StevenGuthmiller

The Bezels are actually the custom peices from the Styline kit. I thought they looked more like the real thing than the stock bezels in the kit. The missing parking lights will stay missing on this build. I figured it's a custom of sorts anyway, so it'll give the front a little cleaner look. Steve

Being as my 1961 Ford Starliner build is slowly drawing to a close, I'm in a bit of a quandary what to do next. So, I thought, why not have a little fun & put the question to the members? I've been leaning towards this 1961 Buick Invicta hardtop. I've put this one off for quite some time & I'm thinking it would be good to get it done to complete my '58 through '61 Buick line up. This MPC 1965 Dodge Monaco has been a bright blip on my radar for a while too! This beautiful Johan 1966 Chrysler 300 kit is a "must do" at some point too! It's my favorite 1960s Chrysler body style. I'm not sure. What do you all think? Steve

Sometimes I catch myself getting a little carried away! I began to contemplate drilling out the head lights & using clear lenses, & I thought to myself....."What about the back-up lights?" So I had to drill out the tail light lenses & add a clear back-up light. I'm better now. I promise I'll try to keep myself on track. Pictures are a little tough to see being such a close up, but I think they'll look nice once I start snapping pics in natural light. Steve

Looking pretty sharp James! Steve

If you're on a budget, the finest sand paper you can get your hands on, (several progressively finer grits) and some tooth paste for polishing can work wonders as well. Probably not going to get as fine a job as a polishing kit, but you'll save a few bucks. Personally, I use the Micro Mesh polishing pads. Steve

You don't even need the reflectors. If you have a Dremel tool with a reamer bit, you can just ream out the head lights to a cup shape, paint or foil the reflectors & add lenses. I've decided I'm going to start casting lenses in clear resin as well, if I can come up with a good one to make a mold from. This Ford grille has been done this way & is ready for lenses. In the future I will do this step before sending parts out to the chromers. Steve

I just checked the ones I have. Looks like the exact same chassis in the '59 & '60' Steve

I almost always get a little here & there but I just touch it up a bit afterwards. One technique I have used that seemed to work pretty well to prevent bleed under is to coat the area you're painting with clear coat after masking. That way, if there's any bleed under, it's clear & it seals up the tape edges so your color won't bleed under. I used this technique on my '59 Edsel interior. Steve

Love the Buick!! I keep putting off building the hardtop that I have. Maybe it's time to get going on that. Steve

I never saw this one coming! Oh.....I guess that was the point! Steve

Just strips of Tamiya masking tape & occasionally some BMF when I need to mask something with a curve to it. Steve

No Mike, it's bright red. As a matter of fact, the majority of it is good old Testors #1250 flat red. The lighting in my basement family room & my camera seem to have a real problem playing nice together, especially with red. Steve

Just a couple of pics of the interior pattern that I settled on, It's a little "busy" but I decided I needed some flash to offset the "drabness" of the body color. Steve

Beautiful work!! Steve

It surely doesn't hurt to do a little "swirling" as well as shaking. If you've ever used a metallic airbrush paint such as from MCW you would see how caked the metal flakes can get to the bottom of the jar. It can take a little scraping to get it loosened up again after it sits for a while. A little swirling of the ball around the bottom of the can could only help to get those sediments off of the bottom. Steve

I usually just run hot tap water into a small bathroom sink that is close to my shop. Drop the can in & leave it for 5 minutes. I really don't know what the benefit would be from getting the can so hot you can't touch it. Unless you're hoping for disability payments when it blows up on you. Steve

Here it comes. Just like clockwork. Steve

Great save Tommy! Steve

Nice stuff Gary! The '60 Ford truck is one of those that I still do an occasional search for on ebay. They're about as common as hens teeth, but one will present itself someday. Good work! Steve

I disagree. 2 weeks, at best. Steve

I've heard about this for years but for the life of my I have no idea how you guys cut them to shape and make hose clamps or ignition items. Would love some advice on that. I just use a small set of scissors for cutting the aluminum. trim it up to the general shape you want, maybe a little sanding if necessary, drill any holes with a pin vice & bend it to the desired shape. Steve

I'm almost certain of it. With our old system we had very little opportunity in the way of advertising our service. With the new system branching out to Twitter & Facebook, word is getting out & new customers are coming in every day. Steve

Well, I finally figured it out. Under "New Content" I changed the filter setting to "Only items I have posted in", & set the "Time Period" to "All Results". Now it acts exactly as the old "My Content". All is well with the world! At least until something else pops up. Steve

We lost a bunch! But, we probably gained at least as many. The biggest advantage was breaking out into the Facebook & Twitter world. Summer is our slowest season. I suspect things will really go gangbusters when the snow flies! Steve

Just the way of the world guys. Nothing ever stays the same. I work for a company that had a "home shopping" website for many years. Some hated it, some loved it. Recently, a new website was unveiled & the reaction was a lot like what's happening here.....with the existing customers. Customers who had become accustomed to the old system over the years complained incessantly. Some called it the worst website they had ever seen. However, new customers who had never used the old website only sang it's praises. So you see, it's all relative. If you had just joined today, you would probably love the new lay out. I suspect, a few years from now, when it changes again, those of us that are still around will wonder why the change was made from this wonderful format. Steve