StevenGuthmiller

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

Bending the foil around a curve like a wheel well will be an exercise in futility. Guaranteed to kink, and believe me, it will not look good! You're better off biting the bullet & wasting a little foil. Unless you don't mind them looking like BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH. Choose a corner of your sheet & cut crescent shaped pieces, one on top of the other to foil all four wheel openings. If you cut them like this it will minimize the waste. I guess if you must, you could do each opening with a couple of pieces, but you're going to have an overlap some place that's going to show. Steve

I feel ya Ace! That's why I've been doing my best to accumulate what I can over the past few years. You think they're expensive now, try again in about another 5 or 10 years! Steve

It's funny how you seem to see the same stuff over & over again. You'd think that they would get the drift after a while. I keep stumbling across the same AMT '61 Bonneville convertible built up that's been on ebay for at least the past couple of years that the guy seems to think is worth $155.00! I can't believe that he hasn't re-assessed that price after all this time with no takers. On it's best day it may be worth $70.00.......maybe! Steve

I know that feeling! Steve

Got a little color on the '66 tonight. 4 coats of Duplicolor primer, 2 coats of Duplicolor "Bordeaux Red" as a base & one coat of MCW "Spanish Red". I'll foil the small chrome parts like door locks & small scripts & then one more coat of Spanish Red. Then I'll be ready for clear coats. I think I like this color. Steve

I really don't know how rare that kit is, but on ebay there's some huckster trying to sell a box with a chassis, a hood & a "half" of a body for a buy it now price of $115.00!! For a box? Not in this lifetime!! Steve

That color shouldn't be too hard to find. Looks like a pretty basic metallic medium gray. & the color in the photo is definitely a metallic color. Here's one that I happen to have on hand that looks pretty close to me. Duplicolor "Perfect Match" #BGM0478 "Medium Marblehead Metallic". Steve