StevenGuthmiller

Whoever designed the "Slingshot" obviously has no sense of style. I can't find one part of the entire thing that you could say "flows". Hell, even the wheels are ugly. I wouldn't let my best friend park one in my driveway, just like I won't let my mother-in-law park her Pontiac Aztec in my driveway! Steve

Nice Bill! Let me guess.....Does it have the custom tail lights glued in? That was one of the hardest parts about finding a good candidate for restoration. Everybody seemed to want to glue in those "bubble" tail lights, usually ruining the rear bumper. I finally found a good, mostly unbuilt kit without the tail lights installed. I still have a very nice '60 Merc hard top to build. I just need to find a decent rear bumper! Steve

In my opinion, every kit should have some sort of treatment on the glass to add realism. See how many photos of real cars you can find where the glass is crystal clear. They almost always have at least little bit of a "green" tint to them. Hans may have gotten a bit carried away on this one, but I think he has the right intention. Perfectly clear glass on a build makes it look like......a model car. I've struggled for a while with a good technique for doing glass, & I think I've finally found a good & relatively easy system. First I mask & spray that "strip" along the top with a mixture of Testors clear blue & clear green acrylic thinned for airbrushing, then un-mask & shoot a light coat of Testors lacquer window tint. I think it gives a much more realistic look than leaving it clear, & a less "stark" look than just spraying the strip on the top. Steve

I haven't built anything "new" for at least 3 years Bill. Pretty much all old annuals prior to 1965. & I've been having the time of my life! My wallet, on the other hand, has not! Steve

No big deal Peter. After all, what is coral? a shade of pink. It reminds me of a situation I had with a brother-in-law of mine years ago. He had a '57 Nomad he was restoring & I went over to look at it shortly after it came back from the painter. I said, "It's pink!" He scowled at me & said very sternly, "It's not pink, it's salmon!" Sometimes calling someones pride & joy "pink" can bring up they're blood pressure I guess. Steve

Yes they are Stan! But I think I've got 'em! Steve

I don't know either Mike, but if the Testors clears are that finicky, there should be some sort of "heads up" on the instructions other than "After 2 hours", or "anytime". There's a lot of gray area there. Steve

"The AMT '58 Bonneville was an "annual" kit & was manufactured just like the real car, in one year only, 1958. That's why they're becoming so scarce & expensive. They can be found, but plan on spending in excess of $200.00 if you're looking for an "unbuilt" kit. Steve

I actually kind of enjoyed doing the tri-tone interiors I've done in the past. Yes, they're a lot of work, but the results are great! The '61 Bonneville I built actually has a "Quad-tone" interior. White, silver & 2 shades of blue. Steve

There are lots of different shades of coral Peter. The one I used on this top is a '59 Dodge color that's actually called "Coral". In the pics below, there's a '59 Dodge in this same coral with a pink called "Rose Quartz", a '58 Chevy in correct "Cay Coral" & even a '63 Ford truck with the top & accents painted in a '59 Chevy color called "Cameo Coral". I also have a '57 Ford color called "Coral Sand" that I have yet to use that's very orange. So, you see Peter, coral is just like any other color. Lots of different shades. Steve

Could have got a set of tires from Modelhaus @ the same time. I love his tires! Just as good or better than anything else on the market. I just ordered 4 more sets myself recently. I know what you mean about these old annual tires. I've got a whole box of them. I never re-use them. Yeah, you really have to have a "system" for getting wheels out of these tires without damaging the wheel. I don't think you could hurt those tires with a blow torch & a sledge hammer! Steve

Most of the foil is actually pretty basic stuff on this one Rich, Just those long, thin, straight pieces on the fins are a little un-nerving! That's where the blue painters tape comes in real handy! Steve

While I have yet to see it on a '59 Bonneville, my inspiration for this color combo was the popular coral & gray on the '55 Chevy Belair. Coral & gray were both available colors in '59, so I thought I'd put them together regardless. Steve

Fantastic Bill!! Did you think about ordering a set of '58 Bonneville hubcaps since you ordered parts from Modelhaus? Those "generic" '58 AMT spinner caps don't look half bad, but I thought while you were at it, you could have gotten the correct ones from them. Steve

Looks great Hans! I've had the '65 Bonneville kit as well as the Grand Prix & the 2+2 sitting on my shelf for decades! Never built one. I can see now I need to do that! Steve

The instructions on the Testors "Ultra Gloss Clear" say it can be re-coated after 2 hours. Other Testors clears say anytime. I never re-coated that soon. I always let it gas out for about 24 hours between coats & I still had the cracking problem, usually much later. Now that I'm using Duplicolor clear, I usually get 3-4 coats on all in one day, allowing about an hour of drying time between coats. No issues with the Duplicolor, other than an occasional paint compatibility issue. Steve

I have barely started on the interior yet Bill. It's prepped & primed & waiting for paint. I'm going with the tri-color treatment of course. White with coral & gray accents. I figured it needs the coral carried over into the interior for that extra "splash" of color. I'll be hitting the interior hot & heavy this weekend. By then the body should be done. Steve

Thanks Mike! It's still one of my favorite parts of a build. Not so much because I like doing it, but just because of how much a project changes when it's done. That's when I start to really get excited about the build. Especially when it's one of these chrome laden beasts from the 50s! Steve

Just a little progress report to let you all know I'm still alive! Spent the weekend polishing & got about half the foil on in the past couple of nights. Boy, you wanna talk about fun? try foiling the trim on these fins! Steve

I'm confident you'll find one Bill. As I said, if you're lucky enough to find an auction ending on a weekday, you're chances of getting a good deal increase pretty dramatically. I'm with you on the alteration thing. I know these old kits can have a few inaccuracies occasionally, but I don't fret. Doesn't bother me, & I'm the one I'm trying to make happy. Steve

I usually waited at least 24 hours between coats & it still happened. Hopefully you'll not have this problem. I've never heard anyone else discussing it, so it must have not been a problem for most. Steve

I like the color combo! It gets pretty tiring seeing nothing but red '58 Plymouths. I told myself a long time ago, that if I built several of these kits, I would never build one in red! Steve

Glad to see you're back in the saddle on this one Bill! looking really nice. I just had a '58 hardtop in my "watch list" on ebay this past week just to see what it would go for. A built kit that I believe wound up selling for around $175.00!! So, yeah, If you paid less than that, you did alright! I picked mine up in a little antique shop many years ago for $8.00. I think I'm glad I did! Steve

That's what I had assumed was going on with the Testors clear lacquers that I had used. I've never had that same problem with Duplicolor clear leading me to believe that the Testors cures much more slowly. & even with the Testors, I had only had it happen a few times. Steve

When I was using Testors Lacquer clear, I would usually wait about a week. But I would say a minimum of about three days. The "smell" test would be a good barometer. One thing I found out about Testors clear lacquers is the curing time is much longer than say Duplicolor clear. I had problems with the top coats of clear cracking over time occasionally. That's why I stopped using it. I would paint & then use at least three coats of clear, polish it out after a week or so, & everything would look fine. Then about a week or two later, I would start to notice a few fine cracks, & it would continue to get worse over time. You would have thought after 3-4 weeks everything would be dry & cured, but that's when the cracking would start to really show up. Mind you, it didn't happen on every paint job, but enough to make me stop using it. Now I use pretty much nothing but Duplicolor clear. Steve