The Revell/Monogram offering of the Tom Daniel Paddy Wagon is a recent release of nostalgia. Originally released in 1968, the Paddy Wagon is one of many collaborations between noted show car designed Tom Daniel and Monogram. Others in the series include The Red Baron, Rommel’s Rod , The Beer Wagon, and The Garbage truck to name but a few. Anyone of a certain age will have fond memories of these kits, and if you’re like me, very happy to see them again on store shelves.

The kit contains 88 parts, and is molded in dark blue plastic, and has one sprue of gold plated parts. Four tires, a clear windscreen and two headlight covers round out the parts list. Then there are the two cop figures, more on these later. The instruction sheet contains nine steps, all of which contain multiple mini steps, and the final step shows decal placement. Paint call outs are part of each step, and are easy to follow.

I basically followed the paint call outs during construction with a few changes. The interior upholstery on the bulkheads and seats call for them being painted gold. To make these areas seem more like upholstery I painted them acrylic tan, then used artists oils to shade and highlight them. This gave them the look of upholstered material rather than a metal like appearance gold paint would have imparted. The look is very good, and I believe improves the overall look of the completed model. I painted the blue dark blue areas Testors Dark Blue enamel paint in the square bottle. I added a few drops of gloss black to the bottle to darken the blue slightly. I applied the decals before assembling the body shell, and shot a few coats of Tamiya clear over it all to seal in the decals.

Assembly went smoothly after the finish dried, the only place I had a slight problem getting the windscreen to sit correctly in the opening between the cowl and roof, however I believe that was my mistake rather than with the instructions. I covered my mistake by using white glue to fill in the openings top and bottom of the glass, added some acrylic interior black paint to blend it all together, and am satisfied with the results.

There are two Clown Cop figures that accompany this release. When Tom Daniel designed this car back in the day, he envisioned these two guys, one in the driver’s seat, and the other one hanging on the back step. Neither one of the figures really fit where it was supposed to go. The driver figure didn’t fit behind the wheel very well, and his feet didn’t touch the floor. The other fellow only had one foot touching the rear step, and didn’t fit to where he could get a legitimate hand hold on the rear panel or railing. I left mine off as I thought because of the ill fit issues they would detract from an otherwise nice looking car.

My sample was missing the front axle trim piece (#44). I tried to call the customer service number, and got a recording saying the best way to obtain replacement parts was through the Revell/Monogram web site. I noticed the part missing late on a Friday night, and wasted all weekend waiting for Monday morning for the call. I did request the part via the web site, and am happy to report it was in my mailbox less than ten days later!! Requesting replacement parts through the website is the way to go with Revell/Monogram, and I’m very happy with how it all worked out. Kudos to the Revel/ Monogram Customer Service people!!

My overall impression of the kit is very good. The construction was very easy, painting a snap and the overall look of the completed model very good. I wasn’t really impressed with the figures, but that’s ok. I see the value in including them, and with a little finagling I could have gotten them to fit. I do like the model with the campy figures so I don’t think it’s a critical issue. The gold trim parts look great next to the blue, and only a small amount of clean up was required to make those parts look good. I used some gold paint on the areas I scrapped off the minor flashing and is acceptable. I highly recommend this kit to anyone of my age bracket, anyone interested in Tom Daniel creations, or anyone wanting to build a cool custom car kit!! I offer my thanks to Revel/ Monogram and IPMS/USA for providing this sample for review.