Snake45 Posted April 1, 2020 Posted April 1, 2020 Bought this one on eBay in December for a reasonable price. I'd planned to strip and rebuild it completely, but after looking it over, I thought I could Snake-slap it into a “rescue” and stick it on the shelf until the mood struck me to do it real justice. It was missing a few things, but luckily, it included every single dedicated and required El Camino part needed: Body, interior tub, bed extension, rear bumper and taillights, and long-wheelbase chassis. I had to “borrow” the seats/console, dashboard, steering wheel, and windshield from a common reissue '69 Chevelle kit. I made the rear window from some clear plastic from some random blister-packed Walmart purchase. Evidently the hood had been stripped, or someone had tried to. My first instinct was to paint it matte black, then decided to see if currently available Model Master Nassau Blue might be close, keeping matte black as “Plan B.” I shot the hood with white primer, then a coat or two of the Nassau Blue. This was at least a full shade darker than the Elky's body. Remembering that many of the Model Master lacquers lighten up when polished, I gave it a light polish with Wright's Silver Cream. It worked, lightening the paint about half a shade. It's still about a half-shade darker than the body, but it's so close enough that it doesn't jump out at you as the FIRST thing you see on the finished model. (I didn't even try to polish out the bed extension, which I also had to paint. The color difference is much more pronounced there, but it doesn't really bother me.) I gave the rest of the body the same light polish (which didn't change its color—probably old AMT Blue Fog Metallic) but brought up a little bit of shine, about like a five or six year old factory paint job. Good enough! I re-did all the body chrome trim with my beloved Silver Sharpie, and painted the interior with Krylon Satin Black. The grille got black-washed and detailed, the wheels got detailed with black, and then the whole mess went back together. As I said, someday I'll strip and repaint it nicely in '69 LeMans blue. Until that day comes, it looks great sitting on my “Survivor Shelf.” Thanks for looking, and as always, comments welcome.
Nazz Posted April 1, 2020 Posted April 1, 2020 Great looking rescue Snake. Reminds me of the old days when someone would paint part of a car and get the match slightly. Love it. Well done! Would you take a picture from an overhead view and post it?
Bills72sj Posted April 2, 2020 Posted April 2, 2020 (edited) Nice rescue of on one of my favorite cars. Edited April 2, 2020 by Bills72sj
espo Posted April 2, 2020 Posted April 2, 2020 This cleaned up really nice. The hood color doesn't look that far off depending on the viewing angle. When you do get to doing a full redo don't forget the black panted section of the tail gate.
Snake45 Posted April 2, 2020 Author Posted April 2, 2020 6 minutes ago, espo said: This cleaned up really nice. The hood color doesn't look that far off depending on the viewing angle. When you do get to doing a full redo don't forget the black panted section of the tail gate. Thanks! I didn't "forget" the black tailgate, I just decided not to go to the masking and airbrushing trouble this time around on the quickie rescue. But I will definitely include that on the full rebuild.
slusher Posted April 4, 2020 Posted April 4, 2020 Looks great Snake!! Really awesome Snake pit turn around!
Snake45 Posted April 5, 2020 Author Posted April 5, 2020 Thanks everyone for all the kind words. On 4/1/2020 at 3:45 PM, Nazz said: Would you take a picture from an overhead view and post it? What exactly are you hoping to learn from such a picture?
Nazz Posted April 6, 2020 Posted April 6, 2020 The resin wagon I have is derived from this kit and I want to know if I did enough to correct the rear on the wagon as they are the same dimensions.
Snake45 Posted April 6, 2020 Author Posted April 6, 2020 12 hours ago, Nazz said: The resin wagon I have is derived from this kit and I want to know if I did enough to correct the rear on the wagon as they are the same dimensions. Well I guess next time I'm doing photos (it's sort of a PITA for me--requires a certain amount of setup and then afterwork) I could try to get you a shot but I'm still having trouble trying to figure out what it is you're trying to do and how an overhead pic would help.
Hmann68 Posted April 7, 2020 Posted April 7, 2020 Great save! Really turned out sharp. A great color for that car ?
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