StevenGuthmiller

I believe my fathers first car was a '51 Chevy, that I remember him telling me, that the paint was in rough shape & having no money, he painted it with a brush & yellow house paint. My mother never had her own car until years after they were married & I'm really not sure, but I think it may have been a '65 Ford station wagon. Steve

Christian, it may have been easier to show us what you "didn't" get! Nice haul! Steve

A very rare old bird, & exceptionally well done! It's gorgeous in every way. I love the color! I have a '67 that I'm going to do in "Plum Mist" which is an extremely dark purple. Really nice work! Steve

Fire away with the questions Richard! All you need to do is pose a question, I believe me, You'll get all the answers you could ever want! Welcome! Steve

That's fine Nick, use what works for you. Personally, I've had so many ruined projects because of basic masking tape, that I will no longer let it touch my paint jobs. I use 3-M tape as well for certain applications, but not on bodies. Steve

I'm betting that you used Testors "Metallic Silver" enamel? If that's the case, that particular paint is pretty fragile & doesn't play well with lacquer clear coat. It looks to me as if the lacquer clear coat basically "ate" the silver paint & any place that the clear coat sagged a little, it took some of the silver with it, hence the uneven color. I would absolutely strip it. polishing will only shine the surface, it won't correct the color "blushing". Many years ago I built a '31 Cadillac, black with silver fenders & got an excellent result using Testors silver enamel & one coat of Testors "enamel" clear coat. But you have to be careful with enamel clears, they can yellow horribly! I would suggest using a lacquer silver as the base color & then at least 2 or 3 lighter clear coats. Steve

Also, make sure you're careful of the type of masking tape you use. Regular bargain basement masking tape can cause all sorts of problems depending upon conditions. I personally use Tamiya masking tape for paint lines & then fill in with masking paper & blue painters tape. Tamiya tape will give you a nice sharp line but the adhesive is not so tacky as to pull paint off. I've had regular masking tape do everything from pulling off paint to not coming off at all if it gets damp & is not removed promptly enough. & yes, there are other types of tapes that work as well as Tamiya, that's just what I use. Steve

Makes sense to me. Steve

That doesn't really compute for me. How could it not be worth their while to sell a set of tires that probably cost only pennies to produce @ half the price of a complete kit containing those same tires? Seems like a no brainer to me. Obviously Round 2 must be able to sell them. They've been available for several years. I personally have bought at least 20 sets of them in the past 3 years, & probably only 3 kits. & Modelhaus sells tires by the truck load. Surely there's a market for them if everyone "except" Revell is doing it. I won't pretend to know all of the ins & outs of kit marketing, but it seems to me that if you can sell 2 sets of tires for $14.00, I'm not sure why you wouldn't jump on the chance to make an easy buck. I would think it would be almost pure profit, minus packaging. Steve

Alclad also makes a gold. Won't exactly look like plating, but other than having parts replated, there probably aren't many options. Steve

If you could get a hold of an original, or something close that you could use to make a mold, you could use this same technique with red tail light sprue. Problem is, if you have a "left & right" tail light situation, you'd need both to make molds anyway. Steve

Absolutely. Even Mobius is offering the tires from the '65 Plymouth as separate items, why not Revell. I would like to see some of their wide whites offered as "tire packs". Steve

I would say way beyond restorable!! Steve

I use mostly flat colors for my interiors & then many times a mist coat of pearl to simulate the metallic interiors prevalent on cars from the 50s & 60s. If you use a flat white & then use the "body oil" technique, it looks pretty close to vinyl or leather. Just spray your parts with flat white & then rub the surface with your fingers. The oil from your fingers will leave a sheen on the seats. I use this technique for convertible tops & it works quite well. Steve

I've seen a couple of the '58 promos in the past, but I've never seen a good one. As you can imagine, this long straight body style did not fair well in the warpage department being made of acetate plastic. I have 2 of the 60s, one hardtop & one convertible, & a '59 hardtop, all annuals. I hope to build all of them.........some day! Steve

Although I'm not real big on customs, You did right by this one. The paint is gorgeous & I like the fact that you kept it basic & didn't destroy the flavor of the '60 Impala by removing all the chrome, chopping the top, etc. I don't think you could have done a nicer job! Steve

And of course the '67 GTO that he T-boned! I say go for it! Steve

Actually, Now that I think of it, I painted the buckets on this '61 Ford grille with Testors "Chrome Silver".....& I used an old set of kit lenses. But I did foil the buckets on this '62 Ford. I just cut a square to cover, lightly lay it across the top without letting it really stick anywhere around the edges, & then just push it down into the bucket with a Q-tip. There may be a couple of small wrinkles, but you'll never see them once the lenses are installed. Steve

I've started doing something along those lines myself. I just grind out the chrome lenses into a bucket shape & then foil the buckets. (in the future, I will hollow them out before I have the parts rechromed) Then I've begun making my own lenses using a silicon mold & heated clear sprue. Works pretty well. Steve

I use little plastic paint storage containers I get at Hobby Lobby. They work great for mixing & storing small amounts of paint. & they're cheap so when you're done with them, you can just toss them out. Steve

Boy! That would be a real heart breaker to see in a tow lot! Nice job Mike! Steve

I've used a similar method that works ok. I use mostly clear with just a dab of white & a dab of metallic silver. Probably not the best outcome available, but not too labor intensive either if you're looking for a quick solution. I still use this method quite often for parking & backup lights. Steve

It takes a little practice but it's really not difficult once you learn the basics, & maybe a few "tricks of the trade". I've been building for nearly 45 years & I still don't do a lot of those things. All depends on what you're interested in. You can build some very nice models that don't even have engines & rudimentary chassis, with a little attention to detail. If a high level of mechanical detail is what you crave, go for it. Personally, I like to focus on external details. This '59 Dodge Royal Lancer has no engine & a flat chassis plate with absolutely no detail, but it can still make a nice shelf build. Now, if you're into the mechanical stuff, you could go nuts on this one with some "donor" parts. Steve

For someone who considers himself a "beginner", it looks like you're a very quick learner! Get yourself some Bare Metal Foil for the trim & a polishing kit for the paint & you'll be running with the "big dogs" in very short order! Nice work on all of them! Steve

I do it quite often. If I happen to get a piece cut crooked or get a wrinkle in it or whatever, off it comes. Steve