StevenGuthmiller

Well, the seats in the photo pretty much look like duct tape, so why not? Steve

Just pulling your chain a little Bill. While I wouldn't mind having one, I probably wouldn't have anything that would be a worthy trade, or anything that I would care to part with for it for that matter. I'm not big into these Johan 4 door kits. Although I do have a nice '59 Olds & '58 Cadillac that I would like to do someday. What I really kick myself for not getting is Modelhaus '60 & '61 Caddy 2-door kits! Steve

Mine has been pretty much stalled as well Steve. I manage to find a few minutes here & there in between installing lighting & tile in the kitchen. Almost done with that, so I'm hoping to get a little more time at the bench while I wait until after the holidays to start tearing up & installing new floors! Steve

I would just use a light gray. If you want a slight metallic sheen, a shot of clear pearl afterwards would do the trick. Steve

Slow progress continues. The interior is getting very close to finished. The dash is done! I used parts from the Revell '66 GTO kit, including the steering wheel & column, grab bar & pedals. All of the dash knobs were drilled out & replaced & the dash pad had a speaker grille & defroster vents added. Hopefully the next update will be soon when the interior is complete. Steve

You can keep the box. How about using the model as "trade material"? Steve

Enamel will usually just disintegrate. Lacquer will come off in sheets. It will work for lacquer paint. I've used it to remove paints as stubborn as Duplicolor & other automotive lacquers. Being as the Super Clean will dissolve the primer & not the paint, you need to give it an avenue to reach the primer. This can be achieved by scratching the paint in a few areas down to the primer. That will allow the Super Clean to work it's way under the paint to begin to lift it. It can take a while, but I've found that if you just let it soak for a week or more, (the plastic will not be harmed by letting it soak for weeks at a time) the paint will lift & peel completely off. I've had entire body panels of paint peel off in one large piece. I will add that while the paint will come off, the primer can be another matter. Super Clean doesn't seem to work very well on the clean removal of primer. It will however remove multiple coats of lacquer cleanly with patience. And please, use Super Clean! Purple Power does not work nearly as well. Steve

I wouldn't have taken that kit if you would have given it to me! Steve

Now you're talking. Now you might want to try wrapping a thin piece of styrene strip around each lens & foiling for the bezels. You might also want to consider removing the locator pins on the back. They will be obvious when the lenses are installed but really shouldn't be seen on the 1:1. But then you would also need to fill the holes on the body & foil over them as well. But that's a matter of whether or not they bother you. Steve

The pair of Buicks in the first pic are sweet!! Steve

I thought that I was staying on topic by recommending to the OP that he try a different approach for the tail lights rather than using those "God awful, ugly" custom tail lights for an otherwise beautiful build! Steve

The story that I had heard about these Comet & Edsel tail lights was that in 1960, with Edsel being on it's way out, Ford did not want to spend the money on too many Edsel specific parts for the '60 model year, so they raided the parts bin as much as possible. Seems that story does not apply to the tail lights. Steve

I do it after. Spraying gloss over it can cause it to lose a bit of it's shine. Plus, if you polish your models, the clear does not adhere well to the foil & can flake off during the polishing process. Steve

Could be. I had been told by someone that they were the same. I do have a '60 Edsel but no Comet to compare, so I was going by what I was told. Either way, the lenses would be easy to replicate & even the bezels would probably not be too difficult to make. I just used clear sheet plastic to make lenses for my '60 Edsel. Steve

After closer inspection, I've found that your main problem is not the sink marks, but the fact that the pieces you have pictured are not correct '60 Comet tail lights. They are most likely the custom pieces. The correct ones for this kit include a chrome bezel & a flat red lens. For what it's worth, if you don't have the stock pieces, the AMT '60 Edsel bezels should be the same part & a flat lens should not be too difficult to replicate. Steve

try filling them with some Laser Bond or Bondic. If it doesn't work out, you should be able to pop it out with little effort. My question is, are these sink marks just on the sides of the lens that will not be exposed on the finished kit? If so, I doubt that you will even notice them installed. Steve

I agree. Nearly all of my efforts go into body & paint, interior, & some engine & engine bay details. I've all but given up on worrying much about chassis details. If it can't be done with paint underneath, it won't get done. Steve

Exactly why I use MCW paints almost exclusively. All of their paints are formulated for model cars & use much smaller metallic particles in their paint. No guess work involved as to which type of paint to buy, (metallic, mica, pearl) because no matter what color you decide to use, the metallic will be closer to scale. I hate having limitations when it comes to paint colors, so it's nice to be able to pick any color that your heart desires without having to worry about things like this. Even colors like the metallic silvers, as Snake mentioned, are no problem with MCW paint. Yes, the darker gray on the '59 Pontiac is a metallic color, Some of the metallic colors that they offer are so fine that it can be difficult to tell without very close inspection. This '58 Chevy "Cay Coral" is also a metallic color. Steve

Good question. I have an old hobby compressor which offers very little in the way of adjustments. But if I had to guess, I would say that it puts out somewhere around 18 to 20 lbs. of pressure. This is the paint job that I did with it. Granted, this body was polished afterwards, but I was very happy with how the color coats went on with this brush. Steve

I bought one about a month ago or so. At this point, I have only used it once & so far, I LOVE IT!! It's comfortable, easy to operate, & with the wide "fan" spray pattern, it works great for painting bodies. I really have nothing to add about technique, it's basically the same as any other airbrush. I sprayed MCW lacquer through mine & was very happy with the results. Steve

Ick!! That's pretty much all that I have to say........ick!! I really hope that you got it for free! Good luck! You'll need it. Steve

Nice stuff! I especially like the Olds, although it is a '63, not a '62. But regardless, it's a very nice looking build! Steve

There's nothing wrong with using enamels, but for reasons already mentioned, stay away from gloss enamels. Use flat. You can always gloss coat afterwards. Flat enamels will dry much faster & smoother than gloss. I routinely thin flat enamels with either enamel thinner or lacquer thinner. But depending on the enamel thinner that you use, it can sometimes turn your paint into a globular mess. With lacquer thinner you will have much better results, with air brushing especially, & the paint will dry almost as fast as lacquer. I buy the basic blue, green, red, yellow, black & white, with a few other "specialty" colors, & with those, I can mix nearly any color that you can imagine. I use flat enamels almost exclusively for interiors & many times for engines & am almost always happy with the results. These interiors were done with all enamels with the exception of the dash boards & steering wheels. Steve

Now that looks nice! Nix on the goofy clown wheels! Steve

Probably just 6 of us this year, but we still have the 24 pound bird! My wife seems not to be able to get past the last few years when we had 13 or 14! Steve