1970 Chevy El Camino SS454, Cranberry Red (Ertl)

Here's one of mine for a change. I've had this one since they were released. I had missed out on the red 70 Chevelles (I've gotten one since) so I thought a red El Camino would be the next best thing. I had chromed it ages ago when I was just learning the technique. Needless to say it wasn't my best work. I scraped off most of it and redid the chrome work. Back then I typically didn't do the paint detailing so that had not been done on this one. Of course it got the full treatment so it could earn it's place amongst my Chevelle collection. Details of note here is the silver paint on the wheels and the body color paint on the grill.

The bed edges have lots of wide chrome. It's amazing how much different the model looks when this trim is put in place. The rear window has chrome trim already but I did add the trim at the top edge of the front bed vertical panel. I wish Ertl had given this model clear red tail light lenses and clear clear backup light lenses as well as a better treatment for the reflectors in the bumper. To try to improve on the tail lights I've painted them with Testor's Signal Red which helped a bit. It doesn't really show in these photos.

Here I painted the underside of the hood, the battery terminals, the washer bottle, exhaust manifolds and the master cylinder. I really do need to try wiring one of these Chevy motors. In this photo you can also see how effective the additional detailing to the grill improves the look. I painted the very top bar red even though that is incorrect to the 1:1's. With the hood closed on this particular model too much of the chrome top bar shows ruining the effect of the treatment to the grill. I should probably touch a bit of black to the chrome area surrounding the SS badge. There is always more to do....

The interiors of these truck-cars is very black. No chrome knobs to mention. I did paint the trim on the arm rests, the door badges, shifter boot and knob and the white SS and other steering wheel trim. You can just barely see the glove box door knob which is some of the sparse chrome to be found inside. The door window frames were already chromed but I did add the drip rail chrome.

Funny looking belly pan on this one: there are floor pans where the back seat would be. Wait a second, this is the same undercarriage as used on the Chevelle! Kind of a cheap way to go for Ertl but it kind of ruins the effect for this particular model. I did paint the exhaust, gas tank, transmission, starter, oil filter and anti-sway bar. The rear half of the exhaust and the rear axle are molded as one piece. This piece differs from the Chevelle since the El Caminos had side outlets and the Chevelles had rear outlets. So why not also tool up a new floor pan? Oh well.... It looks pretty good anyway!