1978 Dodge Monaco, California Highway Patrol.
- joneworlds@mailbox.org

This was  an MPC brand  kit, first I've  done, I'm
usually  partial  to  Revell ones.   I  found  the
instructions  not  as  thorough  and  as  easy  to
follow, and the fit of the parts not quite as nice
as the Revell kits.   In particular it seemed like
the engine block  was a bit warped,  and the whole
thing  lays in  sort  of crooked  despite my  best
attempts.  I was happy with  some details I did on
the interior of this car.  There were a lot of cop
bits inside  there to  do: radios, first  aid kit,
about  5 assault  rifles and  shotguns, and  a car
phone that takes up half the back seat.

I think I made a lot of mistakes on this build.  I
had trouble  attaching the  front firewall  to the
front  of  the dash,  and  so  it was  jamming  up
against the wheel wells when  I tried to mount the
body  on the  chassis.  I  had to  file down  some
parts to make  it go on, but it's  still not right
to my eye:  the front end rides high  and the rear
end sags.   I ended  up having  to use  epoxy glue
instead of plastic cement in  a few places to make
it the body hold on  the chassis even as flawed as
it is.   I never  had this  problem in  other kits
before.  I lost the  rearview mirrors somehow, and
so I had to put on some other pieces that sort of
looks  like mirrors.   And the  kit came  with two
sets of wheels,  a wide set and a  normal set, and
somehow I  missed the normal  ones and so  I sawed
down the wide ones to  make the tires fit on them.
Waste of effort, and  it doesn't look quite right.
And I pay  attention to how wheels look  on a car,
so  it was  a  disappointing result,  to me.   But
overall, it looks good to me on the windowsill.

I love  the shape of  these old cruisers,  big ol'
seventies cars.   These '78 Dodge  police packages
had a  massive 7.2L (440cid) "RB"  motors in them.
(Not a hemi.)  Although the  whole car for '78 was
a  bit downsized  from  the older  Monacos, is  my
understanding.

--

"It's   got  cop   tires,   cop  suspension,   cop
shocks..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKmuKjpKPIo

These old dodges  are a great car  for when you're
on a mission from god...