‘55 El Camino

[Oldriginal86]

The proportions are better on the kit roof. I like the omission of the vent window. Brings this build in to the present century. Body work on both is amazingly smooth. Well done.

[customline]

2 hours ago, Oldriginal86 said:

The proportions are better on the kit roof. I like the omission of the vent window. Brings this build in to the present century. Body work on both is amazingly smooth. Well done.

Vent windows were a necessity in the summer months if you didn't have A/C (or it didn't work ?)  They were a deluxe feature in the early days that became a standard thing eventually. I think the manufacturers eliminated them to sell more A/C equipped vehicles.  Can you still buy a vehicle without A/C? 

Greg, it looks like the it's a no-go on the T-Bird roof.  I kinda liked it . ?

[NOBLNG]

3 hours ago, Oldriginal86 said:

The proportions are better on the kit roof. I like the omission of the vent window. Brings this build in to the present century. Body work on both is amazingly smooth. Well done.

Yeah, the more I look at the two of them…the more I like the kit piece. 

42 minutes ago, customline said:

Vent windows were a necessity in the summer months if you didn't have A/C (or it didn't work ?)  They were a deluxe feature in the early days that became a standard thing eventually. I think the manufacturers eliminated them to sell more A/C equipped vehicles.  Can you still buy a vehicle without A/C? 

Greg, it looks like the it's a no-go on the T-Bird roof.  I kinda liked it . ?

I agree that is why they likely did away with them. I have them in my old Willys P/U and they work as good as AC…a long as you’re moving.? Crack them just a tad in the winter and the windows won’t fog up either. I guess the No-Birdo goes back in the box.?

[customline]

1 hour ago, NOBLNG said:

Yeah, the more I look at the two of them…the more I like the kit piece. 

I agree that is why they likely did away with them. I have them in my old Willys P/U and they work as good as AC…a long as you’re moving.? Crack them just a tad in the winter and the windows won’t fog up either. I guess the No-Birdo goes back in the box.?

Save it for a '55 'Vette ?.

[TarheelRick]

Really liking this build, I have a couple in my stash. Glad you went back to the kit roof. As mentioned by another post the T-Bird roof is an iconic piece of a T-Bird and just does not look right on anything else. However, I remember seeing Buick portholes in an Impala in a magazine somewhere.

[Sam I Am]

I fall into the category of someone who wants to build this also, as well as a 56 and 57. 

[customline]

6 hours ago, TarheelRick said:

Really liking this build, I have a couple in my stash. Glad you went back to the kit roof. As mentioned by another post the T-Bird roof is an iconic piece of a T-Bird and just does not look right on anything else. However, I remember seeing Buick portholes in an Impala in a magazine somewhere.

You can see Buick portholes on a lot of cars in downtown Newport News ?

[customline]

Welcome to your new home, Greg. ?

[1959]

Really nice body work Greg. I am very interested to follow this as I just finished my version of this kit.  https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/195678-1954-chevrolet-el-nomadino/#comment-2934972

I think the design in the AMT roof is really good and does not need anything to look like it was designed by GM. I decided to leave vent windows but removing works also well and makes the roof look a bit lower. I think the front window in the kit is a bit too low compared to original Nomad but looks nice in the pick up conversion. Then again in Monogram 57 the whole roof it is way too high and I think it is difficult to build a nice model out of that.

Tbird roof makes me wonder would it work as a shortened two seater roadster?

 

 

 

[NOBLNG]

On 8/29/2024 at 8:56 AM, customline said:

Welcome to your new home, Greg. ?

I got lost…then a couple of squirrels went by.?

5 hours ago, 1959 said:

Really nice body work Greg. I am very interested to follow this as I just finished my version of this kit.  https://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/topic/195678-1954-chevrolet-el-nomadino/#comment-2934972

I think the design in the AMT roof is really good and does not need anything to look like it was designed by GM. I decided to leave vent windows but removing works also well and makes the roof look a bit lower. I think the front window in the kit is a bit too low compared to original Nomad but looks nice in the pick up conversion. Then again in Monogram 57 the whole roof it is way too high and I think it is difficult to build a nice model out of that.

Tbird roof makes me wonder would it work as a shortened two seater roadster?

 

 

 

Thanks Kimmo.? It’s on the back burner right now, but I do intend to get back to it soon.

[customline]

3 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

I got lost…then a couple of squirrels went by.?

Oh....yeah. they said to say hello.

[NOBLNG]

Well I WAS working on something else, then a couple of Nomadic Squirrels ran across my bench and here I am now….So I decided that I might like to mount a slightly wider set of tires on this, and the moulded in fender wells on the bed are the limiting factor.  I briefly thought about tubbing it using some hacked off wheel wells from the parts box. But I could only move them in  about 1/8” before I matched the frame width. So I decided to just move the existing stuff inboard a bit.

And I hacked off the tailgate hinges. I will make my own so that the tailgate can be mounted after paint maybe?

 

Edited Thursday at 10:55 PM by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

I had the box mounted to the frame and then realized that the interior tub was the depth guage for mounting everything else. So I wound up re-fitting the interior tub and then the box mounts. I am attaching the box to the chassis/floorpan as I think it will work better for painting and assembly.

I’Ve put so much work into these wheel wells that I think I should leave the wheels off and just display it on Jack Stands.🥵

[NOBLNG]

I just wasn’t pleased with the roof which led to the whole silly T-Bird graft attempt. What this one needs in my mind is a slightly beefier B pillar. So…out came the razor saw.

Glued in some 0.156”x0.250” Evergreen. Just enough to stretch the B pillar but not shorten the box noticeably.🧐

A bit of grinding to be done.🥵 This is where the rotary tool comes in handy.😎

Trying to decide on some rims and tires too. These are my four favourites so far. I kinda like the stock white walls and hub caps. 

Now that’s more like it!🙂 It almost looks like it’s been slightly chopped?

Edited Friday at 05:31 PM by NOBLNG

[johnyrotten]

That looks really good. Small change to that b pillar made a huge difference,  great eye. Both sets of wheels "work", the 'caps and white walls have my vote.

[1930fordpickup]

The B pillar change helps the look. I hate to say it but the white walls with caps also have my vote. Maybe a set of babymoons would look good also. 

 

[NOBLNG]

The tailgate on this kit is captured between tabs on the floor pan and the body. So the tailgate is designed to be installed at the same time as the floorpan.😕 That doesn’t work for me…so I made some new hinges from aluminum. Now the tailgate can be installed as a last step pretty much. Now to tackle some hood hinges.🙂

Edited Friday at 04:59 PM by NOBLNG

[BK9300]

Excellent job on the body work and those hinges, Greg - precision work!

[DJMar]

Nice to see this one back on the bench. The b-pillar mods look really good. I liked the first roof shape a lot, but in comparing the two, the new & improved version looks way better.

This is another vote for whitewalls & hubcaps. Those make it look factory stock, even if it's a phantom.

[NOBLNG]

Thanks Guys!🙂 I did a little contour correction around the headlight bezels, scribed in the missing body seam and added the turn signal bezels that I will foil later.

The front bumper needs a bit of tweaking to fit nicely and I’d like to pin it somehow for a more positive mount.

The grill really doesn’t have any nice mounting points.😕 I do happen to have a nicer Monogram grill that almost fits so I think I will use it instead. That’s all for tonight.🙂

Edited Sunday at 04:53 PM by NOBLNG

[NOBLNG]

The Monogram grill actually fits with only a bit of filing on each end.

it sits a little too far forward though, so I removed about 0.020” from the nose of the body and also scraped a bit away to lower the grill slightly.

 

The AMT hood has no separate chrome trim so I decided to trim 0.040” off the leading edge and make one from styrene sheet. I scribed a cut line and after making a couple of passes it dawned on me that it looked pretty good just like that. So I foiled it to get a better perspective and am quite satisfied with it as is.🙂

 

 

Edited Sunday at 04:59 PM by NOBLNG

[Mark W]

2 hours ago, NOBLNG said:

The Monogram grill actually fits with only a bit of filing on each end.

it sits a little too far forward though, so I removed about 0.020” from the nose of the body and also scraped a bit away to lower the grill slightly.

 

The AMT hood has no separate chrome trim so I decided to trim 0.040” off the leading edge and make one from styrene sheet. I scribed a cut line and after making a couple of passes it dawned on me that it looked pretty good just like that. So I foiled it to get a better perspective and am quite satisfied with it as is.🙂

 

 

The scribe line is perfect!  Nice.

[NOBLNG]

I’ve added some drip rails to the roof and a piece of molding around the base of the cab. Also smoothed the tailgate.

[NOBLNG]

Like my tag line? says…I haven’t finished creating problems yet.😳 I noticed that the bed rails curved upwards at the rear. I set it on a piece of plate glass and took some measurements. They aren’t off by much side to side but front to back was noticeable. So I fastened it down to the glass and took it out to my drill press and milled the bed rails and tailgate level. Now I have to remake the rails from 0.040” sheet along with a tailgate cap.

Edited 5 hours ago by NOBLNG

[johnyrotten]

8 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Like my tag line? says…I haven’t finished creating problems yet.😳 I noticed that the bed rails curved upwards at the rear. I set it on a piece of plate glass and took some measurements. They aren’t off by much side to side but front to back was noticeable. So I fastened it down to the glass and took it out to my drill press and milled the bed rails and tailgate level. Now I have to remake the rails from 0.040” sheet along with a tailgate cap.

Creative solution. More great work, sir.👍