Bills72sj Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 (edited) This model was built to loosely resemble a black over red 70 Grand Prix I owned for a number of years in the late 90's. It started out as a built-up glue bomb purchased on ebay. It was brush painted blue and looked pretty bad at first. After a dip in the "purple lake" I surveyed what was salvageable. The body, bumpers and interior were fair but the engine was a blob. Fortunately, I had a Revell Parts-Pack Pontiac 421. I soaked it in Westly's to dechrome it and sourced the stock air cleaner and other items from the parts bin. I actually made my own wired distributor from supplies picked up at Radio Shack and Hobbytown USA. I used a technique I learned on Drastics about BMFing emblems BEFORE painting and then scraping off the paint on the raised areas to expose the letters. It actually worked quite well. Especially since the "Grand Prix" emblems are separate block letters. It did a fair job on the front fender louvers as well. The interior is pretty basic, with just some minor detailing. The underside being an old MPC offering with chassis screws, is nothing to write home about. I did do my signature red mufflers (a throw back to the Cherry Bomb glass pack days). The engine compartment is anatomically all wrong compared to a real GP. Especially in the fan shroud/radiator areas. I did not have the parts to correct it though, so it is what it is. The mags are Modelhaus Keystone Klassics which have been painstakingly detailed. I performed my signature rear tire widening technique to fill in the rear wheel wells. The tires have been lettered with a "Gelly Roll" pen from a local stationary store. The windows were boogered up but, using progressively finer grit polishing cloths, finished off with a coat of Future, they look as good as new. Sharpie markers applied here and there round out the small details. I am pretty pleased at how my first restoration turned out. Edited November 22, 2019 by Bills72sj Change picture
Bucky Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 Very sharp Pontiac! Those colors look just right! Well done!
Anglia105E Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 You have done a great job with this restoration, Bill..... and I like your finished result. What method did you use to produce the black vinyl roof, if you don't mind me asking? As you may have noticed on this forum, I am currently converting a '67 Pontiac Bonneville 4-door to a '68 Pontiac Parisienne 4-door, so your '70 Pontiac Grand Prix restoration is particularly interesting. You must be very pleased with the paint finish on this build, and also the window glass has come up really nice. Well done! David
disabled modeler Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 Very nice..! My family owned a few real ones a 64,69,70,71,85....so far I have the 69,70 to restore once I find what they will need. Cool build and save..!!!
Geno Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 That's gorgeous Bill, I have a '69 kit I'm going to build to emmulate my 1:1 '69.
Koellefornia Kid Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 Awesome restauration! Looks very nice!
Bills72sj Posted November 22, 2019 Author Posted November 22, 2019 4 hours ago, Anglia105E said: You have done a great job with this restoration, Bill..... and I like your finished result. What method did you use to produce the black vinyl roof, if you don't mind me asking? As you may have noticed on this forum, I am currently converting a '67 Pontiac Bonneville 4-door to a '68 Pontiac Parisienne 4-door, so your '70 Pontiac Grand Prix restoration is particularly interesting. You must be very pleased with the paint finish on this build, and also the window glass has come up really nice. Well done! David David, The vinyl roof was easy. It is already moulded in. All I had to do was mask and paint,
Bills72sj Posted November 22, 2019 Author Posted November 22, 2019 2 hours ago, Geno said: That's gorgeous Bill, I have a '69 kit I'm going to build to emmulate my 1:1 '69. GO FOR IT! I did a model of my present 72 GP years ago. I haven't shown it here on the forum (yet). BTW of the 69-72 GPs, the 69 is the only one that has eluded by budget.
Anglia105E Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 10 minutes ago, Bills72sj said: David, The vinyl roof was easy. It is already moulded in. All I had to do was mask and paint, Oh, I see..... I wish my vinyl roof had already been moulded in ! Would you like me to PM you with my home address details for the Pontiac Rally II wheels, Bill ? David
drodg Posted November 22, 2019 Posted November 22, 2019 Nice. I really like the classic profile of those Grand Prixs . Great job
Tom Geiger Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 Looks good to me! I had a memory of a Grand Prix of that era in that same color scheme. Back in the day, a friend of mine would change cars often. He never had the patience to sell them, so he'd just drive perfectly good cars to the junk yard. I'd see some of them driving around town later on, so even the junk yard was taking the effort to sell his cars. So he had this Grand Prix. I don't remember what got his fancy, that he was done with it but when he mentioned junking it, I told him to bring it to my house. I'd sell it and split the proceeds with him. He went for that. I put an ad in the local paper (this was way before the internet) to sell the car for $800. I anticipated selling it for much less, but went fishing. My first call was a couple who came to see the car. They agreed they wanted it and would pay $800. Then the guy retrieved a bag from his car. He counted out bags of cocaine onto my kitchen table. He said there was $800 worth there, all I needed to do was sell it! I froze. I never anticipated anything like this. I told them to pack up and leave. Fortunately they did! The second customer was a guy and his step son. He was trying really hard to win this kid over. He was just about ready to get his license and this guy was buying him a car. He bargained me easily to $600 and paid for the car. They drove off with it, their fake plate and all. A few days later, the guy comes back. He tells me he screwed up and the kid doesn't like the car. He figures I'm selling cars out of my driveway, so would I take the car back at a profit? I tell him no, I was indeed selling it for a friend and I had already given him the money. The guy gives up and just leaves the car with me, title and all for free. So I have to sell it again. This time I put it back in the paper for $600 since it was all my profit this time around. And funny thing, I don't even remember who I sold it to. But this time it stuck. I never saw it again.
Bucky Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Tom Geiger said: Looks good to me! I had a memory of a Grand Prix of that era in that same color scheme. Back in the day, a friend of mine would change cars often. He never had the patience to sell them, so he'd just drive perfectly good cars to the junk yard. I'd see some of them driving around town later on, so even the junk yard was taking the effort to sell his cars. So he had this Grand Prix. I don't remember what got his fancy, that he was done with it but when he mentioned junking it, I told him to bring it to my house. I'd sell it and split the proceeds with him. He went for that. I put an ad in the local paper (this was way before the internet) to sell the car for $800. I anticipated selling it for much less, but went fishing. My first call was a couple who came to see the car. They agreed they wanted it and would pay $800. Then the guy retrieved a bag from his car. He counted out bags of cocaine onto my kitchen table. He said there was $800 worth there, all I needed to do was sell it! I froze. I never anticipated anything like this. I told them to pack up and leave. Fortunately they did! The second customer was a guy and his step son. He was trying really hard to win this kid over. He was just about ready to get his license and this guy was buying him a car. He bargained me easily to $600 and paid for the car. They drove off with it, their fake plate and all. A few days later, the guy comes back. He tells me he screwed up and the kid doesn't like the car. He figures I'm selling cars out of my driveway, so would I take the car back at a profit? I tell him no, I was indeed selling it for a friend and I had already given him the money. The guy gives up and just leaves the car with me, title and all for free. So I have to sell it again. This time I put it back in the paper for $600 since it was all my profit this time around. And funny thing, I don't even remember who I sold it to. But this time it stuck. I never saw it again. Pretty wild chain of events!
Bills72sj Posted November 23, 2019 Author Posted November 23, 2019 14 hours ago, Anglia105E said: Oh, I see..... I wish my vinyl roof had already been moulded in ! Would you like me to PM you with my home address details for the Pontiac Rally II wheels, Bill ? David Yes, I am on call this weekend so I may not have much free time. But... I will send them out to you.
Bills72sj Posted November 23, 2019 Author Posted November 23, 2019 7 hours ago, Classicgas said: Very nice, top is a bit too shiny tho. I know. I just tell myself it was freshly wiped with ArmorAll.
StevenGuthmiller Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 18 hours ago, Geno said: I have a '69 kit I'm going to build to emmulate my 1:1 '69. I do as well. I'm going to give mine the full treatment. That will include a good portion of the guts from the '70 Monte Carlo kit. (ie, chassis and most of the engine bay detail). My goal is to transform my kit from an SJ to a J model, which is what my 1:1 is. The toughest part of that transformation will be changing the seat upholstery from the wide horizontal pleats of the SJ, to the narrower vertical pleats of the Model J. That is unless I can find seats that are reasonable facsimiles to the correct Model J seats. Steve
Anglia105E Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 4 hours ago, Bills72sj said: Yes, I am on call this weekend so I may not have much free time. But... I will send them out to you. Thanks a lot, Bill......don't worry if you are busy, there's no rush......... here are my address details for you..... David Watson, Rain Cottage, 53 The Hill, Cromford, Matlock, Derbyshire DE4 3QR, - England, UK David
Tom Geiger Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 15 hours ago, Classicgas said: Very nice, top is a bit too shiny tho. Tape it off and give it a quick spray with something like Tamiya semi gloss. That would bring it to a realistic shine level
Bills72sj Posted November 23, 2019 Author Posted November 23, 2019 8 hours ago, StevenGuthmiller said: I do as well. I'm going to give mine the full treatment. That will include a good portion of the guts from the '70 Monte Carlo kit. (ie, chassis and most of the engine bay detail). My goal is to transform my kit from an SJ to a J model, which is what my 1:1 is. The toughest part of that transformation will be changing the seat upholstery from the wide horizontal pleats of the SJ, to the narrower vertical pleats of the Model J. That is unless I can find seats that are reasonable facsimiles to the correct Model J seats. Steve Steve, I just looked at some of my built A-bodies, The Monte has vertical pleats, A 69 Olds has vertical pleats with a little bolstering and and old 72 Chevelle has the with wider pleats on the outside edges
StevenGuthmiller Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 21 minutes ago, Bills72sj said: Steve, I just looked at some of my built A-bodies, The Monte has vertical pleats, A 69 Olds has vertical pleats with a little bolstering and and old 72 Chevelle has the with wider pleats on the outside edges I have done a little looking, and while there are some seats from other kits, they all would require some modification. The pleats in the '69 GP only run about 2/3 of the way up the seats. Steve
Classicgas Posted November 23, 2019 Posted November 23, 2019 3 hours ago, Tom Geiger said: Tape it off and give it a quick spray with something like Tamiya semi gloss. That would bring it to a realistic shine level Agreed.
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