The Simpsons Mr. Plow

       

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Original Kit:
GMC Pickup with Snow Plow
Made By:
Revell (kit #85-7222)
Scale:
1/24
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Classic Mr. Plow from The Simpsons
The Simpsons Mr. Plow engine The Simpsons Mr. Plow front fender detail The Simpsons Mr. Plow interior The Simpsons Mr. Plow junk in the trunk The Simpsons Mr. Plow radiation hazard The Simpsons Mr. Plow rear

 
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I had wanted to get the main family vehicles finished (as per their appearances in The Simpsons: Hit & Run), and now that I've got that done I'll be skipping around a bit. Mr. Plow is one that I've wanted to build, and Revell's GMC Pickup was an ideal starting point with its plow rig, roll bar, and classic lines. Some renderings of Mr. Plow even included some very distinct Chevy/GMC design elements, though with enough changes to keep it legally distinct.

The only change made to the chassis was removing the last third of the exhausts system in favor of a set of straight pipes - this was as much a way to get around the heavy casting of the tailpipes as it was to make it look unique. The new pipes were made from aluminum tubing. I kept the tires and inner wheels that came in the kit, but replaced the outer wheels with the chrome five-spokes from Revell's '80 Bronco. The engine was built straight out of the box, painted gray with chrome dress-up parts.

Inside, I simplified the driving setup by eliminating the column-mounted shift lever and repurposing the 4x4 selector as the new shifter. Brown embossing powder was used for carpeting, and the interior was painted Rustoleum red primer and satin black.

The body was, once again, where most of the work went. I filled in the GMC marker and tail lights, then cut out the front end to accept the grille and headlights from Lindberg's Ford Explorer. Being out of scale worked perfectly, with the big headlights and (inverted) grille looking surprisingly close to the fictional Kumatsu Motors design. Good as that looked, though, it didn't even come close to the shape of the GMC hood. So I added strips of styrene to the leading edge, then sanded them to match the curve of the grille I also removed the center rib to clean up the look a bit. Once modifications were done, the body was painted in layers of maroon and red until I hit upon a color that looked "right" to how the truck was colored in its first appearance.

Having the plow blade was great, but the rig holding it in place was too elaborate and placed the blade too far from the front bumper. I cut back or eliminated parts until it was close enough to the bumper to look correct, then painted it gray with a satin black backside. The roll bar was modified to remove the mount tabs for the diagonal braces, then a set of four spotlights was added from my parts box with the lenses colored yellow. The running boards were cut down from a sheet of diamondplate I had on hand, the sideview mirrors were more parts box items, and the taillights were the kit's plow lights turned 90° and colored with a Sharpie marker. Finally, the Mr. Plow decals and rear license plate were custom graphics I created.

 

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