AMT 68 El Camino

[Dave]

Saw this on the Round 2 website.

 

[MrObsessive]

Ooh! I LIKE that box art! Round 2 is DETERMINED to keep me poor this year! 

The '68 El Camino was already a nice kit, so the excellent box art along with some other goodies should make this one a must get!

[Mike Chernecki]

Nice kit, but get rid of that vinyl top, nothing but sink marks that are a pain to fix.

[unclescott58]

Very cool. Even though I have one of the Ertl ones from the late 90's, that I've done nothing with, I'll still be buy this one. The soup box derby car and the box art make it worth while for me.

 

[Crazy Ed]

Nice kit, but get rid of that vinyl top, nothing but sink marks that are a pain to fix.

     I was just gonna say, I Hope they Fixed The B-Pillar Sink Mark...............

[tim boyd]

I think this is one of the best kits ever to come out of the mid-late 1990's "John Mueller and Gang" era at AMT-Ertl.  Except for that pesky vinyl roof sink mark duly noted in the posts above.  This was a great kit compromised by the most generic box art possible in the original release, that did little to convey the goodness inside (particularly for the Street Machine version of the tool).  

If you like the box top art shown here, you'll equally like the side box panels - (based on the comp I saw....) - they really convey the contents of the kit just as the best AMT box art compositions of the mid 1960's did.  

TIM 

[stavanzer]

Any chance that the Street Machine parts will be in this kit, also?

Or maybe the Street Machine will be a separate release later........?

[Snake45]

The US Air Force used some SS396 El Caminos in support of the U-2 program at Beale AFT (IIRC). I've collected a couple poor photos of them but can't really tell if they're '68s or '69s. I'm gonna do a model of one of them someday using this kit. One thing I've never been able to determine is if they were in "off the rack" dark metallic blue, or were painted the standard USAF "fleet" blue like the sedans, pickups, buses, etc of the day.

[stavanzer]

They were painted "Strata-Blue" the Dark blue 'official' USAF colour.

That colour is harder that heck to find, although any USAF base probably still has zillions of spray cans of it, at least if my USAF experience is any guide.

[Snake45]

They were painted "Strata-Blue" the Dark blue 'official' USAF colour.

That colour is harder that heck to find, although any USAF base probably still has zillions of spray cans of it, at least if my USAF experience is any guide.

Cool! I don't think that color would be that hard to mix up, starting with either Model Master Blue Angel Blue or regular Testor little bottle dark blue. Might need to add a drop or two of black to either. Thanks for the info!

[stavanzer]

It is at best a Semi-Gloss, but it fades to a flattish shade quickly. (at least in Arizona and Okinawa) It is not a dead flat, but more of a slightly gloss flat, if that makes sense. It will polish back up to a semi-gloss fairly easily.

[Mike Chernecki]

Just looking at the decal sheet for the El Camino, it does not have any stock stripes or any other stock decals (under hood, gauges, emblems, etc). That is disappointing.

[Snake45]

It is at best a Semi-Gloss, but it fades to a flattish shade quickly. (at least in Arizona and Okinawa) It is not a dead flat, but more of a slightly gloss flat, if that makes sense. It will polish back up to a semi-gloss fairly easily.

All the USAF vehicles I ever saw (early-mid '70s) were fairly shiny. Not a car-show shine, of course, but definitely glossy, not semigloss.

But then I never saw any of those El Caminos, either.

ETA: Here's one of few pics I've found. Looks fairly shiny to me. Also looks like maybe the top of the cab is painted white (for cooling or visibility or both?)?

http://news.cdn.boldride.com/2014/03/El-Camino-1969.jpg

Edited September 13, 2016 by Snake45

[stavanzer]

Yeah, you have it right. That is a white top. Probably for both reasons.

Our stuff was not often very clean, so maybe a dirty, dull shine is the best way to describe it. You are correct though that it was not a flat colour.

[dodgefever]

 

ETA: Here's one of few pics I've found. Looks fairly shiny to me. Also looks like maybe the top of the cab is painted white (for cooling or visibility or both?)?

http://news.cdn.boldride.com/2014/03/El-Camino-1969.jpg

Going by the side trim and the position of the side marker, that's a '68.

[stavanzer]

Well, to answer my own question, the kit is listed as a 2'n'1. Stock or Custom, and with the Soap Box Derby car too. It'll be worth having just for the sleek little blower in the kit.  This one looks good.

[Mark]

Well, to answer my own question, the kit is listed as a 2'n'1. Stock or Custom, and with the Soap Box Derby car too. It'll be worth having just for the sleek little blower in the kit.  This one looks good.

I wouldn't bet on seeing the street machine version parts included.  The mag wheels shown aren't the ones included in that kit.  The street machine has a bunch of parts that are different from the stock version; I doubt both versions plus the derby car could fit into a regular size box.

[stavanzer]

Drat!  Well it was nice to hope for a bit. Maybe next issue.

[Nova-ss]

It is at best a Semi-Gloss, but it fades to a flattish shade quickly. (at least in Arizona and Okinawa) It is not a dead flat, but more of a slightly gloss flat, if that makes sense. It will polish back up to a semi-gloss fairly easily.

sure does make perfect sense to me.that is the way i look at all gloss to dead flat.......Chris

[Nova-ss]

I have a few of the 90's releases,but will get a few of these.the art work is smokin..love it.maybe next one could be a mechanics car from a drag strip team.I would love that.but this looks fun and creative to me......Chris 

[horsepower]

Those white tops were for visibility, makes it a little easier to spot a dark blue car ripping along a black runway at pretty high speeds and through a tiny cockpit window.

And the boys at Beale were very proud of all their equipment and since they had the time it was always kept up to the highest standards of good looks, finding one that wasn't spotless and up to the best shine possible was grounds for spending time doing a lot of cleaning on things you really wouldn't want to clean if you had your choice.

[horsepower]

Going by the side trim and the position of the side marker, that's a '68.

that one looks like a generic 327 powered version at best, not an SS 396 from my viewpoint anyway.

[keyser]

The street rod version I guess had mini-tubs? I never had one, Did street rod still have vinyl top (I hope not)?

I have stock issue and the top and sink mark made me look at it, sigh, and put it back in box.  I have original issue (non-soap box). Rest of tool looked really nice though. 

[Daddyfink]

Saw this on the Round 2 website.

 

Wow, totally new box art. Glad they include the decals for the original version. Bummer about the vinyl top

Edited September 14, 2016 by Daddyfink

[kelson]

Like the box art,looks very close to the original issue 69'elcamino Daddyfink posted.