peekay

Still loving this thread. It's always been my dream to cruise the country roads of America in some appropriate ride but visiting family in NY/NJ once in a blue moon seems to be as far as I ever get.

I've bought and/or built many of the above-mentioned kits over the years, at least one from each manufacturer and I also think a Monogram kit would "suit you sir". The 32 Cadillac might most closely fit the bill and it's one of the most satisfying kits I've ever built. Relatively high parts count, plenty of detail, but it all goes together without drama and looks the bee's knees when finished. The Packards and Duesenbergs are of the same high standard.

Life can be tough. I hope it all works out in the end and that you and your family can move back into a better house than before.

Very nice work - from both of you.

Note that I said sanding CLOTH - I use Micro Mesh and I use it dry and go lightly. I find I have more control and less mess but yes, a coarse polish works too. (Poetry unintentional) Either way, masking very close to the script is important. I use BMF to mask because tape is often nearly as thick as the script itself.

As a former lung cancer patient, now with only one lung, I can only say hang in there bro!

The BMF Under Paint method for badges and scripts works great. As described elsewhere, first BMF, then primer, then color, then polish the paint from the raised script/badge. Trim the BMF as closely to the basic outline of the your script as you can without going crazy with it. A stretched out word like F O R D will look better if you use a seperate piece of foil for each letter and trim individually but you DON'T have to cut out the "holes". For a word like Cadillac, one piece trimmed to the basic shape will work fine. After paint is dry YOU NEED TO MASK the area surrounding the script before you start polishing or you will scratch and stain the paint! I do this with strips of BMF up real close to the script and, if necessary, masking tape beyond that. I start polishing with a small piece of 6000 sanding cloth, working carefully without too much pressure until the lettering is exposed. Easy does it - you don't want to go through the BMF. I then switch to a soft cloth dampened with Novus 2 polish (Tamiya Finishing would also work) and finish with a dry cloth. At this stage there will be a black sludge in the recesses of the script/badge. I clean this away carefully with toothpaste and a soft toothbrush. (A word of warning - this sludge can stain matt or semi-gloss paint). This method works especially well on fine scripts and I even prefer it to PE. Some larger badges are still better foiled the regular way, after paint.

I like Johan kits! I work my way round their faults and omissions and end up with nice results. I build them curbside if the motor/engine bay isn't up to it but I've done that with AMTs too for the same reason. I like them for having done the "other" cars - a Studebaker Lark or a Rambler station wagon. At the moment I'm working on the 1934 Mercedes Roadster and an X-EL 59 Dodge with a Modelhaus interior.

I also use a small, unopened bottle of beer with mounting tape on the cap. I hold the bottle in my hand while spraying and wear a long rubber glove for protection. This way I can turn the model to any angle I need and the weight keeps it stable when I put it down.

I also have to disagree, Christian, and stick with my "excellent representations" claim. Admittedly, some are better than others and the 50s cars are all let down by a slab-style chassis and no interior (Modelhaus can sell you some of the interiors) but the bodies are as good as, or better than anything produced since. You mention the 68 Imperial, Steve. I have one and it's possibly the best of the bunch. Detailed one piece chassis, nicely done interior and the thing just looks right. The 66 Rambler wagon and 68 Chrysler convertible are are also up to this standard, although the wagon, like the Marlin kit, is more like 1.24th scale. The Imperial isn't for sale and you maybe won't find one in rough shape - they're not old enough yet and they've been better treated by their owners than the original promos were. Check the ebay promo section often. Prices are all over the place and I got mine for $30 a year ago - some colours (mine is yellow) sell lower than others. Christian, I'm certainly interested in trading - let me know what you have and what sort of thing you're interested in.

Really nice work!!!! Specially like the Rambler and Roy's Pontiac - fantastic! Glad you're on board.

I also have dozens of unfinished builds and I can't stop buying them either - I have 8 times as many in boxes as "under glass".

Thanks very much guys and there were a few surprises there. When they were new you could easily miss the tiny adds in SAE. They seemed expensive at $22, usually with no interior and so-so paint, but they are excellent representations of otherwise ignored subjects. Without consciousIy collecting them I now have 12 models.

Can anyone here provide (or point me to) a complete list of Johan promos re-issued in the late 70s/80s under the X-EL name? I bought a half dozen or so when they were new (and more since) but I'm continually hearing of others that I wasn't aware of.

I've just finished one and found it relatively problematic, despite it's low parts count. It took a lot of filing, sanding and fine tuning to get the glass and interior to fit nicely into the body and I ended up removing the transmission/differential mound from the chassis so it would tuck up under the body. Maybe it's just me - I checked other people's builds of the model and no-one mentioned any of these problems. And I have to say in the end I was actually very pleased with the finished model.

Great stuff! Thanks a lot.

Beautiful model! You don't see such clean and precise detailing that often.

Very nice! A friend of mine had one of these. He said he bought it so he wouldn't have to pay at parking buildings - he could drive under the barrier.

Great tip, thanks for sharing. And as bill_rules says, the result looks better than the kit piece, which is kind of thick and distorted.

I use a medical syringe needle - 0.45mm seems about right and I buy them at a chemist. I file down the sharp end and insert a piece of .009 gauge guitar string. Once installed I slide a 1-2mm length of hollow vinyl detail wire of the appropriate thickness over the syringe as a base and add a tiny glob of epoxy to the tip of the guitar string. The result is, of course, a two stage antennae.

Great thread! I should take up photography.

Does anyone do an interior for the Johan 59 DeSoto 4dr? Modelhaus doesn't have it and a Google search brought nothing. Alternatively, has anyone tried modifying some other 4dr interior to fit?

Fantastic!

Marcello Gandini was 24 when he designed the Miura body.

At least in one design area there has been an on-going revolution in recent years. We seem to have finally freed ourselves from 30 years of self-imposed colour conservatism. I'm seeing really gorgeous new colours/colour combinations on new cars these days. Two-tones and pastels that haven't been seen since the fifties and strong, bright shades ala "unforseeable fuschia/sub-lime". Some of it may be conciously retro but there are also entirely new colours and effects that owe nothing to the past.