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Building a '70 Chevrolet El Camino?


echoxrayniner

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So I've come to the sad realization that finding a '70 El Camino is just nearly impossible, hell I can't even find evidence that there ever was one to start with. So I was wondering, there's the '68 and '69 El Camino kits from AMT Ertl, does anyone know if it's remotely possible to build a '70 El Camino out of a era appropriate grab-bag parts collection and combining the front end of the '70 Chevelle SS kit(AMT's Jack Reacher kit) in combination with the cabin/tail of a '68 El Camino kit? I'm wondering if the dimensions of the tools are similar enough for the fenders to meet up correctly with the rest of the model.

I mean, I'm definitely willing to go deep time and cash wise(after all, gonna need to buy 2 kits and try and transplant a higher quality engine model from possibly a Revell kit), seems like a fun little project. Just very curious if it's even possible with the molds, or if someone else on this forum's attempted it before and give me some tips.

Build a start to finish Camaro line-up of every generation, figured it would be nice to get all the El Camino's from the sixties through the eighties too.

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I did an El Camino conversion last year using all AMT parts. It was to make a "67 out of their '66 El Camino. What I ran into was that in the 1:1 world what would have been a simple sheet metal swap turned into a night mirror . Just because you can do something in 1:1 don't assume that it will work in 1/25 scale. I would think that the kits you mentioned would be the perfect starting point, but as the old saying goes "measure twice and cut once" . You may be surprised by the differences in the firewall and even the hoods , inner fenders and chassis. Just know going in that it may be harder than you first thought and just take your time and don't let it intimidate you. Look forward to seeing your build on this.    

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I would buy the Revell '70 Chevelle SS 454 SnapTite kit, too, and see how well that might work for the nose-specific parts. The AMT '70 has been changed from '70-'72 so many times, and it's an old design kit, not nearly up to par with more modern kits like Revell's '66 or AMT's '68 El Caminos. You're in for a lot of work either way, which you seem to be fully aware of, so best to have all options available when the razor saws come out.

I'm not sure what the specific differences are between a '68 and '70 ElCo in terms of underbody, chassis, etc., but I would agree that the AMT '68 ElCo is the best starting point.

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DELETED INCORRECT INFORMATION.   :D

PS. For a REAL car, the Hollander interchange manual shows the '68 El Camino (and 4-door wagon) frame to be identical with the '70. The 2-door Chevelle frame is different. The 2-dr Chevelle is built on a 112 inch wheelbase, and the Elky is on 116. 

 

 

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Save yourself a ton of work and start with the AMT '70 Chevelle, modify the quarters to look like the El Camino, and graft on the earlier roof. The early tailgate can be modified without too much grief too, and use the bed well. Build it all on the AMT '68 Elky chassis.

If you actually LOOK at the '68 and compare it to the '70, you'll see that the quarters (bed sides) are NOT the same panels. The door skins are different too. So grafting a '70 nose to a '68 won't give you an accurate model anyway...and it's going to be HARD to keep everything aligned and square, especially if doing major mods isn't really your thing.

Keeping the '70 Chevelle body in pretty much one piece will be a LOT easier, and will make a much better model in the end. Trust me.

 

 

 

The El Camino and wagon use different fenders and doors from the coupes and sedans.  El Camino doors and quarter panels are the same '68-'72.  To convert a '68 or '69 El Camino to a '70-'72 would involve swapping the later hood, and the forward part of the front fenders.  For a '70, you'll also need the front bumper from a Monte Carlo.  For some reason, GM went with that bumper (round turn signals) instead of the Chevelle unit (rectangular turn signals).  I eyeballed this conversion when the '68 El Camino first came out.  If I remember right, the new kit is just a bit wider than the old '69 annual kit.  The conversion can be done, but it isn't going to just fall together.  I'm pretty certain it would be a bit easier using the old '69 El Camino as a starting point, because there is some commonality between all of the old AMT '68-'72 Chevelle kits. 

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  El Camino doors and quarter panels are the same '68-'72. 

That's interesting, because when you go to buy the 1:1 doors, there are 3 different part numbers. '68, '69, and '70-'72.

http://www.chevelle.com/1970-72-Full-Door-Shell-Left-P4357C755.aspx

The quarter panel skins come up as the same number for all years.

Guess I better be more careful before I assume that different part numbers actually mean different parts.

I checked the door numbers and didn't bother to check the quarters.

So apparently there are only minor differences between the doors and not the skin-design differences I'd wrongly assumed.

Good to know. This thread may save my butt if I ever have to rebuild a real one. :D

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
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Ahh this is the sort of stuff I knew I could expect from y'all here, thanks! <3

I'd give resin bodies consideration but usually I can't, sadly. They're either too expensive on which I gotta chalk up a giant sum of import costs cause I'm over in Europe and most of the better resin casts hail from the States so I think I have to make due with largely conversion parts from regular kits as one resin body would cost me around the same as three unopened kits. Though so far what I got lying around and coming at me is; a 396ci V8 from a '69 Camaro Revell kit, the AMT '70 Jack Reacher Chevelle kit(largely for the stripes, cowl hood and the front), still undecided on just buying the already existing '68 El Camino or wait 'til December and buy the newer one that comes with the soapbox derby thingy, and found a junkyard(though not all too shabby, the body, chassis and tailgate all seem to be in decent shape, plus it has the tailgate with the reverse lights on it I believe) '69 El Camino kit on eBay. Luckily got a half build '70 Monte Carlo sitting in its little box(gave up on it due to time constraints back then and just... forgot) from which I can steal the bumper. The only thing I wish I had spares of were some Torq-Thrust wheels but ah well, can just use the Mags from the Chevelle.

But yeah, 100% certain that it's gonna be a lot of sanding, a lot of epoxy and a lot of wrenching and fitting around to try and get it together. I'm just glad it might just be possible, even if it may take me a lifetime. Lord knows an actual kit of the 1970 year won't see the light of day before I get done frankensteining Chevelles and El Caminos up into one. Good thing the holidays are coming up.

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A friend of mine is doing the 70 conversion using the AMT 68 and front end from a Monogram 70 Chevelle.  Not much adjusting was required to make it fit.  The model looks really good.  I'd post a picture but for some reason my computer doesn't recognize files on my phone.

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That Jimmy Flintstone resin body is a big blob and I would avoid it if you are striving for some sort of accuracy.

If I thought it were AT ALL possible to build a '70 Elky from a '68 Elky and a '70 Chevelle, I would do that rather than mess with the JF body.

I have a JF '72 Elky body. It doesn't look bad at first glance--and then I look at what a nightmare it's gonna be to try to put the windshield in it, and it goes back in its box.

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OI drug out my '70 SS 454 AMT kit and one of my '68 Eldorado Camino's and did some playing around because I wanted to build a model of my brothers '70 El Camino. What I've discovered is that the Chevelle doors and fenders have a bubble to them that the El Camino doesn't, so it's either do some serious blocking on the fenders to match the doors,  or use the doors AND front fenders to make the swap. One of the coolest 1:1 El Camino's I ever saw was one that another body shop put together, it used the hood, headlights and headlight doors along with the grille and bumper from a '70 Monte Carlo. It had the distinctive coffin nose and eggcrate grille from the Monte Carlo and the best things about it were that it looked like something Chevrolet should've built, and the really cool part was EVERYTHING was a bolt on, no extra cutting or welding or body work was needed.

Want to bet that the model won't be that easy? 

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IF, it were me, I'd do it like Mark says, just graft the front part of the '70 front fenders to the '68's body. You may need to shim or trim the sides of the hood because of the width difference. I don't have a Revell '70 to measure but who knows? maybe it'll fit better. To be accurate, a Monte Carlo bumper should be used but I bet most people would never know the difference.

The Elky's engine is actually really good, no need to use the Revell one and no hassle getting it to fit right. 

 

The whole interior is different except maybe the console. That'll take a bit of work seeing as the Elky's interior builds up off the floor with seprate door panels, etc and all the '70 kits use a bucket type interior. I understand the Revell snap kit has the best detailed interior so it may be the best donor for the front too. but you'd have to cut the hood from the body as it's a curbside kit.

 

Also, you say you want Torque Thrust wheels ,, well the soap box derby issue of the elky is suposed to have a newly tooled set included in it.

Edited by Can-Con
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If I thought it were AT ALL possible to build a '70 Elky from a '68 Elky and a '70 Chevelle, I would do that rather than mess with the JF body.

I have a JF '72 Elky body. It doesn't look bad at first glance--and then I look at what a nightmare it's gonna be to try to put the windshield in it, and it goes back in its box.

The problem with just about any JF body is that getting one to look decent and presentable is like polishing a turd- it's still a turd when you are done!

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IF, it were me, I'd do it like Mark says, just graft the front part of the '70 front fenders to the '68's body. You may need to shim or trim the sides of the hood because of the width difference. I don't have a Revell '70 to measure but who knows? maybe it'll fit better. To be accurate, a Monte Carlo bumper should be used but I bet most people would never know the difference.

The Elky's engine is actually really good, no need to use the Revell one and no hassle getting it to fit right.

 

The whole interior is different except maybe the console. That'll take a bit of work seeing as the Elky's interior builds up off the floor with seprate door panels, etc and all the '70 kits use a bucket type interior. I understand the Revell snap kit has the best detailed interior so it may be the best donor for the front too. but you'd have to cut the hood from the body as it's a curbside kit.

 

Also, you say you want Torque Thrust wheels ,, well the soap box derby issue of the elky is suposed to have a newly tooled set included in it.

I have the Elky kit, plus the AMT '70, Revell snapper '70, and Monogram 1/24 '70 kits around here somewhere. I'll try to measure the widths of all four front ends this weekend and see which if any would be the best match.

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If you could do that, Snake, I'd love ya' for eternity. I only got the '70 Chevelle(which is already build, so can't quite measure the fenders), Monte Carlo and the body, chassis and tail of the '69 El Camino so far. Also, the new '68 El Camino comes with a extra set of wheels? Eeeexcellent.

Though that being said, if the Revell '70 SnapTite kit actually turns out to be a better fit, I can get my hands on that one without too much of a hassle. That and/or the Revell '70 Baldwin Motion kit if removing the hood is too big of a hurdle, though the box claims it's a 1/25 kit though that's gotta be wrong, right?

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I agree, lots of difficulties in trying to mash up an accurate looking '70 Elco from these different kits.  I think I agree with Mark and Steve, best to keep most of the '68 fenders intact and just swap the front portion of whatever your 1970 donor kit would be.

Not only are the 1970 El Camino (and 1970 wagon) fenders missing the "bulges" that the 1970 Chevelle coupes and sedans had, the lower portion of the Elco fender has a body line indent thats different from the '70 coupe, in order to match up with the 68/69 style doors and quarters that got carried over.  The '70 coupes and sedans DO have a lower body line somewhat similar, but it's not as sharp as the 68/69 style.

In a similar fashion, the 1970 El Camino front fenders also have a lip around the wheel opening, again to match with the rear wheel openings of the 68/69 style quarters.  The 1970 Chevelle coupe/sedan wheel openings do not have a lip stamped into the sheetmetal.  This is a bit hard to notice on a Chevelle with wheel well moldings, but if you compare 1970 Chevelle and El Camino images, the difference should be pretty obvious.

I think making the cut right in front of the front wheel well is the best way to preserve all these elements of the '70 front fenders.

Another complication that Mark already mentioned is that the new tool AMT '68 Elco is a bit wider than it should be.  Over the years I've seen several discussions where the agreement was that this kit is larger than 1/25, and possibly actually closer to 1/24.  The front end is significantly wider than the AMT 69 Chevelle front bumper/grille assembly, which of course SHOULD swap on in the 1:1 world.  So maybe the old Monogram 1/24 front end would be the best fit?

I agree that the Revell Snap kit is the best looking 1970 Chevelle kit available.  To me it's the only one that gets the nose and the fender/quarter bulges correct.  The old 1/24 Monogram and the backdated AMT both don't seem to have the proportions quite right for the front end.  Can't say exactly why each of them looks wrong, they just have the "Fargo" problem: "They're just kinda funny lookin', in a general sort of way..."

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I have the Elky kit, plus the AMT '70, Revell snapper '70, and Monogram 1/24 '70 kits around here somewhere. I'll try to measure the widths of all four front ends this weekend and see which if any would be the best match.

Okay, I've done it.

Measurements were taken at the widest point of the body just ahead of the front wheel openings, which is where I think you'd want to make the cuts (i.e., use most of the '68 Elky front fenders). I also thought it might be helpful to measure the hood opening at approximately the same spot. Here goes:

AMT '68 El Camino: Body 2.954, Hood 2.298

AMT '70 Chevelle: Body 2.930, Hood 2.280

Revell Snapper '70 Chevelle: Body 2.980, Hood 2.265

Monogram 1/24 '70 Chevelle: Body 3.010, Hood 2.225. Yes, the 1/24 Mono hood is actually narrower than the others. Couldn't believe it so I measured it twice.

So the Mono 1/24 is clearly out. The '68 Elky is actually right between the AMT and Revell Snapper in width. So you'll have to either widen or narrow the front end, or widen or narrow the body.

If I were doing this project, I'd do it as a curbside. I'd use the Revell Snapper (considering it looks the best anyway), and cut out the entire hood and front end as a unit, and then spread the Elky body to match them. If I wanted it full detail, I'd do the same thing, but not glue the hood in place--after I had the front end fitted, and the body braced internally to handle the stretch, THEN I'd cut the hood away.

BTW, I've had two of the Elky kits since they first came out, but had never opened them or examined this kit in any way until today. Mine has slight sink marks in the roof but they wouldn't be deal-breakers; I'd just fill 'em normally and count on my vinyl top painting technique to blend everything in.

As to the rumor that the AMT '68 Elky is actually, or closer to, 1/24--NO. I have a Danbury Mint 1/24 '68 Elky and the AMT kit is clearly smaller all around.

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I attempted this conversion years ago with the AMT 68 El Camino and AMT 70 SS 454 Chevelle. I cut both kits right in from of the front wheel wells and swapped the 70 headlight surrounds on but the 68 body is so wide the Chevelle grill won't fit without huge gaps on each side so I tried the 70 Monte Carlo grill which fit better but didn't look quite right. I never finished it because of the ill fitting parts but I'll see if I can get some pictures of it up for you.

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I would buy the Revell '70 Chevelle SS 454 SnapTite kit, too, and see how well that might work for the nose-specific parts. The AMT '70 has been changed from '70-'72 so many times, and it's an old design kit, not nearly up to par with more modern kits like Revell's '66 or AMT's '68 El Caminos. You're in for a lot of work either way, which you seem to be fully aware of, so best to have all options available when the razor saws come out.

I'm not sure what the specific differences are between a '68 and '70 ElCo in terms of underbody, chassis, etc., but I would agree that the AMT '68 ElCo is the best starting point.

Good point Casey. I used the Matchbox ERTL 1972 Chevelle with the better grille. The later versions are a little screwed up.

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