PCS Bond Bug

Every once in a while a kit comes along that I simply have to make. Pendle Slot Racing’s Bond Bug (sold under their PCS range) was simply one of those kits!

The Bond Bug was a three wheeled micro car designed to compete with the likes of British Leyland’s Mini.

2,270 of this little wedges were produced between 1970 and 1974.

With three wheels, and a low driving position I would imagine that they are an absolute blast to drive down country lanes! They are capable of going on a motorway, with a top speed of 76mph, but I don’t think I fancy it!

The kit is actually pretty unique as slot cars go. It comes with a pre-built 3d printed chassis featuring the little motor normally found in Micro Scalextric cars. The mounts glue to the side of the body and then the chassis is screwed to the mounts. It’s a very clever way of mating the chassis and body!

The body and driving figure are resin, and the interior is a plastic piece that folds into shape – but more on that later!

It even comes with a little instruction manual! Which was really helpful with this kit!

The interior has to be cut out and folded into shape around the driver figure.

It took me a few test fits to get the shape of the interior right, with the dashboard sitting pretty much level with the windscreen and the rear shelf sitting beneath the rear window.

I used blu tac to hold the driver in place as I got the shape of the interior right, then marked where he needed to be before fixing him down properly.

I then painted him up. I didn’t go crazy with this driver figure as it’s an enclosed car, so once he’s in place you won’t really be able to see him. I just used block colours that looked appropriate for a young Englishman in the 1970s, and Army Painter’s Soft Tone Wash over the skin to highlight any details.

The rear wheels are metal with resin inserts. I paint the inserts silver and then the inside of the barrel of the wheel black to give the impression of depth.

The front wheel is a resin piece that sticks onto the guide, painted to match.

I did like the inclusion of the front suspension on this piece. There are rear springs included with this kit. You will notice them missing. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan haha!

The body shell was sprayed orange over a white primer.

Then it was just a case of putting it all together.

Normally in slot car kits the windows are one vacuum formed piece that sits into the body. The Bond Bug has four individually made windows.

Cut the windows out of their sheet a little too large and then trim to the appropriate size. I used a drop of super glue, applied with a pin head to hold the windows in place, then a thin layer of Bostik plastic glue to permanently fix it. I try not to use superglue around gear glazing if I can help it as it can leaving a nasty residue.

The kit comes with self adhesive front and rear light lenses. These are brilliant! They are self adhesive but I put a little drop of superglue on the back of them just to be sure.

Then finally is the decals. The black decals were brilliant and went on really nicely, but there’s an orange ‘BUG’ that should be on the back which came out transparent. I noticed the lettering on the number plates was also going to be transparent, so I painted a layer of silver over them before applying the decals to give the correct impression.

All in all I really like this little kit. It’s great fun to drive and as it’s a little different, it was a bit of a challenge to build.

If you are new to building slot cars I’d say start with a more conventional car first then work your way up to one of these as it was a bit fiddly in comparison.

It’s fun though! If you’re on the fence about picking one up, I definitely recommend it!

Thanks for reading!

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By Richard Francis.