StevenGuthmiller

Believe me Monty, I've looked! They don't seem to exist. Could be a lucrative item for an enterprising resin caster. But in the mean time, you could always go the "home made" route. If you have a Dremel tool & reamer bits, you can carefully hollow out the head light buckets, foil, paint or chrome them & then add home made lenses. I've recently made lenses with "Laser Bond", (ie. Bondic) and it worked out very well. This technique may not quite measure up to Yuri's, but it may be one of the few options we have here in the good 'ol USA. Steve

Jump right in Chip! I found this site a few years ago & have really enjoyed it here! One thing I have found is that while I normally may have lost interest in building after some time, "again", the site helps keep me interested & therefore, keeps me building! Steve

That's much better Dave! Still looks pretty pink but it looks good none the less. Colors like this were pretty popular back then. I love them myself! I have several 50s builds in my collection in various shades of coral, lavender, purple, etc. Something about those colors, & of course aqua, just screams 50s to me. Steve

Looks very cool, from what I can tell. I hate to be a buzz kill, but the photos are horrible! The color looks closer to hot pink in the pics. Looking very nice & smooth though. Nice job Dave! Steve

Yup, should work fine. I usually use the "sandable" primer myself, but either should work. As a matter of fact, I may give the "sealer" a try again in the future. The Duplicolor sandable gray is very dark & there are times when a lighter gray would work better. You can use the Duplicolor primer regardless of what brand of paint you will be using. Word of caution though, Duplicolor primers are "hotter" than hobby primers & can "craze" the plastic if applied too heavily on the first couple of coats. So light coats for the first couple are a good idea. Steve

Great job Hans! One of the nicest I've seen so far! Steve

Suzy, You might want to paste that link into the post as a "link" or "copy & paste" a photo of the primer you're looking at into your post. My guess is no one is going to type that huge link into their search box to look at it. Just the way it generally works around here. we're all pretty lazy people! Steve

Nice looking truck Harry! Steve

Personally, I don't use Tamiya paints, but that's entirely up to you. Testors lacquers are much more readily available & generally much cheaper. You can pick up Testors paints at your local Hobby Lobby. Might be a good place for you to start. I use almost exclusively MCW paints with an airbrush myself, but that may be further down the road for you. Good luck & don't be afraid to ask questions. The people on the forum will be more than happy to offer any help that they can. Steve

Thanks Rusty! I started doing clear coats today & I'm a little disappointed. For some reason the clear has changed the color a bit. I know that clear coats have a tendency to "brighten" the colors a bit, but in this case I'm not crazy about the results. The color started out as more of a "russet" red, but after clear coating it's looking much more "candy" red. It doesn't look bad, just not the shade I was hoping for. Oh well, onward! Steve

Not really necessary to sand the whole body Suzy. But you may want to sand off the "mold lines" and possibly fix any "sink marks" or any other imperfections in the body. Make sure you use at least a coat or 2 of primer before painting too. Many paints like Tamiya & many Testors paints are lacquer & will damage the plastic without a good primer base. By the way, where in Minnesota are you. I live in Rochester. Steve

You know Mark, you might want to consider selling off some of your kits to finance restoring some others. If finances are a problem, restoring old annuals & promos is not a great place to be. Even small parts can be hard to find & expensive. On occasion, I've paid as much as &30.00-$40.00 just for a good replacement body. Hanging on to 100 damaged kits in hopes of restoring all of them could quite possibly result in restoring none. I know they have sentimental value to you, but parting out a few & selling them could net the green you need to restore a few more. Just a thought. Steve

Lacquers will be dry enough to handle within a few minutes of painting, but they still take time to cure. One good rule of thumb that I've heard from other members is, if you can no longer smell the paint on the body, it's pretty much cured. Most times, shortly after putting on the first couple of color coats, I will foil my scripts before applying the final color coat for the "foil under paint" technique, & I have noticed a tendency for the foil to stick much better to the raw, fresh paint. I never have that problem after clear coats & polishing, & after the paint has cured for a couple of weeks. Steve

Nice Bill! Very ugly car, but it looks extremely cool in the collection! I love the heck out of mine! Steve

I wouldn't worry a whole lot about refrigerating it. I've heard the same thing, but unless you're planning on using a little & then putting it away for 3 or 4 years, I wouldn't worry about it. Steve

Might have been just a bit too soon? Steve

You'll never be able to completely eliminate a seam between two pieces of foil. There is inherently going to be overlap & although you can minimize the visibility of that seam with heavy burnishing, you will never completely eliminate it. It will be visible upon close inspection. Now, if that's okay with the builder, great. I occasionally will do a repair some where if I make a mistake, but if it's in a highly visible area, I'll do it over. Sometimes those seams will really stick out like a sore thumb. If not right away, possibly later. Steve

Ebay has been great for me! Being born in 1962, & not beginning to build models until around 1970, you can guess how many old annual kits I missed out on. Ebay has given me pretty much my one & only chance to live those years I missed. Say what you will about ebay, but where else would I ever find a Johan '66 Chrysler 300? Steve

That's the right approach Kevin. If you have those cracks, you definitely can't cut across them. I'm not sure why the cracks appear sometimes. I've had the same issue occasionally, but never on the scale that yours has. I always assumed that it happened because of too much "flexing" of the sheet. Steve

Boy, I really wish I could still patronize my LHS. I had a fantastic hobby shop here for many years. When the owner died, that was that. Steve

Kevin. I just took a second look at your photo above & noticed something that may be causing some of your problems. There are a ton of wrinkles in the sheet laying under the GTX body. Those wrinkles translate into a cracked foil & consequently wrinkles in the trim. Obviously, some where along the line, that sheet of foil was not treated with the care it needs. BMF foil should be kept absolutely flat. Any bending or rolling can produce those wrinkles & cracks & create havoc with your foil jobs. Just an observation that may help out. Steve

Just pray that they're not eliminating the model section altogether! Everyone else is moving, or has moved in that direction. Steve

I agree wholeheartedly with everything Tom said, except for the number of kits you can finish with a sheet. I can usually finish at least 3, possibly 4 kits with one, & I build a lot of "chrome laden" cars. Minimizing waste is another trick that takes practice, but I don't skimp on foil in places that will result in a sub par job. Keeping those wrinkles out of the foil takes some practice & care to avoid as well. Believe me, I've gone through all of this too, but after going through sheet after sheet of the stuff, you get used to it. I probably average using 2 or 3 sheets BMF a year. I've gotten pretty good at managing the waste too! Steve

Boy, that's a new one to me! Usually you'll hear complaints about the foil not adhering, not the other way around. Never had this happen. Has to be something wrong with the adhesive. Throw it out & get a new one. As far as whether or not it's fresh, just buy it from a reputable source. Someone you know sells plenty of product. Don't buy it from "Bart" on ebay! Steve

Thanks guys! I'm usually not real big on these darker metallic reds, but during the research process, this was the color that stuck out to me on the '66 300. The interior will be black & white Dann. Steve