At the September 2008 meeting, everyone in attendance was given a Revell 34 Ford from the Make and Take Program, which we had ordered several cases of just for this project.

The goal was to bring the models back, completed, for the October 2008 meeting, and limiting the work to nothing drastic, like no opening doors or adding an engine, but paint, wheel swaps, even photoetch is fine.

Our 2000 Club Project

The photos and text here are from the article "Light Police Duty" which appeared in the July, 1993 issue of Car Modeler (#20). Special thanks to Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine for allowing us to reproduce most of the original article here.


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Light Police Duty

The History of New York Police Vehicles - According to the Town of Newburgh Model Car Club

By Mike Felix

Photography By Douglas Whyte

One of the themes of the 1992 NNL East was "Light Commercial Vehicles". With that in mind, the Town of Newburgh Model Car Club put their efforts into a group project featuring police vehicles. The members decided to build various cars that would illistrate the changes New York police vehicles have undergone over the years.

The models shown here were built by eleven different members of the club. Before you say that no club could get eleven different guys to agree on the same kit - let alone build it in a coordinated way - think again. We did manage to work together on this project and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Now on with the story.

This was to be a project for fun, not for the scrupulous eye of a judge. Therefore the club members set out to build light commercial models that would be "light" in detail. In keeping with the light theme, the following descriptions of each model will also be on the "light" side. The occasional scratchbuilt part, custom decal or body modification may be apparent in the photos accompanying this article, but will not be highlighted in the text.

Simplicity itself aptly describes the appearance of the first three subjects. Ron Weissinger created these models to represent the early years of police vehicle use in New York City. The markings could have been for Yourtown, USA, but since the club is located near New York City, it was easiest to do some basic research in our own backyard. With the exception of one model in this article, all of the subjects are based on actual police vehicles used in New York city and state. Sources of information that served as the basis for particular models were plentiful and free. This information was taken from books, gathered from police archives and visits to police departments, gleaned from the club's collective memory and shared by a collector of police vehicle photographs. This collector was generous with his time and photos and without his help, many of the models could not have been built.


All of the models featured here were assembled with the "light" concept in mind. Therefore, you may notice that some of the colors, lettering, and details are not exact replicas of the originals. That's OK. It IS possible to do some research, build a model that is not an exact replica, admire it when completed and learn something in the process, without feeling guilty about overlooking something or leaving a specific detail off the car. By documenting the history of the New York police vehicle through the medium of model building, the Town of Newburgh Model Car Club proved just that.

Our long-running club project...

~ From the SAE Article Written By Mike Felix ~

The photos and text here are from the article "Project Chevelle" which appeared in the February, 1991 issue of SAE (#71). Enormously popular, this was the project that really put the Town of Newburgh Model Car Club "on the map". Special thanks to Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine for allowing us to reproduce most of the original article here.

Every automobile has its own story. From the time it's bought brand new to the day it's laid to rest in the junkyard, each car lives its own life. To apply this concept to modeling, the members of the Town of Newburgh Model Car Club put together the fictional story of Art's Chevelle. Art's car was typical in that it had many uses and several owners during its life. As the story unfolds, a model has been built to illustrate how the car looked during that part of the story.

The models shown here were built by eleven different members of the club. Before you say that no club could get eleven different guys to agree on the same kit - let alone build it in a coordinated way - think again. We did manage to work together on this project and it turned out to be a lot of fun. Now on with the story.

In the fall of 1966 our hero, Art, took the day off from his job at the mill so he could go to the local Chevy dealer to take delivery of his first new car. The 1967 Chevelle SS 396 was sitting in the parking lot waiting for Art to fire it up. Art loved the red paint, the matching red stripe tires and the new car smell of the interior. The monthly payments of $76.51 for three years all seemed worth it when Art started the engine and ripped out of the dealer's lot for his first drive in his new pride and joy.

"Project Chevelle" debuted at NNL East in Clifton, New Jersey on March 24, 1990. Pride was the emotion that sparked in all of us as we stood by our display and heard others admire our collective work. The sharing of technique, teamwork and a feeling of accomplishment have brought a higher sense of pride and identity to our club and its members.



Photos and text used with permission of Scale Auto Enthusiast magazine