60 Bonneville Conv.

[Deathgoblin]

Actually, that looks pretty good. At most, you should be able to take some needle files and clean up the lines a little. Beyond that, excellent work.

[Greg Wann]

At one time you get a new chrome tree from the hobby shops let me know if you need a replacement a friend of mine who passed away had some in his estate sale that i can heterosexual a hold of if you act quickly

HUH?

[blunc]

a little thread-necro happening....

[epi4561]

Actually, that looks pretty good. At most, you should be able to take some needle files and clean up the lines a little. Beyond that, excellent work.

Thanks, I appreciate it.. I have filed and filled and filed and filled for some time.. It seemed like when one problem got fixed, another one popped up. I just got to the point where enough was enough; and said I'm not gonna get it any better. And, most importantly, my Dad will be thoroughly pleased with it and not really notice any of the imperfections anyway.

Now, having said that, If I were to do this over again, I would have taken a completely different approach which I guarantee would look 100 times better. I just had too much time and effort invested in it to start over.

thanks again.

[Mike Kucaba]

I was aware of the interior problem, but roll and pleats? That original stock seat looks like seat Covers LOL. have you thought about using interior parts from the AMT '62 Pontiac Catalina? That one is quite good for rep stock look, don't know how well it would fit or even if it would, but it's worth a look, and way cheaper than buying the Trumpeter hard top. Good luck on the build!!

[epi4561]

I was aware of the interior problem, but roll and pleats? That original stock seat looks like seat Covers LOL. have you thought about using interior parts from the AMT '62 Pontiac Catalina? That one is quite good for rep stock look, don't know how well it would fit or even if it would, but it's worth a look, and way cheaper than buying the Trumpeter hard top. Good luck on the build!!

I hadn't thought of that.. but after I read this I went on Ebay and found an interior from an old AMT '60 bonneville kit for $9/free shipping.. I'm gonna have to do some cutting and shaping on it but it shouldn't be anywhere where there's much detail. I'm soooo excited.

[epi4561]

Well, I thoroughly destroyed the gauge bezel from the PE kit and the bezel from the model kit is not very accurate. So it looks like i'll have to combine the two.

[epi4561]

Ok, It's been a while since my last update. I've been doing a lot of one step forward, two steps back,but I finally feel I'm on the right track.

If you recall my last post.......

Well, I thoroughly destroyed the gauge bezel from the PE kit and the bezel from the model kit is not very accurate. So it looks like i'll have to combine the two.

Well, there was another slight change. I used a soda can and a dremel and alot of patience, and finally came up with this.

It's not perfect, but I think it looks good when in the dash with all of the components in place. What do you guys think?

[epi4561]

Next I worked on the interior door panels. I didn't like the way the molded on trim looked on the lower door above the carpet patch, so I sanded it off and used 2 pieces of 0.5 mm mechanical pencil led side-by-side and glued them in it's place.

Once they were in place, I cut off sewing pin heads for custom handles on the PE window cranks. I also experimented using small bits of colored wood putty to simulate the carpeting. I don't really care for it but it's too late to change it now, especially at the snails pace I work. Here they are all painted and foiled with the PE parts attached. Hope you like it.

[epi4561]

Finally, I got those darn seats to a point where I decided not to mess with them any longer. Here they are painted and attached to the interior floor and set on the chassis.

Thanks for looking, I know I'm not up to most of you guys' standards, but for the most part I'm happy with it. I hope you guys enjoy it as well.

[Ron Hamilton]

The work you did to the interior looks pretty good to me.

Here is a link to my build.

http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/fe/l=en_US/p/Organizer/s_c=0/s_mvm=NAP/s_ev20=coolsavings_film_3roll/s_ru=FALSE/s_se=FDR/s_pt=REP/s_cmpg=coolsavings_film_3roll#state=%7B%22pl%22%3A%7B%22uc%22%3A2%2C%22aid%22%3A%2214871573%22%2C%22pid%22%3A403392546%2C%22pidx%22%3A0%2C%22vp%22%3A%22s%22%2C%22sb%22%3A%221%22%7D%2C%22ovm%22%3A%7B%22v%22%3A%22s%22%7D%7D

[charlie8575]

Nice work salvaging the interior.

Charlie Larkin

[Wonderbread Kustomz]

Nice job!

[Mike Kucaba]

Nice work!! Those seats came out real nice. Is that the wood putty for carpeting in the trunk area? Whatever, it looks good too.

[epi4561]

Thanks everyone for your nice comments. I really appreciate them.

Nice work!! Those seats came out real nice. Is that the wood putty for carpeting in the trunk area? Whatever, it looks good too.

Yes it is.... thanks again for the compliment. For future builds where I try to carpet, I think I will try a little harder to find actual flocking instead of listening to my inner cheapskate.

[cobraman]

Lookin'good ! Coming along very nicely.

[frozono]

Nice job........like the interior detail..........

[epi4561]

small update. the grab bar did not fit correctly so I took 2 pieces of 0.2mm half round glued together.

I chucked that piece in my dremel and used it as a lathe to create a new side connector piece.

The base is a bit thick. I'm not sure if I'm gonna keep it that way or try to thin it down, but here it is mocked up in place

more to come....

[epi4561]

Ok.... so I made a little more progress. Here's how she looks as of now.

Not too bad, but all in all, I'm not too happy. I'm particularly miffed about two things.

1) The PE kit for this model is more of a hassle than it's worth IMO. It's just way too thin and it bends and creases every where. Plus I had a heck of a time applying it. I tried elmers glue, clear acrylic, future, etc... none of it would work except for CA glue. And thanks to that, all my edges around the flimsy chrome trim are now "messed up" and will take a lot of elbow grease to make it look presentable. If I ever do another one of these, I'm gonna skip the PE set.

2) I am not at all happy with the durability of the Alclad II Chrome. It is ridiculous how easily that stuff rubs away or gets ruined. I can't even describe how disappointed I am with it. There has to be an alternative to the Alclad II chrome, other than BMF that is...

Here's what I mean:

Notice the chrome rubbed away from the corner of the Windshield frame. (Sorry for the grainy pic)

here you can see the less than desirable outcome of the PE trim as well as another example of the "stellar" Alclad II chrome.

Well, thanks for looking anyway.