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US Border Patrol 1991 Caprice


av405

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1991 was the last model year that the United States Border Patrol painted their vehicles white over light green (I don't know the exact paint code). Since the BP bought Caprices as their basic patrol sedan that year, they were the last sedans to utilize this paint scheme before the agency switched to all-white cars with a green stripe the following year. 

The kit is from Revell, Jetsonic light bar is from the AMT Ford Taurus police car kit, and decals are from Billbozo. Paint is Tamiya Pure White over Tamiya Pearl Green and the side molding was made from Evergreen stock. In retrospect, I should have added a cage for prisoner transport but we will just say this is a supervisor's car. 

This is my second complete kit and again, I learned a lot from it. I mostly got to work on my BMF techniques. The only real mess up I had was that I accidentally spilled glue on the front windshield, something I was not able to fix.

 

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The real deal (courtesy of copcar.com):

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Edited by av405
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Great second build! It was and probably always will be my favorite squad to drive...Except I preferred the LT1 powered beasts...94-96...A guy in my town is restoring the exact same USBP Caprice.

Jeff

Jeff, would this be the same guy restoring a BP Bronco?

Great looking build. The interior almost looks to nice for a Law Enforcement car.

Especially for a BP car! An authentic, in-service representation would be caked in dirt, have miscellaneous dents, and be missing the full wheel covers :lol:

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  • 4 months later...

I just re-uploaded images that had been lost through photobucket. I ended up installing period-correct government license plates from a separate Chimneyville Decals set I had for the US Park Service and used a molotow liquid chrome pen to fill in some areas where the BMF refused to stay in place. I'm very happy with the results and you can't even tell the difference. 

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  • 2 months later...

Great project!  Very impressive, considering what you started with!

  

Thanks for the feedback! I saw your original post before you made your edit (I hope you didn't think I would take it the wrong way). I could never tell from the few reference photos that I have that the actual BP color was a light cream over green.

Are you retired BP?

Edited by av405
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Nice build! Your BMF skills will get better the more you use it, & while spilling glue on the windshield is a pain, we're only human after all. Considering what you started with, you've built something to be proud of.

Can I give you some friendly advice & techniques that works for me, in the area of making darker panel lines, such as on the doors? I used to do mine in solid black as well, before I learned these techniques. The solid black tends to stand out too much, & doesn't look in scale. 

Get a Sakura Micron Black Technical Pen. Better yet, get two, one in 005, (.20 mm), size & one in 01, (.25 mm), size. The latter is one size up from the former & between the two you should have almost ever panel line in 1/25th & 1/24th scale covered. You can find them online, at any Hobby Lobby, Michaels, & Blick Art, in the art supply sections.

 

Here's a link to the info on the pens:

https://sakuraofamerica.com/pen-archival

Now, though these are black too, they are a much finer line than other techniques, & besides, they're not going to be the final panel line you see.

I use them under primer, & then under paint. On a light colored car, they will appear as a very soft/light gray/black under the paint, much like the door lines look on a 1/1 car. For darker shades I do the same, then I follow with Tamiya Smoke acrylic bottle paint in the door/trunk lines once the final top coat has cured, thinned with their acrylic thinner. Smoke is something of a transparent black/brown, & once thinned for a panel line wash, will have the same effect.

Give these ideas a try! They work well for me.

 

Edited by Bob Turner2
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  • 2 years later...

Here is how the car stands now. I went back to it last week and modified the side molding to reflect the chrome trim that was on the real cars and added the missing hood ornament. And most importantly of all, I replaced the original Border Patrol seal with a much more accurate one. I'd say the car is finally finished.

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Edited by av405
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Very well done, I especially like how neatly you applied the black to the center of the wheel covers...the Caprice lettering is perfectly sharp!

Almost done with my build of this kit, just need to finish the overhead lights. Mine lags far behind yours though in workmanship!

 

Chris

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