Like so many of us, my childhood was filled with a multitude of model show rods. From the Revell Roth creations, to the Monogram Tom Daniel designs, through the MPC Barris creations and AMT originals, I had a nice cross section of wild car models residing on my bedroom shelves. But possibly the strangest were the Aurora “Scene Machines”. 

These little 1/32 scale kits were fairly unique in that they came with two figures to display with the model in a theme setting. And the Themes were pretty out there! 

Of all of these, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Peppermint Fuzz. I guess I just couldn’t resist the charm of a pink police car. Not wanting to incur the jeers of my buddies, I built one for my little sister, who loved it because of its obvious feminine appeal. But like so many of my childhood memories, the Peppermint Fuzz was destined to wind up as land fill in the NJ Meadowlands. 

The Peppermint Fuzz II came about out of the need to fulfill my model car clubs annual Holiday Build Contest. Every December all of the members are given the opportunity to express their creative juices by taking the same kit and building it any way they see fit, from serious and mild to completely over the top. This year’s kit was the Revell Impala Police Car. It didn’t take me very long to decide that a present day version of my beloved Peppermint Fuzz was in order. 

Like so many other things in my life, this build was put off until I only had about a month to complete it. So I tried to keep the body modifications to a minimum. I figured it was more important to focus on a striking paint scheme. So it was built pretty much stock except for the addition of a rear wing which came from a Fujimi box of wings supplied by my son Dante who builds tuner type models and some oversize wheels and tires also supplied by Dante. The wheel wells needed to be opened slightly to accommodate these. The model was finished in HOK Snow White Pearl and Metal flake Candy Apple Red for the stripes with Plasticote Hot Pink for the rest. The tear effect was done with careful masking and some light airbrushed shading. The badge and star emblems are from an original Peppermint Fuzz decal sheet supplied by my good friend Andy Yanchus, who happened to have a spare sheet in his collection. The interior was painted in a very stark black and white scheme using Krylon Flat White and Black. All of the chrome trim was done with Bare Metal Foil. The clear red taillight panel was discarded after a “mishap” and replaced with some small clear red plastic rhinestones I found at a craft shop. 

Once the car was finished, I decided that in keeping with the original version, it needed a figure to display with it. Again my friend Andy came to the rescue with a “Julie” figure from the Aurora Mode Squad kit. I painted her in a jail bird scheme, added a tiny photo-etched hand cuff set from Scalemaster and built a base for here from Evergreen styrene sheet and rod. The new logo was supplied by my brother Damian, who routinely bails me out of my graphic ineptitude. A display bas was cut from some scrap plastic and painted white. Over the wet paint was sprinkled some clear glitter for the “sugar coated” look. 

And that pretty much completed the model. It received a very warm welcome from my fellow club members who refrained from teasing me about building a pink police car. It even took home a third place trophy.