"Hazzard County" In N Scale

[KramerLines]

I have a tabletop N scale layout that I was trying to get some ideas for scenery for... and after looking at a birdseye view of the Warner Brothers backlot, I have decided to do a Hazzard County theme for the scenery! 

"The Dukes of Hazzard" was mostly shot on the backlot of the WB studios in Burbank... and it looks much like Walther's Merchants Row.  Now.... where to find an N scale '69 Dodge Charger and some late '70s Dodge Monaco police cruisers.

WB Backlot courtesy Microsoft:

Walthers:

[chutton01]

Remember the first 6 episodes were actually shot in Georgia, and have a totally different (and more realistic) look & feel to them - for example, Sheriff Roscoe had a whole platoon of deputies, not just Enos.

And you're not only not the first one to think of this, but it was a published track plan (Hazzard County Short Line) in Model Railroader's '48 Top Notch Track Plans' (although looking at the plan, they don't really have the 'backlot' downtown, nor Cooter's Garage, nor the Boar's Nest either - but they do have the Duke Farm!)

Oh, and Hazzard County definitely had railroads, in fact the Duke Boys jumped the trains on at least 2 seperate occasions.  And what's really amazing is how much Northern Georgia looks in no way like Southern California...

[BRAKIE]

A back lot Hazard is one thing..

Meet the real McCoy(hope there isn't any Hatfields around)

 

http://hazardkentucky.com/special/aerial70s/spec.htm

[CSX Robert]

Racing Champions made some "Dukes of Hazzard" cars in 1/144 scale, which may be close enough(1/144 is close enough for some people, but not for others).  You can probably find some of the cars on ebay.

[pcarrell]

For the police cars the closest I know of is the '78 Impala fire chief car.  Obviously, it's not a monoco, and it needs a fresh paintjob, but the era is right and it has the lights.  Might be a start?

Now, you could make Daisy's car, the yellow Roadrunner, from the early shows.  Check this out!

As for the Charger......not a clue.

[AntonioFP45]

 Ironically, the town in Georgia that was used for the episodes mentioned above is Covington...........the same town where the 1990s mega-hit show "In the Heat of The Night" was filmed.  There are a number of good shots on the web of Covington.

[The Trainmaster]

I don't see any N scale Dodge Chargers, not even on E-Bay! Good luck, I hope you find one. (Google It!)

 

Josh

[plymouth71]

How did this go for you? I am currently building the Hazzard County Shortline Layout mentioned among the replies. I am taking a few liberties though by completing a double loop.

[MisterBeasley]

This is in HO.

It's a Classic Metal Works model.  I bought a white one and brush painted it with "pumpkin" craft paint, then oversprayed with gloss coat.  The decals are home-made on my computer.  If anyone wants a copy of the artwork, I can email it to you.

[P&Slocal]

MisterB, your version is a 67 Charger. The General Lee is a 69 Charger. My parents had a 67 Charger in light blue metallic when I was a kid. it got sideswipped and my dad sold the whole car as a parts car for $25!!!!. Wish I had that car today.

[chutton01]

P&Slocal

MisterB, your version is a 67 Charger. The General Lee is a 69 Charger.

He is correct, Mister B. I wonder if there were licensing issue for CMW, as they could have done a 1968 Charger instead which would have worked well since Warner Brothers (who produced the 'Dukes of Hazzard') used 1968, 1969, and 1970 model year Chargers as they are quite similar - the 1967 looks very little like the General Lee we all knew and loved.
BTW, more than you'd ever care to know abou the General Lee in it's Wiki Entry, including this:

Although the estimated number of General Lees used varies from different sources, according to Ben Jones ("Cooter" in the show), as well as builders involved with the show, 320 General Lees were used to film the series. Others claim about 255 were used in the series. Approximately 17 still exist in various states of repair. On average, more than one General Lee was used up per show
<snip>
1968, 1969 to 1970 model-year Chargers were sourced and converted to General Lee specifications(taillights,grills,etc).

I have a fondness for the show, mostly due to it's production values being so lame (especially in the later years) - as a young teen, my Dad and I would watch the show faithfully during it's original run, and mock, razz, groan, and laugh at the inconsistancies, bizarre and stilted dialog, predictable hack plots, and yes even the little model cars they sometimes used at the end, all while while eating chips and bean dip (always bean dip!). Often we would literally ROFL at a particularly good zinger (OK, we were sitting on the floor to begin with, but still).
Decades later I met Sonny Shroyer at a classic car show, and told him my Dad and I really enjoyed watching the show (didn't tell him why, of course).

Alas, I didn't realize then that a mere 4 years later a prop-comic would make a name for himself by getting some puppeteers together and razzing on second-rate movies (although I don't recall Joel ever having bean dip in the theatre...)

[MisterBeasley]

Yes, I was aware of the discrepancies in the model years when I did mine, but the 67 was the only one available in HO scale.  So, like most of what we do in our hobby, I took a bit of modeler's license.  At least the Playmates on the back wall of the roundhouse are from 1969.

[jmbjmb]

What's really interesting is how different north Georgia is from the coast or even Atlanta south.  Some serious twisting landscaping up there.  A couple of places where you wouldn't think that one of the bigger metro areas is only 40 miles away you're so far back into the hills.