ORIGINAL CUSTOMIZED GENERAL LEE MODEL

This was my first attempt at building a more accurate General Lee model. I built this model in the winter of 2000. Here's the story of how I decided to build it:

I used to have an original General Lee 1:25 scale model (back around 1981), but I think it may have been involved in some sort of childhood demolition derby.

In 1998, I bought the re-released General Lee model, which I built with much more care. However, with my recently renewed interest in the Dukes' cars, I began to notice a lot of inaccuracies with the General Lee kit.

This led me to the task of building a much more accurate General Lee. I bought two different kits, one was the actual "Dukes" kit, and the other was a regular '69 Charger kit, made by Monogram. I used the tires, wheels, front push bar and most of the decals from the "Dukes" kit, and the rest is from the Monogram kit. I made my own license plate decals and letter decals for the roof.

The "Dukes" kit features a Charger 500-style body instead of the regular Charger body. The difference is mostly in the rear window, which is flat on the 500 body, and buttressed on the regular body.

Also, the inaccurate "Dukes" kit shows hood pins, "Charger" emblems behind the side windows, and "hemi" emblems on the doors. These didn't exist on the "real" General Lee.

The "General Lee" decals on the top were made in black letters, instead of the proper blue, plus they were too big and were printed in the incorrect font.

Finally, in most "Dukes" episodes, the General only has a roll bar behind the front seats, not a complete roll cage, as featured in the inaccurate kit.

Initially, I had printed the roof lettering on label paper (see the first 3 photos below), but after getting clear adhesive lettering from the sign shop, I replaced my handmade decals with the better-looking ones in 2002.

Then, on December 2, 2002, I modified the front suspension and dullcoated the wheels, for a more accurate look. I also repainted the side marker lights, eliminating the incorrect chrome outlines. These final modifications can be seen in the last 2 photos below.

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