1969 Ranchero GT

[NOBLNG]

Yes, excellent fabrication skills! It is looking good.?

Edited May 21, 2022 by NOBLNG

[Bucky]

This is a great looking project! One of the missing links of modeldom!

[slusher]

Great craftsmanship Bob!

[TooOld]

On 5/21/2022 at 8:41 AM, David G. said:

Amazing work on the modifications, all of it done exceedingly well.

David G.

Thanks David !

On 5/21/2022 at 10:59 AM, NOBLNG said:

Yes, excellent fabrication skills! It is looking good.?

Thanks Greg !

On 5/21/2022 at 11:13 AM, Bucky said:

This is a great looking project! One of the missing links of modeldom!

Thanks Bucky !

On 5/21/2022 at 4:45 PM, slusher said:

Great craftsmanship Bob!

Thanks much Carl !

Quick update on my progress over the weekend .  The plan was to start working on the new pieces for the bed , before doing that I had to remove the sides and tailgate from the body . Very tricky and I cleaned it up as best I could .

The sides were first , each side was Vac-U-Formed in two pieces because of their length .  After the two parts were joined and they were trimmed to the proper size the stock wheelhouses were added .  Between cutting out the old bed and making these parts my bench time was pretty much ate up , only other thing I was able to accomplish was cutting a piece for the tailgate and drawing the floor onto a sheet of plastic .

Was really hoping to get the new bed finished but you know how that goes . 

[afx]

Great looking project.

[David G.]

The bed looks great!

I'm impressed by the sharpness of the Vac-U-Formed pieces.

David G.

[TooOld]

2 hours ago, afx said:

Great looking project.

Thanks JC !

[TooOld]

2 hours ago, David G. said:

The bed looks great!

I'm impressed by the sharpness of the Vac-U-Formed pieces.

David G.

Thanks David !  It does okay considering what it is , a toy from 1962 . I've had mine for years and only use it occasionally for simple parts like these . I did use it to make a L-88 hood scoop once using a Chevelle hood as the buck , that worked really good .

[Bucky]

17 minutes ago, TooOld said:

Thanks David !  It does okay considering what it is , a toy from 1962 . I've had mine for years and only use it occasionally for simple parts like these . I did use it to make a L-88 hood scoop once using a Chevelle hood as the buck , that worked really good .

What type plastic are you using to make the parts?

[TooOld]

18 hours ago, Bucky said:

What type plastic are you using to make the parts?

It's .020" sheet styrene .  I have some predrilled left that I bought on line years ago but I've also cut my own sheets , also have a good supply of original Mattel sheets in different colors but no white .

[Bucky]

Thanks for the info. I have several sheets of that stuff laying about. Now, to find a Vacuform machine! LoL

[TooOld]

I was determined to finish the bed so I worked a couple hours last night and then again early this morning . Added some detail to the wheelhouses and ribs to the floor and tailgate . Still some clean up needed before assembly and paint but they're pretty much finished .

I taped the parts together for these photos . Going to need some fine tuning to get every thing to fit just right but I'm happy with the results .

[Bucky]

That looks pretty much spot on!

[David G.]

Impressive work on the bed, it looks like it came out of the box that way.

David G.

[slusher]

Really great work on the bed, Bob!

[Steve H]

Sheeesh Bob, this is amazing fabrication. I love Elky’s and Rancheros, I will be following with great interest. The bed looks perfect. This is one of those builds that I will look back on for reference as I will be doing another phantom Elky at some point.

Cheers, Steve

[TooOld]

On 5/24/2022 at 11:23 AM, Bucky said:

That looks pretty much spot on!

 

On 5/25/2022 at 7:41 AM, David G. said:

Impressive work on the bed, it looks like it came out of the box that way.

David G.

 

22 hours ago, slusher said:

Really great work on the bed, Bob!

 

22 hours ago, Steve H said:

Sheeesh Bob, this is amazing fabrication. I love Elky’s and Rancheros, I will be following with great interest. The bed looks perfect. This is one of those builds that I will look back on for reference as I will be doing another phantom Elky at some point.

Cheers, Steve

Thanks much for the comments guys !  A couple of weeks ago I was considering leaving the stock El Camino bed in place so I could finish the project in a reasonable time , now that the Ranchero bed is about done I'm really glad I gave it a shot .

[TooOld]

After I glued the bed in place and finished the rear window I started on the body work and discovered some major problems .  The bed was square with the cab but the entire rear section of the body was skewed to the left side , and the quarter panels were flared out towards the rear .  This made the width from wheel opening lip to wheel opening lip 3/32" to wide and the taillights 5/32" too far apart .  The only way I could see to fix everything was to cut the quarter panels , taillights , and tailgate from the body and start all over !  Out came the razor saw and after cutting , a lot of measuring , and gluing it all back together , I was satisfied it was all square and started on the body work .  It took about a week and a half for all of this but it had to be done .

Still needs a little putty and sanding , some work around the taillight areas , and the rear bumper needs to be refit .  Thanks for looking !

[Oldcarfan27]

Bodywork is looking great!

Are you going to leave the Cobra grille? I don't think that option was available on the Ranchero.

[TooOld]

38 minutes ago, Oldcarfan27 said:

Bodywork is looking great!

Are you going to leave the Cobra grille? I don't think that option was available on the Ranchero.

Thanks Patrick !  I'm using a '69 GT grille .

[slusher]

  Weel, it’s a good thing you cought it and fixed it..

[David G.]

Nice catch on the body dimensions. Even better work fixing it, I can't tell that anything was even done to it.

David G.

[cobraman]

Looks sooooooooo nice !

[TooOld]

On 6/12/2022 at 1:22 AM, slusher said:

  Weel, it’s a good thing you cought it and fixed it..

Thanks Carl ! It had to be done , I wouldn't have been able to sleep otherwise .

23 hours ago, David G. said:

Nice catch on the body dimensions. Even better work fixing it, I can't tell that anything was even done to it.

David G.

Thanks David ! It was a bit scary cutting it apart and starting over but all's well that ends well .

15 hours ago, cobraman said:

Looks sooooooooo nice !

Thanks much Ray !

[fairlane1320]

Looks great! I have a 69 Ranchero in my WIP collection. Did you fab up those tail lights?