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"2 Deep" '65 El Camino


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Ok, so first things first. I believe the El Camino and its older cousin the Ranchero are cars with beds. Cut the roof off of a 2 door station wagon and you still have a car. Put a long roof on a pickup and you have a SUV. Car chassis, car engines, car front clips, car accoutrements, makes a car... with a bed. Anyway if the mods feel its a truck and want to switch it to light trucks I respect that.

I just wanted to do a quick build, throw something together and get on with the next one. AMT's 65 El Camino fit that bill. Pretty good mold, not a lot of clean up. Low parts count, should be a quick build... Then it happened (as it always does). Shave the emblems? Check. Might as well do the door handles..Check. Could go a little lower...and so on and son on.

Here's where I'm at so far.

So its another 60's kustom. They need to be low so lets raise the bed.

Stock.

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Cut it out

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Clean it up and try to keep it stock looking.

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Pegasus Chrome reverse. Any better 60's custom wheel? Not many.

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Edited by Albie D
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I've been wanting to do a top chop, and I figured now's as good a time as any so...

Marking the B pillar 0.05". Did the same to the A pillar as well except cut it near the top.

DSC00490_zps582cbff9.jpg

Got rid of the wing windows and their frames as well as opening the side and backglass a bit. Tweaked the A pillars into position by slicing through the bottom corner and a little gentle persuasion. Tweaked the B in the same manner. One prob though..

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Man, do I get another roof to extend this one? I don't really want to buy another kit.

The greatest advantage of building models? They are so easy to cut it in half..

DSC00509_zps21f502d5.jpg

Edited by Albie D
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,

I ended up lopping 0.05 though the doors. The B's line up great and the shorter door isnt noticeable..Except for now since it's still in 2 pieces and everything is just mocked up.

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So thats where Im at. A quick build that turned into several pieces on my workbench in no time flat. Time to get it back together, I'm in 2 deep again.. Thanks for lookin!

Edited by Albie D
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Loving your bodywork .. shorten the body rather than lengthening the roof! It's looking good!

Interesting solution but I would have been more inclined to just bend the rear pillars to more of an angle to fit.

I think you've created a bunch of issues. for instance, now you need to shorten the interior tub and chassis, drive shaft etc. Keep posting, this should be an interesting build.

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Glad you like it guys!

Interesting solution but I would have been more inclined to just bend the rear pillars to more of an angle to fit.

I think you've created a bunch of issues. for instance, now you need to shorten the interior tub and chassis, drive shaft etc. Keep posting, this should be an interesting build.

I wanted it to look as stock as possible with a factory type flow of the B pillar. This way the rain gutters line up pretty well and I still have a stock type shape. Shortening the chassis isnt a big problem. This model has a simple chassis plate with all the detail molded in. I could probably get away with trimming the back side a hair and moving the rear axle forward .05". The interior tub has a .25" package tray that should be easy to cut down. But your right, this should be interesting...for reasons soon to be discovered. lol I will document the car crash..er build.

Thanks for your comments!

Edited by Albie D
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Where did you get the wheels?

I got this set at Harry's Hobbies in Norton Ma. A kick butt model shop that's worth the drive from almost anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. Check out a few of the cooler model e-tailers on the web like Model Round Up and Scale Dreams. You can find them on Flea-bay as well, just don't be the sucker that spends 25 bucks on a set (I mean c'mon) They retail between 10-12 bucks. I do not feel guilty helping you feed your new addiction..

Thanks for the views and comments dudes!

Edited by Albie D
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I got this set at Harry's Hobbies in Norton Ma. A kick butt model shop that's worth the drive from almost anywhere. Well, almost anywhere. Check out a few of the cooler model e-tailers on the web like Model Round Up and Scale Dreams. You can find them on Flea-bay as well, just don't be the sucker that spends 25 bucks on a set (I mean c'mon) They retail between 10-12 bucks. I do not feel guilty helping you feed your new addiction..

Thanks for the views and comments dudes!

Thanks. Just found a set on ebay for $10 and I'll def check them out since my gf lives in North Attleboro. Edited by NALEX129
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Thanks for posting your build on a poster board.

The close ups of the chrome wheel shows the "spider" detail

I never knew it had.

Always enjoy your body work stage of your builds.

Thanks for the clear , crisp pixs too.

JoKer

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Thanks for posting your build on a poster board.

The close ups of the chrome wheel shows the "spider" detail

I never knew it had.

Always enjoy your body work stage of your builds.

Thanks for the clear , crisp pixs too.

JoKer

Thanks back at you for all your inspiring builds James..

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  • 4 weeks later...

Normally when you chop a top you lengthen the roof to align the A and B Pillars, or you can angle the A pillars a bit more. You could extend the roof with some sheet or strip plastic rather than purchasing an additional kit.

Edited by Nate
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Normally when you chop a top you lengthen the roof to align the A and B Pillars, or you can angle the A pillars a bit more. You could extend the roof with some sheet or strip plastic rather than purchasing an additional kit.

Very true Nate, with an emphasis on normally.. I'm just experimenting with different techniques. Since the El Camino has such a short roof-line, I thought extending it would ruin the look, giving it too much of a pancake profile. Same as tweaking the A pillars alot. Too much lean and it begins to look squinty. The stock glass fits with a tiny bit of trimming so I think I'm on to something as far as keeping it stock-ish. Also, I want to keep the rain gutters. Truth be told, slicing the body in half seemed much easier (to me anyway), than recreating the gutters..What can I say, I love sanding vertical joints (sarcastic). In hindsight I should have cut along the door opening. Would have been way easier to create a new shut line than putty, sand, putty, sand, repeat...

Been working on the bumpers and grill..Some quick and dirty progress pics..And yes these where shot before the body was in unison again!

Stock rear bumper dechromed and looking..umm, truck like. Made the mistake of using lemon scented ammonia that left a weird yellow film (probably from the yellow dye, not the scent). Luckily, a bath in Purple Power fixed that. The pics are pre-PP..

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Little nip and tuck to the bumper while cutting out some of the rocker so it would have a nice flush fit.

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Not useful as an actual bumper, but looks cool nonetheless. This was the "custom" bumper provided in the kit that had taillights molded into it. I've got other ideas for the taillights, so they were cut out and replaced with some tubing. The most challenging aspect of doing this was creating a radius for the openings...Some of the joys of a rollpan with none of the practicality of a bumper..

Lights.

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These were taken before I discovered the wonders of tacky putty for mocking up parts. The finished bumper fits much tighter, squares up nicely with the body lines and will be without that taped-on tension.

http://

Edited by Albie D
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OK front bumper. I wanted some continuity, so lets do a few a mods.

Stock bumper with turn signals.

http://DSC00533_zpsfa13e993.jpg

Bumper hogged out with a tube garnish. The "custom" kit grill with tube bars and Lucas headlights added. Still up in the air with this grill treatment..

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Currently, the car , err truck is in one piece, and I'm almost ready to shoot it in primer. The bumpers were cleaned up, primed and painted gloss black, still waiting for a shot of Alclad. More progress pics soon..

Edited by Albie D
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