Agent G

We can read it, spend the time building. After the usual break in the hobby caused by that nasty thing called "life" I began building cars,lots of cars, and they all had one thing in common. They were all police cars. I just built what interested me. I began venturing out to a show or two mostly out of curiosity. That and the owner of my LHS said I should exhibit some of my builds. I just wanted to see what everyone else was doing. After attending a few over the years I was blown away by the originality, skill, and just plain imagination that I had seen. So I took it all in and gained the desire to improve. I won a few times but that was not as important to me as what I had learned. Then one of my easiest, quickest, and dare I say cheapest builds was the one featured in SA's old Light Commercial way back when. Go figure. Then it dawned on me. While the uber detailed, flawlessly painted, shiny car that wows them is great, I had more fun building the car that was in the magazine. I retired, and moved 1700 miles to begin a new career. All those cars still exist in a display case at the St Louis Police Academy Library. I left them for others to see. It wasn't a hard decision at all. Guess which one I did bring, that's right, the simple slammer, the one from that magazine article so many years ago. I like to share the hobby with others, but darn it I build to have fun. G

You did a heck of a job integrating the old skool features into the new design. I'm not digging the little "kick up" of the rear as seen from the side but hey what do I know. I think the color scheme makes this a standout.

Neal let me know I saved the images. The stripes were printed on clear decal paper, the badges were printed on copy paper and carefully cut out. The badges could be printed on white decal paper but trimming is a B. G

Working in an urban area we rarely had long emergency runs thank goodness. Yes the first couple of tmes it's a blast, but after that fugeddaboutit. FWNUT yes that's the Modelhaus kit. I love it and cannot wait to finish it.

Yes indeed, the good old days! Trouble is most of us are deaf or nearly so in the right ear from that 1 gazillion watt siren on the roof. God bless OSHA and CALEA for fixingh that issue. G

Typical of a big city PD we didn't get to take them home. Fortunately for many years I only shared the car with one other sergeant. He was as anal as me when it came to our "office" so it was all good. Ain't retirement great! G

All I could do was stare at that Chevy and drool. I'll take one of each please, don't bother wrapping them I'll drive them home. G

Michaels sells models and Valspar brand spray paint. Look for their "Sandable Primer". It is the same as Plastikote T235 auto primer just labelled differently. It is a lt gray color that goes on thin, dries fast, and can be sanded smooth for a killer finish when doing glossy paint. Also, they have a selection of hobby spray cans as well as many colors of craft sprays. An airbrush is a good thing if you stick with the hobby. DON'T purchase a "starter kit" I feel it's a waste of money. You will progress faster than the brush and propellant cans are expensive. Check out a site called "Harbor Freight" Their airbrushes are clones of major brands and dirt cheap. Good for starters. Do some research and order accordingly. You will want a compressor, with a pressure regulator. Be careful with camo colors from sporting goods departments. That paint has a high solid content and goes on real thick, and in my experience, grainy. It's made for john boats, tree stands and the occasional pickup truck. Any gel super glue will work. Think small and cheap, as it will go bad before you use it all. Get a bottle of thick gel and a bottle of thin. The thick gives you a few seconds to work with the thin sets almost immediately. I like Ambroid "Pro Weld" for a general all around model glue. It dries fast and creates a good bond. Tamiya "Extra Thin" is good as it allows some time to work with. Testors "Pink Label" (I think) is very slow setting. These are brush on liquid glues for plastics. Tube glue has it's purpose, but for the life of me I don't know what. G

Or Nevada G

Usually the state agency is the lead in training and development. In our case the SLMPD existed way before the MSHP. St Louis as it is organized now dates from 1869. The MSHP didn't exist until 1925, with the first troopers being sworn in in late 1926 or early '27. Curiously, St Louis always patterened its uniforms after New York. St L.,NY, Philadelphia and Chicago were all roughly the same size back in the 1800's to early 1900's. They traded ideas, uniform designs, and technology freely then. ALL were based on London's Metropolitan Police. G

Actually the MSHP designed their's from ours after we patterened ours from their logo . MSHP introduced a football shaped logo just prior to WWII. They went back to block letters for the wars duration then reintroduced it in '46 or so. We designed ours patterened after their's then they developed what they have now! For a while every department in the St Louis area used a version of the football as a door logo. The original Troopers were trained at the St. Louis Police Academy. The blouse worn back then as standard uniform was patterned after our blouse but a different color. Same with the Sam Browne belt. We wore that cross strap until the mid 70's, the troopers still do. MSHP Lieutenants and above wear brown leather, as did the first troopers. G

Thanks guys. Yes we have always had simple graphics. Strange really as we always drove cars with a mid level or better trim package. Look at the Caprice's side mouldings. I replicated that with Evergreen styrene, unique for that era for sure. The Brick and the Caprice have what we called the "football". I found it strange that for many years from the front or rear there was nothing to indicate a police car. If anyone ever made a plastic late model CV I'd be in heaven. I'm going to build a 2000 Impala, the one I drove the most before I retired. I inherited it in '05 with 16,000 on the clock and it was cherry. Naturally I drove it like I stole it, hence the '06 in this photo! G

I love that lil wagon! I'm excited to hear someone is doing a Crown Vic. I for one would love to see a '69 Dodge Polara, 91-93 Caprice, Caprice wagon, Buick Roadmaster, Caddy Fleetwood. Man I love those cars. A Town Car would be excellant also. G

I like it! BMF is a PITA, it is why so many of my builds are sitting around. G

After the Bullitt and Phil's bucket I took a bunch of leftovers and made a GT I would drive. My personal car is all black and the wife's is metallic gray. I love 'em both so this is my kinda color scheme. All performance, no flash. G

Any copper worth his or her badge loves the Bullitt. I did this for a friend. It's a copy of his 1:1 car. It took parts from the GT, the Bullit, and goodness knows what to make it. I made the rocker panel stripes and the Pony badges on my computer. G

Here's a few of the cars I have driven over the years. I built a couple more but donated them to the police academy library when I retired. This Caprice was my favorite of all. First police car I ever drove with power windows, power seat, and CARPET! I liked this Ford but blew the engine responding to a call. This one is a WIP. I drove several just like this in the district. G

OMG! G

Ok I broke out the tripod, a white pillow case (don't tell Mrs G) and took some more photos. Anyone who spent any time as a grunt in the military will understand the license plate number. Everybody else, well I'll you tell off line.... G

Randy, Depending on what color you used for the rest of the body you may want to re think the paint for the flames. If the car is a dark color or black it might be better if the flame area is all white first. Then work back through the yellow, orange, and finally the red flame tips. You will get better color on a white base and actually use less paint this way. G

Neal I did a WIP of sorts in "On the Workbench" and posted finished pics in "Under Glass". Jarius suggested taking some different pics, so I'm doing that as we speak. G

Ok part three and I'll be done boring you guys. I like the "Mexican Blanket" look for a low budget ride. I had to alter the interior since this was a channeled ride anyway so this is what I started with. I covered the pleating with putty and sanded it somewhat smooth. I just wanted a base for the blanket. The blanket itself is just a piece of plain white copy paper pilfered er provided by my agency. I drew a pattern on it and cut it to size. here's a remnant I found with the markers and pens I used. A wide flat brush, white glue and that gosh awful Vegas tap water did the rest. I soaked the paper in a mixture of white glue and water and used the brush to flatten it out on the seat. Here's what it looks like. I deliberately canted the pattern so it wouldn't look so "perfect". The water made some of the inks run and fade but it really added to the effect. That's all there was to it. Questions, comments, threats and kudos all accepted with a smile. G

Terry when I lived in St Louis I could not paint for weeks at a time due to the humidity. I have actually watched paint bead up and bounce off a truck body. Now I live in the desert where the lack of humidity is also problematic. I have had paint dry, or so it seems, on the way to the surface. This usually occurs with a spray can not the airbrush for some reason. Like Raymanz I have been doing a rat rod and some armor so the flat finish isn't as effected. Never used a dehydrator specifically for modelling but I have had a dehumidifier in the work room to paint. G

As far as I know any hair spray will work. I used the cheapest I could find at that time! I have had good results with hair gel also. It is applied a bit differently as I use a brush to dab it on where I want the paint to be chipped. Painting the acrylic over that accomplishes the same in a smaller more precise way. The trick is dissimilar paints. Water will dissolve the hairspray and acrylic, but wont dissolve the enamel. G

Neat car, love the color. G