StevenGuthmiller

Hang in there Mark. An F1 tornado went through my neighborhood several years ago missing our house by a matter of feet! houses across the street had minor damage & many, less than a half a block away, had roofs torn off, garages destroyed, etc. A very scarey experience. My wife's brother had his house completely destroyed by an F4 in western Minnesota years ago. Steve

With the new format, is the "my content" feature gone? I used to be able to go to my profile button on the top right of the page & click on my content for a quick view of all of the posts that I have participated in. That way I didn't have to go to each individual forum to continue discussions Steve.

Steve

X2 Steve

You can do the dash gauge faces the same as the body scripts. Or you can paint the gauge with the letter color first & then do a wash of the background color over it. This works best if you use a lacquer paint followed by enamel, or enamel followed by acrylic. That way the wash won't dissolve the base coat. Steve

If it's just a body crease or panel edge & it's very small, you can touch it up with a small brush, that is if you're planning on clear coating. I've done this many times & they're all but impossible to see after clear coating & polishing. I'm sure a lot will depend on the type of paint you're using. I use automotive lacquers & this works quite well for me most of the time. Steve

I'm thinking your problems with the clear coat had something more to do with the base color than the clear coat, unless you happened to get a bad can of clear. I've had my own issues with Testors clear & my own reasons for no longer using it, but I've never had adhesion problems like that. There must have been some reason why it wouldn't stick. The Tamiya tape is much less "tacky" than your standard masking tape which is why I use a lot of it. I have had issues with regular masking tape tearing off paint, but it was right down to primer. I wouldn't mess with the front bumper. It looks too nice! You'll probably never notice the difference, being on opposite ends of the vehicle. If it really bothers you, you could leave it off, have it re-chromed & add it later. Steve

No problem James. Now I can claim my little piece of what I'm confident will be a stellar build! Steve

The decals on the generator & oil filter are some generic detail decals from one of Tommy Logan's "mini sheets". The washer bag is molded into the fender well from the factory & is just detail painted. Steve

Give me the Desoto, or ANY Desoto for that matter!! Steve

Give me the '58. The best looking late 50s Ford created in my opinion. Steve

Yes, they can be built completely stock. I added the included cruiser skirts & continental kit to mine, but it does come with a plain rear bumper as well. Steve

The engine & chassis are nearly wrapped up on this build. Just a few details here & there & then they wait for final assembly. As I said, the engine is the AMT '62 T-Bird one pretty much straight out of the box. The chassis is the "original article" as evidenced by all of the "stats" written on it. The engine drops into place perfectly. Steve

Hope it works out for you James. Saves on a lot of filling & possible shrinkage. If not, you can run a wire to the roof & use it as a clothes line. Steve

This one has been around for a long time. I built mine several years ago. Steve

I do that too. I find that probably 75% of the Testors nozzles are trash. Why these companies don't use a "fan spray" nozzle for their paints like Duplicolor is beyond me. Steve

A good trick for filling holes like that on bodies is to heat up a piece of sprue & stretch it a bit. When it hardens, cut an inch piece on one of the ends where it tapers like a cone shape, close to the size of your hole. Then apply a little super glue to the piece & wedge it tight into the hole. Once the glue cures, you can cut & sand the sprue piece flush on front & back. That way, very little filler is required to smooth out the repair. I use this technique all of the time for filling those antenna & mirror holes on old built kits. Steve

Testors lacquers are not "hot" paints. You can use virtually any primer you would like under them. Steve

Thanks guys! As far as I've been able to tell Shaun, the '61 was not offered with the gold scripts as in '60. This one is going to be a mild custom, so it gives me a little "artistic license". I'm going to use a gold "Starliner" PE script for the trunk lid, & I think I'll omit the scripts on the front fenders. Steve

I saw several '61 Starliners at a big car show in Minneapolis last month. I believe every one of them was black. Steve

These old cars seem to come alive a little once the foil goes on. One side foiled. Hoping to get a little interior & engine work done over the rest of the weekend. Steve

Very nice Tommy! Steve

I apply foil to my scripts just before my final color coat. Then you just shoot your last color coat over it. When it's dry enough to handle, clean the paint off of the foil with a little thinner on a toothpick. Then you can apply your clear coats over the whole thing. Fantastic technique that I use on every build! Steve

No, I'm talking about the lacquers. They do dry fast but I've had things crack and the like as much as a month after final coats. That tells me it's taking longer to cure than most of us think. Steve

Mostly because the directions on the can say that you can recoat at any time & I thought it would be best to let each coat gas out a while before recoating. If anything, from my experience, it seems that I didn't wait long enough between coats. It looks as if the first coats are curing slower than the final coat, causing the last coat to crack. I did plenty of experimenting to see if I could find a relatively fool proof technique for recoating, etc. to guard against the cracking issue but was never satisfied that it would not happen again. There is a possibility that it may have been a reaction between the MCW paint that I use, & the Testors clear, but If it comes down to deciding between my MCW paint & the Testors clear, it's no contest! The Testors has got to go! I will not give up my MCW paint! Steve