StevenGuthmiller

Didn't go that far, but I had a lot of fun on this engine, and discovered a few little detail adding tricks along the way. As you brought up the heads, one simple addition was to do a little additional drilling on the plugs and bolt holes on the ends of the heads. Little things like that can add a lot of depth and dimension to parts that can be a little lacking in detail, and are simple to do. Just fun little things to experiment with. Steve

I may have gone a little too far on my '64, but I scratch made a valley pan for it. Might go a little simpler for my Lemans, but then again, for me, the point was having fun doing it. Steve

The Revell '68 Firebird's intake will work just fine on the '66 GTO engine. I used this exact combo on my '64 Bonneville, and again, modified into a 2-bbl intake for my current '64 Lemans project. As the intake was "open" to the valley pan, I opened up the '68 intake. Steve

Nice work Brian. Yes, the rear suspension could have been moved forward, but it might not be too late. If you could pop the rear axle and springs off without doing any major damage, you could just trim some material from the leading portion of the springs and move the whole thing forward a bit. Just a couple of notes, and not to be an a-hole, but the '62 Chrysler was a uni-body car, and not a full frame construction as is the '57. With that in mind, any of the later Mopar uni-body chassis from the 60s would have been more accurate, and would have very possibly gotten you closer to the correct wheel base. Likewise, the Hemi was not available in '62, so any big block Mopar engine with the dual quad intake would have been more faithful to the '62. In any case, it's a nice representation of a pretty rare kit. Steve

Are there diecast models available of the cars that you're looking for? If you're just looking for something to put on a shelf, you're gonna come out way ahead with a diecast. There are issues with commissioned builds that you probably don't want to deal with. If you can find someone to do it for a reasonable price, you're very likely to get something that's going to be much lower in quality than a diecast. If you can even find anyone who will do it at all, and do it well, it's going to cost you much more than you're likely going to be willing to pay. Just the cost of materials alone to build a "fine" model can get quite high, and then time comes into the equation. How much is an "expert's" time worth? I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I certainly wouldn't even consider working on anything today, unless it was my own, for less than $10.00 an hour, and that would probably only be a possibility if I were doing it for a friend. I don't keep track of my time on a project, but I'm pretty certain that it would reach into the 100s of hours, which at $10.00 an hour, will get you into the thousand dollar range, and that's just labor, and extremely cheap labor at that! Is anyone willing to pay $800.00, $1,000.00, $1,300.00, $1,500.00 for a NASCAR model? I can tell you that I wouldn't! So, your most likely options are, build it yourself, find a diecast equivalent, or get ready to open your wallet beyond it's breaking point if you want a nice commissioned piece.......that is, if you can even find someone. Steve

Yes. I tend to think that I’m a better modeler than a chef, but I do like to do a little cooking when I have the urge. This is the type of food that I really love! Last weekend I made a big pot of Jambalaya! ? Steve

If I'm not mistaken, it seems that I remember hearing of some health issues a while back, but I kept hoping that he would get back on his feet. So sad. I always enjoyed snake on the board. He ruffled some feathers once in a while, and he had strong opinions, and chances are that we may have even had some disagreements between us on occasion, but like adults, we always managed to put any of that aside and be grown ups. I for one will certainly miss him. Steve

One of my wife’s favorites. Chicken Piccata. Spaghetti with toasted garlic and Parmigiana, and a chop salad with honey Dijon dressing. Cold Highlife to wash it down. ? Steve

Alclad "Pale Burnt Metal" looks like it would be a pretty close match. It's the same color that I use on most of my carburetors. If you need an exact match, you can certainly mix a variety of Alclad colors to come up with your own creation. Steve

It's going to have to be a resin or 3-D printed kit. No plastic Cadillac kits from that era ever produced. Possibly some early promos, but not that I'm aware of. Steve

I wish it was real! I'd probably be out looking for trouble instead of sitting here talking to you! Steve

I know your pain Ken. I spend some time on the Facebook groups and I see those botched paint jobs all of the time, almost on a daily basis, and without even asking, it's become almost obligatory that Rustoleum paint was involved in some way, shape, or form. As you said, the most frustrating part are the number of people that will continue to encourage them to try again using the exact same materials and then watch them fail all over again, claiming all along the way that "paint is paint" and "there's nothing wrong with the paint, it's the painter". I suppose in the end, much of it is the painter's responsibility, but inferior materials sure as heck don't make anything easier on them. I've even seen on a number of occasions, people who will have a failure with Rustoleum paint, admit that they've had issues with it in the past, and yet will still continue to ask people what they can do differently to make it work, and at the same time will get angry with you when you suggest that they try different materials! I guess some people are just gluttons for punishment. Steve

The method that I've been using is probably a little unorthodox and requires some forethought, but it will give you a very clean finish on the inside instead of the obligatory globby glue mess that you generally see around the inside of the glass on a model. This technique involves adding plastic stock to the inside of the A-pillars and the windshield header, creating a slight channel, so that when you clear sheet plastic is ready to be installed, it can be cut slightly larger than the opening, and "friction fit" into the opening. With this method, you can run a small bead of clear epoxy along the windshield header, let it tack up slightly, slide the glass into the opening from the bottom, and then tape or clamp the lower cowl edge into place and glue. The glued cowl area will be covered by the dash board, the sides of the glass require no glue due to friction, and the only exposed glued area will be along the header, the least noticeable area. and even there, you'll notice a much cleaner look. Of course this technique is much more involved, but it will make installing the glass itself much easier, and if you want the interior windshield area to look as realistic as possible, this will do the job. The green painted A-pillar pieces and header were the plastic stock that I added to the kit frame. I think you'll agree that the interior windshield area looks much more realistic using this method than what you'll normally see. Steve

That's my thought. I will absolutely pull the trigger on Alsa Easy Chrome should the need arise, before I will ever rely on one of the other chrome paints available at the moment. I require something with some durability, plain and simple, and none of the chrome paints currently available provide that.

When it all comes down to brass tacks, the stuff is just way too touchy and unpredictable in my estimation. When I begin painting a model, which in most cases is a rarer vintage kit, I have no stomach for any surprises whatsoever. There are tried and true paints that have been around for ages that can be absolutely counted on to do the job correctly without any potential for drama. Why would I do anything else. It seems to me that whenever one of these "new" products surfaces, (kind of like Molotow) people seem to be willing to completely upend everything that they already know, and will jump through a thousand different hoops just to try to get it to work in some fashion, when there's always an old school way of doing it that's been around for nearly as long as we have, that produces equal, or even better, results that's always been right under our noses. The only thing that I can attribute this phenomenon to is expediency. People want fast, and will make whatever sacrifice necessary to get it done quickly. I will never understand it. Steve

I'm a bit surprised to see that there's no "Factory Stock" category. That's really weird. Most shows that I go to in my area have probably more factory stock entrants than any other category. I understand "Box Stock", but "Modified Box Stock"? Most of my models wouldn't fit into either category. They're stock, but not out of the box, and most contain at least a few aftermarket parts. I don't remember ever seeing a model car show that didn't have a "Factory Stock" category, without limitations. Very strange. Steve

Guess I missed it! Steve

Generally yes. The particular epoxy that I use can sit for at least 5 minutes before it begins to tack up. Depending on the particular assembly that needs to be performed, I’ll either apply the glue and then immediately mate the parts if it’s a pretty secure connection, followed by a check after about 10 minutes to be certain that the positioning is correct, or else I’ll mix the glue, apply it to one of the surfaces to be mated, and then let it sit for 5 minutes or so, after which I’ll check for tackiness. If the glue is sufficiently tacky to hold the part securely in position without sliding around, then I’ll assemble the parts, and again, return probably ten minutes later to verify that it’s still in position. I’ll usually continue to make periodic positioning checks until the remaining glue on the mixing card is completely hardened, which probably takes about 15 or 20 minutes. Steve

There is that. Most small exterior parts, (ie, door handles, mirrors, antennas, etc, and sometimes interior parts such as window cranks) get pinned.......although I don't deal much with metal for this, or any other purpose. I use primarily thin plastic rod, or stretched sprue for this purpose. But in any event, it not only helps in the strength department, but it makes the parts much easier to locate and glue into place, eliminating any problems with parts sliding around and smearing glue all over the place. Takes a little more time and forethought, but it makes for a cleaner model in the end. Steve

I agree. Since I’ve begun using the glues that I use, joint strength has never been a problem. As a matter of fact, my models generally get handled quite a bit initially, and often get dragged 300 miles or so, one way, multiple times during a season to a number of shows, and in all honesty, over the past ten years or so since I’ve begun going to shows, I’ve never once had a part fall off in transit. Apparently the paint and glue bond is pretty good to be able to withstand 600 miles of bouncing around on bad Minnesota roads, and that’s just one trip of several. Sometimes I think glue joint strength gets a little over emphasized. We build static models that aren’t supposed to get a lot of rough handling anyway, so how strong does it need to be? Steve

I don’t scrape anything. Haven’t for probably 40 years. I use MEK glue for bare plastic prior to paint, and 2-part epoxy for virtually all assembly processes, and have no issues. Steve

All that I can talk you is that I thinned a custom mix of MCW enamels to do the interior in my ‘64 Bonneville with plain old lacquer thinner, and it worked just fine. I had a little left over, but I haven’t checked to see what kind of shape it’s in now. Enamels can be really quirky once thinned, and will some times gel up depending on the thinning medium. Steve

Good grief! This is exactly what we need. More confusion on this subject! Everyone has their own definitions of what this is, and what that is, and then we get the official versions from the paint wonks and industry experts with all of the technical, chemical mumbo-jumbo. and our eyes begin to glaze over! For our purposes, at least for mine, it's pretty simple. If it says "Enamel" on the can or bottle, it's going to dry slow, go on thicker, dry harder, dry shinier, and can only be over coated with enamel or acrylic as a rule. If it says "Lacquer", it dries extremely fast, is able to be built up in multiple layers, in most cases will dry duller, but will be able to be sprayed over with virtually any other type of paint. Acrylic seems to be the sticking point because everyone in the business apparently likes that word, and uses it freely on pretty much everything. If you're using acrylic, you're just going to have to get down in the gutter with the paint wonks if you want to know exactly what properties each acrylic has, because it can be almost anything. Steve

That is absolutely an option. There are any number of "adhesives" that can be used for embossing powder. Anything that it will stick to with even coverage is fair game. Steve

If I could make one suggestion Anders? A wash of some sort on the wire wheels would add another level of realism. Steve