# Love the General Lee...



## -Hemi- (May 5, 2014)

WELL guys, I had to bring him home! The model your about to see, has a bit of a story behind it. 

As a kid, I LOVED the Dukes of Hazard, I mean seriously, more of the cars then Daisy, (BOY has that one switched around she was good lookin' and shes not old enough to be my mother for Gods sake!) But anyway, I was a model builder back then and come to find out yard sale hoping with the neighbors when I lived in Pennsylvania, I came across a yard sale 3 houses down the street from my now gone home place. And there it sat! I spotted it a mile away, it was gray, with a TON of glue smudged everywhere it seems and the guy I bought it from Jerry (was a neighbor remember) and he says you want it? 50 cents, Well then and even today, I couldn't get the change out of my pocket fast enough....The neighbors I was with questioned it, you wanted that huh? Its in some rough shape....You know the deal....I think I may have been 8, possibly 9 at the time, this thing took a bit of work, to bring it back to life....

A bunch of All-Metal REAL car auto putty, and the local garage was greatful to allow me to shoot it in they're paint booth while they had that nice, bright orange in a gun! (THIS was when my talent of spray painting was first revealed!) 

Anyway, took a ton of time to smooth out the sides and get it to where I thought it was ready for primer (high-build stuff) that way, I could fill ANY and EVERY scratch after all the time I sanded, and rubbed the body as smooth as I could get it. a paper towel under your hand feeling the body lines SHOWS you the painter A LOT of imperfections, OR just how true it is, at being smooth ready for paint....

So, without more words to read, have a look, this has survived multiple moves, and the longest one, PA to New Hampshire and hasn't had any trouble with any of it, (I LOST a ton of models), built, and unbuilt from a house fire to my home place that I was never able to get when there on vacation....This, is the ONLY survivor!


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## -Hemi- (May 5, 2014)

So then a few more to see:














































Well thats the last one! ONLY model I currently have done, 26 years in the making and FIRST time online, and for that old, built, UNTOUCHED by me since that time, I think, I done pretty well! For a 10 year old, way back when, used non-model materials to bring the ole guy back to life, yep, I done well! 

...Few things I'd do differently, I see a couple detail mistakes, looking under the hood, bot I will NOT touch it, I refuse, can't make me! This is a piece of my model building history!

ENJOY!


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## Rondo (Jul 23, 2010)

That came out great Hemi. Love the hose and wiring detail. Slick paint too.

I've got one around somewhere that I built for my little brother way back when. It's clean enough but much more plain than yours.


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)

nice job!I bet you may like this one as well!


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## -Hemi- (May 5, 2014)

Thanks guys! Yes, that ole General has been more then around the block LOL

It shows something of my modeling habits, A bad one it seems sometimes, BUT, pays off in the end....

DETAIL, I'm addicted to it, can ya tell? This model was built/finished 26 years ago.....BUT as frustrated as I may get or seem during the build, this is where it pays off, So yeah John, mine has "A LOT" of extras in there!

Philo,
Yes, a little different, maybe, but NICE, so yeah, I like it, I've always loved that "Rebel Flag" and the infamous "01"........I HATE when its used on other then Mopar tho.....Specially the lettering looking the same on a GM or a Ford, even the goof balls putting it on an Import....just not right!

Again, thanks guys!


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## whiskeyrat (May 7, 2012)

SWEET!! Paintjob looks super slick Hemi! Hard to believe this kit is over 20 years old, looks like it just went together yesterday! Is this the 1/25 Ertl kit? The lack of the rear-window notch was a mistake on those kits if I remember correctly...


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## -Hemi- (May 5, 2014)

Whiskey,
Yes it is hard to believe how good of shape its in, Its spent that 26 year span in a model made "display" case that you can buy with the plastic cover, like Revell I think it is, sells to us today!

Anyway, this is the 1981 Warner Bros. Promotional model car, made by AMT-Ertl. It was wrong, BUT that one mistake, PLUS the fact its got molded under the floor or the bottom side of the interior pan, "1981 Warner Bros. license to AMT-Ertl "Made in USA" Dyersville, Iowa Its been so long since I've taken that model off the base, I can't remember remember it went on that black base 26 years ago, and has never since been removed!

For the past 3 years, this model has been on display at my local hobby shop....The guys there respect the ole General well....They allow me to display anything I might bring in, that I've built....

Anyway that mistake with the model, was due to the fact that at the time the only "Charger" AMT-Ertl had for tooling to produce was the '69 Charger 500....They used that model body for about 500 models till it was caught as a mistake and then changed, this would have been late 1981, early 1982...Then, it was a close but still not 100% correct for what the General Lee truly was, but, if you had to put a model out of 247 cars, it make making just one of them a bit challenging!


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## scottnkat (May 11, 2006)

That's cool. I wish I still had some of the cars that I'd built years ago. Good for you keeping it with you and keeping it safe.


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## DCH10664 (Jul 16, 2012)

Great Looking General !!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I always loved the General, but it's one car I never even tried to build. I used to like building model cars. But stood clear of any car that depended on decals to make it look right. I just never got the knack for doing decals. They always ended up peeling off. And I'm still bad with decals.


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## -Hemi- (May 5, 2014)

...yeah, its part of my "modeling growth" shall we say.... I'm pleased I've saved him this long and heres to another 26 years!

Thanks guys! Its great to get this sort of feed back on a model, thats "that" old,. ya know?

That is, partly to blame what keeps me going! THANK YOU!


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