TheBEAUMONTGURU

And a 261 CID stovebolt in my 1961 Canadian Pontiac Laurentian. Lots of mods and scratch building too

I've done a couple 6cyls. Here is a Trumpeter 230 that i heavily modified and installed in a Revell 1964 impala with PS, and a scratch built aircleaner

Im going to build this one with a stone stock correct looking 261 ci engine with a cast iron powerglide. I want to add Power steering too. Im using the 61 truck kit along with a cast glide from the 65 nomad kit. The power steering pump and all steering arms and slave cylinder, belts and funny looking aircleaner are all scratch built. An yes 61 canadian pontiac 6cyls were green color.

here is the interior detailed mostly. i fixed the incorrect dashpad on the kit, all 61 pontiacs should have the little indent in the center both US and canadian as far as i know . I used white decal sheets for the seats and panels. I had to replace teh pontiac wheel with one from an AMT 62 Belair, then make a clear horn cap to create a totally accurate 1961 Canadian Pontiac wheel

Im going with the most awesome 1961 color(IMO) Dawnfire mist. here i painted the body with PPG omni Single stage automotive paint. Here is a comparison of my laurentian(chevy Xframe floorpan) vs the kit pontiac one. And my new inner fenders, firewall and rad support. all used from the impala to create a super accurate canadian pontiac

I want to build this as a Laurentian 2dr hard top. In canada pontiacs use chevrolet frames, floors, firewalls and engines. bodies and interiors are a bit of a amalgamation of other models of 61 US cars. When you lift the body off a canadian pontiac, everything left on the ground is exactly the same as a chevrolet. So let the scratchbuilding and kit bashing fun begin!!! here i have cut out the entire engine bay from the 61 impala and grafted it into the ventura body. the ventura side trim is the same as a laurentian with the excpetion of the laurentian having the 3 stars on the quarters, so i had to make them. THe interior is the same as the Catalina, so i had to buy both kits to get all the right panels

Since i live in Canada, i wanted to build a Moebius 61 pontiac CANADIAN STYLE!! Its going to take these 4 kits to do it

The kit grill Sucks! so i cut it all up and scratch built the majority of it. i used evergreen strips for the grill bars, and drilled out the headlights for a much more realistic look and to get rid of the center pin in each bulb. i managed to salvage the bowtie for use later

More engine detailing, added a steering box and steering column and rag joint and hoses, also added a heater box and blower motor. None of these details are in the kit. The body and interior are coming together. note i decided to make things difficult and 2-tone the body. Flocked carpet, seatbelts and photoshop GM buckles

The interior mostly finished. a made separate interior panes that will glue into place. all made with evergreen strips. i foiled them and custom made some tartan uphoustry pattern decals in Photoshop then printed them on decal paper. i also did a correct guage cluster in photoshop too. Here we also see the body now painted using PPG OMNI automotive single stage urethane. just like the real ones!

Here is the engine detailing started. I swapped out the valve covers for some better ones, and scratch built all the pulleys and belts for the A/C and the power steering. minimal wiring as it will mostly be hidden under the floor. i used a fireball carb and have made a better steering column(added a lever to represent a tilt wheel. and made all the PRNDL indicator. the little white parts are scratch built front armrests

Thanks Dennis. I will keep adding pics and stories soon

Here are the seats, i tried resin casting them but too many pinholes so i sanded off all the button tufting and made my own patterns using evergreen strips. i bent up some plastic tubing and scratch built a set of armrests. the front seats are custom built by cutting up a parts box one and resin casting a pair. Stay tuned for more later! And thanks for looking.

Moving on to the interior details. I have a clear vision of how i want this van to look. Here is what i am going for based on original GM brochures. I want this model to have a 350, TH350 Automatic with Air Conditioning. Here i am making all the A/C vents and controls on the dash from scratch. i also modified the ashtray to be in the proper place. and updated the knobs and the heat controls to represent a 73 van dash rather than the 1971 kit form. The rear seats are from the parts bin, lucky i had 2 the same, the button tufting will be removed later. armrest and a more accurate resin th350 replaces the wierdly shaped kit transmission

A window van is useless without a complete interior. The Nirvana kit only has a dash and 2 seats, so here i am adding a complete headliner, and cladding the entire inside of the body with evergreen sheets to act as door panels and door frames

I decided to cut open the hood and build a set of simple hood hinges. Here we also see the roof ribs and the taillight trim added. I also shaved off all the moulded in door handles, i will build all my own from evergreen strips

Hi All. New to the site but not new to model cars. Been doing it my whole life. Belong to the Winnipeg Model Car Club. Thought i would walk you thru the build of my 73 Beauville Window van. Its quite an undertaking! Im starting out with a 70's Nirvana kit. I found over the years that this chevy van gets released as a slab-sided shaggin wagon(or the A-team), but never has it been done as a stone stock Beauville passenger van. Yes, i am aware that the first ever release of this kit did include a camper with an option to install side windows, but after looking at one of those expensive original kits, i found the slabs for the side windows to be horribly simple and not realistic, so i am glad im going this route. Starting with careful measurments and cutting out 6 windows. Adding evergreen 1/2 round frames. also using evergreen strips for the roof ribs, a proper rain gutter, taillight trim, and better enhancing the front windshield trim. Did i mention how horribly inaccurate these old MPC van kits are!!!!