Revell 1990 Mustang LX Highway Patrol

[Mr Stock]

I've had this kit in my stash for a few years now since its release, I've lost count of the amount of times I've opened the box to start it and then put it away again, in the back of my mind was the post relating to the roof issue that Revell got so wrong on this kit. Anyway I actually decided to build it as a police Highway patrol car, one of the options for the kit.

For all its shortcomings this is actually a really good kit to put together, no issues whatsoever. More can be said for my two tone paint masking efforts.....not good and pretty untidy, but I'm pretty happy with the result and the addition of the light bar sort of detracts away from the chopped roof look.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Mr Stock

[espo]

Very nice and correct looking CHP Mustang. At the time these cars first went into service I was living in Sacramento Ca. There was a CHP training facility in the area and they would often have different paint treatments that they would try. These cars would often show up as what was called a "Slick Top" having no Light Bar and painted white or silver. You had to really look in your rear view mirror for the black Spot Lights as that was about the only outward difference in appearance. In California it was common practice for the CHP to sit at the top of the on ramps to the highway and watch for speeders. They would often use the Slick Tops for this. You always kept an eye in the sky for a light Piper Cub type plane running a couple of hundred feet over the freeway. The plane acted as a spotter and would radio ahead to the cars on the on ramp as to which cars were speeding. I have seen as many as six cars lined up at the top of the off ramp waiting. They moved onto the highway with what looked like Military procession and would pick off the speeders. Trust me the morning commute on I-80 was like a gauntlet every morning.  I really like how your build turned out and I still don't see how far off the proportions of the roof are. These cars always looked like the top was to tall to my eye anyway.   If you should ever build another try making a Slick Top, they still had the door markings and the lights in the rear window.  

[Mr Stock]

1 hour ago, espo said:

Very nice and correct looking CHP Mustang. At the time these cars first went into service I was living in Sacramento Ca. There was a CHP training facility in the area and they would often have different paint treatments that they would try. These cars would often show up as what was called a "Slick Top" having no Light Bar and painted white or silver. You had to really look in your rear view mirror for the black Spot Lights as that was about the only outward difference in appearance. In California it was common practice for the CHP to sit at the top of the on ramps to the highway and watch for speeders. They would often use the Slick Tops for this. You always kept an eye in the sky for a light Piper Cub type plane running a couple of hundred feet over the freeway. The plane acted as a spotter and would radio ahead to the cars on the on ramp as to which cars were speeding. I have seen as many as six cars lined up at the top of the off ramp waiting. They moved onto the highway with what looked like Military procession and would pick off the speeders. Trust me the morning commute on I-80 was like a gauntlet every morning.  I really like how your build turned out and I still don't see how far off the proportions of the roof are. These cars always looked like the top was to tall to my eye anyway.   If you should ever build another try making a Slick Top, they still had the door markings and the lights in the rear window.  

Thankyou David that's a very kind comment, and thanks for the info very interesting! , I had no idea if I had got this one anywhere near correct and funnily enough when I did a "Google " search most of the photos came back of cars with no light bars now I know why!.

We don't see many Highway patrol cars over here in the UK ! 

[cobraman]

Turned out great.

[NYLIBUD]

Excellent job!!!Great work.

[ChrisR]

NICE!!

[PARTSMARTY]

Very nice !!!

[Snake45]

Wow, that came out great! What are you doing next? 

[Mr Stock]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Wow, that came out great! What are you doing next? 

Thanks Snake !.

Next up is an AMT original 1979 Ford Bronco, the wild hoss kit, building it for a YouTube Ford truck month group build. 

Edited January 2, 2018 by Mr Stock

[donb]

Looks real good. Thinking of pulling this off my shelf and doing it as a police car.  Hope it turns out as good as yours. 

[Mr Stock]

8 hours ago, donb said:

Looks real good. Thinking of pulling this off my shelf and doing it as a police car.  Hope it turns out as good as yours. 

Thanks Don,  I'd say take it off the shelf and dig in, it really is a great kit goes together beautifully 

[webestang]

Looks fantastic! These were so cool back in the day. I remember driving home from work one day and a Camaro went speeding passed me and one of these right on his tail........saw they had pulled that Maro over a few miles down the road and had the driver all spread over his hood. 

[El Caballo]

I had a silver 1993 notch back 5.0 and it was just like the NC state trooper cars, I could fly down the freeway and flick my lights and people would just move over. ?

[NYLIBUD]

18 hours ago, El Caballo said:

I had a silver 1993 notch back 5.0 and it was just like the NC state trooper cars, I could fly down the freeway and flick my lights and people would just move over. ?

Beautiful,Ha,I once owned a 90 Crown Vic ex unmarked car.I would do the same thing.Late for work,just hit the head lights on and off,and folks would simply move outta my way.I never should of sold it.It was a great car,and fast.I think it had a 351 motor..In fact I was thinking of getting another PO car,a newer one of course.

[1972coronet]

Nice SSP Mustang ! The more I see the completed version(s) of this kit , the more I'm reconsidering my purchasing of one .

At the risk of hijacking your thread ; here's some pics (see attachments) of the super rare hatchback 1982 SSP Mustang in CHP livery . I saw one of these in my hometown and thought it unusual at the time . It was a retired unit ; this was in the mid-1980's .

 

[slusher]

Great looking model!

[Dan Rosenello]

You did a great job on this kit. And I’d take the criticism of Revell’s roof with a grain of salt anyway. For one thing, there is a certain number of people who live to criticize. And for another, I very recently compared the roof on this kit to an MPC ‘79 Mustang kit. They were Identical in height. 

[1930fordpickup]

Nice work. 

[Mike999]

Great job! Now I'm thinking of getting one of these for the Never-Shrinking Stash...

In Los Angeles in the early '90s, I was dating a woman who had a Mustang and liked to put her foot in it. We were going somewhere one day on the freeway, with her driving, and she saw a Mustang zooming up behind us in the rear-view mirror.  She laughed and said, "I think he wants to race."

No, he didn't. When he pulled up beside us, we saw the white doors and CHP markings.  It was one of those slick-top interceptors.  I guess he had more important things to do.  He just waved his finger at her - "Slow down!"  Then zoomed past us and kept going.  The rest of the drive was pretty sedate...

[unclescott58]

I like it. If the roof is not right, it still looks good to me. I have one in waiting. I plan doing it in Minnesota State Patrol colors and markings. Even though Minnesota only used unmarked versions of the car. I hope mine turns out as nice as yours. 

[Mr Stock]

Thanks guys appreciate the comments !