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1958 Pontiac Bonneville convertible


gtx6970

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The mail man just dropped this off this morning.

Its not going in a box for a 'someday' project. The workbench has been cleared and this goes directly to the ft of the line.

I was actually doing an Ebay search for a 1959 when I stumbled on it. And decided I had to have it. Besides it'll look good next to my 58 Imperial build.

Its a curbside kit so there is no engine and chassis detail will be minimul .

Plan right now is,,,, black exterior with red and white int .

Just have to decide to do the quarter panel coves in white, red or leave it all black

Opinions please .

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Edited by gtx6970
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That looks like an old SMP or AMT annual kit. It would look good in either color combo, I would go for all black for myself. You might do a quick search on MCW's web sight to see other color combos also. These were great cruisers in their day.

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Its an original AMT kit . Found it on Ebay . I was actually looking for a 1959 builtup.. I saw how clean and complete it was and had to have it . Doesn't look like anything was ever painted or any of the custom pieces glued to it .

I have a minor repair to do to the pass side vent wing frame ,,but plan is full steam ahead on it . And I am really leaning towards the black with red coves .

Did a google search this morning and was originally thinking white with red coves and red and white int. But when I came across the picture of one in black that was all it took .

By chance anyone know of a source for the lettering to do the Pontiac and Bonneville scripts. I have a feeling these are going to vanish under even the lightest of paint coats. They can be photoetch or decals

I looked at the photoetched set for the 60 Trumpeter kit and I have my doubts they will work

Edited by gtx6970
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I believe this was the 1st model car I ever saw...all those years ago. My (then) friend had a birthday party at his house, and we ended up in the attic playroom, and he had a few cars...but I had never seen 1/25 styrene until then. I was at the local newsstand/cigar shop/ model shop the very next day! Thus, the beginning of the best hobby I ever had/have!

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Spent a little time at the model work bench over the weekend. Doing a litte bit of detail paint work on the chassis . Dupicolor red oxide primer red, gloss back frame and suspension components, testors steel on the fuel tank and exhaust pipes, testors silver on the mufflers and testors jet exhaust on the trans area.

Need to find out what color the engine is supposed to be,,then I can finish it up and put the tires / wheels back on it . Then move onto the interior.

comments welcome of all kinds , thanks for looking. It felt good to get back the bench.

I've decided,,this is my ultimate goal . I just hope I can do the kit justice.

Edited by gtx6970
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Nice project, Bill!

I'm pretty sure the engine should be the same light blue Pontiac used up until '66, when they went to light metallic blue. As I recall Testors "Light Blue" in the little square bottles was a pretty good match.

One inaccuracy on AMT's kit that's a relatively easy to fix if you want... the model has five fake "vents" on the front fender behind the wheel opening while the real car has four. Get rid of the top one in the group and you're good to go.

If you're interested in a set of rechromed '58 Pontiac promo wheel covers instead of the generic spinner caps in the kit, shoot me a PM.

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Edited by John Goschke
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John,

Thanks for the engine color info. I have some Duplicolor Pontiac engine paint on hand for when I did my Beswick Catalina. So that worked out nicely.

I'll be brutally honest I am a littte anxious to go cutting / sanding on a 50 plus year old kit,,Its survived this long quite nicely. Gonna have to think about it though.

I did manage to get the mold lines sanded off this morning ( that was fun ) and the body is now in primer . I'll gve it a day to dry and then wet sand it smooth for paint.

Got a pic of the wheelcovers ?

I just did an ebay promo search and its kind of hard to see the wheels in the few I did find . Although I did find a pretty decent looking 58 pontiac promo I may think about ( dealership promotionals is another bad habit of mine )

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I also have 3/4 of a set of Modelhaus stock '58 wheel covers. Some where along the line, I lost one years ago & had to order a new set. I believe the Modelhaus pieces are replicas of the promo wheels. I'm not in the position to download any pics right now, but if you go back & look @ the pics in the "what did you get today" thread of my '58, those are the Modelhaus ones. The scripts are a challenge but can be done with the foil under paint technique as long as you're not using too many heavy coats of paint. Steve

Edited by StevenGuthmiller
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Steve,

I think I may have to dig out the airbrush so to avoid heavy color coats,,and try the foil then paint method just so I can try to get the hood and decklid lettering show up once done.

I sanded the mold lines off the bumpers this morning . Plan is strip them and try the alclad or spazstic method for the 1st time on this one

Edited by gtx6970
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Well, It may have survived 56 years with no paint on it. That came to an end over the weekend.

Its now in black . Once dry I'll tape it back off and spray the red side coves. then clear coat. then set it aside for a while to really dry so I can start the task of the BMF work ( not looking forward to that )

Top boot is just one coat of Tamiya TS33 flat dark red. It flowed out pretty well and gives a pleated leather look to it

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Edited by gtx6970
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Got the seats taped up ( that wasnt fun at all ) Did the centers in white .

Dash cluster bezel is highlighted in silver , I wanted to do it in BMF, but after 3 or 4 attempts to get it to lay down,, I gave up and dug out testors silver. Need to highlight the gauge faces . And do some flocking for carpet then the interior is done. .Unless I can come up with a better way to replicate the chrome trim on the door panels .The molded in lines were almost non existant . So I'm going to look in the beading isle at Micheals this week and see if I can get something small enough to look right

Otherwise ,,,Next up. clear the body and start the BMF process

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Edited by gtx6970
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