Monty

I was watching a YouTube review/build of the Salvinos Dodge stock car and was curious what the reviewer meant when he said "This company uses real metal chrome". The chrome does look very nice, but it made me wonder what the difference was between the process they use and the vacuum plated (aluminized?) "chrome" most other models come with.

You may not get a lot of responses to this question because there don't seem to be a whole lot of people on here who use those paints. In addition, Gunze pulled the aqueous line out of the US several years ago, and to the best of my knowledge they haven't returned, so they're not all that accessible to most of us. I kinda doubt that either one will be a dead-on match, but you should be able to mix them with other Gunze colors to get a closer match. I happen to like these paints, so I wish you all the best on your project.

I'm glad someone with some modeling skills is building these old Cadillac kits if for no other reason than to remind us how impressive the 1:1 cars could be. Looks like another great build to add to your impressive collection. Just out of curiosity, is the license plate a shout out to someone in Furnas County Nebraska? I ask as someone born and raised in the state and familiar with the license plates.

I hope you won't mind me saying so, but I think you should find a better set of wheels for this build. Judging by the curvature of the spokes, these appear to be Buick wheels. Here are some authentic Mopar wheels on a Challenger Notice how the spokes "crown" toward the center of the wheel? They shouldn't be too hard to find, especially among this bunch of builders.

Thanks! I'm still surprised at the lack of stock undercarriage pics. I'm guessing these cars don't generally get the obsessive restorations that older Cougars & Mustangs do.

Tell him to show everybody the text. That should head things off, although I'm sure someone like that would claim they deleted it.

Agree in spades on the Eldo. Kudos to the OP for a great build and letting us know about the raised front end issue. I thought the '67 Toronado retained the design crispness of the '66, but after that... I hope someday soon someone will come up with a 3D-printed '67 Eldo, as that's apparently the only way I'll ever have one.

He's one of the more prominent acrylic users on here, and his results speak for themselves. Door panels look great, Mike!

I'm considering taking on an early '90s Revell Cougar, but my knowledge of all things FoMoCo stops with cars of the '70s. The '90 kit features a blown V6, while IIRC their '91 & '92 kits have FI V8s. What color were the engines for these cars? Was the V6 the same color as the V8? Any pics of stock chassis for these cars? I can usually get the results I want via Google searches, but all I'm getting is late '60s/early '70s Cougars. Any paint recommendations for whatever color the undercarriage was sprayed in? (I'm guessing they were no longer using red oxide primer). TIA for all helpful replies.

The true definition of plastic surgery. Great concept and execution!

I've got a couple things from years ago that still stick in my mind. The first was an AMT Eckler's Corvette that I wanted to knock out of the park visually. At the time I was crazy about the black and gold livery of the John Player Formula 1 cars, so I came up with a plan where I'd paint the majority of the car in black with the fender flares, hood bulge & spoilers highlighted in gold. Despite my occasional ineptitude with spray cans, both colors turned out well. Then I hit it with some Testors clear....which mottled the gold paint everywhere it touched. Never did finish that one. The other one goes under the title of You Can Never Clean Your Airbrush Enough. I was shooting my first Tamiya acrylic paint job (gloss white) and it was going on very well until this black booger flew out of the airbrush, hit the middle of the hood, and dried on it almost instantaneously. This thing looked like I'd spent a week in a coal mine then launched a snot-rocket out of my nose at the car. Took some scraping and sanding to get it off there, but with some careful taping, I was able to repaint the hood with no noticeable issues.

Years ago I heard about a neat tip where a clear substance (I think the author used epoxy at the time) was carefully applied to each gauge face, giving them the appearance of having glass covers. Unfortunately in his case, the epoxy yellowed over time and the effect was ruined. Having seen old-style Testors clear in the bottle, I don't think Id even bother because it already has a slight amberish tint to it. What are you guys suing that has stayed clear for along time?

Seems like there was a special adhesive for those who used regular kitchen foil to replicate chrome trim. I wonder if you could run a bead of that along the trim lines beforehand. A quick Google search gave me this, although there seems to be at least one more variant (same bottle, blue print). Maybe one of our more informed members can chime in...

This board is loaded with so many knowledgeable people, I'll bet we have at least one good answer within an hour or two. Then again, it is Memorial Day evening, so there may be a bit of a delay.

My .gif was just to indicate how much I agreed with Mark on the issues he posted. When I lived in Dallas, I bought a used Corvette. Even though I'd used State Farm in other states, I assumed they were going to be prohibitively expensive there, so I called dozens of other insurance companies first. Long story short, none of them wanted my business despite my excellent driving record. I went back to State Farm and got a good policy at a reasonable (for Dallas) rate.

Long story short: Trying to help a relative who doesn't want to rearrange everything to fit a regular a/c unit in a window. That won't change. I've seen several of these wonder cubes (generally less than 12"x12"x12") via internet searches & almost all claim they can cool a decent sized room in a short amount of time. Funny thing is, there'll almost always be an accompanying ratings survey of the "top 5 models" with theirs coming in first for power, efficiency etc. Wish I could find a real info source that would tell me objectively what these things can and can't do.

I don't think I have the eyes to make my own, so I'm hoping to find model aftermarket distributor boots that look like these. If you've used some, I'd love to see pics of them on your builds. Also, I'd appreciate knowing if they require any special treatment before use (seems like I once read they had to be slowly stretched so the wire would go through.) TIA for any helpful info.

OK, I'm jealous. A hard-to-find Johan kit of (IMO) Ford's best looking Torino, done up in a great shade of red. Very nice!

Wow, that's an incredible shade of blue. Nice work! Do Alclad paints require any extra prep or special techniques to airbrush? I've never used them, but seeing how the paint turned out on your build has me intrigued.

I'd never heard of this brand, but with issues like the body divot and wheels and tires you don't seem thrilled with, it looks like you're making yet another silk purse from a sow's ear. I just noticed that this is a 1/43 scale car. I'm glad you're still capable of working on the smaller scale stuff, 'cuz I'm not. Sorry to see the Gunze paint let you down. They're one of my favorite acrylics. Years ago when they withdrew their Aqueous line from the US, I ended up sourcing replacements from a hobby store in Australia. Glad to see you were able to replicate the 1:1 color with the LP paints.

You don't see many '57s in brown, but your build shows it's a viable choice. Nice work! Please tell me I'm not the only one who noticed your trademark in the center of the grille bar. Clever!

Great build! Love the stance and the paint. I envy you guys who can get that kind of a finish from a rattle can.

Kudos on your scratchbuiding skills as well as your perseverance. Paint fiascos can be devastating so I'm glad to see you were able to resolve the issue and have it turn out so well. Also happy to hear you were able to make the resin hood fit better. I don't know much about using that stuff, so the hair dryer trick wouldn't have even occurred to me.

Gotta admit, clown car was the first image I conjured up.