Bombardier sidewalk plow: Final assembly, major components

There is lots to show since the last post. To recap: this hot rod snow plow started off as a 1/35 Tamiya kit of a light Japanese tank, with a blown Pontiac 421 motor from the old Revell Parts Packs series, and a roof and interior carved out of an AMT Ford Falcon Ranchero. I suspect there are other interesting things to be built using military 1/35 kits as a base, but I'll leave that for another day.

The plow components came from the Revell pickup kit, sourced from an eBay vendor. It would be nice to have some of the other kit parts, but I am too cheap to buy the entire kit and wouldn't know what to do with a GMC pickup truck once I'd stolen the useful stuff.



The upper body components got Testor's yellow, while the chassis and drivetrain got Tamiya semi-gloss black and flat aluminum respectively, all over a base of Tamiya primer. (The dark brown plastic was going to be difficult to cover without a good coat of primer).



Boy do tanks have a lot of wheels! 10 per side if my count is correct, with the foremost one being the drive wheel. This fits with what I have seen of the little plows on the street.



Engine and radiator are now in, along with the interior. The blower scoop obviously faces backwards over the bell housing as the engine is turned around. This should not be a problem as I am guessing the drives would be hydraulic on most modern plows.



Lots of nice little details, like the chains and tow hooks, came from the tank kit. There is also a shovel, pickaxe and jack, along with what was probably meant to be a munitions box but which will be recycled as a tool box.



It's a snowy day here today and it's unfortunate the plow isn't ready to help out, because the yellow paint has to harden before I can handle it. So I'll be shoveling the old fashioned way later this afternoon. Final assembly will include things like mirrors, glass, headlights, and the plow assembly. Stay tuned!