MOCs: Police cars

[Ralph_S]

For a while now I've been building a collection of LEGO police cars from all over the world. So, here they are.

Police cars (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

This first one, that I built little more than two years ago is a Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. It has now gone out of production, but is still the most common cop car in the US. It is big, has a conservative cab on frame construction and a big V8 engine, and American cops love them.

CHP Ford Crown Victoria (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

The particular car has the classic markings of the California Highway Patrol.

Dutch Police tend to drive smaller cars, with VWs being particularly popular. Amsterdam Police, for instance, use a lot of VW Golf hatchbacks like the one I built about a year ago. These cars typically have four-cylinder turbo-Diesel engines. They're economical and agile. Most emergency vehicles in the Netherlands are painted with a pattern of diagonal stripes -orange and blue on a white background on police cars. Replicating this on a car this small and still having opening doors and half stud offsets was tricky, but fun.

Dutch Police VW Golf (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

I'm sure the German police use VW Golfs on occassion, but when I decided to build a German policecar a few months ago, I wanted something a bit more, well, teutonic and chose a BMW 3-series. Many German police cars are blue and silver (or blue and white) nowadays, but in Bavaria they're still painted in the more traditional green. Classy.

Polizei BMW (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Finally, a few weeks ago I built a Police car from Britain. Most British police cars are painted in so-called battenburg markings: a high-visibility checkered pattern in blue and yellow. The car is a Ford Focus, Britain's best-selling car for many years.

UK Police Ford Focus (3) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

I know that most of the models in the city theme are (more-or-less) minifig scale and my models aren't. However, I'm pretty sure that many LEGO city lovers won't have seen these when I posted them in the Technic/ Model Team forum, but hope that you may enjoy seeing them and that they might give you ideas for your own (perhaps) smaller city vehicles.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Dakar A]

First Ralph, let me say that these are amazing, all of them!

2ndly, the 3-series and Crown Vic were instantly reconizeable! You got that impossible kidney grill on the 3-series perfect, and the Golf ws also recognized after a second. As always, you MOCs do not cease to amaze and inspire me.

Brick On!

Dakar

Edited December 14, 2011 by Dakar A

[lightningtiger]

Dude, totally AWESOME...pity you have done an Aussie V8 cop car !

As always the 'Ralph' comes back every time with his genius shining though - Brick On 'Ralph_S' !

[HighFlyer]

Amazing detail on these cars, fantastic job!

[Darth Dino]

Hi

what a couple of great cars in a rare scale.

I would like to comment your BMW 3er:

There are a way more BMW 3er and 5er as police cars than Golfs. The german police has typical no cars that are only good for two persons ;) They use Passats instead, but younare right bavaria is full of BMW. The front looks very good, especially the BMW "kidney" - as germans call that. Do you have pictures from the back?

Dino

[wokajablocka]

I love that the first one with the highway patrol guy, he looks awsome with his broud brim hat.

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Fantastic collection of police cars 'Ralph_S'! Very detailed build, I love the Bimmer and Crown Vic

[L@go]

I've seen them all before, but that doesn't make them any less lovely. The Crown Vic is my favourite, with the Focus a close second - both of them are instantly recognisable. I like the "police cars from around the world" idea - how about an Aussie one, like Lightningtiger suggests, and maybe a Norwegian (or Swedish) Volvo station wagon - maybe an 850 from a few years back? Shouldn't be too hard, with its Lego-friendly angles :)

[Ralph_S]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

First Ralph, let me say that these are amazing, all of them!

2ndly, the 3-series and Crown Vic were instantly reconizeable! You got that impossible kidney grill on the 3-series perfect, and the Golf ws also recognized after a second. As always, you MOCs do not cease to amaze and inspire me.

Brick On!

Dakar

The Golf was tricky and I think that the resemblance only works well from some angles. It looks better from behind.

Dude, totally AWESOME...pity you have done an Aussie V8 cop car !

As always the 'Ralph' comes back every time with his genius shining though - Brick On 'Ralph_S' !

I'm definitely thinking about building more, with an Aussie cop car high on the list. I'm not sure though whether I'll go for a sedan like Holden Commodore, for instance, or something a bit more rural, such as a Land Cruiser.

Amazing detail on these cars, fantastic job!

Hi

what a couple of great cars in a rare scale.

I would like to comment your BMW 3er:

There are a way more BMW 3er and 5er as police cars than Golfs. The german police has typical no cars that are only good for two persons ;) They use Passats instead, but younare right bavaria is full of BMW. The front looks very good, especially the BMW "kidney" - as germans call that. Do you have pictures from the back?

Dino

The ones I've seen most often are Passats, indeed, but I already had a Passat in my collection and somehow a BMW seemed more interesting.

Polizei BMW (4) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

I love that the first one with the highway patrol guy, he looks awsome with his broud brim hat.

Thank you. The cars are fun to build, but I certainly also enjoy adding the figures. The Highway Patrol guy is my favourite too, closely followed by the British Cop with his 'bobby hat' and day glo jacket.

Fantastic collection of police cars 'Ralph_S'! Very detailed build, I love the Bimmer and Crown Vic

Thank you. I have a soft spot for the Crown Vic to. Because it is such a large car in real life, the model is 11 studs wide, vs ten studs for the other three. It's HUGE.

I've seen them all before, but that doesn't make them any less lovely. The Crown Vic is my favourite, with the Focus a close second - both of them are instantly recognisable. I like the "police cars from around the world" idea - how about an Aussie one, like Lightningtiger suggests, and maybe a Norwegian (or Swedish) Volvo station wagon - maybe an 850 from a few years back? Shouldn't be too hard, with its Lego-friendly angles :)

I considered a V70 for the British Police. Their motorway police seems to use them. I probably won't do a Swedish one, though, because their markings are too similar to the British ones. One car that is high on my wish list is an Italian 'Polizia' Alfa Romeo and a Japanese police car, a Nissan Skyline for instance.

Cheers,

Ralph

[kingsdom]

It's cool car. I like it.

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Great details and beautiful cars! The green and white BMW is awesome!

The policemem are totally cool

Excellent work!

[EM4CZ]

collection not from all over the world, where is the Škoda octavia Police of Czech Republic ?

[L@go]

Have you considered a Lego version of the Carbon Motors E7?

[Ralph_S]

Thanks guys. There's obviously plenty of scope for adding more cars from different countries.

Have you considered a Lego version of the Carbon Motors E7?

I haven't. Right now they're still just prototypes. Once they start showing up in an interesting livery of a real police department, I might.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Rijkvv]

They all look lovely. I think the Beamer is the most recognizable, while I think you did a fantastic job in creating the Dutch police colour scheme.

Another idea: a Porsche in the Rijkspolitie-version. Especially in the old colour scheme, with the orange doors. Maybe the 80s version, since you already built a classic 911. You could even complete it with a Bolkow helicopter!

[Darth Dino]

Hi

wow - thank you for the back image of the BMW. There is no reason to hide that, it is nice and easy to recognise as the front is. It is really a 320d with just one exhaust ;)

Where do i found your Passat? I have one and it would be great to build one ;)

Dino

[Ralph_S]

They all look lovely. I think the Beamer is the most recognizable, while I think you did a fantastic job in creating the Dutch police colour scheme.

Another idea: a Porsche in the Rijkspolitie-version. Especially in the old colour scheme, with the orange doors. Maybe the 80s version, since you already built a classic 911. You could even complete it with a Bolkow helicopter!

It's funny that you should mention that. I have thought about rebuilding my Porsche into a Rijkspolitie car. It would require very few changes and is definitely something that I may have a go at in the future. A few months ago I also looked at building a Dutch Police helicopter. I didn't go for a Bo 105, though, but for its modern replacement: the EC 135.

Dutch Police by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Hi

wow - thank you for the back image of the BMW. There is no reason to hide that, it is nice and easy to recognise as the front is. It is really a 320d with just one exhaust ;)

Where do i found your Passat? I have one and it would be great to build one ;)

Dino

Thank you. It is a 320D indeed. The reason I didn't show all of them from all angles was because I didn't want to flood the discussion with a large number of photographs. The pictures I posted are all links to flickr and more pictures of all of them can be found there.

However, here are two pictures of the Passat -albeit a regular civilian one.

Volkswagen Passat (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Volkswagen Passat (5) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Cheers,

Ralph

[Ritz Brick]

Can't help but look at the UK Ford Focus and think of Top Gear. Good job none the less. Especially on the figures to.

[Darth Dino]

Hi

Wow the dutch police setup is great. There are alldetails in that i have seen during the many times they stoped me during my many trips within the Netherlands. ;)

For those that are familiar with the Passat: The doubble whitish backlights are different, one is larger and has a differnt "interior". You made that small detail very well by using the 1x1 round plates in two differnt ways. Cool! But sedans are very rare, 85% of allPassats here are "Variants".

Dino

[Brickmamba]

dutch vw looks good, brick on!

[Ralph_S]

Can't help but look at the UK Ford Focus and think of Top Gear. Good job none the less. Especially on the figures to.

As a big Top Gear fan myself, I can understand that. I had thoughts of Jeremy Clarkson shouting 'Power Power Power' and calling the Ford Focus ST the 'Ford ABSO' in my mind whilst building it, not to mention the episode in which the three of them had to buy 2nd hand cars and turn them into Police cars.

Hi

Wow the dutch police setup is great. There are alldetails in that i have seen during the many times they stoped me during my many trips within the Netherlands. ;)

For those that are familiar with the Passat: The doubble whitish backlights are different, one is larger and has a differnt "interior". You made that small detail very well by using the 1x1 round plates in two differnt ways. Cool! But sedans are very rare, 85% of allPassats here are "Variants".

Dino

On behalf of all Dutch tax-payers: thank you for your contribution

I know that most Passats that are sold are estate cars/ wagons and I understand why (lots more space for not all that much more money), but I chose a sedan for two reasons. I like the looks of it more, but more importantly, I knew that recreating the car's look was going to be very difficult. Many modern cars are a bit nondescript. In real life there are plenty of differences to help distinguish a Passat from the other cars in its price range, but rendered in LEGO making these differences visible is difficult. I figured that it would be more recognisable as a sedan than as an estate car.

dutch vw looks good, brick on!

Thank you. Much appreciated.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Darth Dino]

Hi

hehe - no,they even did not get a single Euro from me. It always had been a "regular traffic control". No idea why they ever pick me, maybe i look, or my car looks guility ;) I only had to join them when my car had been broken up in the east of Amsterdam. I funily asked them why they had not been around me as usual ;).

Never try to build a dutch Lego Audi A4. It must be a totally rare car there because i was not able to get a new backwindow for two days...

Dino

Edited December 19, 2011 by Darth Dino

[peterab]

I'm definitely thinking about building more, with an Aussie cop car high on the list. I'm not sure though whether I'll go for a sedan like Holden Commodore, for instance, or something a bit more rural, such as a Land Cruiser.

You should build the most Aussie of police vehicles ; A divvy van We even have a chant which comes out in public places when the cops cart someone off 'Your going home in the back of a divvy van' :-)

[Ralph_S]

You should build the most Aussie of police vehicles ; A divvy van We even have a chant which comes out in public places when the cops cart someone off 'Your going home in the back of a divvy van' :-)

Thanks for that. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before.

The ones based on the Ute are atrociously ugly. I'm not sure I'd go there. The ones based on the Holden Crewman are a bit less ugly, but still an acquired taste. This is definitely going on my list as a possibility.

Cheers,

Ralph

[peterab]

Thanks for that. I don't think I've ever seen one of those before.

The ones based on the Ute are atrociously ugly. I'm not sure I'd go there. The ones based on the Holden Crewman are a bit less ugly, but still an acquired taste. This is definitely going on my list as a possibility.

Cheers,

Ralph

I think the older 70's ones based on panel vans look a lot more like an intentional design. I agree the covered ute designs look very ugly but that's cost cutting for you.

I'm quite fond of the industrial look of the rear door of modern divvy vans (stands for divisional van , ie each police division has one (or more in some cases)). I'm a little worried what the need (or perceived need) for such reinforced doors says for our society though. On the other hand they used to park a huge riot van outside the cricket here in Melbourne in the 70's and I haven't seen anything like that since then. It used to be full of drunks and streakers by the end of the day, and it could hold about 20 people.