Built by: Dave Van

Tom Daniel’s Paddy Wagon is a great kit. It has been around for a LONG time which is good as I have cut up a number of them in the past. 

I had used so many Paddy Wagons for parts but had not built a box stock version for many years. I thought it would be a good one for the box stock category in the TD contest. BUT.... I did not want to build it like so many I had already seen. I started thinking where could I find a paddy wagon like Tom’s in use. Well Tom lives near Las Vegas, they have pyramids, Eiffel tower and New York city sky line so a paddy wagon like Tom’s would fit right in, making getting arrested fun!!! 

The classic kit was cleaned of all mold lines, pin marks and seams. The tires were spun in a drill and lightly sanded for a used appearance. The Gold chrome was removed with 91% alcohol for a better look with the black and white paint and silver chrome lettering. The kit was assembled per instructions except for the steering column that had to be tilted forward a bit to fit the ‘healthy’ cop into the drivers seat.

Black Tamiya water based paint was thinned to a wash and brushed onto most of the chrome parts to make the detail pop and give a light used but well kept look. This kit has a lot of detail that goes unnoticed because it gets lost in the chrome. A very light wash was given to the engine block, seats and floors too. Tamiya white primer was shot first and then a few coats of Tamiya gloss white. After dry the white was masked and the Tamiya gloss black was applied. 

The roof was shot with Testors flat black. The custom decals were then applied. I went to the LVMPD web site and copied their door shield but it did not look good when reduced to 1/ 24 scale so I made one up. The rest of the decals were done in metallic silver and black. Last was a coat of Future floor shine to give a even gloss coat and protect the decals. 

The pre painted figures were added and my ‘new look’ Paddy Wagon was complete. Nothing too radical but I really like the different look to this old but beloved kit. Maybe Revell will let Tom do some new graphics on the re-release!!