By VinceHoffman
Aug 30, 2019
I've been sporadically working on this one for awhile… Like 6 freakin’ years- LOL! “Wait just a minute”, you say. “This set came out in 2014, how is that possible?” Well I actually beat Mega Bloks to the punch with the NMPD Genet. Back in 2013, using a mix of Mega Bloks and a lot of L*go, I built the model seen in the last pic. While it wasn’t perfect, I was pretty proud of it. I mean as long as you looked at it in side profile, it was approximately the correct shape and you didn’t see just how wrong the windscreen actually was- LOL!
It turned out that I had completed my first custom Genet about 6 months prior to the official Police Cruiser Standoff being announced. Eventually the official version arrived in local stores and I bought and built one. The MB design team had molded a new part, specifically that PERFECTLY shaped windscreen, which addressed the biggest issue with my custom build. The stock MB Genet also incorporated some clever building techniques. Certainly more clever than my earlier work! Even as I admired what MB had wrought though, I saw elements of the stock build I thought I could improve upon. Particularly if I was to fabricate a few more custom parts…
Alright so full disclosure. This time around I enlisted some help. You see I really wanted to be rid of the agglomeration of slanted plates MB had used to created the driver and passenger “doors”. My solution was to cut and painstakingly reshape two white L*go 6x5x1 panels into new door pieces. The end result was sleek and thankfully stud-free but totally the wrong shade of white. That’s where my buddy and mini-fig customizer extraordinaire @Yrkane’s Abattoir comes in. He agreed to take my panels and replicate the marbled arctic white/grey swirled camo color. This clearly wasn’t easy and took several attempts and over a year to complete.
In the meantime I dialled in other aspects of the model like the wheels and interior. I kit-bashed some game-accurate wheel & tire replacements using wheels from MB Halo tank tread bogies and low profile L*go tire rubber. Unfortunately the six stud wide windshield just didn’t allow for two of the then new armored super-posable NMPD figs seated side-by-side. I came up with a different, cleaner interior design which accommodated both the shotty and my custom “shock baton”.
When the painted panels finally arrived I ran into another hitch. While the swirled arctic camo effect was perfect, Yrkane’s paintwork was finished in a matte clear coat that wasn’t a great match-up with the model’s glossy bricks. Aargh. I set the parts and unfinished model aside temporarily. With lots of other projects on the go I promptly forgot about it. For 5 years.
So fast forward to the present time. I’m busily spraying several rattle cans worth of Tamiya gloss clear coat. Specifically, I’m applying protective layers over some custom painted slopes for my recent Spartan Bus troop transport custom. Then while I was rummaging about for some obscure part for that build, I come across the unfinished NMPD Genets. Wait a minute, I’m currently spraying gloss clear coat! Out comes Yrkane’s custom painted Genet door panels. A quick surface sanding with extra-extra-extra fine sand paper and three coats of clear gloss later- Houston we have a reasonable match. Well it certainly took awhile but my 2nd stab at the Huciv Genet police cruiser is finally ready for prime time. Whatcha all think?
It turned out that I had completed my first custom Genet about 6 months prior to the official Police Cruiser Standoff being announced. Eventually the official version arrived in local stores and I bought and built one. The MB design team had molded a new part, specifically that PERFECTLY shaped windscreen, which addressed the biggest issue with my custom build. The stock MB Genet also incorporated some clever building techniques. Certainly more clever than my earlier work! Even as I admired what MB had wrought though, I saw elements of the stock build I thought I could improve upon. Particularly if I was to fabricate a few more custom parts…
Alright so full disclosure. This time around I enlisted some help. You see I really wanted to be rid of the agglomeration of slanted plates MB had used to created the driver and passenger “doors”. My solution was to cut and painstakingly reshape two white L*go 6x5x1 panels into new door pieces. The end result was sleek and thankfully stud-free but totally the wrong shade of white. That’s where my buddy and mini-fig customizer extraordinaire @Yrkane’s Abattoir comes in. He agreed to take my panels and replicate the marbled arctic white/grey swirled camo color. This clearly wasn’t easy and took several attempts and over a year to complete.
In the meantime I dialled in other aspects of the model like the wheels and interior. I kit-bashed some game-accurate wheel & tire replacements using wheels from MB Halo tank tread bogies and low profile L*go tire rubber. Unfortunately the six stud wide windshield just didn’t allow for two of the then new armored super-posable NMPD figs seated side-by-side. I came up with a different, cleaner interior design which accommodated both the shotty and my custom “shock baton”.
When the painted panels finally arrived I ran into another hitch. While the swirled arctic camo effect was perfect, Yrkane’s paintwork was finished in a matte clear coat that wasn’t a great match-up with the model’s glossy bricks. Aargh. I set the parts and unfinished model aside temporarily. With lots of other projects on the go I promptly forgot about it. For 5 years.
So fast forward to the present time. I’m busily spraying several rattle cans worth of Tamiya gloss clear coat. Specifically, I’m applying protective layers over some custom painted slopes for my recent Spartan Bus troop transport custom. Then while I was rummaging about for some obscure part for that build, I come across the unfinished NMPD Genets. Wait a minute, I’m currently spraying gloss clear coat! Out comes Yrkane’s custom painted Genet door panels. A quick surface sanding with extra-extra-extra fine sand paper and three coats of clear gloss later- Houston we have a reasonable match. Well it certainly took awhile but my 2nd stab at the Huciv Genet police cruiser is finally ready for prime time. Whatcha all think?