StevenGuthmiller

Yes William. A lot of the top of the line Mopars from 1960-1961 had a transparent wheel as well as the Pontiacs from around 1959 all the way to the mid 60s. I'll post a few pics. Steve

Yes Tom. They're Mid to late 50s Chrysler wires. They're available from Modelhaus.

First thing I thought when I saw the first pic was, "some one's on the wrong forum. This is for model kits!" The absolute best compliment you can recieve for a model car, is some one mistaking it for the real thing. I did!! Fantastic Job!! Steve

Very nice pair!! So good to finally see your builds in the day light, isn't it? Steve

Took the chance to get a few out side pics before the rain moved in again. They always seem to look nicer in the natural light. Steve

Boy...What a long name! Any way, this is another recent build that I happen to have small enough photos to post. It's a X-el repop of the '59 Dodge Custom Royal. Upgrades include, tinted glass, Dual slant back antennas, Modelhaus tires & a set of four bar spinners I snatched from an old '61 Plymouth annual. The paint is MCW factory correct "Coral" & "Rose Quartz" with a black & white interior which is a Modelhaus resin unit. I've had a couple of these laying around for years & never built one but I've always loved the "over the top" styling of the '59 Dodge, so I decided, now is the time. Steve

Exceptionally nice job Tulio! The gold pinstripe is the perfect accent. Fantastic! Steve

Here's a couple of shots of other builds I've done with transparent steering wheels. Unfortunately, most of my older photos are 2MB or larger which are not allowed on this forum, so short of resizing all of them, I guess I'll be shooting some new pics for you guys. Steve

Thanks Every body! I appreciate all of the compliments. Just to answer a couple of your questions, To Bobs question about the window tint & the steering wheel. The window tint is nothing more than a mixture of Testors transparent blue & transparent green thinned for air brush & then a light coat sprayed on th inside of the glass. The steering wheel is a bit more complicated. I just cut off the top & bottom of the stock steering wheel & then replaced them with pieces of clear sprue that have been gently heated, stretched to the right thickness. & then formed over the appropriately shaped "mold". The bottom part, which is "squared" off, was shaped over a piece of wood that I had cut to the shape I wanted. ( I've done several of these over the past months as I've done several old Mopar restos along with a '61 Bonneville which also had a transparent wheel) The top part was just shaped over a wheel which was about the correct size. The tricky part is, the heating, stretching & shaping all has to take place in a matter of seconds before the plastic cools. Needless to say, getting it right may take several attempts. I'll post a few pics of some of the other steering wheels I've done. Thnks again guys! Steve

Good Call! Cars from the 50s just don't look the same without a nice set of wide whites. They make even a low budget Ford look classy. Save the black walls for the modern stuff. Steve

Just thought I'd post a couple of shots of the interior also. Steve

High every body! I'm brand new here, so be gentle! This is my first post & my latest build. Most of what I've been building for the last couple of years has been restored curbside annuals. I love the subject matter & to be perfectly honest, I don't really miss detailing engines & chassis. Any way, this is a Johan 1961 Chrysler New Yorker that I picked up & restored. The paint is MCW but a custom mix. The interior has been detailed as much as possible without doing too many changes to the original tub. All done with paint & foil. The only exception is the period correct transparent steering wheel. The body has just been polished, foiled & detailed. Additions include Modelhaus tires & wire wheels. I tried to upload a "before" photo but the file was too large. Steve

Hello every body. My name is Steve. I was directed here by a friend from another forum. I've been into the hobby for more than 40 years & have dabbled in a little bit of everything from military to ships & aircraft. My real passion is 1/25th & 1/24th scale model cars mostly from the mid 50s to about 1970. While I have built customs & race cars in the past, my main focus over the past couple of years, (after a 10 year hiatus) has been playing "catch up" with the old annuals of the past. I'm a little too young to have gotten in on the great old kits from the late 50s & early 60s so as of late I've been trying to bolster my collection with some of the great subject matter from that period. As most of those kits were "curbside", thats How I've been building them. I find that with some patience, some love, & attention to detail, these kits can still be a beautiful thing, even without the detailed engines & chassis, although I am not a stranger to detailing of mechanical parts. I've done plenty of that in the past. But I'm finding that as I get older I'm less interested in that & more interested in just building nice display pieces & focusing my detailing skills on things like paint & body detailing. I look forward to seeing what goes on around here & getting to know all of you. Thank You! Steve