Just read on Walt Conroy's site that First Response will be releasing several unmarked versions of the Crown Vic. They are, white, black, gold, blue and an unmarked black and white version. The black and white version will come with all doors being white, no CHP style black and white version at this time. The Dodge Chargers will also come in unmarked versions. No word on their colours, however they will not have the pre drilled holes in the roof for the light bars. This will obviously good news for the serious customiser with a drill. Still no word however on any future factory police versions by First Response.
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Gearbox have acquired the 1/43 scale Carorama SUV's. Gearbox will be releasing these as part of an expansion of their police line. First two releases will be a 1/43 Hummer in Coast Guard markings towing a boat and trailer and a Silverado in US Forest Service markings also towing a boat and trailer. I do not own any of the Carorama SUV's, but they seem to be OK quality. Rich Guddihy has pictures of the upcoming releases on his Gearbox site. It would be great to see Gearbox get the Carorama 1996-97 casting of the Crown Vic as well. This is a great model of this car.

I'm glad that they are doing the 4 white door, black and white version. It is a lot easier to work with that. If you need a CHP style black and white...you just buy an all black car and paint the front doors and roof. Much easier than trying to paint the 4 white door car. Good job Diecast Direct I really hope that with all the hype, they come through with a quality product...fingers crossed.

I would have liked to see a silver version also offered, as I believe there are more agencies using silver than gold. However, I applaud the fact that cars will be issued in a color other than white. Shows us that someone is finnaly listening.

Made a mistake about the Carorama models, apparently its another company that Gearbox acquired the castings from.

Mark, at least some of the castings to be used by Gearbox for the boat sets appear to be Hongwell/ Cararama, judging by the info on Cuddihy's site. He mentions a Tahoe in the unpictured Chicago FD set, and the only 1:43rd Tahoe I know of is by Hongwell. I have the blank version that Walt Conroy sells and also the NY State Police version that Hongwell made, and it's a very nice model. They do make a Hummer, but it's hard to tell from the small photo if that one is theirs. Theirs has a sunroof, which is probably an unlikely option for most, if any, agency Hummers. (Maisto makes one without a sunroof that's probably the most accurate for most H2 police conversions.) Not sure about the Silverado, but the boat behind the Hummer sure looks like the boat that Hongwell made for several non-US police and fire sets they've made (by the way, the blue police version they make in 1:72nd scale is almost a dead ringer for a Wash. DC Metro Police boat).

Dick, thanks for that. That is good news. I then go back to what I said about the Hongwell/Carorama 96/97 Ford Crown Vic casting they have. It would be great to see Gearbox get hold of that one. Apart from the extremely oversized light bar, it is a very good replica of that car. It deserves better than the four versions that Hongwell/Carorama released.

Mark, what was the 4th version of the Crown Vic that Hongwell released? I saw the Buffalo NY, Michigan State Police (totally wrong lightbar, they never used the Vector/Vision bar and are the only state police or highway patrol still using single dome lights - it also lacked the hood-mounted sign and whip antenna) and California Highway Patrol cars. Oh, wait a minute - I almost forgot they did a Moscow (Russia) police car in the international series. Was that the 4th version or was there another US car? I agree that the basic vehicle was one of the most accurate Crown Vic models made.

Dick, you are correct. The 4th vehicle was the Moscow version. I purchased the Michigan and CHP versions. I did not worry about the other 2.
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Not that I am much of a customiser, but removing the light bars and making the vehicles slick tops really showed what a nice model they are.

The 96 CV is an excellent little model. I was lucky to find two Buffalo cars, and converted them to fill gaps in my collection. Well proportioned, detailed interior, and defroster in rear windows. I would have liked to see full doors.

They have also recently released a NYPD version, in their police cars of the world series.

Location: London UK