StevenGuthmiller

Waste of perfectly good sheet metal. I wouldn't drive one of these death traps any faster than 35 mph, even if it would go faster than that. Steve

Strange. Do you remember which Testors clear it was? Was it The Model Master #28139 "Ultra Gloss Clear Coat"? or was it one of the other Testors clear lacquers? (#1834 Wet Look Clear or #1261 Glosscote) I've never had that sort of problem with them. Although I have been having a cracking problem with the "wet look clear" lately. Steve

I think I've bought a couple of kits from this guy. Recently I got a very nice '65 Dodge Monaco from him. If I recall correctly, he was selling off a collection of an old gentleman who had passed on & his wife needed to get rid of his massive collection. I believe he had taken all of the parts off of the trees & placed them in plastic bags to save space. He must be coming into the home stretch. He had a lot more rare kits & resins a couple of months ago. I went back & looked & I bought my '66 Chrysler 300 from him as well. Steve

Understandable Richard. Some people really don't like cats. Some don't care for dogs. Others just don't believe in pets in general. I just won't tolerate anything hairy in my shop!! Steve

I used to keep a small kids dart gun handy many years ago with our first cat that we needed to teach to stay off of the kitchen counter. It didn't take her long to get the drift! Our latest cat however, wouldn't get the drift if you shot her with a crossbow! Steve

Plus the fact that most of the mirrors included in these vintage kits were notoriously bad & completely inaccurate to boot. You can only rob so many mirrors from your newer kits. Maybe my next step would be to come up with a few good designs & then resin cast a bunch & see if I can make a few bucks selling them. Steve

I used the back of a spot light from a '49 Merc kit for the head in this one. I think I'll use this one on the '60 Chrysler & then maybe try tho refine the design a little the next time around. Steve

It does dry slower than automotive lacquers, that's for sure. I usually let my clear coats cure for at least a week before I start polishing. The longer the better. Steve

Kind of along the same lines as guys who will pay $500.00 for a sealed vintage kit. Obviously a collector & not a builder. Seems a waste to me to buy a model kit just to set the un-opened box on a shelf & look at it. As far as they know, the box could be full of scrap plastic. I guess it's no different than people who restore real cars to better than new condition & then never drive them. All seems a little pointless to me. Steve

Holy Cow!! You could buy the real car in probably as nice of shape for the same price! It's nice, but.....Whoa!!

Thanks John. I knew I had to do something but my options were pretty limited. Steve

For any of you who build these old Mopars know that the late 50s-early 60s out side mirrors are almost non-existent except for the AMT '57 Chrysler 300 kit. So, I guess you gotta make your own! It's not easy with big "fumbly" fingers, but I guess it's not bad for a first effort. Steve

I got tired of waiting for that "mirror pack" John, & decided to do a little scratch building for my '60 Chrysler. These old late 50s style mirrors for mopars are pretty much non-existent except for the AMT '57 300 kit. So I thought I'd try making one. It's fiddly work but I think it'll work with a little more tweaking. Steve

I tell my wife, the first time I find a cat hair in one of my paint jobs, it' back to the farm for the cat!! Steve

I guess the first thing that pops into my head when I think of a girls car, just because my wife made the mistake of buying one from a friend when we were dating, is the Renault Le-Car! There's something seriously wrong with a car that shares it's engine compartment with the spare tire!! Steve

Being as the '59 Ford is in a bit of a holding pattern, work on my '60 New Yorker can progress a little faster. Body is all polished out, (no cracking paint on this one) & got a good start on the foil. Foiling isn't too bad on this one. The majority of it is in the rocker & wheel well trim & the window trim. I've really grown to love this body style after building the '60 Desoto & the '61 New Yorker. Yes, it had those enormous fins, but it was done in a way that gave the car a real "sleekness". I think Chrysler's decision to eliminate any side spears on the New Yorker was a good one. Gives it a nice "clean" look. I'm still having trouble getting good color portrayal with my camera though. It still looks more gray with a white top. In person, the colors are an exact match to the color chips. Steve

Well, it will have to continue it's life without an interior because it's going into my '61 Starliner. Steve

I've done that several times, only with white primer. I've done several builds with white tops that I thought, why paint it white when it already is. So I just cleared over the white primer. Works fine. Steve

Yea, I've had that happen several times. Putting in a bid on a whim & not really caring if you win seems to be a pretty good winning strategy at times. It's when it's something that I really want that I get into trouble! Steve

That's one thing I've been trying to come up with is a good way to scratch build some passable outside mirrors. That would be another good thing for some enterprising resin caster to come up with is a giant bag of "period" mirrors for about 5 bucks! Nice work John! It's coming along nicely! I'm still hoping the paint can be saved on my '59 project. It's sitting here staring at me as I type. The cracking seems to be mild & hasn't progressed any more, so I'm still hopeful. What color, or colors are you going with John? I hope something "50s". I love the colors from that period & pretty much loathe all these custom candy colors nowadays. But hey, it's not my build! Steve

Just picked this up from ebay the other day. I put a cheap bid on it mostly because I was still looking for a good interior tub for my '61 Starliner. Never actually thought I'd get it for $14.99. A lot of good usable parts on it, including the body. Steve

No worry Al. They look just as nice! I use them all the time. Especially for the promo wheels. Steve

That's the problem with these resin kits. You're pretty much guaranteed to have fit issues. But I guess that's the nature of the beast. Steve

Cost is not a major issue with me either. But availability is. I have to order almost all of my building supplies on line now because all of the hobby shops in my area are gone. Hobby Lobby is pretty much my only source for supplies locally. I'll check them next time I go in to see if they carry it. Could someone please put a bug in their ear & get them to start carrying BMF? Would be great if I could stop ordering that! Steve

Pretty cool Richard! The only criticism I would make is that there is an obvious wheel base issue as evidenced by photo #2. Other than that, it's nice! Steve