StevenGuthmiller

Welcome Michael! I'd be interested to see more photos of the '57 T-bird. It's a nice color & the paint job looks great, but the angle doesn't show enough of the car. Steve

Boy, I'll let your acquaintance use my car any time he wants! I wouldn't know where to start value wise, but conservatively, the 8 Johan kits alone could be worth as much as $100.00 each......or more! Steve

Did you rob a bank? Steve

Well, then you probably already know more about brush painting than I do! Steve

I use brush paints very sparingly on my projects. Almost everything is either shot with a spray can or an air brush. I rarely brush paint anything larger than an oil filter or radiator cap. Athough, with annual chassis you really have no choice but to brush paint things like exhaust & fuel tanks, unless you want to spend a whole lot of time masking. Steve

I usually keep an eye on things like seams......to a certain extent. I agree that things like mold lines on a radiator jump out & grab me when I look at a build, but it's all relative. If the build is basically OOB, with no engine wiring or plumbing, I guess it's to be expected. It only seems odd to me if the builder went over the top with little details & then missed the seams. I've seen some very nice builds with terrific paint jobs where the builder declined to remove the mold lines on the body! That one has always baffled me. I'll usually hit things that are readily viewable like radiators, engine blocks, etc. But, you'll not likely every find me sanding mold lines from parts like exhaust pipes. Steve

I agree. Just good old fashioned Testors "flat" paints are a good place to start. Flat paints will give you a more uniform finish with less brush marks than gloss paints. You can always gloss over them if you want a shiney finish. Steve

That I'm not sure of. I use almost no Tamiya paints. I use very little Testors paint for that matter. I use mostly MCW paints for airbrushing, & Duplicolor from a spray can. Both are very hot & you would not want to use them over anything not designed to handle automotive lacquers. Steve

Makes perfect sense to me Marcos! We spend most of our time trying to figure out ways to avoid "orange peel". Well, here's your opportunity to actually strive for it! Steve

Depends on the paint. There's absolutely no problem spraying Testors lacquer clear over enamels. Testors lacquers are very mild. "Craziing" is the term usually used when a "hot" lacquer paint actually reacts with the plastic itself causing it to "wrinkle". Steve

Agreed! Smell has little to do with how dangerous a particular paint is for your health. Coming from 25 years of drywall & paint work, an example of this is the fact that many common household latex paints, when airbourne, can be much more detrimental to your health than many oil based paints, which have a much stronger smell in general. Steve

Great to have you Mike! By classic, do you mean "traditional" classic? (Deusenberg, Cord, Cadillac from the 20s & 30s) Or just anything prior to about 1970? (Which is what I usually think of when I hear "classic car). Steve

This '61 Plymouth was done this way. It was molded in the yellow & then just polished out with a polishing kit. Steve

The '53 Chevy has never been one of my favorite cars, but when you see one this nicely done, it's hard to argue that it's not beautiful! Nice work Tulio! Steve

Same here. I used to get a lot more involved years ago, but I found it really began to become work after a while. The things I really enjoy about a build are things like paint & interior & exterior detailing. All of the engine & chassis stuff never really interested me much. I do enjoy a little engine detailing on occasion, if it's an unusual engine configuration, but I can only stay interested in so many big block Chevies before it becomes really boring. I guess you could say I'm more of an "automotive design" kind of guy than a mechanical groupie, so exterior & interior detailing is where I like to focus most of my attention. Steve

Nice work Ekrem! Welcome to the forum. Steve

If your foil is fresh & the surface that you're applying it to is smooth & glossy, the foil should be very difficult to remove in one piece. I burnish my foil down very well. That not only makes the foil very shiney, it also makes it stick well. Steve

As well as the Volkswagon. Steve

Sometimes it can be very useful in preventing very bad people from taking over the world. Being from England, I'm sure you remember a quite nasty group of individuals called the Nazis that needed a little intervention. Steve

Yup, I knew Modelhaus did the Polara. I've seen a few built-ups & it seems to be a pretty nice kit. Steve

Thanks Bill! Well, I am getting closer, but it will have to wait for another week while I'm on vacation. I'm shooting for finishing it yet this month......but you never can tell. Steve

Just a brush & paint Gene. & you might be surprised to see the size of the brush I use! I've never had good luck with those little "one bristle wonders". I just can't seem to get the paint to flow, or to flow where I want it to. I always wind up with a mess with a small brush. A larger brush will hold more paint so you don't have to start & stop all of the time. Steve

Thanks Brian! Steve

Well of course! You know it's very difficult to tell the difference between Puerto Rico & Illinois! Steve

The rear fender damage might be a bit of a pain, but it doesn't look too bad. I would much rather correct that than try to repair a crushed windshield frame! The screw post I wouldn't worry about at all. I've had dozens of those over the years. A lot of times, those are cracked when the original builder screwed the chassis plate on. Steve