StevenGuthmiller

You're right, you win. Absolute night & day difference! Steve

& they're not interested in cars in general. They're main interest is whether or not it's compatible with their "Smart Phone". Steve

I agree. Newer cars are much more reliable & efficient than the old ones. As far as a daily driver goes, I'd much rather have a new one. But this discussion has been about styling. I think there's been little debate that the new cars are more stylish than the old. As far as recognition goes, it's not really a question of whether or not someone can recognize a particular make, model & year over another. The question is how much variation there was in styling back then as compared to today. whether or not someone from the younger generation can differentiate a '57 Buick from a '57 Chevy is a moot point. I'm positive that same demographic would not be able to discern any difference between newer cars either. Steve

The colors most closely resembling these from the '59 Dodge line up would have been "Ruby" & Rose Quartz". Not sure if they would have been offered as a standard 2-tone, but back in those days everything was on the table! I did mine in similar colors. "Rose Quartz" & "Coral". Steve

Now don't get too nasty Jon! That's the car my wife drives! Steve

Here's a little experiment. How many of us instantly recognize this car? Now, how many of us instantly recognize this one? I rest my case. Steve

You're not serious, are you? The Chevy has rectangular tail lights, and the Buick has......almost rectangular tail lights & an extra trim piece. That's nuance. Name one similarity between the '60 Olds & Buick. If it wasn't for badging, no one would ever be able to differentiate modern cars. Steve

You didn't have to "learn" anything. It was just obvious that they were 2 totally different designs. Now it's merely nuances. Look at the rear end of a '60 Oldsmobile & a '60 Buick, both GM cars. There are no nuances. Steve

It is nice, but yeah....I was psyched to see a '64 as well. But don't feel too bad Paul. You did a good job anyway. Steve

I've done both. Usually if it's a curbside model, I rarely put much emphasis on the chassis, if any. If there's a motor involved, I do a little more, but I don't get carried away. One good trick is to shoot the chassis with primer & then shoot your body color around the edges. A lot of builders use this look. If nothing else, it adds a little interest. Then just pick out your details with your other colors. Steve

You have to remember, there's a very strong likelihood that those molds no longer exist. With the AMT '59 El Camino being re-released umpteen times since it's inception, don't you think the '60 El Camino would have been repopped at some point since 1960? My guess is that those molds are long gone. Steve

If you got behind a '61 Ford, even from a half mile away, there's no way you were ever going to mistake it for a '61 Chevy. & that's just from looking at the tail lights. Try that with "any" car today. Steve

I've never been asked, but I may consider it depending on who the person is. If my mother in law asked me, I'd really be tempted to turn her down, but I suppose I may have to oblige her. After all, she could make life miserable for me. I have given builds to people whom I knew would really appreciate them. Especially if the kit was modeled after a car they owned. Steve

That all depends on taste. I always thought the '59 Dodge was a well proportioned attractive body style. A little on the gawdy side, I'll grant you, but over all, still not bad for 1959 when everything was over the top. Now the '62 Dodge? Yes, that was an ugly car! Steve

Nice Bob! & even though I normally HATE custom wheels, I can live with these. Good work! Steve

Very cool James! Reminds me a bit of a car I just saw this morning. Someone had started with a Pontiac wagon & grafted a GTO front clip to it, then added rally wheels & Judge striping. The GTO front end looked a little strange with all of that sheet metal & glass behind it, but it was definitely different. Nice work! Steve

Paint & foil look terrific! Great looking color for a rather ho-hum body style. Steve

Perfect!! That would be a terrific response! He'll put his tail between his legs & run for home. Steve

I agree whole heartedly! If it wasn't for the "retro" craze over the past decade, there wouldn't be a car on the road worth looking at. & I have little love for those retro wannabe's either. Steve

Very nice Emmanuel! Interesting color combo. A fun one to foil! One of the worst I've ever done! Steve

Not all of them by any stretch Bill. But I'm working on it. I still dream of the perfect paint job. Maybe I'll be able to achieve that goal before I die. Steve

Could depend on the grille. A typical "ribbed" grille, similar to a cowl vent, probably would not be a problem. My only worry would be something finer like a '57 Chevy, '58 Ford or '58 Edsel grille. Something that fine could be obliterated by too heavy a coat. Steve

Another thing to think about is the grit you're starting with. beginning with a pretty heavy grit will give you pretty deep scratches to try to remove with the finer grits. I used to have this problem myself, but since I started using multiple coats of Duplicolor clear with a sanding in between, I've gotten to the point where the paint is almost completely free of orange peel so that I can start with 4000 grit or finer. When you start getting into the heavier grits, you're much more likely to wind up with deeper scratches which can be difficult to remove. Here's my story on this. To begin with, I've been using about 4 coats of Duplicolor primer. Why so many? I've had way too many issues with lacquer paint crazing the plastic if not adequately primed, so I figure more is better. I rarely see any need to sand my primer coats. Duplicolor primer dries as smooth as can be, so I don't see a reason too. Orange peel usually rears it's head during color coats, not primer coats. After several coats of lacquer color, (usually MCW, and often metallic) I shy away from sanding my color coats, especially metallic colors, because of issues with "smearing" the metallic in the paint & leaving areas that look "blushed". So, where does that leave me for taking care of any orange peel in the paint? I deal with that entirely in the clear coats. Duplicolor clear dries extremely thin with very little hiding of detail so multiple coats are possible. It also has pretty good leveling properties which will hide a little more of the orange peel with each successive coat. I start with 3 or 4 coats. I want a good base for sanding so that I don't burn through to the paint, or worse, the primer. Then I give it a sanding before shooting the final 1 or 2 coats of clear. The final clear coats will fill in any scratches from sanding & give you a nice smooth surface. Duplicolor clear does not dry as shiny as other clears, so it needs polishing just to bring out the shine, but after doing it this way, I usually have little to no orange peel to deal with. Plus I have 5 or 6 coats of clear over the color, so the likelihood of burning through the paint during polishing is greatly diminished. So, my point of this rambling is, the smoother your paint job, the finer the polishing pad, the less likely you are to have scratches. Steve

The body looks good from what I can tell, but is it just me or does it look like the coating on the engine parts is pretty heavy? I'm seeing what looks like material "pooling" around the bolts. Probably not a huge issue with most parts, but I could see how it could be a problem with something like a fine mesh grille. Steve

I'm not sure if or when I'll do it, but it is possibly another option. Steve