Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Hi guys, i'm new here and I am just starting diecast modeling... I have bought lots of stuff from policecarmodels.com and I am looking forward to making my first and most wanted project. I have a high likelyhood of starting state police academy in a couple months and to pass the time by I want to make a Maryland State Police 2006 fully marked dodge charger concept vehicle. I want it to have the current MSP paint scheme and markings, a Whelen liberty LED lightbar and a go-rhino pushbar (i dont think the 1 that comes with the jada charger is a go rhino). So far I have some stuff on the way for the display and basic bodywork except for the paints I need and materials needed to deal with the diecast body, interior, and various smaller details. i'm looking for some really good quality interior equipment, I would like to use a mock up of a whelen dual talon deck and dash lights. This is looking to be a complex project and I hope it will be the start of a really good hobby to have while being a law enforcement officer. I need some custom made interior parts and tips on painting the diecast car body... I plan to paint the whole vehicle the MSP "olive green" color and then paint the black portions on, since it is less surface area than the green. you can MSG on MSN or AIM if u want to help out or post in this topic... Thx looking forward to making a really great and accurate fictional model lol (later on I will make a crown vic if all goes well with the charger)

MSN:shernt25@hotmail.com
AIM:Baz00017

Stuff i have on the way:

Jada 1/24 2006 Dodge Charger R/T POLICE Car - Black & White

Tamiya 6mm Masking Tape

Tamiya 10mm Masking Tape

#3019 1/24-1/25 Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana

Testors Glosscote Clear gloss Spray

Microset Decal Setting Solution

1/24 Police Car Spotlights

All Scales Whip Antenna #1555 - Police / Fire

All Scales Antenna Kit #1550 - Police / Fire

1/24-1/25 Low Profile LED Style Lightbars For Police Cars

1/24 - 1/25 Resin Police Figure - Sitting State Trooper

1/24 - 1/25 Resin Police Figure - Standing Sheriff w/Hat (I WANT TO USE HIS HAT ON THE TROOPER)

Complete Polishing Kit w/Wax & Cloth

Testors CLASSIC BLACK 1/2 bottle Paint

Tamiya Clear Colored COLOR = RED Lightbar Paints

Tamiya Clear Colored COLOR = BLUE Lightbar Paints

Tamiya Clear Colored Lightbar Paints

1/24 Police SWAT Gun Pack

Testors CLASSIC BLACK spray Paint

SRY FOR THE EXTRA LONG POST

Sounds great, good luck!

I plan on taking some before and after photos, and some in progress shots... I went to the local hobby store today and bought the olive drab and black paint I need... I also bought some other various tools and an airbrush... Then I went to the auto store and bought a can of paint remover to remove the paint from the already painted diecast car body. Only thing now is to wait for my shipment to come from policecarmodels.com...

My stuff will be in tomorrow... My first task will be removing the current paint and sanding, then I will need to prime and apply the new paint job 1 color at a time.

That's the way to go. I'm currently working on two cars right now, a Georgia State Patrol car and an Arizona DPS car, the latter being a slicktop. Just remember to have fun while doing it and not get frustrated. Happy modeling!

Any advice as to how to make the takedown lights on the lightbar? should I just not paint them? Or should I paint them white or something?

I've been thinking about how to do it since this is my first time working with Whelens. I suppose that if you buy a clear lightbar, you could just paint it blue and red except for the takedowns and leave those clear. since the Whelen I have is pre-painted all blue, I'm going to be painting the takedowns/alleys white and see how that turns out.

i'm having problems removing the origional paint from the diecast car... Anyone know how to remove it without causing damage to the car? I need to remove the interior body paint too and there are plastic stuff I dont want to damage.

i'm having problems removing the origional paint from the diecast car... Anyone know how to remove it without causing damage to the car? I need to remove the interior body paint too and there are plastic stuff I dont want to damage.

use aircraft stripper to remove the paint. As for the interior, just paint over it, that's what I do and it's come out just fine. just make sure you don't overdue it.

I don't need to strip the paint off the car do I? I mean... I can't just apply paint over the already painted car? I used a paint remover spray I got from autozone but it ruined my car and everywhere I masked too... Looks like it went right through the masking and it made a mess of the interior of the car. I will now have to buy another charger model and start from scratch...

What you can do is strip the paint and have the car down to the bare metal. Then apply primer and a few coats of paint. By the sound of things, you didn't disassemble your car before painting it. Do it next time and paint the interior separately with a fine paintbrush, especially if you'll be detailing the interior. However, if you want to apply the paint over the car's original paint, go ahead and try it. Just make sure you don't apply too many coats. Also make sure you have a good airbrush if you want good results. Remember: Disassemble the car before painting the body! As far as messing up the first car and having to start over, don't worry, I messed up an Expedition I was turning into a CHP vehicle. It was my first project, but I learned a lot from that mistake. Just get whatever you can salvage from the first Charger and use it at the proper time.

I too messed up my first car while stripping it. YOU NEED TO REMOVE EVERY PLASTIC OR RUBBER PART FROM THE BODY PARTS TO BE STRIPPED!!!!!!!

kinda hard to do exspecially when the plastic is modled with the car body you are going to be painting... IE: the rear doors... Also I think I am going to try to just pait over the existing pain... Since I am using dark colors it should be easy. Today I finished painting the state trooper figure I am going to put inside the car and the lightbar from the old car... I didn't like leaving the takedown lights clear so I painted them flat white and the top of the lightbar didn't come with a silver decal so I just painted it silver. I am having trouble making whelen dual talons from foam so I am going to try to make it from clear plastic arrow sticks I bought. I plan to make the LED look by making the lenses flat white and adding 3 silver dots for simulated LEDs. I plan on usind a bisiness card to make the flash guard. IMO the hardest part right now is painting the skin of the trooper sitting in the car. The color I am using is very light and I need to cover the dark parts visible... I did most of it by just painting the skin white then the skin color after priming the entire figure. Anyways, he is looking really sharp and I am impressed at how I got that Stetson from the Sheriff onto him. He looks like a real MD Trooper with that Sam Browne belt and Stetson. I also added a radio and mic to him using foam I thought it would be a nice feature... The mic is connected to the radio by a very small plastic tube I painted black. Overall everything is looking good, I just need some interior police equipment for the car such as radio, front and rear facing radar, onboard camera, and a ticket book and toughbook laptop. I think I am not going to bother with airbrushing the small parts, i'll just paint it by hand with a brush... Things like door jams etc... I'll save the airbrush work for the main body.

Any advice as to how to make the takedown lights on the lightbar? should I just not paint them? Or should I paint them white or something?

If you are doing a whelen liberty bar they are clear completely. Just leave the whole thing clear if it is. How did it come to you? What color that is?

It came all clear with the dodge charger... I painted it red and blue except the takedowns and I didn't like it because you would have the rear red and blue lights cover the takedowns since everything is clear. So then I painted the takedowns a flat white (maybe a different color would have been better though) and it looked pretty good to me. Then i painted to top of the lightbar silver to make it look like aluminum (the silver color was for the belt buckle and hat buckle and duty gear buttons and radio for the sitting Trooper figure) and it turned out to look pretty good. I prefer being able to see the takedowns from any angle, rather than not being able to see it front on because the red and blue on the rear of the lightbar blend with the front clear lens. Now when you look at it it is white. Still, it'd be nice if you could find a realistic way to give it takedown lights...

It came all clear with the dodge charger... I painted it red and blue except the takedowns and I didn't like it because you would have the rear red and blue lights cover the takedowns since everything is clear. So then I painted the takedowns a flat white (maybe a different color would have been better though) and it looked pretty good to me. Then i painted to top of the lightbar silver to make it look like aluminum (the silver color was for the belt buckle and hat buckle and duty gear buttons and radio for the sitting Trooper figure) and it turned out to look pretty good. I prefer being able to see the takedowns from any angle, rather than not being able to see it front on because the red and blue on the rear of the lightbar blend with the front clear lens. Now when you look at it it is white. Still, it'd be nice if you could find a realistic way to give it takedown lights...

It's all a learning process. It seems that you're picking up tips along the way. Do you think you could post in-progress pictures? I'm curious to see your work so far and some of us here might be able to offer you more advice if we can see what you've been doing.

Yeah, i'll go ahead and post some pics when I have some big progress... Right now I am basically starting from scratch with an all new Charger. I plan to just paint over the existing paint using an airbrush and some very good masking. Just how many coats and at what time interval should I put on it? And how long I should let it dry? And then I need major help with applying the decals... 1 major problem I had when I was younger was destroying the decals when I tried to apply them. And I am also stumped as to where to find that top decal for the lightbar (that gray looking thing) I need to put 1 of those on the top... the painted silver color looks too sloppy. And then I need to add takedowns to the liberty bar. The MSP does not have all clear liberty lightbars, they have colored lenses on their lightbars. And quite frankly I think they look better with colored lenses, except if it is a freedom lightbar... The county uses those and they look sweet on their patrol cars. If you wouldn't mind, a step by step guide would be good to have because I am starting from begining now and don't want to screw anything up... I need to add clear coat too and everything and need to sand it so it will look shiny. I think a walkthrough would help me out alot...

Yeah, i'll go ahead and post some pics when I have some big progress... Right now I am basically starting from scratch with an all new Charger. I plan to just paint over the existing paint using an airbrush and some very good masking. Just how many coats and at what time interval should I put on it? And how long I should let it dry? And then I need major help with applying the decals... 1 major problem I had when I was younger was destroying the decals when I tried to apply them. And I am also stumped as to where to find that top decal for the lightbar (that gray looking thing) I need to put 1 of those on the top... the painted silver color looks too sloppy. And then I need to add takedowns to the liberty bar. The MSP does not have all clear liberty lightbars, they have colored lenses on their lightbars. And quite frankly I think they look better with colored lenses, except if it is a freedom lightbar... The county uses those and they look sweet on their patrol cars. If you wouldn't mind, a step by step guide would be good to have because I am starting from begining now and don't want to screw anything up... I need to add clear coat too and everything and need to sand it so it will look shiny. I think a walkthrough would help me out alot...

Here's a few tips:

For the top of the lightbar, try buying some chrome foil for models and put a piece over the lightbar, I'm sure that'll work better than the paint. Also, put about 2 or 3 coats, and allow like 2 hours in between coat application.

Well, I have finished i'll have pics up in a couple days... I don't think I did so bad for my first model, I only wish i coulda put more detail into the interior of the car. There are some noticeable areas of touchup paint and superglue though... As well as non removeable fingerprints made when painting. It looks pretty good, I even took the time to modify the stock Jada display case with a few decals. My fravorite image of the model is with it comming head on with both doors swung open.

You should try doing a 1/18 scale car to get the maximum detail out of it. I have been doing 1/18 scale cars for a long time now and like them better than 1/25, you can even get so detailed as to putting graphics on the laptops inside the car.

Maybe as my next project i'll do 1/18 scale cars... I think it would be good to add tons more details to my cars. Anyways, here are tons of pics... My fravorite pic is the first one.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0574.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0579.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0577.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0575.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0570.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0569.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0565.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v112/Baz000/DSCN0564.jpg

In my opinion if MSP adopted chargers and outfitted them like I have done... They would look pretty damn sweet. I think MSP should keep the current paint job and just transfer it onto the Charger body. Hopefully, one day we can see the real thing (and possibly drive one as a Trooper) on the road.

Not bad at all for a first timer. You certainly put a lot of detail into it and it came out great!

Thanks, i'm looking forward to continuing and improving my model making... I think my next projects will be older model Maryland State Police cruisers, starting with of course the CVPI, Caprice, LTD?, and other old-school style cop cars.

Very Nice. I think the Charger would look great in the Green/Black colors!!!

I forgot to tell you Baz, here's a non-police package Dodge Charger semi-marked with Maryland State Police graphics. It was a test vehicle:

http://www.copcar.com/mo0805.htm

Just thought that you might have wanted to have seen it.

I like the pics, looks pretty sweet for a first timer. I have been looking in to police models the past two weeks. I am eventually going to make one, but time is kind of tight right now.

Maybe when I make my first one you can give a few tips!!:)