StevenGuthmiller

Yes, that's the cost for the loose parts already stripped. Although, Bob told me on the phone that he has a customer who just ships all of his parts as is, with the old chrome still on & the mold lines intact, so he must strip parts if need be. I would rather do those steps myself regardless just to make sure that they are up to my standards. I've re-plated many parts that still had pretty good chrome on them just because of the mold lines too. Once you build a kit that has had them removed & the chrome looks better than a brand new kit, it's hard to go back! Steve

Kustom Khrome mounts the parts for you, so they charge by the part. About the same cost as Chrome Tech charges for loose parts. Bumpers- $4.00 Wheels- $2.00 a set Small parts- $1.75 Medium parts- $3.50 So the parts that you depicted would run you $56.00. That's quite a bit more, but you don't have to waste several hours making racks & mounting parts. Shipping is about $4.00. One of my biggest gripes with Chrome Tech was turn around time. I never received my parts in less than 6 weeks with them. I believe I got my parts back from Kustom Khrome in about 3 weeks. I've never used LMK, so I can't comment on time or quality. By the way Bill, did you remove the mold lines from the bumpers? You'll absolutely be happier with the results if you do that. Steve

Nice stuff Emmanuel! The pair of Furys gets my vote! It's also very nice to see a stock '37 Chevy, which you almost never see. Steve

I still have parts that I had re-plated by Chrome Tech more than 20 years ago, & it seemed that their product was much better back then. I had them do at least 5 racks full of parts in the past few years & while they were ok for the most part, they did not even come close to the quality of the Kustom Khrome parts. Beginners luck from Kustom Khrome? Maybe, but I will definitely be using them again for my next batch. The silicone that Chrome Tech recommends is strictly for adhesion qualities. I know this first hand after talking to them directly about some parts falling off of the trees after using a different brand of silicone than than they recommend. The next batch I sent was applied with the correct adhesive, but the parts themselves didn't look any different. I've considered having Kustom Khrome re-plate the bumpers for my '62 Chrysler that I just had Chrome Tech do a while back, just because the quality is not great. Steve

Well, the pre-coat & the clear coat are chemicals. As I said, this is what I was told. If I remember correctly, he said that it can can cause adhesion problems. The guy who does their plating for them did all of the plating years ago for several of the kit manufacturers, so I believe he probably knows what he's doing. Anyway, I've had several parts come back with some pitting. But my biggest complaint about Chrome Tech is their heavy handedness with the base coat. They seem to spray it on way too heavy, hiding detail. I've also had chrome adhesion problems with them. Steve

Revell did the '56 Delray sedan & the Nomad. Monogram did the hardtop in 1/24th scale way back, but it's a pretty inaccurate body & nobody has done it in 1/25th scale. The really old Revell kit with the opening doors was also a 2 door post car. Steve

One of the things that I was told by Bob at Kustom Khrome was that part of the reason that some of my parts were coming back from Chrome Tech with a less than stellar finish was because of the silicone used to mount the parts. Supposedly it can react with the chemicals used in the chroming process. I don't have any evidence of that other than his statement, but my parts from Kustom Khrome were perfect! I believe Bob said that they use some sort of 2 sided tape to mount the parts. Steve

Looks ok to me. Although I would try to not let any of the parts hang over the perimeter of the rack. You absolutely have room for small parts down the center. Just as a reference, I could usually fit most of the chrome parts from 8 kits on 2 racks. I gave up racking my parts though ever since I found out how fantastic the quality of "Kustom Khrome's" plating is. Far superior to anything I've gotten back from Chrome Tech in the past few years. Kustom Khrome doesn't want you to mount the parts. They're a bit more expensive because of it, but well worth it! Plus there are few things I hated more than racking parts. Make darn sure you do an "over the top" job of mounting the parts. You don't want any losses. Here's how a couple of mine looked after returning from Chrome Tech. Steve

I still have one of these, along with the '70 Toronado, that I bought when I was a teenager. I have to say, they were just as good or better than anything any of the other manufacturers were producing. Steve

The '58 Edsel is easy. The ones from the newer AMT kit. The Buick is a bit more difficult. Modelhaus carried them........well, there you go. For some stupid reason, AMT had the correct wheel covers on the promo, & the ugly spinner wheels in the kit. So, if you can find an old busted up promo with the wheels intact, you're golden. Otherwise you could go the wire wheel route. Unfortunately, the Buick wires I used on my '58 were from Modelhaus as well. You'd have to find another acceptable wire wheel. Steve

I have 3 main goals. First is to enjoy myself, first & foremost. Second is to produce a nice finished product. There's no point to it otherwise. And third is to finish, & to do that on some sort of schedule. Whether it's 1 per month, or 1 per year. Personally, I know from experience that if I don't finish something on occasion, my bench time slowly recedes until it stops completely. The last time I let that happen, it was 10 years before I got back up on the horse. Steve

Fantastic stuff Yuri!! I don't think I ever saw the 2 pickups before now. But then again, I don't spend a lot of time checking out the truck section. Steve

While it's looking increasingly unlikely that I'll finish my '62 Chrysler before the first of the year, I guess I'll just have to settle for the trio that I managed to finish in the past year. I'm a little disappointed in myself as I usually manage at least a half dozen in a years time, but in defense, that usually includes a couple of curbside builds. I spent a little more time in the drive train department this year. If I do manage to finish my '62, I'll update this thread. Steve

I'll go along with that! Steve

How about a '56 Chevy Belair hardtop in 1/25th. A convertible would do nicely as well. Steve

I pretty much stopped using it a few weeks ago after months of inconsistencies. I can't abide a service that works "some of the time". Either it works, or it don't. Photobucket has a long way to go to convince me to return to using them. I'm using Fotki at the moment, & it blows Photobucket out of the water performance wise. Steve

Nice! Looks great in white. Steve

Wow Bill! That's quite a group! One of the first things that struck me was the original builders sense of color. A blue '60 Plymouth with a red interior, a gold '65 Dodge with a blue interior, & a purple '66 Imperial with a pink & tan interior!!? Remind me to never hire this guy to paint my house! Steve

Ooo! That could be a little bit of a project to transform the Tamiya kit into an '82. The kit is a reproduction of the '84 model. The first year for that style. I believe the frame is not even the same. The tank, fenders, wheels, gauge cluster, lights........pretty much everything was different from the '84. The two bikes share very little in common on the styling side. Steve

Do they use a Vega hatch back for a hearse? Nice work by the way! Steve

Correct James, there weren't a lot of differences visually between the 1000 & the 750. It's been a lot of years since I bought my '85, but I believe the only differences appearance wise were the color choices & of course the most obvious one, the gold trim. The 750 had none, & the 1000 was dripping with it! I believe the 750 was minus the passenger back rest as well. If I'm not mistaken, the color choices in '85 were monotone red or black for the 750, & two tone red or brown for the 1000. I believe the 1000 may have been available in black as well. Steve

I haven't checked the '57 Ford's lenses, but there are quite a few kits with them molded that way. I believe the mold I made for the Chrysler came from the lenses in the AMT '67 Impala kit. Steve

Wow! That's kind of funny. I bought a brand new Virago 1000 back in '85. My first new bike. It was the "Glorious Maxi Brown" color combination. I traded it in '96, with less than 10,000 original miles, for a "Wild Cherry" Royal Star. I still own the Star. The Virago was a great bike, but I wanted something that I could ride comfortably all day long. The first year that I bought the Royal Star we took a trip through 8 states covering over 3,000 miles. I never could have done that on the Virago. But I miss the Virago, & I basically gave it away when I traded it. I built the model many years ago too. I think I may still have the remnants if that kit around some where. Thanks for the memories James! Steve

And a beautiful one it is Peter! I'm not doing a whole lot better than you! I looked back & found that I only finished 3 this year! I was thoroughly depressed! I am holding out hope for one more before the end of the year so I can at least say I finished one every 3 months! Steve

I would finally build the MPC 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix that I've had in my stash for quite some time. The reason is obviously to replicate my 1:1 Grand Prix. I will get to it one day! Steve