So I was happy when MPC (Round 2) rereleased the classic Monkeemobile kit in 2022. They have released it a few times in the last decade or so but you had to be quick to get one as they sold out fast. Thought I had missed my opportunity again until the kit popped up on Amazon and the wife asked what I wanted for Christmas.
Rant warning.
Being a Round 2 kit I pretty much knew what would be in the box and it did not surprise me one little bit.
Even in the overall shots you can see the excessive amount of flash on almost everything, the misaligned mold seams on most of the small parts and all the other tell tale signs of heavily used, unimproved molds from the 60s. Now I get that Round 2 is a for profit company but EVERY SINGLE THING I build from them is made with worn out molds! Spend some money and at least clean up the molds enough that they fully close again. I don’t mind clean up and even sort of enjoy it but almost hand carving basic shapes out of flash get old fast. End rant
Tcoat, good luck with this “nostalgia” build. I spent many Saturday mornings glued to the big console colored TV watching this show. Is there a Partridge Family bus in your future?
Trivia time.
Throughout the series I Dream Of Jeanie Major Nelson drove Pontiacs. Usually the muscle car versions. Of course Pontiac provided the cars for free.
When the network approached Pontiac for two GTOs to “lightly” modify for the Monkees show Pontiac gave them two convertibles. One of those was used as Nelson’s car for part of a season of Jeanie before being modified.
I checked and didn’t see any Partridge Family bus model kit. According to some sources, the bus used on the show was a 1957 Chevrolet Series 6800 Superior school bus. If there isn’t a kit of one of those around, maybe something similar could be found and used instead.
Since the idea intrigued me I dug pretty deep after it was mentioned here and couldn’t come up with anything even close. I will keep my eyes open for a cheap toy that could serve as a body. No hurry and something may turn up.
Tcoat, a few years ago someone on their you tube channel used the bus from the Tom Daniel “Scool Bus” kit. I don’t think that he ever finished the build.
Oh if I ever got my hands on a Daniel school bus there ain’t no way I would build it anyway but box stock. someday I will get to posting up my Daniel builds to date.
I would like to do a ‘64 Pontiac Acadian Beaumont station wagon build as that was my family’s car when I was a kid, but unfortunately no such kit exists.
Since the cars (there were two) were changed and restored many times there is loads of debate on the internet as to what colour the top and dash originally were which seems very silly since there is a definitive source!
Light tan top, black dash, stock GTO gauges, white seats and side panels. This is very early in the season and there are no Monkees logos on the doors yet.
Front end needed extensive reshaping. Forgot to take before pictures but the red lines show where the original fit was. This of course left huge triangle gaps where the body met the chrome inserts and a gapping seam where the bottom piece met the top at the nose. Several coats of brush on super glue were built up to fill the gaps and then carved and sanded into shape.
Well I’m a believer. If it get’s too bad you could take the last train to Clarksville and spend a pleasant valley Sunday being a daydream believer (and a homecoming queen).
Well this is interesting.
All parts are in their locater holes but the rear wheels are not lined up with the wheel wells. Be a real issue if you hit a bump like that!
