Lindberg 1/24 scale Dodge Charger Police Car

Lindberg’s long-awaited Dodge Charger police cars have finally hit the shelves — and the wait has been worth it! This might be the best police car in 1/24 scale ever. Based on the Charger R/T previously made by J. Lloyd International for Testors, this modified reissue has been issued in generic, Florida, Texas, Illinois, and North Carolina highway patrol markings, and as Philadelphia and Los Angeles city cruisers.

New parts include both five-spoke wheel covers and steel wheels with hubcaps used on the police cruisers. The instructions incorrectly call for an extra set of wheels in the kit (sharing the tree with the chrome grille surround); use the wide-spoke wheels from the separate tree (Part 209) for those variants. Three sets of wheels provide options ranging from a standard R/T to police cruisers. The interior features: a stock full-cushion rear seat or molded fiberglass unit; a safety barrier; a new police-spec console; a computer on an articulated mount; and a dash-mounted shift lever. The interior builds up nicely, and decals are provided for the instruments.

The engine is the basic 5.7-liter Hemi. Watch out for incorrect instructions: The engine top is shown backwards. The intake manifold that fits above it needs the vertical slot facing the front of the car, not the back as the instructions show.

Otherwise, assembly was straightforward and well detailed. Most police Chargers omit the intake dress-up parts optional in the kit. The chassis is packed with detail and goes together well, though it is a tight fit into the body under the front fenders and the stance seems slightly too tall. The front wheels can be made to steer using parts 83 and 84 to trap the tie rod on the front struts.

The glass installs from outside. The fit is OK, but the side glass needed sanding to fit flush inside the openings.

A couple of decals for the front fenders are missing, shown in the box art but not included. I built the Florida version. The decals looked good and applied easily.

There are eight different lightbars supplied; some of them need more inner detail, especially in the reflector areas. The lightbar designated for Florida is incorrect; I used one of the lower-profile lightbars, not an exact match but closer.

I enjoyed building this kit. It looks good finished, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to build a late-model police car. Expect the aftermarket to provide plenty of support for it. Whether you build it out of the box or detail it, this model kit is a great starting point for a good-looking project. So go ahead: Arm yourself with photo references and get going on one of these Chargers!