“CHiPs” Patrol Car

bgt01

Exemplary Confidant
The MeTV channel has been replaying episodes of the classic show “CHiPs” for a while and I have been watching and fondly remembering how as a child I thought everyone in California was a raving lunatic behind the wheel. I’ve never been there to confirm or deny that, but I’m pretty sure they don’t have as many exploding car chases and Ponch and Jon got into. It’s still fun to watch and I thought it might be cool to whip up a little paper tribute to this classic slice of TV justice.

This is my version of CHP unit C-18, a 1974 Dodge Ambassador seen in many 1st and 2nd season episodes. It is a repaint of Carta Papermodel’s Bluesmobile. As usual, the plan was to add as much detail as possible to a very simple model. As usual, all parts are scored before cutting and edge colored before and gluing. Some parts were printed multiple times for layering.

MAIN BODY

The top section was prepped and I raised the headlights. On the sides I recessed the side marker lights and raised the doorhandles on all four doors. All three section were glued together slowly using Super Glue gel and applied with a sharpened toothpick. The final shape is very flimsy until the under section is added. I raised the rear bumper and glued on the rear license plate as a separate piece. Both front and rear plates are replicas of the plate seen on C-18 in the episode “Rainy Day.” The bottom section is boxy, but is straightforward to build and attach.
 

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bgt01

Exemplary Confidant
FRONT END

The front grill had to be trimmed a little at the bottom to get it flush with the bottom of the headlights. I tried to give the wheel a little depth so I cut out the center of each rim and glued it behind the hole. Then I layered up the dog dish hubcaps. The front bumper is too fiddly to do more than raise the license plate. The little push bars are REALLY hard to score and fold. It took a lot of tweezer work but I finally got them glued and mounted.
 

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bgt01

Exemplary Confidant
FINAL ASSEMBLY

The Bluesmobile didn’t come with a light bar, so I had to swipe on from another model file and modify it for color and size to fit this model. The CHP units had metal mounting bars that attached the lights to the roof, so I created my own using shaped pieces of paper clips. Unfortunately, the first time I glued them too far forward. Luckily, I got them off without too much damage and relocated them to being centered over the “B” pillar. I added layered side mirrors and spotlights with the backs colored black to match the real car.

ATTENTION ALL UNITS: SEVEN MARY-3 AND SEVEN MARY-4 REQUEST ASSISTANCE! The final product is a nice little replica to a treasured part of my TV past. I still need to add a final touch - a piece of guitar string as an antenna, but I need to find something to use as a base. Maybe I’ll even find a decent picture of Ponch and Jon to make a scaled cutout for a display.
 

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Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
This looks REALLY GOOD!!!
I use to watch "CHiPs" with my mother.
Thank you for bringing back some GREAT childhood memories!!!
 
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