1
This year the subject is Muscle Cars. There are about a dozen to choose from. I opted for a 1966 El Camino. Like building a custom, it is often necessary to canibalize parts from another car, so I picked a '67 Chevelle. I had no idea models had gotten so expensive. I'm already in this for about eighty bucks.
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2
I like the hood from the Chevelle, but it doesn't fit the Elco, so I'm already doing body work on this baby. Since there is virtually no place in this house that isn't covered with clutter, finding a workspace is the biggest hurdle to overcome. I took my airbreushes to work since I cannot operate them here, and now I'm wishing that I had them since the parts need to be painted BEFORE I assemble the kit.
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3
I'm not a bench seat kind of guy, I like buckets and high backs get my vote every time. Unfortunately
they don't fit into the El Camino the way they are, so again I'm doing modifications. I hope I can get this done in time to enter. I have until the end of April.
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4
I like the Chevelle hood better, so like a true hot rodder, I'm going to adapt it to fit the El Camino.
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5
I did some surgery with an exacto knife and some needle files to get and opening for the hinge to set in. Unfortunately, the Chevelle hood is a shade wider than the Elco, so I'm going to have to do some sanding to make it fit. That might take away too much plastic to allow the hinges to work.
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6
After a lot of filing, I got the hood hinges to slip into place. Now it won't lower. More filing is needed. I think that I should have stuck with the Elco hood!
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7
It almost closes enough to sit flat. The front "sheetmetal" doesn't line up, so more sanding is needed to make it look smooth and customized.
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8
Here you can see where the headlight surrounds stick out past the lip of the hood. I hope that I can modify it enough to look good and still work.
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9
April is rapidly drawing to a close and I've not made a whole lot of progress on my model for the contest. The fact that I don't have a clear work area is the biggest setback, but if I'm going to get this in, I've got to soldier on. I began painting some of the components. Having endured black vinyl car seats as a child, I'm making my interior blue.
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10
The Chevelle hood doesn't quite jive with the El Camino platform. There's a distinct lip on the Elco hood leaving a big gap where the two don't align.
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11
Here's the Elco hood, note the hook at the front.
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12
I'll try cutting it off the Elco and glueing it onto the Chevelle and see what happens.
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13
In the mean time, I painted the seats two tone, like they were reupholstered in two different styles of leather.
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