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Trumpeter 60 Pontiac Bonneville


wgflatliner

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Sure have...

049_49-vi.jpg

First- my gripes...

The engine detail is BEYOND subpar- if that's your thing, I'd use an AMT or Revell kit Pontiac V8 engine- or an AMT parts pack 421, like I did in this one. Some cutting and trimming to the frame will be needed to pull it off, but if you don't like the Lego-blocklike Trumpeter engine, it's the way to go.

The hood needs to be filed down along the edges quite a bit to fit in it's opening- the photoeched hinges are quite brittle, as well.

The kit comes with two sets of tires- both whitewalls, and both incorrect- they're radials, not the bias belts the 1:1 car came equipped with.

Finally, some parts that should be chromed (mirror, door handles, and dash trim) aren't, but the exhaust is on the chrome sprue!

Aside from these issues, I really liked the kit. It built up pretty well, and looks every bit like a '60 Bonnie. The scripts are very faint- I know it's more 'in scale' but be careful not to clog it up with paint on yours. There are lots of possibilities with this one!

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  • 1 year later...

I am working on this kit now, with the photo-etch kit also. The kit has 206 parts and the phot-etch has another 62 parts. I don't really care about the roof line, I feel it is the building of the model is the thing and what can be done to the kit.

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the Bonneville also has a too short and wrong shaped roof. another one of Trumpeters efforts that could have been great, but was not B)

Not only.... the side trim, hood ornament, rear wheel fairing,... and...and....

Better search for an old AMT kit or Promo, or a resin copy of either, and start to improve the details. The Trumpeter kit is good for nothing except the chassis and power train.

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One could always go for the gold and get one of Modelhaus's 1959-60 Flattop roof sections and make a four door hardtop out of it. :D

I have TWO of these kits and that's what I intend to do with one of them sometime. The other one I would simply transplant the two door hardtop roof off of Revell's '60 Impala (MUCH more accurate), and correct the body to something a lot more suitable.

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One could always go for the gold and get one of Modelhaus's 1959-60 Flattop roof sections and make a four door hardtop out of it. :D

Well,such modification is beyond my skills. I tried it once with the '59 impala and ended up ruining two bodies.

I have TWO of these kits and that's what I intend to do with one of them sometime. The other one I would simply transplant the two door hardtop roof off of Revell's '60 Impala (MUCH more accurate), and correct the body to something a lot more suitable.

Too much work (for my skills). I would restore an old AMT or promo instead.

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Besides an incorrect roof, impossible to assemble hood hinges , tire issues , uh the Bonniville Convertable can add a wierd Roll- N- Pleat interior to it's contents box ................. Oh Me pay another 50.0 or so dollars for ANY trumiteer kit , not in yer lifetime brutha!!!!!!! Ed Shaver

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Yeah, forgot those photoetched hinges... the ones that snapped at the fold line if you so much as thought of bending them. I just made the hood lift off on mine. Trunk hinges are okay, but they're plastic.

I know the AMT 421 will fit... IF you leave off the air cleaner and IF you do quite a bit of trimming and grinding on the crossmember. (Mine has the hood scoop to gain enough clearance over the dual quads... with no filters...) Haven't tried the Revell engine in one yet, or any Pontiac mills robbed from a car kit, but the Trumpeter trans will mate right up to the AMT engine block if I recall correctly.

Edited by Chuck Most
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It's expensive, overly-complicated, poorly engineered and wildly inaccurate in some respects, and mildly inaccurate in others. If I wanted to build a '60 Bonneville I'd find a nice restorable built-up AMT kit and have way more modeling fun.

Not as big a disappointment as AMT's '58 Plymouth Belvedere, since there ain't no readily available alternative for that one.

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I'm preparing to start on the convertible. Picked up an open/complete kit (I know, always risky) on eBay for about $20.00, including shipping (I always consider S/H as part of the whole price). It was advertised complete and with the replacement chrome sprue and came just as described, except someone glommed the full-hubcap wheels from the "matte" chrome tree. Wheels I was planning to use of course; I'll just matte clear-coat the shiny ones.

I know all about the issues with this kit, but I like the rarity/novelty of the subject and my mother had a black convertible w/red Morrocan leather interior and black top that my dad bought directly from GM when they were finished displaying it on the International Automobile Show circuit in 1960. Dad flew with a guy during WWII who went on to become General Manager of Cadillac and he arranged the purchase. When the car was ready, dad dead-headed (pilot flying as passenger) out to Detroit, picked up the car and drove it back to Connecticut. Must've been a great trip!

For this build I'm planning on using the windshield and up-top from a spare Monogram '59 Eldo I have laying around; I have Uniroyals w/narrow WWs from Modelhaus; and, yeah, the scripts are almost non-existent, so I picked up the MCW PE set. I don't what I'm going to do about the engine, yet.

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I built the convertible, and had to make wholesale changes, and had to virtually scratchbuild a correct interior. I built this as a tribute to my Dad. Right now I am restoring an old AMT hardtop.It fit very well with the other GM 1960 Convertibles I built.

2010_0220mamameetingfeb20100014.jpg

Edited by Ron Hamilton
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  • 1 year later...

I've got the convertible. The engine looks okay when built, definitely better than the Monte Carlo they did. It builds up pretty decent overall. There's a really nice PE kit for it available on Model Car Garage. The main issue I had with this kit and most of their other ones is that the markings and logos that are normally etched onto the body are REALLY subpar. The frame/chassis and suspension look really good.

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