StevenGuthmiller

Looks immensely better Al!! Now you're talkin'! Steve

It must have been a pretty popular combo Ron. There's certainly no shortage of reference material on the web for it. Steve

Boy Gary! I guess all I can say is thank you! I may have explained myself on this forum before, but I'll reiterate. I missed out on these old annuals from the late 50s & early 60s being born in '62, so now,with the arrival of ebay & the availability of this great old subject matter, I find myself feeling like a kid again. I also feel my mortality & realize that I no longer have forever to take a year to build one kit. I may have 30 years left to live but who knows how much longer I'll be able to build before the hands & eyes go. So I decided that I would go on a early plastic spree of sorts & see if I could build these old kits with little more than what they came with from the factory & still make them a presentable display piece. If & when I finish all of the ones I would like to build, maybe there will still be time to go back to the '49 Mercs & '57 Chevies. & if not, I can still die happy. Steve

Another Beauty Yuri!! I sure wish AMT would have done a better job on these steel wheels. Way too "thick" on the outer edge! Steve

Bill. As far as polishing MCW metallics goes, i really can't tell you. I always use clear coats over my color coats. I just like to have the assurance that I won't burn through my color coats when I'm polishing. I usually use 3 or 4 clear coats over my paint. I really stopped having issues with mold lines when I started using my current painting system. I start with a couple of coats of Testors lacquer primer, followed by 3 coats of duplicolor primer in progressively heavier coats. Then paint & clear. I like to use the Testors primer first because it's designed for plastic & therefore less likely to give me problems with crazing. Sort of seals things up, if you will, before the "heavy" stuff. Steve

I was out mowing my lawn in a coat this afternoon! Somehow I think that's not natural! Steve

I'm really liking this color! After the first coat I thought it looked way too "orange". Even after the second coat I wasn't too sure. It just looked so bright & overwhelming. But once I got it unmasked & uncovered the white primer, I think it balanced out nicely. Just have to clean the paint off of the scripts & the c-pillar badges & then I'll be ready for more masking to paint the white part. Steve Added one more shot of the scripts after cleaning them off.

The paint I'm using is actually 1964 Mercury "Bittersweet", but to my eye, it looks like a pretty much exact match to '59 Ford "Geranium". Yes Lee, it will be 2-tone, with the lower body & roof geranium, & the hood & trunk areas white. I may have some more pics later tonight. Hope to get the geranium color finished later. Steve

I can usually avoid those "ghost lines" by using very light coats for the first couple of coats. Once you get a "base" down, it seems you're less likely to have that problem. The heavier the coat of paint, the more likely you'll have "etching" problems. Even the duplicolor primers will etch the plastic if the initial coats are too heavy. Steve

Nothing great. But I'll scrounge one up. Steve

Gary cook had asked me if I had ever built a '59 Impala & if I had if I could post some pics of it. Well... here it is. A little long in the tooth as they say, this is a very old build & is showing it's age. I believe this was one of the first times I ever used MCW paints when there used to be a local hobby shop in town that sold it in rattle cans. Can't remember the color, but I believe it may have been a late 60s Corvette or Camaro color. Steve

Actually, I did build a '59 Impala convertible many years ago & lets just say it's showing it's age. But just for you Gary, I'll post a few pics in the "Under Glass" section. Steve

Personally, I've always liked the '59 & '58 Ford styling much better than the '57. The '57 always looked to me like 2 different people designed it & they didn't share notes! The '58 to me looks like the "refined" version of the '57. Although I'll admit, I was never really crazy about the roof line on the '59-'63 galaxies, I do like the looks of the '59. Got the first coat of "Geranium" on the body tonight. Man...is it bright!! Steve

The Iris is in actuality, much more "purple" than this chip looks. Looked pretty close to '65 GM "Evening Orchid" to me. Should be a pretty unusual combo. Steve

Nice Jim! Looks like those bumpers were giving you trouble. Steve

That's very nice Brian!! Again, I'm not a fan of the wheels, but that's just personal preference. Did you not foil the rocker trim & fender well trim for a reason? Steve

I didn't design it Miles, I'm just building it. There were a lot of cars from around this era that had styling "issues". Let's take the '58 Edsel for example...... Steve

Thanks Bill! Many times, what I'll do is basically use Duplicolor paints as my "base coat". if i can find a similar color in Duplicolor to what ever MCW paint I'm using, I'll use the Duplicolor for the first couple of coats & then the MCW for my final coat. Saves the "good stuff" for another build, plus if you're painting the body along with under hood, chassis, interior parts, etc, a 1 ounce jar can be a little light sometimes. There's nothing worse than running out of paint in the middle of a project. Steve

Things seem to be going relatively slowly on this build, but I think it's mostly because I spent a few days prepping & mounting parts for re-chroming. But, I finally got the body prep & priming done, so hopefully I can start shooting some color over the next few days. Steve

All I can tell you Bill is what I've learned from experience from using the stuff. I assume he just uses a finer particulate metallic in his paints being as they're formulated exclusively for model cars. I've found that the metallic in the Testors paints is, for the most part, wildly out of scale for 1/25th scale, & most of the duplicolor paints that I have used are better, but still not accurate. Just take a look on my Fotki page. Almost all of my builds have been painted with MCW paints, at least all of the metallic painted ones. Some of them, like the '58 Impala, painted "Cay Coral" metallic, are almost hard to pick out the "flakes", but the metallic "sheen" is still there making the paint look much more realistic. Steve http://public.fotki.com/stevenguthmiller/

Finished up tonight!! Will post pics in "Under Glass" as soon as I get some good ones taken! Steve http://public.fotki.com/stevenguthmiller/1960-chrysler-new-yorker/

I agree with Steve! If you're going to use automotive paints, prime, prime, prime!! Nothing will ruin your attitude quicker than a destroyed kit body from crazing! I usually use 4 or 5 coats of good primer. Use what works for you but I would always rather error on the side of caution in this case. Steve

Sounds like the answer to me. Better to take a sliver out of the center of the bumper than to try hacking apart the body. Steve

The hits keep coming from you Peter!! wasn't it just a short time ago you were complaining of "builders block", or am I mistaken? Another beautiful build! I especially like the interior. So cleanly done! Keep up the great work Pete!! Steve

I've been using MCW paints almost exclusively for the past several years. These are automotive colors, I believe, from Dupont. The thing I really like about the MCW paints is, They're pre-thinned for airbrush application. Just stir & shoot it on! Another thing I love about it is that the metallic in the paint is to scale for 1/25th, unlike the Testors metallics & even the Duplicolor paints. I love the stuff & will never go back! Steve http://mcwautomotivefinishes.com