'86 El CaBeater

[rhs856]

I've been wanting to try my hand at a weathered build for a long time now. The hard part for me was choosing the right kit to turn into a rust bucket. Then, while staring wistfully at my collection of "Models To Build", our eyes met. I was never happy with the MPC 1986 El Camino SS; it was flashtastic, had huge sink marks, and chunks had been taken out of the body before it ever got to me. As soon as I opened it, I knew it would've taken more time than I wanted to spend to make it look somewhat decent.

It was perfect.

I started by putting on some snaps for the torn tonneau cover that would come later. They were made from the ends of straight pins.

My first dent! The old girl should have watched out for that careless pinvice handle...

Driver's side dent and missing trim piece. The candle got a bit smokey this time around, leaving the black around the dent.

Edited July 29, 2011 by rhs856

[rhs856]

I put a primer coat on the body and frame, let it dry, and then "painted" water where I wanted rust. I sprinkled some fine dirt over the water and voila - texture! A second coat of primer sealed it in.

Edited July 29, 2011 by rhs856

[SuperStockAndy]

Cool! I'll be watching this one...

[Lanny Haas]

another way to add dents is to gring the inside of the body, thin it down than use the knife handle to shape a dent. You can also grind or sand the dent with the moto tool,on the outside, if the body is thick enough.

This is a dent from grinding the inside of the fender, and applying pressure with the hobby knife handle. Its what ever works for you. I like what I see so far.

Somethin I learned in Weathering, is knowing when to stop. I went to far on this one.

[rhs856]

another way to add dents is to gring the inside of the body, thin it down than use the knife handle to shape a dent. You can also grind or sand the dent with the moto tool,on the outside, if the body is thick enough.

This is a dent from grinding the inside of the fender, and applying pressure with the hobby knife handle. Its what ever works for you. I like what I see so far.

Somethin I learned in Weathering, is knowing when to stop. I went to far on this one.

Thanks for the tip, Lenny, I'll have to give it a try! I know what you mean about going too far; I feel like I may have gone a bit far on the body, but it's hard to stop when you're having so much fun!

Edited July 29, 2011 by rhs856

[Lanny Haas]

yes it is fun...try a black dry brush on the frame followed by a dry brush of mud color over that. you have too "spearament"{

[rhs856]

Some pics of the engine, so far.

Chassis is up next!

Edited July 29, 2011 by rhs856

[rhs856]

I had a productive day. Being off for the summer is suh-weet! I attempted to smooth off the rear tires and while I was getting the hang of the dremel, I made a hole. In the spirit of making lemonade, the El CaBeater has a flat rear tire! (Don't tell my wife that I used her good pan... ) By doing this, I had to lower where the front left tire mounted to make the car sit with all of its feet on the ground.

Since this is going to be a junker, I cut off the serpentine belt. I also left off the alternator (perhaps it was the only thing that worked on this old thing and was donated to a better looking Elkie ). I drilled the engine for plug wires, but I'm leaving them off, too. I think I may put a new set on the passenger seat - the first step of someone's big resto project.

Anywho, here are some pics of the completed engine in the chassis. Enjoy!

[Malard]

Having built a stock 86' El Camino from the MPC kit I'd have to say this is a good use for it!

[rhs856]

Having built a stock 86' El Camino from the MPC kit I'd have to say this is a good use for it!

Ha! I only bought it because it was $10, and then I quickly found out why it was $10.

I looked through your pics, you did the beast justice - that blue is pretty. I still haven't chosen the color for the beater.

P.S. Nice Springfield. I went the cheaper, Russian route. My Mosin, Stasia, says hi.

[Chuck Most]

Love where this is going! The body damage and general 'gunkyness' is spot-on.

You can make a good model out of this thing, but yeah, it's a challenge sometimes! I managed to make something decent out of one...

Yeah, you can see I did take a few liberties!

[Lanny Haas]

this is looking great. and it's hard to make a convencing flat tire. your nailed it.....maybe that's what made it go flat

[Foxer]

The dents look realistic .. and the gunk is gunky! Nice job so far!

[Malard]

Ha! I only bought it because it was $10, and then I quickly found out why it was $10.

I looked through your pics, you did the beast justice - that blue is pretty. I still haven't chosen the color for the beater.

P.S. Nice Springfield. I went the cheaper, Russian route. My Mosin, Stasia, says hi.

Thanks man I just picked it up and noticed the front bumper separated from the body on the right side! It was so frustating getting it togthere it can wait!

[rhs856]

The dent on the driver's door was so severe that I found that the interior wouldn't fit right! (I know, new guy building a junker... ) After mulling over my options (dent the door pad or simulate damage to it, try to lessen the dent, etc...), a case of Advanced Modeler's Syndrome struck: Why don't I just cut out the terribly detailed door pads and make it look like they were long gone? Removed at some point in the Elkie's life, never to be replaced, I would have to find out what it looks like under the pad and scratch build it.

I did some serious Googling, and found this picture -

I sized it to fit where the door was and printed it off in scale from my friendly word processing program. I then taped it down on the thinnest sheet of styrene that I had. and lightly scored the sheet through the paper marking where some of the major details were. I wasn't going for perfect, just something to get the point across.

After marking the lines, I cut the holes out. I did it in three parts for each side, the front detailed piece with every hole cut out, a second sheet with the big holes cut out (to add depth), and the frame that shaped the outside. This is what I came up with.

A little smoothing up around the edges and they'll be ready for installation!

Edited July 30, 2011 by rhs856

[Tony T]

Cool idea about the inner doors!

[Agent G]

I'm sitting here laughing my, ahem, off! You said the kit would take a lot of work to build right, yet you are bustin' your, ahem, on making a beater.

I'm loving every bit of this.

G

[Chuck Most]

Love the inner doors!

[Dr. Cranky]

Loving it so far. Three words come to mind: LONG LIVE RUST!

[rhs856]

Thanks for the comments and I am well aware of my A.M.S., AgentG. Advanced Modeling Syndrome is uncurable and usually results in things like this.

A small update today; the engine compartment is done. Next on my checklist - choose a body color and an interior color and then destroy said interior. I'm thinking ripped seats, sun stained dash, trash on the floor...

Here is what I have done so far. Only a little more than before, but I gussied the old girl up in the photo box.

Edited August 1, 2011 by rhs856

[Jantrix]

People don't realize it until they try it but it takes as much or more effort to make a model look bad, and do it well, than it does to make it look good. Keep up the good work.

[rhs856]

Sorry about the break, I picked up a new airbrush and I needed to take the crash course before I painted the Elkie. I used all the rust tricks - salt, hairspray, toothpicks and brushes. The color difference is mostly a reaction with salt residue and partly that some of it is wet from toothpick scraping.

[Dr. Cranky]

Wow, I am loving the gunk! I like the greasy engine details . . . the tires, etc . . . everything is coming together nicely. Keep it going!

[Malard]

Don't take this the wrong way but it looks terrible!

[Jordan White]

Quite an interesting build, certainly looks like something you'd see sitting in someone's back yard!

I did something similar with mine, I built it as a beater El Camino you'd see in like a trailer park down south.

Edited August 15, 2011 by Jordan White