StevenGuthmiller

Looks vaguely familiar! Steve

I build, & I'm a collector. My wife thinks I'm a fool! Welcome Jake! Steve

I Know what you mean. I've never been a huge "stickler" when it comes to being 100% accurate with my builds. I just like the "stock" look. So I build them to look stock with maybe a few personal "embellishments". I've always just loved that pastel paint, wide white, dripping with chrome look & I always will. Never been a big custom guy. If I go to a show, while everybody else is drooling over the tricked out '32 Ford, I'm out in the parking lot staring at the so-so '56 Plymouth one of the other show goers arrived in. Steve

$500.00 James?!!! You could sell them by the semi load for that!! Put one like that on the street corner in that condition around here & you'd have 5 people with their check books out following you as you walked away! Very nice job! Steve

Thanks Glenn. I'll make sure to remember that one! Steve

So true Froghawk! I know the combo I'm doing on this Merc is not "strictly" stock. Most photos I've seen of the interiors were pretty boring. Even the "cross hair" pattern on the seat backs, if anything, should be the secondary color of dark red instead of bright red. I decided I'd add a little interest by leaving that section red & maybe give it a dark red wash to bring out the pattern a bit. Oh well, I guess with these old kits, you make due with what you get. Steve

Thanks guys! It's getting there. Still hoping to finish it up in the next week or so. Glenn, you'll have to forgive this old fogey who's not really up on the techno age acronyms. I don't know what KUTGW means! Steve

Thanks David! It is coming along quite nicely I guess. I did make a slight change in the color scheme. I was originally doing it in black with a red & black interior, black wheels & a black top boot. Decided it was too much black & made the executive decision to change the interior to 2-tone red & the wheels to red. Thought it needed a bit more color. The top boot in these photos is un-painted. It won't stay that way! Steve

Welcome Glenn! I can almost remember when I was 14......Almost! That's about the same age I was when I started building some 37 years ago. It makes me so happy to see young guys like you starting out in a hobby that I had pretty much given up for dead. At least for the younger generation. I wish you many years of fun in this great pastime. Now, young man, GET CRACKIN' !!! Steve

The trunk will open far enough to get a 12 pack of beer in it! I think it looks great! You live & you learn. I've done the same thing with the panel lines in the past. I figured it out after a while. The spoiler..... I probably wouldn't have thought of that either. Steve

Glad to see some one else as "enthusiastic" as I am about these old kits Ron. I have the Johan '60 Olds, as well as the Merc hard top, the Buick & the Pontiac, (both hard tops) as well as the Lincoln. (also a hard top). Unfortunately, if you want a '60 Olds convertible, you'll have to go resin or chop the top off of one. Johan never produced a convertible version. I have all of the 60s from Chrysler, ( New Yorker, Imperial, Dodge, Plymouth & Desoto) All of the Fords, ( Ford, Lincoln, Mercury & Edsel) & all of the GMs, minus the Caddy. Oh, I don't have the T-Bird either......Yet! Steve

That's just plain "righteous" dude! The colors & the finish are gorgeous! Someday, when I get off of my "vintage kit" kick, I have to build mine. Mobius is the "God" of kit manufacturers right now. Their stuff is amazing. Beautiful Yuri!!! Steve

That's a sharp GTX!! I had a friend as a kid who was a complete Road Runner fanatic! He eventually owned 2 '70s & a '69. The '69 was that exact color. Great job! Steve

I'm becoming a little more excited about it as it comes together Nick. Little things become much less apparent as things progress along. Although I'm not a big fan of black, I have to admit that black with red accents is a very striking combo. Steve

Couple more pics of the progress on this build. Looking much better with the addition of some color with the red & the foil helps greatly! Steve

As far as I'm concerned, the best looking three years of the Impala! Well......Maybe a '61 added in there to make it an even number. Nice job on all three! Steve

Unfortunately, they never produced an uptop for this kit. Personally, I love the look of an uptop. Thought about modifying one, but I think I'll save that for an up coming '59 Merc convertible build. The '59-'60 Mercs had a unique top with a wrap around back window so I think it would add some interest to the build. This one will be pretty much black all around. Black wheels & top boot with a red & black interior. Steve

I have used that technique from time to time. As a matter of fact, I used to paint all of my kits with flat enamels & then clear coat. That way it was easy to custom mix colors & with the flat paint, you didn't need to worry about the runs, sags, fish eyes & orange peel that could be a problem with gloss enamels. I moved away from that in favor of automotive type lacquers mostly because the drying & curing time are much shorter than enamels. Using lacquers is pretty much the same anyway. The color coats dry pretty much flat & it's left to the clear coats to do all of the "Shiney" Steve

Thanks guys! It's looking better, but I've had more paint issues with this kit than anything I've built in the past couple of years. I have just a touch of polishing to do on one side & then hopefully I can begin the foiling process this weekend, along with some more interior work. I'm thinking that now that the paint work is about finished, this should be a relatively quick build. Steve

It's an original issue AMT kit. I got a pretty good deal on ebay for this one. It was a complete, in the box kit. Most of the parts were still on the trees. The only issue was a clean split in the middle of the windshield frame. Paid about $50.00 for it. Steve I love black too Nick. It's just always been a pain in the neck for me. Superficial imperfections that you would never see in a lighter color stick out like a sore thumb with black! It can be a little frustrating!

Actually, there's nothing more beautiful than a nice glossy black paint job. But there's also no color I hate working with more! Every little scratch & ripple stands out like the grand canyon! I guess I'll just live with whatever I get & then I'll stay away from black for a while. By the way, this is an AMT '60 Merc convertible. Steve

You may not even have to remove it Shane. I would try just going over the top of it first. Even a medium shade of brown would probably work well. Steve

Excellent Shane!! This kit looks to be a great one & you did a terrific job on it! I do have one small tip that I've learned over the years. You can take it or leave it. The black wash in the door & trunk gaps looks very stark on a light colored body. I've done many kits like that in the past & I've found that a wash of a darker shade of the body color looks much more realistic. Either way, it looks great! Steve

Charlie. I got the idea for the antenna from looking @ Richard Manson's '57 Pontiac promo re-build. I liked the look but I didn't have any "surgical" tubing to make it with. But I do have lots of plastic sprue, so I thought I would try it with that. Started out by heating & stretching the lower part to the size I wanted, then heating & flattening the base on a hard surface. Cut it to length & then drilled out the top to accept another piece stretched thinner. Cut that to the length I wanted & then just a touch of heat to the tip. Painted it Testors "chrome silver" & glued it to the body. Pretty simple operation. Took probably all of 10 minutes to make. Steve

Thanks every body!! Your words are inspiration for me. I'm always trying to find ways of improving my builds without spending months & years on one project. I'm not much for contests & the like, so I do the best I can in a short amount of time while still trying to produce a nicely finished model. Having missed out on all of these great old annuals from the late 50s & 60s I have a lot of time to make up. But I am making a dent. Thank you again for all of the kind words!! Steve