Steve H

Thank you Anton, always nice to hear from you. Hi Atin, I appreciate the kind words, thanks for having a look. With all the talent in this forum I often think I might bore people to tears with my threads. I try to keep it somewhat interesting, hopefully I can pass on a tip or trick that is new to someone. Cheers, Steve

All beautiful builds with stunning paint jobs. There is a light blue one in our town that we see once in a while. I keep telling my wife I’d look really good driving it!

Steve, was yours the candy olive one that was in SAE contest cars a while back?

Wow! That is thick! The hood looks like it’s about 3 scale inches thick. Yikes! Nothing a bunch of grinding and sanding won’t fix… Cheers, Steve

Another update. I have most of the chassis painted, and a majority of it assembled. The heat shields were treated to 6-8 coats of smoke. The only “chrome” on this build will be the side view mirrors. Headlight and taillights were also treated to multiple coats of smoke. (No photos yet) I had to re-stock my smoke supply today!! The body work is really close now. Side view mirrors are installed. The plan is for side exit exhaust in the rocker panel, after that it will be a final sand, one more coat of primer and paint. As always thanks for having a look and comments welcome.

Thank you David. It worked out quite well.

You had me at pro street… I’m in for the ride. Paint looks great, one of my all time favourite body styles. I own a 1:1 ‘67 Pontiac Beaumont, so I’m a bit biased. Cheers, Steve

Yes sir! Wipe them clean and spray. I highly recommend heating the paint a bit so it flows and settles flat, although in Tennessee that might not be needed… Pacific Northwest is a different story. Keep the coats thin. I believe the Gremlin has 6 light coats on the wheels. Practice on a wheel you can stand to mess up first? That’s what I did. Also, for bumpers and other chrome, I often use one or two light coats of smoke, it makes the chrome a little less toy like. Good luck and I look forward to seeing how it goes. I just got 2 more cans of smoke from my LHS today. My current WIP is eating up my smoke! Cheers, Steve

These are coming along nicely guys. Very nice interior Tom! What colour did you use on the steering wheel, I like it… Keep up the great work fellas! Cheers, Steve

Hi Dan, I’ll be watching this one for sure. I have wanted this kit for years but I was unsure about the quality. My dad had a ‘73 Dodge Monaco 500 that was similar in size and shape. I really like the unusual builds. Cheers, Steve

Nice work on the fins, that was time well spent. Unfortunately, I was not as careful assembling mine and the fins are far from perfect. This was based on the AMT glue kit. I will be watched your progress, looking good!

Hi David, this will be a fun build. Like Gareth, I modified one of these, mine became a custom ambulance. Look forward to seeing more of your progress. Cheers, Steve

Wow! Extremely clean build. Absolutely beautiful paint and crisp detail work, very nice. Cheers, Steve

Hi guys, I had fairly productive day at the bench… by my standards. A few things I didn’t photograph, added the side view mirrors, got another coat of primer on the body, lots of cleanup on suspension parts, minor mods to get the chassis pan to fit in the body with front and rear bumpers installed, assembled the engine halves. Not exciting, but progress. The front suspension needed a fair bit of modification. After a mock up and some measurements, I need to lower it by 2.5 scale inches, and narrow each side by 3 scale inches to fit the wider tires. Before: removing the “posts” that the front suspension mounts to was exactly the amount it needed to be lowered, so that part was easy.. Then cut apart and shorten. I drilled holes and made small styrene pins for added strength, then re-assembled. The alligator clips are temporarily holding a styrene strip to make sure everything lines up. Struts needed to be cut down and moved inward. New receivers for the struts are just styrene rod. The old mounts are ground off. After the changes, everything fits, and lines up! Yay! Had a productive paint session too, more on that tomorrow… I may have to tweak things a bit for mounting the engine due raising the crossmember. However, as there won’t be a top to the engine and only the bottom will be seen, it might be fine. I’ll cross that bridge later… Thanks for looking. Cheers, Steve

Thanks David, much appreciated sir!

Hi TJ, yes, the seniors love him. One of the staff regularly comes and takes him to visit with the residents in their rooms. Oh… the staff all love him too, he gives and gets lots of love. Cheers, Steve I know right!! I wouldn’t bet against him. Every time I see that photo it makes me smile. My wife and I were away for the weekend, so her sister dog-sat for us. When she sent us that photo I laughed my butt off. Cheers

Hi all, great idea for a topic Jerry! Love all the stories and beautiful dogs, they truly are part of the family. Allow me to introduce Otis, our 10 year old Miniature Schnauzer. He has a good gig. Since he was a pup he has gone to work with my wife who manages two seniors facilities. Otis seemed to instinctively know to be gentle with the older folks, although he still has a playful side. Often seen sleeping with one of his toys as a pillow… At my side in the hobby room… (he loves those rainy wet winter days that we hunker down for the day) Christmas with the seniors…(torture) Poker night with his auntie… My wife broke her foot badly at the beginning of 2020 (3 plates and 12 screws!!), Dr. Otis kept a very watchful eye on her for several months as she recovered. He stayed very close… Sorry for all the pics, but as you can tell, I love my dog! Thank you all for sharing your dogs, they’re all beautiful. Cheers, Steve

Hi Mike, I haven’t perfected it but I do get good results with Tamiya smoke. My experience is that multiple light coats is a much better result. Too heavy, and it goes sideways. I will watch to see what works for you. I really like the black chrome look myself. Oh, the smoke was applied directly over chrome Pegasus wheels in both examples. Cheers, Steve

BTW, I like the middle spoon if you’re taking votes…

Hi Jim, beautiful truck, and “love the shiny”! Two questions if I may, what did you use for the fuel filter, and I assume aluminium tubing for the exhaust tips? Very nice build. Cheers, Steve

Great looking build Al. I love that you paid homage to Chuck, and built it in his style. He does great work, and you have done a nice job on the patina. I always particularly enjoy builds with a little back story… Cheers, Steve

Great looking Lincoln David. Long and low…really low, I like that! Very clean build. Cheers, Steve

Hi Luke, just wondering if you’ve had any bench time? Looking forward to seeing more of this build. Hope all is well sir! Cheers, Steve

I’m with Keith on that one. Looks fantastic opened up Roger, well worth the effort.

Looking fantastic Bob, that white should really pop once the chrome work is complete. Great job on the 409, those are great looking engines. Cheers, Steve