StevenGuthmiller

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

That's possible John. I usually let my final color coat dry for a day or two before beginning clear coats. My only question on that theory is why it only happens once in a great while, & like in this instance, only on the sides? The roof, hood & trunk areas all look good. Plus the fact that it seems to happen so slowly over time. I guess I really don't know how long it takes the paint & clear coat to cure, but the last clear coat was applied on October 11th & the cracking didn't start to appear until around the 25th. That's 2 weeks! I sure thought the paint would have been done shrinking in a lot less time than that. But I do think you're right. Obviously one of the "under coats" is drying slower causing the top coats to crack. I'm just becoming of the belief that it's one of the clear coats rather than the color coats. The Testors clear definitely dries slower than the MCW paint. Steve

Pretty nice Rich. Although I gotta say, it's way too much purple for me. Just my opinion, but I think it could have used a little more contrast. But then again, I don't build customs as a rule, so what the hell do I know. Steve

You'll want to cut them as close as possible. Believe it or not, the excess foil will show through the paint, either as an edge or it can even show as a different shade of your color. A good rule of thumb is to pretend you're not going to paint over it & it will be your finished script. Plus, the less paint you put over the foil, the easier it is to clean off, so a light paint coat will definitely show the foil between the letters. Steve

For the most part, I've been very happy with MCW for my paint, & I really have my doubts that it's the actual base colors that are the problem anyway. The color coats on this build looked terrific. I'm much more inclined to think it's a Testors clear coat issue. Especially if my hunch is correct & it can be polished out after a time. That would prove to me that the issue doesn't go any deeper than the 3 clear coats. Besides, Scale Finishes goes after more of the "custom" builder market. MCW is all original factory correct colors & a lot more of them than Scale Finishes. For example, Scale Finishes carries roughly 40 Mopar colors. MCW carries around 170, not including any special order colors. Steve

You have more patience than me! I wouldn't even take on a mess like that. I prefer to spend a little more money & get a little "cleaner slate". Steve

I do. Up until now they've had only Testors, but I haven't bee there lately. Is the Tamiya a lacquer primer? I use almost exclusively automotive lacquers. Steve

I use those pointed Tamiya q-tips. the smallest ones. As Jim said, use your thinner very sparingly!! you can always wipe more paint off, but it's real tough to put it back on. I dip the q-tip in lacquer thinner & then lightly roll it on a cotton cloth to absorb any excess before beginning to work, & then repeat as you go. use a good magnifier & take your time & you'll get excellent results almost guaranteed! Doesn't take long to get the hang of it. Steve