alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) I'm just getting back into this project that I started a few years ago and then put to one side while getting a bunch of hot rods finished. I've always had a soft spot for El Caminos and although I am sure there are resin conversions available, I always prefer styrene when I can so I thought I would give it a go. I started by removing the entire roof off a Revell low rider impala that I picked up cheap in a damaged box at a local hobby shop. I then removed the entire roof and bed from an AMT 59 El Camino. It didnt take a lot of massaging to get the two lined up but as you can see from this photo, I missed something. The 59 bed is considerably shorter than the Impala quarters so it doesn't reach all the way to the back and the wheel arches don't align with the body. Edited October 11, 2018 by alan barton Changed photo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 I didn't get a photo of this but basically I had to sever the bed from the back of the cab and slide it rearwards. Would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had noticed it before gluing everything else solid! Anyhow, This let me slide the bed right back to the rear of the car. It stopped a bit early so I took a fresh X acto to the inside of the taillight area, removing as much thickness as I could without going through. I kept holding it up to the light to check on my progress. I then took a few measurements and sliced off the end of the Impala trunk lid to get a start on my tailgate - this would prove to be not as easy as it looks! As you can see from the photo below, the lid is much wider than the tailgate opening. I have an original Crafstman 60 Chevy wagon so I looked to that for help but it wasn't much good either - the tailgate join would have passed straight through a taillight if I had copied AMT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) deleted double post Edited October 11, 2018 by alan barton don't know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Using the 59 bed as a guide, I made some vertical cuts through the Impala body and down towards the bumper area. I didn't want to sever anything at this stage so I stopped short. I then glued the trimmed Impala trunk lid in place and inserted thin strips of styrene in the gaps to assist with filling. Finally, I glued a strip of styrene across the gap between the fins to start working up a new tailgate. Looking back at the station wagon tailgate, I realised that the "V" between the fins is shaped quite differently to the trunk lid to get it to meat the top edge of the tailgate at a steeper angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrObsessive Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) I'm definitely watching this one! I had a similar idea in mind as I'd love to do this car. You have everything you need with that Revell Impala, and you don't have to worry about replicating the 'plane' on the side. I was told this was a rare option from Chevy in '60.......I just can't remember what the option or model was called. Ron Hamilton are you seeing this?? Keep up the great work! Edited October 11, 2018 by MrObsessive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) I've always thought the '60 was much better looking than the '59 El Camino , your conversion is looking great so far ! The Impala side trim was only installed on El Caminos built in California . I did the same conversion about five years ago and it really is pretty straight forward except for the length of the bed . You might also want to look at the rear bumper . Here's a link to mine , you can see the rear bumper differences . Edited October 11, 2018 by TooOld Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 (edited) Thanks for that, Bob, I just went and read both your threads and they are going to be a huge help. I know I have already made a few errors, some that I have fixed and some that I am going to have to think about! I might even have to cheat on a few things - I am not bound to a full replica as your superb model was. We'll see how we go. I changed my mind about how I was going to tackle the tailgate. I grabbed the custom tailgate from the AMT kit and carefully sawed off the top section as you can see here. With about an hour's worth of sanding, filing and cutting I ended up with the piece you see here. Now if you are a master craftsman, please look away now! What with scraping the back of the blue piece down to a taper and trying to fit a curve to a straight angle, lets just say it is not as finessed as I might like. Still, that's why they invented putty. The main thing is I got it to fit and the top edge is lined up with the bed. Before I glued it in place I grabbed my razor saw and continued my earlier cuts up through the trunk lid - I didn't want to risk damaging the blue part of the tailgate by cutting later on Edited October 11, 2018 by alan barton typo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 While I was waiting for the tailgate piece to dry, I though I would tackle the chassis. The Impala floor and the rear kickup interferes with the floor of the El Camino bed so I sawed off the offending section of the chassis. I then trimmed off the edges of the removed section until it fitted back in the hole that remained. It won't be totally authentic but I think when you turn the model over it will be pretty convincing. I also removed the spare tyre hump, filled the gap with flat styrene and added ribs made out of #142 Evergreen styrene strip. Theses are a little chunky at the moment but I will sand them down when they are dry. I didn't know about the El Camino fuel tank until I read Bob's post but thinking about it I should probably have had a look at the AMT 59 chassis, eh? I'm not sure if I want to go to that much work so here's the back story - I wanted more fuel capacity so I swapped out the El Camino tank for an Impala tank. Believable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eshaver Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 NICE !!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TooOld Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Your tailgate will work out just fine , you've got the basic shape . And the Impala gas tank is definitely a believable swap ! I've owned two 60's and a '59 and about the only thing I didn't like was the the small tank . Glad my post helped ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
espo Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Since you're getting into the frame and the gas tank area, can I offer somethings to consider. The 1:1 El Caminos shared their basic frame design with the Station Wagons of that time. This made for what may seem like an odd shaped gas tank. The Wagons stored their spare tires under the floor at the rear of the passenger compartment. This creates a large circular section that hangs down between the frame rails and the rear cross member. GM designed the gas tank to wrap around the spare wheel well. If you have the '59 El Camino donor kit you might want to use the under body area from that. I'm sure there would be some minor alterations needed but based on what I've seen so far you shouldn't have any problems there. The rear bumper has been mentioned and with the removal of any bumper guards higher than the top edge of the bumper should fix that. I really like what you're doing here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino246gt Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 This is a cool project, and it's looking good so far. Nice idea with the tail gate, is it dry yet??? I wanna see it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Metallic Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Cool conversion. I much prefer the styling of the 60 over the 59, especially the front end. Coincidentally, my friend Randy Meyer started the same conversion over the weekend. The orange parts are from the Monogram Bad Actor 60 delivery, the white is the Revell 60 Impala, and the grey is the AMT 59 roof. Using the Bad Actor fin tops and rear wrap-around gave him the correct tailgate and taillight opening. He also ran into the same issue with the 59 bed being too short, which apparently is mostly due to the Revell 60 being slightly longer behind the rear wheel opening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gotnitro? Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Awesome work so far !! Seems like the elco' s are getting much attention lately very well deserved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Thanks everyone for the support. Seems like anyone who wants to build a 60 Elky now has at least three ways to consider! I am in awe of Randy's precision grafting of the Bad Actor fins to the Revell body - that is a work of art! I too have a Bad Actor body from my childhood but unfortunately back then I cut open the tailgate and then lost it so it won't give me much of an advantage! Instead, I am going to use it as a donor roof on the left over AMT 59 body to produce a 59 Sedan Delivery - waste not, want not! I was originally going to do it with the Revell 60 body but ended up buying a Jimmy Flintstone resin body instead so I should eventually end up with a coupe, a sedan delivery and an El Camino version of both the 59 and the 60. I am really more of a hot rod guy but these two cars have captured my imagination since I was very young. Bob, I like your graft of the bed to the 60 better than what I did. You removed about half the width of the fin and then fitted it to the sixty. I only cut about a mm away form the bed rail and then filed the excess back to the bed rail. I realise now that this has the effect of making the bed rail somewhat thicker than it should be. I can fix it but your way would have been easier. I have also decided to go with the Impala fuel tank. This Elky is going to be a tow car and we don't want to be stopping at every servo on the way to Bonneville, now do we? I'm also not going to put that big medallion in the centre of the tailgate. I'm guessing it is a remnant from the window winder on a station wagon. I think it will be a lot cleaner without it. My Elky will be getting the mild custom treatment, possibly a tube grille, possibly side pipes so a little decking of the tailgate will fit in nicely. Also I am tackling something most of you would never have to bother with. For the last 25 years or so I have been making all my models right hand drive. I have been making all rods RHD since I was a kid but they are usually pretty easy. "Late model" cars are more complex but I enjoy the challenge. I don't think I ever do two the same way. THe biggest trap is that dashboards that appear to be symetrical and full of straight, parallel lines often aren't. When you swap pieces from sides to side it often comes out looking very irregular and getting it looking right is the challenge. I tried something different on the 60 dash. I first laid tape along the outside edge of the instrument cluster to determine the easiest, straightest cut. I then transferred that angle, with tape, to the inside of the glovebox custer. That way, when I swap the two pieces side for side, the cuts should match up reasonably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Next I made the cuts. I prefer to use a sharp X-acto rather than a razor saw, to minimise the kerf because by the time you remove plastic with at least four cuts, you can end up with big gaps. I always try to leave the perimeter of the dashboard intact so that I have a frame to reference from. Otherwise it is like trying to make a jig saw puzzle out of cornflakes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Then the fun starts! The two holes that are left are NEVER symmetrical despite your best efforts. I will often glue extra plastic to the inserts and file that up nice to make up the gaps before attempting to glue all the pieces back together. In the last photo you can see there is now a bit of curvature that wasn't there before - we can fix that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbird McMonte Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 Nice conversion! Here are some reference photos of the original kit if you need them. Let me know if you need any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisc63 Posted October 12, 2018 Share Posted October 12, 2018 One thing these conversions all seem to have in common; you haven't made any accommodations for putting in the gas! Impalas fueled from a panel in the rear, but El Caminos feed the fuel tank from a lid on the left quarter panel, since the tailgate doesn't allow a high enough fill point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 12, 2018 Author Share Posted October 12, 2018 Thanks Rusty, you're right, I didn't notice that! I will add it to my list! Thanyou, Dominick, for t he photos of the SMP. All this stuff adds to the information available to make a 60 ElCamino as accurate as you wish it to be. Here are some photos I took of a beautiful red example at the Shepparton Motor Museum in Victoria on the other side of Australia from me. Wish I could have got closer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robberbaron Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 (edited) On 10/11/2018 at 7:18 PM, Superbird McMonte said: Nice conversion! Here are some reference photos of the original kit if you need them. Let me know if you need any more. Looks like a very nice survivor build, but unfortunately I wouldn't use this as any kind of reference for doing this conversion. This is a rare example from the "good old days" when AMT didn't come anywhere close to accurately duplicating the 1:1. The rear fin and tailgate proportions are right off a '59, not a '60, and the rear bumper isn't right either. The front end on these original AMT's is also not right. Gotta stick with photos of 1:1 examples when doing this subject. Edited October 13, 2018 by Robberbaron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbird McMonte Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 1 hour ago, Robberbaron said: Looks like a very nice survivor build, but unfortunately I wouldn't use this as any kind of reference for doing this conversion. This is a rare example from the "good old days" when AMT didn't come anywhere close to accurately duplicating the 1:1. The rear fin and tailgate proportions are right off a '59, not a '60, and the rear bumper isn't right either. The front end on these original AMT's is also not right. Gotta stick with photos of 1:1 examples when doing this subject. WOW! I didn’t look at it that close, but you’re right. Honestly, this is probably the first time I took it out of the box since I bought it at a LIARS club meeting last year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alan barton Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 Yeah, that rear view is pretty scary when you compare it to the real one! Kinda glad I didn't go chasing one now. I know of one SMP Elky hear in Perth but it was heavily customised so the owner just tidied it up and put it on his shelf. Cheers Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disabled modeler Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 2 hours ago, alan barton said: Yeah, that rear view is pretty scary when you compare it to the real one! Kinda glad I didn't go chasing one now. I know of one SMP Elky hear in Perth but it was heavily customised so the owner just tidied it up and put it on his shelf. Cheers Alan You have a soft spot for Elcaminos....I have one for the wagons..love your 60s wagon...I have a old AMT 60 Elcamino. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James2 Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 I am enjoying this build... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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