........you get the picture. Steve

Well of course there are differences, and I can tell them apart as well, but we're car guys. The average person would probably think that they were the same vehicle from a block away. Not trying to dis your choice. I love the look of the Charger as well. Just saying, the styling is strikingly similar. A fox obviously got into the hen house from either Dodge or AMC when these cars were designed in '66. A little bit of larceny going on I would say. Steve