44 replies to this topic

[Foxer]

This one is from a Motherly request to build my Dad's car for her to display to all her friends at the Assisted Living shop. This was the first year of the venerable Cop Car you've all learned to instantly recognize in your rear view mirrors! This design was quickly adjusted the following year after all the complaints that the front grill area looked like a Taurus. I'm using one of the Lindberg 97 Crown Victoria kits for this build and will be backdating it to a 92. The front and read clips need most of the work and this should be a good build showing how I backdate these areas. First a couple photos of the real car...



Here are some pics of the 97 model body after only some minor seam sanding for visual comparison.



The changes made to the 97 model year are still very simple and the only body mods I need to make are in the front grill and rear tail light areas. I'll explain these changes as I go.

The 92 Crown Vic's Taurus-like sheet metal between the headlights look was changed to a real grill. The kit's 97 grill-headlight still had the headlight shape and this line was scored with the back of a #11 blade until they detached. I was planning to just fill and molt the grill to the body, but the the slight recess for the Ford logo in the center gave me thought. I figured I would have to create the shape around the logo with possibly a deformed round plastic tube or some sheet plastic. In another post where I was searching for a source for the "wire" looking wheels on my Dad's car, torinobradley gave me the lead on the AMT Taurus kit. The wheels look perfect and I'm now figuring cutting out the front logo from that and patching into the Crown Vic will easily solve the problem. Still waiting for the Taurus kit to arrive so time will tell.

Edited by Foxer, 08 August 2009 - 05:43 AM.

[SSNJim]

It looks good. I'm looking forward to seeing this done. It's one I've wanted to do for a while (both 1:25 and 1:1-the nose, anyway), but there are too many other projects (both 1:25 and 1:1). My cage is a 97 CVPI identical to the Lindberg kit.

I'm also sitting here looking at a built Taurus model I have. The wheels are pretty close. It wouldn't take much work to make them exact. Oh, boy. There's another project - a 97 CV LX.....

Good luck!

[Foxer]

It looks good. I'm looking forward to seeing this done. It's one I've wanted to do for a while (both 1:25 and 1:1-the nose, anyway), but there are too many other projects (both 1:25 and 1:1). My cage is a 97 CVPI identical to the Lindberg kit.

I'm also sitting here looking at a built Taurus model I have. The wheels are pretty close. It wouldn't take much work to make them exact. Oh, boy. There's another project - a 97 CV LX.....

Good luck!

I originally got the Crown Vic to do a Mass State Cruiser.. I just love our paint scheme. You sure got a pile of these Fords there

The Taurus arrived this afternoon. The wheels look really good ... very close. They need to be stripped for some natural aluminum, so gonna fill the SHO logo on them and make some blue oval decals. The Taurus front oval looks good too. Probably cut it off the Taurus tonight and weld to the Vic front. I'm a happy camper!

Edited by Foxer, 23 May 2009 - 03:46 AM.

[SSNJim]

IIRC, the decal sheet for the Lindberg CV has Ford logo decals for the wheel centers - the earlier issue did. I don't know if they're the right size. The sheet should have the Crown Victoria badges for the fenders and trunk, also. Fender badges are used only for 92-95. Trunk badges are the same across all years for all models except the LX. The LX is the same, but reads Crown Victoria LX instead of Crown Victoria.

You may want to check out crownvic.net also. There's a scale model forum on there (mostly diecast, some plastic). One of the guys on it is an avid MA State Police modeler.

Sounds like it is coming together nicely. Keep us up-to-date!

[Foxer]

Thanks for the great info! Funny, I had never looked closely at the decal sheet. For whatever reason, I was just assuming I'd have to make a pile of logo decals. All those markings you mention are there!

That CV web site looks grand!!! Looks like it will be a fantastic resource ... thanks again.

As a small update, the Taurus tires are too small in diameter to use. They are 17" wheels of a low profile variety and too wide to boot. The Vic tired are properly sized but need to cut over 1/16" out of the center to fit the Taurus wheels. Putting those on hold until I come up with a good way to do that cutting.. ehe

[Foxer]

The ford Taurus donated not only it's wheels but the front logo was torched off the front and welded into the Vic's front grill. This is just after the first coat of putty and sanding.

Edited by Foxer, 04 May 2009 - 10:17 AM.

[RodneyBad]

I did not know there was that much of a difference.
Looking Great..
I like the one your doing better than the first version.

No one resin casted that one??

[Foxer]

I did not know there was that much of a difference.
Looking Great..
I like the one your doing better than the first version.

No one resin casted that one??

I agree this is a great Crown Vic. This was the first year and there was a revolt against it because of the fronts similarity to the plain old Taurus. So the next year they added a "proper" grill in the center and that's what about every Crown Vic you see in your rear view looks like. This fact also made the conversion pretty easy.

As far as I know there's been no resin casting. If there was, there would be many at policecarmodels.com, eheh

Edited by Foxer, 23 May 2009 - 03:48 AM.

[Foxer]

First, the bad news. I had to trim the top of the tail lights to make them uniform in height for this conversion. The right one came out great and the left one had a "slip of the measurement" and is unusable. So I needed another kit to redo it.


Picked up another Crown Vic at the NotSoLocalHobbyShop today. I got a different State Police version just for some different light bar .. they had 3 versions on hand. That was good! When I opened it, I found the rear tail lights were molded in clear with the top covered in a transparent red. When did Ford start making tail lights different colors in the same year!!!!??? Must be differences in client demands. So now, I have a red molded and partially clear molded ones. Looks like I have to cut TWO more tail lights now as the ones from different kits will not match.




The good news is, got a primer coat on front and the grill is good.

Edited by Foxer, 23 May 2009 - 03:50 AM.

[SSNJim]

The front end is looking great.

That taillight is weird. All Aero CVs (92-97) had solid red taillights. Maybe you can strip the red off of the new one, and repaint them with stoplight red.

[Foxer]

That taillight is weird. All Aero CVs (92-97) had solid red taillights. Maybe you can strip the red off of the new one, and repaint them with stoplight red.

Yeah, I figure that's the plan as you say. Time to drop a clear sprue in the purple pond to see how it reacts.

[Foxer]

The seats got some work widening them. The car had split front bench seats. They are separate but close together so they can act as a full bench when needed. The driver's seat is wider than the passenger's so they were cut down the middle and different widths of .040 styrene was glued between the halves. This thickness allowed some roughness in application that could be filed later to match across the seams. The seat in the interior bucket has been rough filed/sanded and the other was just glued

I pretty much struck out finding a material I could use to simulate the velour on the real car. What little I did find was either too light or dark or not blue at all. So looks like I have to fix the embossed pattern and just paint.

Edited by Foxer, 08 August 2009 - 05:53 AM.

[RodneyBad]

I'd thought the front seats would be a 40/60 split.

The front end looks darn good and I'm sure the tail section will too.
Ya made the kit look soo much better..

[Foxer]

I'd thought the front seats would be a 40/60 split.

The front end looks darn good and I'm sure the tail section will too.
Ya made the kit look soo much better..

Thanks for the comments.

The front seats are close to 40/60 but they were separate. I saw somewhere that there were 2 "benchseat" versions and one may have been a split backrest bench. There was also a armrest on the driver's seat that folded down. Not sure at this point I will go to that stage of detail. There are full side windows that will make most interior detail cloudy.

[edit: I later found the seat split was really 50/50 but am just leaving it 60/40 since they are all done and painted.]

Edited by Foxer, 08 August 2009 - 05:53 AM.

[diymirage]

mhh

you sure thats a crown vic ?

looks like a regular old taurus to me


seriously though, you did an aweosme job on that grill

keep it up

[evil c]

Wow that turning out good

[evil c]

Wow that turning out good

[Foxer]

After all the pauses, this weekend is seeing some production! Tried a few methods to frame the tail lights in the rear and in the end just used some .01 strip to crudely form the openings. Was touch and go using micro dabs of CA and kicker as I worked it around the compound curves. I'm happy with the results and now for some putty!! Just need to cut the license plate opening in the rear bumper.




Tail lights in place ... still tape cover for protection

Edited by Foxer, 31 May 2009 - 04:21 AM.

[bigdaddy1]

Looks nice!

[Foxer]

The boring NINETY-TWO Crown Vic is in primer! Did first mock up to check stance. Still some putty on the SHO wheel scripts.

The clear red on the tail lights is proving to be reluctant to come off. They've been in the purple pond for 4 days and not a hint of removal. May have to sand and refinish before making them all red. I'd just do the clear in red but doubt the reds will match.

Overall I'm happy with this conversion. There's still some icky masking on the body to do after the main coat of paint, but it looks right in my eyes.

And to all you Crown Vic fans out there...NO.. you CANNOT put a light bar on this!!

Edited by Foxer, 08 August 2009 - 05:56 AM.