Rosco's Patrol Car 1978 Dodge Monaco NEW Progress 3-3-2017

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-And for now a "final" update.... I've sat this model aside for a bit, I been fighting with the white paint and SADLY I'm pondering stripping it and starting over a different way..... Its been REAL difficult on this model and the body color.... BUT this model is now in the "Models in Limbo" category because I'm undecided on my next action on it....

[dogfish7 (R.I.P.)]

No worries. Come back to it, when you get more ideas.

[Deleted]

Thanks Bruce.... This one that dang body color in white..... Being real difficult to get it right....

[Deleted]

Well, a little time has passed on this build. Quite a bit actually!!!!! ANYWAY, because of the closeness of this builds state last left in, I sat one build aside to pick up where I left off on this one!
Now as all you know, this build, this model, was REALLY needing help. I mean WOW! Things did not fit right, the interior allowed the frame to sit so high up into the body, that it looked as a "lowered" car, when mocked up and all I was like, "REALLY"? I had made that right, (or somewhere close to "right", anyway!)
Then I got to looking at the frame and seeing where I needed to go, and one thing I did not have done was the brakes "Triple Valve" for all the brake lines to connect too. That being said, I got right to making that part! The actual part, is merely a piece of Evergreen Styrene, cut to length and drilled for all the brake lines to fit into it. I will add the fittings as parts are added to it. Here it is, unpainted, but in-place:


The "rear" brake line going into the back of it, with a fitting in-place. I have yet to paint this, and the fitting to be like it would be.
So once that was all made up and in-place, I had to leave it sit and dry, as messing with detail that small, any further work would have just "moved" things to make the detailing task even more difficult so working on the engine compartment details, I went to have a look at the firewall, and really, OH MY GOD.... thing lacking details badly.... I don't think theres a lot I can do to make it look the part, but I can however, get it somewhere close and look somewhat half-ways decent!

Besides adding a BETTEr Master Cylinder for detail sake, I went to paint the heater blower parts separately from the actual fire wall to make them "stand-out" just a tad, and in most cases, I find that those parts were black, so I made this that very same way! This was done a while ago, so... I went right to seeing what "wire" details I needed to add, and what wire was what part from the engine and or hoses, and or, actual "wire".... I got to drilling the holds for each of them and once that was done, took out whatever "supply" of wire I had that were left overs from previous build engine compartment details. (I try to use things up as much as I can to not have any waste, or very little if I can help it!

Some wires in-place to stay, others one end attached and waiting for glue to dry. All the wire seen here is "left-overs" from other builds I did! The gray wire, WAS all that I had and used up EVERY bit of it, absolutely NO waste on that wire color at all!

Not bad! Its beginning to look better with just that little bit of added detail! I'm not 100% happy, with the model, and its nothing I did or can change but its all about making it "look the part".... NEVER an easy task with the kits that lack, as bad as this one does! For what it is, I am happy with it tho....
Stay tuned, more to follow on this build! Thanks For looking & following along!!!!

[Deleted]

So back too it! As the detail on the frame and the firewall had to dry for a bit, I picked up the body, to see what it needed or if it was ready to add the decals to it!!!! And low & behold, I think it was more then ready for the decals to be placed onto it! (OH YEAH!!!!)

I think it looks GREAT! -I went looking through my spare decals to see if I had any decal "turn signals" and I did, so I added them! The good part was they all went onto the body with no issues at all! -THAT was part of why I wanted to get this done as decals age, they become more & more difficult to work with! And I wanted to not have the same issues I had with Daisy Dukes Jeep on Rosco's patrol car..... -And I beat that time frame!

A close up of the "badge" on the door!

A shot of the other side! I am really pleased with how the decals went into place! This is all really good and once all the decals are dry, only clear coat is left to do to "seal" them onto the body!

A close up of the other side!
I am happy, this all went on the way it did, took a bit to do, (over-night) But all turned out GREAT! I'm HAPPY with this OH MY GOD am I happy with how the decals went onto the body!
Stay tuned MORE to come shortly! Comments always welcome and enjoyed!

[Deleted]

So staying right with it, I sat the body aside to dry, and then picked up the frame again! I got the triple valve in-place for the brakes, and then went to see just how close I'd be to install the engine! WELL, thats a "jump" but it was "ready" so... I got right to installing the engine in-place....



Engine is in like flint! I got right to securing some of the wires coming off the engine too! The Red Alternator wire onto the inner fender well, as well as some others! Heater hoses down the inside of the inner fender as well!

got the fuel line going ot the fuel pump, and looking good too! So far, this part went GREAT, had a little bit of a trial getting to the details, BUT, I got to them and got things into place without ruining other surrounding details!

Power Steering lines also in-place! THOSE, were a bit of a task to get in-place, making them to fit the location was the hardest part! BUT they look good considering there is no real "detail" for the gear box, they are to go too! BUT because of its "location" in the frame, theres a "lump" in the plastic, that could pass for the same part, just not all the detailed, and honestly? Not very well seen either! SO I made it "look" the part with the lines!


Had to get the Power Steering lines in-place so that the battery could be placed as well, and thats all done now too! I'll be doing all sorts of wiring work in my upcoming updates! Stay tuned, I'll have more as things happen! Thanks for following, Comments are welcome! ENJOY!

[Deleted]

Swweeet!!!!!

[Deleted]

Thanks jersantora! Much appreciated!!!! More on this build coming! (I'm typing out my "updates" in MS Notepad, now!) So stay tuned!

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Time for a update? Yeah, its well needed at this point! As I had mentioned in my last posting, that the up coming updates would be of the engine compartment wiring. WELL, that is what your about to see! But, before I get right into that, I have to show some "Pre-Details" needed prior to getting into all that engine compartment detail. So with that by now in this build all following along should know, the engine is mounted, in-place to stay! Thats first and foremost to getting into all this!
So with that all being said, the first order of business was to get as much little stuff around the engine itself done, one of those things was the brake line detail. the triple valve and holes drilled for the brake lines to the front wheels. Thats all done, then the brake line that crosses the firewall from one side to the other (this part will be thee LAST "wire detail" installed on the firewall BEFORE it goes into place, just because the firewall is now part of the interior tub! But since I've got the engine in-place to stay, the first thing after that little stuff needing done was the exhaust work to the kits molded-in pipework.... Merely making a "Y" pipe from my exhaust pipe (Aluminum rod), I use! SO, thats what I did!


I buy this stuff in a 6 foot roll for $1.00 its Golden anodized Aluminum Floral Wrap (I have several other colors of it as well!) thats near PERFECT for "stock" size exhaust pipe! Seen above is the "Y" pipe and how it all went together! As you see it, isn't how its going to "stay" in those 2 pics above its just "sitting" there... I removed it, painted it to match the rest of the pipe and then fully installed it!

Looks GREAT all painted up, and in-place to stay, utilizing the kits STOCK exhaust "coupling" that was to have plastic pipe coming off the engine to that location where you see my "pipe hanger" loop in-place. Looks GREAT!


Sure is difficult I have found to work with kits that have molded-in plastic exhaust, I've never been real happy with the looks of that but this time, it doesn't look half bad, and considering the kit itself and what it is? I'm pretty pleased as there was a LOT wrong with this kit to even make it look like a detailed car, never mind Rosco's Police Interceptor!
So to sit this all down for a short time, to dry, I picked up the Radiator Core Support, to see what all it needed for detail, BEFORE anything more could be done to it before it goes in-place on the frame! One thing, I know the police cars had was a fan shroud! The model kit however did not provide one and so, ole John off to look within his parts stash to see what all might be there for such a part! As all should have guessed, I have multiples of the shroud that comes in the '70 Dodge Coronet Super Bee (As well as the same kit "Pro-Street") and the AMT-Ertl line of cars that follow that same style frame. SO those I wasn't interested in using, they're more geared toward the cars they came with, nothing to them has "Police Car" written on them. BUT then, I found something, I can't even say what its to or from or for that matter where I got it to start with! I just know, it was there, and it had "Police Car" written on it in big RED letters (No not really, figuratively speaking) And it fit! Like a million bucks in any one of our hands at a Mopar Muscle Car lot!!!! LOL It was prepainted, not badly, and so I trimmed it a little to get the surface to joint to the Core Support to fit and glue well, and just put it in-place!

Notice, the bottom of the fan ring is missing? I had to trim it! The way this kit goes together and things it needed up front to "sit" right on the frame caused the engine to sit under slung a little, and made the core support needing to be raised up a bit as well as I have to add extensions to the tops of the inner fender wells, so that made the engine and all that to sit a little off center, BUT in-place, with this, it will look OK! (Yes, with all that wrong or seeming to be, I thought it look a bit odd and even weird!) NOPE! Looks great in-place!

A little better shot! This is all that I can "add" to the Core Support without it being in-place on the frame, as some of the up coming detail, are wire, and some need to be "fitted for wire to go to... as you'll see!
Stay tuned, More to follow, Thanks for following along, Comments always welcome and appreciated! Enjoy!

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So more to go on the Radiator Core Support, I got the Fan shroud in-place, "fitted" and painted, ready to go. Thats when I looked to see what else needed "added" to the Core Support (horn, over-flow tanks, etc.) and seen that I needed to add a horn, as well as a Radiator over-flow tank! -Neither of these 2 details came with this kit "Box-Stock" so I had to source them from my parts bins! So I got the parts out that I needed to use for this build, got them painted, got the Core Support ready to mount those parts and then by that time the parts after being painted could be handled and the horn, was the first part to go into place! NOT wired, but "mounted" to the passenger side of the Core Support and drilled for wiring to go to it!
Thats when I had to get the Core Support in-place as the Radiator over-flow tank had to fit between the Core Support, and battery, as well as the inner fender! So a little "fitment" had to be done to that tank to get it in-place. Thankfully, the tank I choose was perfect and only needed sanded down on ONE side!!!!
So then the Radiator, Core Support holding it, and the horn all into place and the Radiator over-flow to follow....


After that was all put into place, as you can see, I got right in to adding all the wiring! The red wire off the Alternator went in-place first, all the way to the battery, "loosely" not hard mounted to the battery but able to be when all was "set to stay! As then I had to think of how I was going to replicate a "Voltage Regulator seen on the top of the inner fender well by the battery! The red wire had to pass through this, and then be long enough to continue to the firewall! And have a red wire coming off it, to the battery, as well a red wire to continue from the battery to the engines starter, all seen above! -I also got the negative wire (black wire) connected to the battery, to then go 2 ways also, one short section to the engine, and one to the firewall. Both seen above are simply hanging loose off the battery, as seen!

Stay tuned! More to follow in just a bit!!!! Thanks for looking comments always welcome! ENJOY!

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I got most of the red wire ran and mounted to "stay", as well as the black wire off the battery! Once that was done, I got right to adding the A/C lines! To show that see:



The piping off the sides of the A/C Condenser, and going through the Core support to be then connected to either the A/C compressor drivers side, or the fire wall on the passengers side.

As you can see in the pic, I have yet to paint the A/C line "fittings" to a brass color!
Then once that was done I got to fitting the engine Top Radiator Hose! That was a task, there is NOT a lot of space to be had and real estate is running out quite quickly, even for "working "area" to not damage already added details! So things are seemingly getting more & more difficult!

I made up a slightly different type "hose clamp" then I normally use! I thought, late '70's car, I'd try the newer pressure clamp they use commonly even today, not much more then a spring steel wire, so I tried it, and it looks pretty good! I'm impressed it looks as good as it does!

As you can see in the pic, this is the other end of that A/C line that will go to the top front of the A/C Compressor on the engine!
And to get one last shot, Here you can see all the wire red & black, pretty much in-place, to run towards the firewall!


A very good shot showing the red wire coming through the Core Support to the Voltage Regulator, and then continuing to the firewall and then the connections of red wire from the Voltage Regulator to the Battery, then to the Starter! Black wire off the Battery goes from the Negative Battery Terminal, to the engine and then follows down the top of the inner fender well to the firewall.
I then went seeking a wire for the horn, I found some green wire but. I added it till I got a good look at it and pulled it right out! Heres what that DID look like:

I simply was not pleased with the look, the green wire for a simply horn hook-up wire was simply to large in diameter, so I removed it for a lot less thick gauge black wire that happen to be some left over from another build! (I have yet to get pics of the new wire in-place however) thats to come!
I did however go as far as pointing out the A/C line end on that side, seen here:

I have to add a fitting on the end of that to connect to the heater/A/C area of the heater core on the firewall.... That will be fitted when I have the firewall in-place a long with the full completed interior!
Well folks, thats it for now till I get more done and pics taken of the work accomplished! Thanks for looking, & following along! Comments always welcome! ENJOY!

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So for all those following along..... I got to looking at the grille, to see what it needed as far as the flat black "shadowing" and got a darn good look at the headlights too, (WOW, are those terrible!) I got right into adding that flat black "shadowing" to the grille.

I got that done and drying and went right to the headlights to add "something" as they are really bad..... Specially for my liking anyway! I went to painting the "backing Testors "Flat Aluminum" to give them something, to look like the real thing! Let that sit to dry, and got to looking at what I had for wire to make some sort of "lip" that on the real thing was "black".... And from what it is, I have "black" wire, sure, but I needed a way to "shape" it also! So while the Flat Aluminum paint was drying with the flat black on the grille I took some measurements to make some sort of "form" to wrap the wire around the same diameter as the headlights.....

Not the best, but "something". next question I was asking myself, was how I was going to fasten those wire rings for the headlights to the headlight parts! Because they're chrome, ANY "CA" type glue was out..... SO back to another thought I recently done, that clear glass glue? I used it to make "lens" on my '68 Roadrunner, so why wouldn't it work for this? SO I gave it a try....

Not bad, not great, but slightly better then what the box-stock parts were! I plan to add a little at a time to build up a "lens" on all 4 places, as that glue takes a little while to dry, so.... A little at a time till that ring has almost equal lens thickness over the box-stock parts molded-in parts!
I then, sat that all aside to dry, and cure, and got to looking at the rear tail lights too. they too needed a little added to them, by looking up pics of the real thing online I found that the centers had a clear area, and the inner-most part of that read tail light lens, was actually Turn Signal Amber! I painted that silver center area with Testors "Chrome" and then went on to do the same for the inner-most area too, only to then be coated over with Testors Turn Signal Amber to represent what the real car had!
I let that dry for a bit, and then did some work on another model I have almost done too, till those lens were dry, only to then go back and cut them loose of the sprue, to then take a Sharpie Paint marker and add that black ring around the edge of the red tail light lens, left to dry for a bit, and then took that same Clear Glass Glue from Testors, that I been making lens with, to glue the tail light lens right into place on the rear bumper seen here:

While I was at it, I went ahead and painted the turn signals that are in the front bumper too!

Looks pretty good, not the best, in any case, but slightly better then what the kit came with! I'm pretty pleased so-far with this, I think it could be better but given what the kit came with & parts at hand and materials used, its not all that bad! Thats it for now! Thanks for following along, comments are always welcome, enjoyed & encouraged! Stayed tuned, more to come as things are done or while I'm doing them!

[BUCKY]

It is so much fun watching the progress on your builds. Every time I check in, I see some amazing detail added to an otherwise pretty good kit. Keep up the great work!!

[Deleted]

Thanks Bucky! Yeah, I try to add as much as I can with some limitations on what I can get for detail locally, I make a lot of my own parts, which I don't think I do to badly on!

Keep checking in, I got 3 builds on the GO right now as all 3 of them are so close, I can see the smoke off the rear tires as they head for the display case!

[coupestang]

Amazing detail!

[Deleted]

Thanks 'stang I try to go as far as my own 2 hands will allow me too to see just hot far into the detail I can go!

Much appreciated!

[Deleted]

Back to this one a little bit! I got the taillight lens in-place on the rear bumper and painted in the turn signals on the front bumper the license plates were next! AGAIN I find that the plate decals are either to big for location on bumper, OR the bumper "area" for the plate, has a "ridge" that the plate decal simply will not lay flat or fit correctly. So be me, I went and done the same thing as I have in the past, grab some .020th of an inch thick styrene, make the plastic sheet the size to fit the bumper, AND the decal plate, and off to painting it to be "aluminum" on its edges and when dry, decal applied and let to dry for 24 hours, and then clear coated and allowed to dry, and rin in-place they went!
And this is how that all turned out:

Added to the car as it would have been in the show. I wanted everything as close to what was in the show as possible. Sadly, because of how many cars they used, there were A LOT of little things used in some cases, that be on one car but not on the next. so that part of it is difficult.... BUT I think the plates were not one of those things that changed very often (specially the rear plate), I'm not sure about the Rebel Flag plate! BUT its the "Dukes"...... SO the "Rebel" it was!
Thats it for now! More to come as I get the next bit done and able to get pics! Thanks for following along comments welcome! ~ENJOY

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Well a little time has passed as I been going on and on around the house with different things (I hate it when life things get in the way!) But it happens you deal with it and go on... ANYWAY in the middle of all that I actually got a little done on this build. As I had gone and put a lot in to another I got real close done too, and then theres a 3rd on involved too! BUT building as I am, I'm getting things going on each of the 3 of them and this one happened to come up next!
So in my last update, I got the taillight lens detail-painted and in-place and then installed onto the rear bumper, and then prior to that got the grille ready as well as the headlights and got the 2 license plates onto their own "plate" as decals and those got to be added to place on each bumper.
So with all that setting and ready I had to give the body yet one more shot of Gloss Lacquer Clear Coat and hopefully that was thee last it needed and it was! SO once that was dry to be handled by hand, I began looking and adding the waiting parts!

I got the headlights in-place, as well as the 2 part grille! (I would NOT mind finding a silver-ish/chrome lettering for the word "DODGE" pn the driver side lower grille) Theres a location for it but not "embossed" into the plastic enough to "highlight" it so.... Thats OK MAYBE before the cars considered "done" I'll locate something!


Front bumper headlights & Grille sections look pretty good (the best I can get them to be considering the issues with the parts and detail that MPC/Round 2 didn't add to the molds!) So I'm happy with what ya see, as there really isn't much more I can do to physically make it any better, without a total re-designing of parts..... And sadly, I think I've "re-designed" enough to make this kit look good! Its hard to make a silk purse out of a Sow's Ear!
Stay tuned.... More to follow these very short messages! Thanks for following along, ~ENJOY!

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Now right back to it..... The front bumper is in-place, as well as the headlight bezels and grille sections, so checking the body to get it ready for everything that it will either be getting for details OR need painting and finish work.... Looks GREAT as-is so, I thought I'd get to drilling the holes for the roof strobe light. (assembly of the roof strone was a bit of a challenge!) WOW does NOTHING to it fit right too! So I got the roof of the car drilled for mounting the Strobe light to it....

I sort of followed the kits indents from inside the car starting out with a really small drill bit and "step Drilling" up till the holes were 1. Centered side-to-side with the light bar, and 2. fit just tight enough a little pressure was added to the light bar to pull it down once glued and the roof would make that "pulling force" all by its own nature of the curvature of it. (to make the light bar seem somewhat "flat" and level on the roof, as it was slightly upwardly arched.)

Not to shabby! I'm pleased how that all turned out with a little bit of thought and some skill machine work. As I wasn't 100% sure that the holes dimpled inside the car was accurately placed for the light bar up top.... PLUS having to drill through a PERFECT finish and not ruin it was a concern too (I use ALL brand new drill bits for that very reason!) -Then being only used twice, put them back in there package! As the ones I have out thats been used, aren't "bad" I just wanted that sharp new edge to cut and not possibly mar that finish!
So with that, I'm gearing up and getting the gut fortitude to go about the BMF (I second guess myself on that stuff, I don't think I'm all that good at it) BUT, I also know, the more I use it, the better I'll get and lets face it, I got my share of models to add it too that are sitting and waiting to get that close to being finished so..... So then, BMF it is comming right up! -Stay Tuned! Comments always welcome, Thanks for looking!

[Deleted]

So getting that inspiration up to do the BMF.....

WELL then.....

I got the BMF one the whole car, (took a bit over my night-owl ways) and got it all done! And once it was done, I added the light bar to the roof, to stay!

Not to bad!!! The light bar centered out well with how I drill the holes for mounting it....





I have to say, I'm surprised! That the BMF turned out as good as it did as I've said I don't think I'm all that good with it, BUT it did turn out pretty good on this one with very little error on my part, (It could be better if I had better prepped the body BEFORE I painted it), but thats my own fault from the very beginning, BUT thats OK as it really doesn't look all that bad! I am surprised! And pleased at the same time!
I left the rear bumper OFF the body till all the parts for the interior are in-place and the interior tub is in-place, so that when I go to put the frame under the body, (something's telling me) that I am gonna have an issue mounting the rear portion of the frame and to leave that rear bumper OFF the body, will grant me the space needed to get inside there, to add any type of "mount" to hold both the frame to the body and vice-versa.... As we ALL know this kits "fitting" issues, are horrific but the fitting of the frame is probably THEE WORST I've seen on ANY model so far! (I honestly do not believe the frame in this kit is actually "made" for this kit!) In fact, I think that single one frame is used for several other models as it signifies a section on the back of it to be removed for another model (I can't recall it right now as I am not close by the instructions sheet) BUT, I know its not just for this kit!
So I thought it be smart to leave the rear bumper off till I'm ready to mount the frame just in case I need to get in there to make some sort of mount to hold the body up off the frame a little to get that factory spacing for the wheels and wheel openings in the back as if mounted right out of the box, it look like a low-rider!
Thats it for now! More to come as I get things done! As always Comments always welcome, and I appreciate the following of my builds! ~ENJOY!