MPC Pontiac Bonneville Ute with AMT Westcraft Go Boat and Raysom Craft Drag Boat

[alan barton]

Back in my teenage years I bought an MPC 1969 Pontiac Bonneville convertible kit and immediately built the ute version.  Americans might prefer El Ponchamino!  It was a favourite model of mine and I usually had a trailer behind it, built of popsticks, with a racecar of some sort.  Unfortunately sometimes, I kept wanting to "improve" my models but  my ambition often outstripped my ability.  Sadly the Pontiac succumbed to the knife and never recovered!

When Model King re-issued the 1970 Bonneville convertible, still with the ute option, I had to have one.  Only problem was, I reckon a 1970 Bonny front end is as ugly as a hat full of armpits.  Digging deep in the parts box, I discovered the original 69 hood with a coat of red enamel and a bit of glue damage, the original custom grille housings, slightly abbreviated and an original set of 69 GTO custom grille inserts.  With these parts I was perfectly happy to surgically remove the ugly schnoz and get started on a cool custom.

I wasn't taking many photos when I started building this model but last year I got back into it after a long stall and it came together pretty well.  The most challenging aspect was reconstructing the trademark  Pontiac beak,  I made up some profiles from flat styrene then applied considerable quantities of auto body filler (or bog as we say in Australia) and sanded for nights on end til I had what I was after. A bit like the Monkeemobile but less severe!

The rear was a bit easier.  I used the back of an X-Acto blade to separate the bumper from the full width taillight housing.  I then glued the bumper solidly to the rear of the car and moulded it in to create a custom rollpan.  It took a bit of finessing but I am happy with the results.

I also painted the centre trim of the taillight area first in silver then clear red to give the impression of a full width taillight.

The pickup bed  was separated from the interior so that it was easier to do the bodywork around the pickup conversion.  IT also made it easier to paint and detail the interior.  If you build one of these utes, I suggest you ignore the guidelines that MPC engraved in the body and cut slightly inside those lines.  I followed the lines and found I had some filling to do as they created an oversize hole for the tray to fit into.

I like to convert all my models to right hand drive and fortunately I still had the very battered remains of my original 69 dash.  This provided me with enough extra material to reverse the 70 dash and get it fitting snugly.

Final paint is Duplicolour silver base coat, followed by some metallic green in masked off panels on the hood and lower side panels.  I then sprayed the entire car with Tamiya clear green followed by Tamiya LAme Flake  which is basically clear carrying a lot of ultrafine rainbow flake.  It was perfect for the car. The interior is painted in Testors Afrika Mustard.

In the tray I built a simple frame from Evergreen to support the Westcraft boat from the AMT 64 El Camino.  I bought this very expensive kit at a Toledo Toy Fair only to find when I arrived home that someone had neatly removed all the chrome parts, including the engine for the boat.  Buyer beware I suppose but I suspect the vendor knew it was missing! I substituted a new engine using the diecast unit from a Hot Wheels toy called Hyper Mite.  It was such a perfect fit that a quick swipe with a file along the back edge had it drop snugly in place - to this day I haven't applied glue to hold it in!  The other missing parts were replaced with items from my parts box.

Out the back we have, not the Hullraiser boat included with the Bonneville, but an original  AMT Raysom Craft drag boat.  It is almost stock except that I used the 427 SOHC out of the Hullraiser instead of the 427 FE out of the Raysom. The pinstriping on the deck is done with fingernail art tape.

It was nice to have another crack at an old favourite from my childhood.  I feel I owe a vote of thanks to Dave Burkett for getting the whole vintage re-issue thing happening way back when.

Cheers

Alan

[ncbuckeye67]

Very nice!

[Jack L]

The front came out great . Love the boats!!!!

[Chuckyg1]

Wonderful work on the mods. Beautiful color. Nicely done.

[espo]

The changes to the grill and hood are a vast improvement over the stock front end. Like how you did the paint color and sparkle. The back end along with the taillight treatment id much better than usually seen on this model.  

[Koellefornia Kid]

Very well done Looks great!

[alan barton]

Thanks guys, I really appreciate your kind comments.  Always nice to finish a long term project and one with a few childhood memories to boot!

Cheers

Alan

[rattle can man]

Nice work! Makes me want to break my kit out and figure out a new front end.

[PappyD340]

Awesome rig, very well done!

[ChrisR]

Very nice.

[slusher]

Great build and combo!