Before I got back into my old childhood hobby of wargaming in the later 1990s, my hobby was collecting model police cars and various bits of police paraphernalia from around the world. I built up quite a large collection, which up till recently was kept in a dark corner of the Wellington Central Police Station (where I haven’t been since 2005).
Recently I was contacted by the manager of Wellington Central, who told me that they were going to renovate the floor where the display cases were situated. “Oh no,” I thought, “here it comes – they want me to take my stuff away, and I don’t know what I’ll do with it all!” But, no, instead he told me they were going to move the display into a much more prominent position in front of the lifts that lead to the cafeteria.
I popped into Central today to take a look at what they have done. I was delighted! So I just had to take some photos, even though all I had with me was my rather ancient phone camera. Here are the pics I took, in case any of you are interested in seeing this collection. There are even a few items that could possibly be used in a modern wargaming setting!
And, oh how I would love to own those display cases for my wargaming armies! But although the collection is mine, the cases belong to the Police.
Display case 1
Top shelf: France, Spain. Second shelf: Netherlands. Third shelf: old Eastern Bloc. Fourth shelf: Switzerland, Austria and Japan.
Below: A couple of 1/24th scale models of Dutch police vehicles. The Mercedes traffic car is a standard kitset, but the Shorland armoured car I converted from a Landrover kit.
Below: A 1/43rd scale die-cast French riot van reflected in a shiny French riot helmet.
Display case 2
Top shelf: United Kingdom. Second shelf: New Zealand. Third shelf: Germany. Fourth shelf: police shoulder patches from various Asian and Middle East nations.
Below: The blue and white helmets on the second shelf were the ones I used to wear many years ago as a young constable on the beat.
Below: German police vehicles in a range of scales from 1/18th (the cute BMW Isetta) to 1/87th (the water cannon). The hat is a 1950s German police shako.
Display case 3
Top shelf: Luxembourg, UN and Belgium. Second shelf: USA. Third shelf: more USA. Fourth shelf: police shoulder patches from various Pacific nations.
Below: A 1/25th scale New York City patrol car, a lovely plastic kitset.
Display case 4
Top shelf: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Australia and Tonga. Second shelf: Italy and Hong Kong. Third shelf: Scandanavia. Fourth shelf: Greece, Canada, South Africa, Northern Ireland and Portugal.
Below: A South African Police Landrover. This started life as a 1/43rd die-cast pick-up truck, but I added the cage in the back. Not a very PC model, I know …
Display case 5
This is a bit different from the others, as it isn’t part of my personal collection. These items were brought back by my colleagues who worked in Thailand doing disaster victim identification after the Boxing Day tsunami.
Oh, and that of course is me reflected in the glass!
DRESSING THE LINES 
Or was that a ghost of Roly shown in the glass of the case?!
It’s great to have your collection featured more prominently. Excellent news Ghost Roly. Can I have one of your ghost chips please?! 8O)
(With apologies to non NZ domiciled readers to whom ‘ghost chips’ is absolutely meaningless.)
Salute
von Peter himself
What a truly unique collection, it must have been such a thrill seeing them more prominently displayed – and yes I would love those cabinets too!
wow that is very impressive,thank you for sharing
It is good that the central station has moved them to a more prominent location and are still preserving them.
Jim
Roly hii .. Hope life there is well .. I still follow you here and drop in from time to time ..
Have a look at the link here .. very Nostalgic and the pics even from such a long time ago still look as good today as they did then 🙂
Take care .. Your friend Paul
http://unfashionablyshiny.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/battleground-gettysburg.html
Hi Roly,
I am a police collector from Hong Kong, I am looking for a old style riot helmet used by Hong Kong Police right now, and I just found you have one in your collection( In display case 4). May I ask is it available for trade? Or can I exchange with you? Wait for your reply, thanks.
Wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Best Regards.
Ken
Hi Ken
No, sorry, it is the only one I have. But thank you for your interest.
Cheers
Roly
Hi Roly,
Sorry for brothing you again. Actually we are planning for a 1967 Hong Kong riot exhibition in June 2015, so we would like to show people the police equipments used in that period, since we have found almost all the equipments except the helmet and gas mask, so we hope we can get it from you. I have a riot helmet that is same as your but it is the version with visor( used in 1970’s to 1990’s), can I exchange with your old version one? So you can stills have one Hong Kong Police riot helmet in your collection. I can also give you some Hong Kong Police badges and caps for extra. This is the last hope I can complete the full gear for the exhibition, so I really hope I can get it from you. It is hard to find vintage Hong Kong Police items in Hong Kong, because the people here would not collect such items, so many of the historical items are gone to the rubbish bin as a result.
Best Regards.
Ken Ngan
If you could please private message me, we’ll take this discussion offline.
Hi Roly,
I couldn’t find the function of private message on WordPress, thus I sent a e-mail to your hotmail mailbox, please let me know if you have not receive the e-mail. Here is my e-mail: hkcaptain_ken@yahoo.com.hk
Best Regards.
Ken Ngan