'68 El Camino Glue Bomb Rescue

[Snake45]

Got this one in a swap with Bill (GTX6970) a couple years ago. Something about it (possibly the American mags) spoke to me and I just had to have it! At first glance, it had “good bones”--complete (except for a missing right taillight), and the blue paint, while not perfect (nor a factory color), seemed to be workable. It just needed some trimwork, and to have the comically jacked rear end lowered a bit.

First order of business (after disassembly) was to fill the sinkholes in the roof C-pillars (typical of this kit), then mask off the body to airbrush Model Master Black Chrome Trim on the vinyl top, tailgate panel and lower body sides. The blue paint (probably Testor enamel) was fairly shiny and looked too thin to polish, so I just left it alone. I polished the glass, and my beloved Silver Sharpie made (relatively) quick if very careful work of all the chrome trim.

I left the black interior alone, but the chassis was a mess. Original Builder must have used a quarter of a tube of glue on the front suspension, and it turned out to be impossible to remove the left front wheel from the spindle. I ended up razor-sawing the axle stub off, drilling it out of the wheel, and making a new axle stub out of Evergreen styrene rod. What a pain! The right side had to be broken free and re-glued at the correct angle. At the rear, I broke all the glue joints at the top of the rear axle (shocks), bent the rear suspension up as best I could, and re-glued it in place. Didn't get it down quite as much as I'd have liked, but I did get a more reasonable ride height/rake on the thing. I can live with it. Final task was to make the right taillight. I fabricated this from a clear plastic blueberry container from Walmart that I literally dug out the trash. I measured it with a dial caliper, cut it with an Xacto, folded it, and “painted” it by coloring it on both sides with a red Sharpie. This all took over an hour but my engineering was so precise that the piece snapped right into place on its first fitting, and I had to worry it out with the Xacto! I put a couple dots of Tacky Glue on it to make sure it stays in place, then snapped it back in.

All told, between the masking and painting, the front and rear suspension repairs and modification, and the taillight fabrication, I had two or three times as much time in this as one of my typical “rescue jobs”--probably around 20 hours, maybe more. Here's what it all looks like. The nonfactory solid blue imperfect paint looks like an Earl Scheib or high school/home shop job, and the aftermarket mags place it perfectly in my imaginary late '70s-early '80s car club, “The Retrobates.”

Here's a shot of my homemade taillight. I think it actually looks and fits better than the kit part.

And here it is with my Motor Max '70 El Camino. The diecast is just a little bigger, though I don't think it's a full 1/24. These pics shows how the shape of the Motor Max '70 roof is a bit off, but still, these two look pretty good together on the shelf. As always, comments, welcome, and Thanks Bill for the opportunity to work my Snake-Fu on it!

 

[hvymtl]

Nice job on restoring that and making it look like it does 

looks like I might have seen it cruising here in the late 80's early 90's so I like it 

 

Michael

[1972coronet]

To my eyes , the AMT 1968 El Camino lines look spot-on (especially when compared to that diecast '70 SS) . 

Nice rescue job on that bad boy ! That's how I remember them looking when I was a kid / teenager : 2nd or 3rd paint job (the climate here is rough on paint) in a "close-enough" colour ; aftermarket wheels and tyres ; a new vinyl top( in a non-stock grain ) ; and a painted bed (oftentimes , "spackle" paint --- that grey stuff with red , black , and blue specks in it ) .

As a side note ; I've got to see if the custom parts from the AMT 1969 SS-396 convertible (or hardtop) may possibly work on the newer-tool 1968 El Camino .

[vintagercr]

Very nice!

[Snake45]

7 hours ago, hvymtl said:

looks like I might have seen it cruising here in the late 80's early 90's so I like it 

Michael

Then, Mission Accomplished! 

[ChrisR]

Nice save!

[BigTallDad]

Very well done! I really like the vinyl roof treatment, but it might be missing a tiny bit of chrome at the bottom of the A pillar IMHO.

[Classicgas]

Nice save.

[MrObsessive]

Oooooh.......terrific save! I like it!

This is another one I've had ever since it first debuted, but I've never done a thing with it! I'll have to give this one some serious thought when it comes time to do a truck..........something I haven't built in many years.

[donb]

Excellent  work Snake. I do like looking at your rescues. They just look like fun. 

[espo]

Amazing what you can do with a little clean up and some detailing. 

[Hmann68]

One of your best, great work on all that trim!

[Snake45]

15 hours ago, BigTallDad said:

Very well done! I really like the vinyl roof treatment, but it might be missing a tiny bit of chrome at the bottom of the A pillar IMHO.

Great catch! I'll have to take a look at that. Seems to be something I could add easily. 

Just glad no one one gigged me on the missing mirrors. They didn't come with it, and I don't have any spares, and didn't feel like scratchbuilding them....

[Snake45]

9 hours ago, MrObsessive said:

Oooooh.......terrific save! I like it!

This is another one I've had ever since it first debuted, but I've never done a thing with it! I'll have to give this one some serious thought... 

Thanks! Great compliment coming from you. 

I think you'll like this kit. Even just working on a glue bomb, I could tell it's a pretty nice kit, right up there with the '70 Monte Carlo. In other words, one of AMT's very best, and right up there with the very very best of Revell. Someday I'll build another one from a new kit, but till then, this one holds down that spot on the shelf with pride. 

[BigTallDad]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Great catch! I'll have to take a look at that. Seems to be something I could add easily. 

Thanks. I've never seen a vinyl top that didn't have every edge ending in chrome, although I've not ween every example of a vinyl top.

Fixing that should take you about five minutes...me, a few minutes more.

[Snake45]

On 12/25/2018 at 10:39 AM, donb said:

Excellent  work Snake. I do like looking at your rescues. They just look like fun. 

They really are. With the burden of "perfection" lifted, you can really have FUN with a model again, the way you did when you were a kid.