Revell Dodge Ram VTS (in a Canadian Wrapper) --FINISHED--

The Dodge Ram VTS first saw the light of day at the Chicago Auto Show in 1996, as a concept design study, outfitting a fairly conventional Dodge Ram pickup with the decidedly non-conventional 10-cylinder Viper engine (and a few sporty touches in styling and paint) borrowed from Dodge’s ‘in your face’ Viper GTS sportscar. Though the ‘Viper Truck/Sport’ was never greenlighted for production, the idea resurfaced again in 2002–yet another ‘concept’ vehicle–as the very-similar SRT-10 Sport Pickup, which would finally see limited production beginning in 2004.

As a lifelong afflictee of ‘Mopar madness,’ I picked up the Revell Dodge Ram VTS in its ‘Amigo Pack’ boxing some years ago, purely as an impulse buy…grotesquely attracted by its bizarre purple and gloss yellow colors (with green and red trim stripes, to boot), while at the same time pretty sure I would likely never actually build it in that not-very-appealing scheme. [As best I can determine, those colors were Revell’s invention; the real VTS concept vehicle sported the road car’s popular ‘Banzai Blue’ paint job with dual white ‘skunk’ racing stripes.] Over the years I looked at numerous ‘custom’ graphics possibilities, but nothing ever caught my imagination, and the kit languished.

Fast-forward to not too long ago, when I found myself photo-hunting online for a completely different project, and happened to come across neat pics of a ‘stock’-looking Dodge Ram 1500 (possibly an SSV or Special Service Vehicle) in an unfamiliar but very eye-catching law enforcement scheme from North of the Border. The proverbial bell ‘clanged.’ I figured 10 Viper cylinders under the hood should qualify as ‘special service,’ so I adapted the markings a bit and made up some home-printed decal art, and the project finally had legs. Or…wheels.

My intention is to build the kit pretty much OOB, with perhaps a few extra electronics and an accessory or two to be added later for its law enforcement role.

The construction so far is just the ‘stock’ tub with a not-quite-stock two-tone scheme in suitably restrained colors, all Revell’s moldings with just a bit of detail-paint and dry-brushing. (I did add ‘stubs’ for the seatbelts that will be added later to the interior body sides.) And the Viper engine, stock kit parts with just sensor and ignition wires added. (The ‘braided’ ignition wires were a poor choice…the only suitably-sized material I had on hand…but they will be largely invisible once the engine is installed.)

That’s it so far; more as the project develops.

IIIII like it! Nice wash on the engine the interior looks realistic

That looks good. Man that color scheme!!!

Hey , GregBale !

Is that a Die-cast 1/24 model ? I think you forgot something .In my truck I would nave to have My boxer on the passenger side checking things out .( if I had a Boxer ) The interior and engine exhibit very good attention to detail no matter what methods were used . Wild Paint there . Now when are you gonna finish it and take us for a ride and tailgate party ? T.B.

Nah, TB, the ‘diecast’ refers to the little Hot-Wheels-sized toy included with the kit (and visible on the right of the ‘cutout’ box-top)…which I suppose is the gimmick of the ‘Amigo Pack’ packaging. [I’m guessing it was’t a huge success for Revell’s marketing dept., since I don’t think I’ve seen many other such combo kits released.]

Haven’t collected Hot Wheels in 50 or so years, but it’s a nice-enough little example (in the same ghastly paint-job):

The hood even opens…though not enough to really be able to see anything!

Note one peculiarity, however: the ‘toy’ is a stretched crew-cab…while the model is only a conventional single! [:D]

Thanks for the kind words.

Wow,

It’s amazing how realistic your build looks, especially the interior and engine [:)]

I really like the two tone seats. The lighter brown colored part of the seat looks almost like suede. And I see no problems with the braided lines, other than the blue lines maybe being a bit out of scale. But, truely, very well done so far. I’m look forward to seeing more!

Thanks Nick, John, PF & Bruce for taking the time to comment! [Y]

As best I can tell on the real thing they’re fabric and brushed velour…so suede is close enough, for a quick paint effect![:D] Appreciate the input.

I have a 2003 Ram 2500 pickup, and the interior and seats are different. However, the inner panels on my seats are indeed suede; the outer panels are leather.

I’m with all the guys. Knockout job on the interior and engine so far. [Y][Y]

Reading about your enthusiam when buying this and seeing the box art brought back a vivid modeling - related olfactory memory thing from half a century ago for a few milliseconds. Cool!

Thanks, Greg and Lon.

I’m almost afraid to ask:

Was the olfactory memory ‘new car smell’…or ‘new model smell?’ [“I love the smell of polystyrene in the morning…”] [:D]

Finished up the chassis and attached the engine and exhausts, then added a few cable-runs and fuel lines from various diameters of wire. Attached the interior tub/firewall and some representational wiring/plumbing to the powerplant.

I used a leftover 1/72 aircraft radio panel from my spares box to make up a small comm panel with a scratchbuilt microphone and coiled wire cord; right-hand photo shows it somewhat-inconveniently located behind the gearshift.

And the finished product, in the striking markings of Canada’s Border Services Agency, the federal customs and border-security force that constitutes Canada’s 2nd-largest law enforcement organization (after the RCMP). Decals were made up on the PC based on online images and printed on my faithful (and long-serving) HP inkjet. Exterior is box-stock with the addition of stretched-sprue aerials and a lightbar/beacon made up from a larger wedge-shaped section of clear sprue.

A fun project. Not a contest-winner by any stretch…but how many people can say they have a CBSA vehicle in their collection?

Really nice! Did the cold air intake come with the kit?

Thanks, kd. The intake was molded integrally with the kit manifold part. It was on the original VTS, but I think they changed the configuration a bit for the later SRT models.

Missed this. well done.

[t$t] [t$t] [t$t]

Jim [cptn]

Hi;

I had to get back to you .Nice finishing job . Very nice Canadian wrapper too ! Now , on the Amigo Pack I have at least four of them .A Mustang , A Challenger and a Charger I don’t remember what the fourth is .I think it’s tha Z Z TOP 34 Ford . I added these little cars to my Hot-Wheels collection and put the models away . T.B.

Thanks, TB.

Glad you followed up on the ‘Amigo’ thing, since I don’t think I’d seen any others. I was a Matchbox collector back in the day…but I’d already moved on to styrene by the time Hot Wheels got big. (Though I do remember a few ‘special’ ones…like the Dodge Deora with the surfboards!)

It was a new model smell, for sure, Greg. Those “smell” memories are strange, I swear I could actually smell the model. [8-|]

Great job on this kit. Others have mentioned how realistic it looks, I agree. The Canadian Border Protection Agency scheme is extra cool.

[Y][Y][Y]

Really good looking build gregbale.

I’ll have to keep a lookout for the name on the decals when visiting our eldest so out in Manitoba when were over from the UK!