StevenGuthmiller

This is one of only a couple of "customs" I have in my collection. An AMT 1963 Ford Custom Cab pickup. I kept it relatively simple & did an "old school" type build. The engine is the original tri-carb motor that came with the kit with a few added details. The interior is pretty much bone stock. I just added a gear shift and plaid decals to the seats. The side trim has been removed from the body & a pinstripe added in the secondary color of '59 Pontiac "Cameo Coral". Tha body was painted Ford "Wimbeldon White" as well as the grille & bumpers. A real wood bed, a set of wide whites with painted stealies and inner trim rings & some custom side exhaust dumps round out the package. This Ford Still stands as one of my favorite builds. I had a great time building this one! Steve

There are some resin casters that do a lot of these old Johan kits Gary. Modelhaus has a lot of them. Personally, I tend to shy away from resin unless it was never available in plastic. I would much rather work with styrene. Some times you can get a nice restorable kit for less than you would pay for a resin kit. I picked up very nice re-builders of the '60 Dodge, '60 Plymouth & '61 New yorker, just to name a few, for less than Modelhaus was selling their resin counterparts. All depends on what you're looking for. These '63-'67 Chrysler 300s.....not so much! Steve

That was my assumption Chris. I figured there must be a reason that I had never seen a '58 Pontiac or Buick kit with factory caps from the kit. Always those ugly 3 bar spinner things. Steve

Very nice John! I've always been partial to the '68-'69 Baracudas vs. the later years. I only wish some one would have done a notch back version. Excellent job!! Steve

My wallets feeling a little light right now! Although, It didn't kill me. This one was minus the box & all of the custom parts So I was spared the "sealed kit" prices, but it still wasn't cheap. I had been waiting a long time just to find a restorable built kit, but they seem to be non-existant. All I could ever find was either un-built or promos. So I guess I should consider myself lucky that I found this one. Steve

This kit is my "Holy Grail"! I've been looking for a 1966 Chrysler 300 hard top for several years & when I found this one, I bit the bullet & spent way too much to buy it! As I'm sure you all know, these kits are extremely hard to find & priced at a premium when you do find them. So, now that I've "busted the bank" I'm going to do my best to enjoy the build. It's never been painted & all of the parts to build a stock kit are there. I believe I can even fore go the re-chroming of any parts. everything looks quite nice. The only issue is one broken vent post which will be easily repaired. My plan at this point is a factory stock build painted "Spanish Red" with a white top & a black & white interior. I think I'm going to go with a set of rally wheels also. Saw a few pics online of one wih them & thought it looked very sharp! Not exactly sure if it was a factory option in '66, but the look is great! Steve

Welcome Mark! It's kind of exciting getting back into the hobby after some time off. Steve

Personally I don't worry a whole lot about being 100% accurate when I'm building stock. After all, unless your going to enter a contest or some thing, it's going to be in "your" collection. It needs to make "you" happy. Nothing wrong with a little critique, but it all boils down to what you like. Many times I've done stock builds with colors that were not even availible for a particular make or model, just because I didn't like the colors that were availible. Steve

Thanks Russ! Actually, if anybody has any good tips on how to make some nice floor mats, I'm all ears! These were just made on a printer. I googled some photos of carpeting in the color I want & then just using a card making program I have on my computer, I added the "New Yorker" lettering & then printed them onto some card stock. Then just cut them to the shape I wanted. The card making software I have is probably 15 years old & my printer is a "cheapo" so I'm sure with better equipment, a guy could do a nicer job. I just felt these old Johan kits, with their lack of a transmission hump or any other floor detail, could benefit from something to break up the floor a little. Haven't gotten into the "flocking" yet. That's probably the next thing I'll have to start doing. Steve

Thanks Every body!! I've also got a '58 Buick Roadmaster hardtop that is in the works. Unfortunately, when I sent in the parts for re-chroming, The rear bumper fell of the tree during the process. So now I have to wait another month or so for it to be re-chromed! Oh well, such is life. Maybe I'll post a few shots in the "on the bench" forum. Steve

Here are my "inspiration" pics for this build. As you can see, the colors are very close. Steve

Many times they were William. In a particular year, Pontiac, Buick. Oldsmobile, etc. would all share colors with different names. Some times, those colors would be used in different years also. Check out a web site called "paintref.com". There, you can check out all of the availible colors for virtually any make & model of car all the way back to the 20s. you can see there that a lot of colors were shared just using different names. The colors I used on this build were not the same as the '58 Pontiac colors, they were just as close as I could get without having to custom order paint. Steve

Beautiful Dave!! I'm not much of a "Gasser" guy, But that's nice!! Steve

I picked up this kit more than 25 years ago at a little antique shop for $8.00. It sat on a shelf up until about a year and a half ago When I decided it needed to be built. It was in pretty good shape having only louvres on the hood & trunk lid to deal with. The only after market parts are a set of Modelhaus stock hub caps, ( not sure if the kit even had them originally) & a set of "parts pack" wide whites. The colors are actually '56 Chevy colors, "Laurel Green" & "Crocus Yellow" but they are very close to correct '58 Pontiac "Burma Green" & "Calypso Green". Steve

Revell probably has the best engineered kits in the business at this point in time. (Actually, Mobius would probably take that title) I have yet to buy one of these kits. They look great. Yours is beautiful! The red is enough to burn out your corneas! Very nice job!! Steve

That's true Tom. Many years ago, when I was a kid, I had a lot of friends who were builders also. By the time we were all young adults, they had all given up, but I kept up with it. I don't do swap meets & contests, (nothing really happening in my area) So the only ones who ever see my builds are my wife & kids, & believe me, they could care less! So if nothing else, a forum like this can be helpful in at least determining whether or not I'm doing it right. Steve

Boy, You nailed this one!! I don't think you could have picked a better color. Absolutely beautiful!! Steve

Nice Tony! Simple or not, it's perfect! I love that old school flat black look. I think it accentuates the lines of the car & the '49 Merc has beautiful lines. Very nice job! Steve

I was right. It's flawless!! Beautiful Merc!! Steve

Seriously Paul? I can't even get the parts organized & figure out what I'm doing in 6 hours! I've been polishing the paint on a '59 Edsel build for the past week & I'm still only half way done. Reminds me of the guys that would build an entire house for charity in less than a week. I was in the building trades & it would take us longer than that just to do our part. Just can't get my head around it! I usually take a couple of days, at least, just to do the foiling. But, I'll admit, it looks nice! Steve

Awww, C'mon Art! Are you really gonna leave us hangin'? Just one picture, really? I'm not even gonna comment on how great it looks 'till i see more pics. But from what I can see, looks flawless!! Steve

A little bit of red pinstriping & it would have "American Grafitti" written all over it! Nice job Tommy!! Steve

Thanks every body! I really appreciate all of the comments! Niko, I've actually found these old Johans to be the opposite. From What I can tell the trim, scripts, etc. are quite pronounced & relatively easy to foil as compared to some of the kits from AMT from the same period. I have a '60 Plymouth Fury that I built a while back. Didn't really have any issues with that one either. I'll post some pics of that one soon. Biggest issue I have with some of these early Johan kits is having things like the tail light bezels, with all of those compound curves, molded to the body. They can be a real bear to foil! The tail light bezels on this '60 Dodge had to be foiled. Steve

Thanks guys!! Now that I've got the "photo resizing" thing down, I can post a few more things without having to re-take photos. Steve

Beautiful Ron! Exactly the way a '40 Ford should look! Nice job! Steve