I have had a life long attraction to Chevrolet El Caminos. The whole car/truck concept has always intrigued me. While I like all versions, my favorite El Caminos were the fifth generation, produced from 1978 through 1987. I guess that is because I like the look of the Chevy Malibu, which is of the same time period. The El Camino shared the same front end sheet metal.
I have always wanted to build a model of a fifth generation Elky, but never liked any of the model kits that were produced at the time. One day I was looking around on Ebay and found this 1/25 scale, '81 Chevy El Camino promotional model (promo) that looked a little rough. It showed signs of wear, like it had been played with by a child. It had a broken bumper and the chrome plating was coming off the wheels. The sale price of $9.00, included the shipping charges. That was a great price! This Elky would be the perfect canidate for a restoration and the hot rod treatment I envisioned for it.
I completely disassembled the El Camino to clean and make repairs the body, in preparation for primer and then paint. I sprayed several coats of Testors One Coat Lacquer. Firey Orange was followed a week later, by numerous coats of Testors Wet Look Clear Lacquer.
All I can say is WOW!
The one coat lacquers made such a difference to the quality of my paint job. This was one of my best painted model cars to date. If you take your time and remain patient as you paint, you will get outstanding results. Painting is fun again!
The door lines and the grille was highlighted with Pigma archival ink, and Bare Metal Foil was applied to the window trim and the rear side markers The turn signals, were painted with Tamiya clear red and orange. Pegasus 23" Phat Daddy wheels, along with brake rotors, and red painted calipers finished the look.
The interior and tonneau cover was painted with Rustoleum Sandstone enamel, and Detail Master brown flocking was used to simulate the carpeting.
This El Camino was definitely a blast to build and the experience I gained working with the Testors Lacquers will fuel my hunger to paint more cars and trucks.
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