Waiting For The Snow --- AMT Ford LNT 8000 Snow Plow

This past November my wife and I visited our daughter in Queens, NY for Thanksgiving. The rest of our family was there too. We had a truly magnificent time, visiting and seeing the sites of NYC. On one of those visits I made a stop at one of my favorite "old time" hobby stores -- a place called Rudy's Hobby Shop in Astoria.

It was there that I found another of those kits built long ago but now lost, and thanks to my son I got it. It was his early Christmas present to me, and he saw that I really wanted it.

This kit was the latest re-release of this model by Stevens International. Unfortunately it was discontinued, but maybe Round 2 will bring it back.

This was an okay build that I started in January. I took my time, building up the frame and painting it as a unit in flat black.

The picture above shows the completed frame, wheels attached and the main body components primed in Testor's gray primer. Note that I built the plow up as a unit, modified the hinge point by drilling it out and pinning it so it would work, and priming as a unit.

Test fitting is important with this model -- note that I chose to use a front bumper from an old AMT Mack R kit. I liked the look and after some slight modifications to the bumper it was a better fit.

It should be noted at this point that my wife has become more trusting of me, allowing me to do this build on our dining room table. This shows the body components being test fitted after painting with Testor's Competition Orange. Note that the interior tub is in place but NOT glued.

This is the completed model. The gas tanks were stripped of their chrome and steps attached. They were painted with Testor's Diamond Dust. The interior tub was done in flat black, dash and seats are done in Testor's Gray Primer. The FORD marques were done using a Sharpie silver pen as were the door handles and touch up on the mirrors. The reflective decals came from the AMT Log Trailer kit.

The mud-flaps were painted in flat black, and the raised FORD carefully scraped back to the white plastic. The sander unit was built as a unit and painted with the gray primer. The auger is flat black and was inserted after building the unit. I also added outside controls to the sander unit -- I like the way it looks.

Finished model, with dump body raised and plow in lifted position. Note the windshield frame was done using a Sharpie black pen. I wish the kit included an option for plow lights -- the headlights just won't work when the plow is lowered and it's blowing snow!!!