1973' Chevrolet El Camino

[Sergey]

Hello, Gents!

As all of my current projects  are paused for different reasons I decided to start  fourth generation of El Camino!

It looked like this:

or like this in 74-75

So: the resin kit contains almost everything you need to build a handsome car, except for the rear axle, suspensions, wheels, cardan shaft and mufflers

But there are some bugs

The front bumper is slightly curved outward. That's just it's already covered with chrome and you need to unbend it more carefully.

A separate hood is curved, but there is no engine. You can also glue it tightly

The bench seems small relative to the width of the body. However, after digging in the network, I found such a drawing

That is, the length is almost necessary, but the depth of the seat is shorter by 4mm. I don't know what to do with it yet. I'll decide along the way.

The bottom, apparently copied from a similar whale. Perhaps it is 69'Olds 442, which is why it is recommended as a donor for the suspension. It can be seen that the caster himself repaired the bubble on the front stabilizer.

The wind screen is vacuum formed and, as we can see, is covered in bumps from bubbles.

And these are the taillights, which should be made of transparent resin, in theory. But obviously the stars didn't come together and the red dye probably killed the transparency.

But there is also good news: I have already estimated the wheels from the 77 Ford. It is only necessary to sand down the caps. They stick out too much.

Yes, I also figured out a donor for the rear gearbox and mufflers and I'm thinking about replacing the front levers, but more on that later!

 

[Mike C.]

Cool! Will this be available here in the states? Also, what would be the doner car?

[Can-Con]

1 hour ago, Mike C. said:

Cool! Will this be available here in the states? Also, what would be the doner car?

That's the Motor City Resin Casters kit, Mike.

Good luck getting one though. The waiting list for the first batch was long and I don't know if they ever did cast any more.

http://www.motorcityresincasters.com/73ElCamino.htm

[Mike C.]

12 minutes ago, Can-Con said:

That's the Motor City Resin Casters kit, Mike.

Good luck getting one though. The waiting list for the first batch was long and I don't know if they ever did cast any more.

http://www.motorcityresincasters.com/73ElCamino.htm

Figures. ?

[Can-Con]

15 minutes ago, Mike C. said:

Figures. ?

I'd try getting ahold of them Mike. Like I said,

I don't know if they ever did any more.

It was very popular so there might be a good chance that he is doing more.

[Mike C.]

Whooo! I just saw the price. No thanks.

[Sergey]

7 hours ago, Mike C. said:

Whooo! I just saw the price. No thanks.

Hello, Mike! Steve is right! It is Motor City Resin Casters kit and the price is good. I have payed $100+ with deliverance couple years before.

Now let's go!

I guess I was lucky to found some pictures of Camino bottom. Though it's 1968 model the bottom looks mostly the same.

By the way: what is the right name for car bottom to write down in search window?

Here we can see lower wheel arms, which I don't have. But looking at the next photo of repaired Camino I have found the way to make new arms.

I can make it from brass wire 0,8mm. But first I should fill rectangular hole in wheel wells with a piece of 2mm plastic.

There is how upper arms looks

Here are some billets for arms: front semi axles, wells for springs and rotary fists (if I call it right)

Semi axles in place

Now let's solder all this mess

And there are copies of muffler and differential drilled & pierced with 3mm plastic tube and 2mm steel spike inside.

Don't pay attention to the bell in front of differential. It is injection sprue to be deleted.

Comments are welcome!

[Fabrux]

Sergey, I think if you search for chassis you should find what you need!

[Mattilacken]

Sweet!! Love this generation chevys!

[TooOld]

Nice work soldering the front arms Sergey , I'll definitely be following your progress !  I also have one of these from Motor City Resin and just pulled it out to check the parts , my hood fits perfect and the bumper is nice and straight . I'm really surprised they would ship a kit with warped parts like that , did you buy it directly from them or from a third party ?  I also built my own El Camino from scratch and used the AMT '68 chassis and suspension , it worked great !  Here's the WIP for it , go to page 3 for the chassis .

 

[Sergey]

Thank you, Guys!

 

Finishing front suspension

 

Fitting. Yes, not everything is symmetrical yet, but we will try.

the axis of rotation of the wheel should sit deeper, inside the disc. And now rotated wheel is not in the center of the arch jet.

I have already started working with the inside of the disk. I cut out the brake drum to glue it deeper.

 

[Sergey]

On 7/5/2022 at 11:00 PM, TooOld said:

Nice work soldering the front arms Sergey , I'll definitely be following your progress !  I also have one of these from Motor City Resin and just pulled it out to check the parts , my hood fits perfect and the bumper is nice and straight . I'm really surprised they would ship a kit with warped parts like that , did you buy it directly from them or from a third party ?  I also built my own El Camino from scratch and used the AMT '68 chassis and suspension , it worked great !  Here's the WIP for it , go to page 3 for the chassis .

Thank you, Bob! I also thought that my MCR's El Camino is perfect, before I started to work with it. May be the deal is that I'm a perfectionist?

Yes I have bought the kit directly from Motor City Resin.

I'm impressed with your work! I think your 73' El Camino is looks more right, then MCR's one. The hood part of a kit I work with is not so horizontal as it should.

[Oldcarfan27]

On 7/4/2022 at 1:23 PM, Sergey said:

The front bumper is slightly curved outward. That's just it's already covered with chrome and you need to unbend it more carefully.

Instead of bending it and risking breaking it or messing up the chrome, try just cutting a notch in the middle and bending it back into shape, then a drop of super glue to hold it there. 

On 7/5/2022 at 2:15 AM, Sergey said:

I have payed $100+ with deliverance

Did someone say "Deliverance"? ?

[bisc63]

On 7/5/2022 at 4:15 AM, Sergey said:

Here are some billets for arms: front semi axles, wells for springs and rotary fists (if I call it right)

semi axles = spindles

Your build is coming along nicely. I like the scratch-built tubular A-arms. I'll be following along!

Edited July 8, 2022 by bisc63
add info

[Mike C.]

Motor City Casters still has some of these. I ordered one the other day. I already have a smallblock Chevy engine in the parts bin and I ordered the sport mirrors from ebay. I have something special planned for this project. Stay tuned, I think a lot of you will like it.

[Sergey]

On 7/8/2022 at 12:29 AM, Oldcarfan27 said:

Did someone say "Deliverance"? ?

Sorry, I meant - delivery.

Thanks to everyone!

[Sergey]

Hello, dear colleagues!

Summer is hot time for land scape design, so there is so a little chance to modeling. But sometimes I got luck.
I scratched the wheels from the inside and that's what I got (the right wheel). Now the track is what it should.

Poked around outside the wheel disc  in an attempt to get Chevrolet hubcaps

Wound springs on a 3.2mm drill bit

In this photo, you can see that the frame in the rear overhang curves to the left

Therefore, the gas tank is cut out. After editing the frame, it will return to its place at the assembly stage.

It seems to have finished with the front suspension. I made a 3-section link between the wheels. The small tubes marked with arrows serve to adjust the length of the link "in place".

I started the rear suspension. I haven't trimmed the axle yet.

Intermediate result

I haven't touched the body yet. just removed the thickness at the bottom of the rear overhang to make it easier to bend. And sand off tail gate a little, because the body is too long/

Next time I'll show you the rear shock absorbers. Good luck to everyone!
 

[Mike C.]

That's some great scratch building there Sergey. Like the stance also.

I'm still waiting for mine. It hasn't been the 12 weeks yet so I'm still holding out hope that they didn't just take my payment and run. I got billed, but no model yet.

[Sergey]

Thank you Mike!

Let's shake the dust off the topic!

As promised in August - rear shock absorbers:

Finally installed, and at the same time adjusted the tail of the frame in hot water. Due to the deformation of the silicone mold, the left frame rail "went to the left" and became shorter than the right by 2mm.

The same frame rails, but with a tank

Yes, I was looking at the reference photo here and realized that not only the front of the wing has a negative slope, but also the entire front panel

But trans-kit has it vertical

That is, before giving the right slope to the front of the wing, which I have already started to do (hurried) from the left side...

....I still need to cut off the front end at the panel line, give the end a negative slope with a putty and glue the front end back, but higher, because it will not work to raise the wing from above / in front, leaving the headlights and grill at the same level.

In addition, a slight strabismus of the headlights was found, which also requires correction in the sawn state.

Fortunately, the grill is a separate part here. I hope I will manage without losses.

Stay turned!

[Mattilacken]

Nice work! And nice to see how to correct it! I have the nascar kits and have seen that the front arches are of due to the nascar racing. But I have not figured out how to sold them. And this is even though I used to own a Chevelle of this generation. 
This is the one I had: https://www.garaget.org/?car=113257

 

[Slotto]

Great job on the suspension. I love to see articulated front wheels

[Tabbysdaddy]

This is very cool, but no shock would be mounted to the backing plates. 

[Mattilacken]

Some refference pictures for the shock placement mentioned above ?

https://classiccars.com/listings/view/1385739/1974-chevrolet-el-camino-for-sale-in-cadillac-michigan-49601

 

Edited January 12, 2023 by Mattilacken

[Sergey]

Thanks to everyone!

On 1/12/2023 at 8:19 AM, Tabbysdaddy said:

This is very cool, but no shock would be mounted to the backing plates. 

I was guided by this reference photo:

It was the easiest way to mount them.

Thank you Anton for more reference pictures!

Edited January 16, 2023 by Sergey

[Mattilacken]

I think, hard to see in that picture, that it’s mounted to a bracket coming down from the rear axle. As mentioned earlier, the backing shield of the brakes are flimsy and would not withstand such forces ?