by James Lowe

This vehicle is a kitbash of a Lindberg 1/24-scale Dodge Little Red Wagon drag racer and AMT / Ertl’s AT-AT Walker.

The biggest modification to the Dodge pickup body was closing the wheel openings with 0.020 inch sheet styrene, filling any gaps with putty, and sanding the whole thing smooth - this required lots of time and patience. The tailgate and doors were glued shut to give the body rigidity. Balsa was used to line the pickup bed. The robot arm was scavenged from a Play Mobil spaceship toy, and the bench seat and control lever were leftovers from an AMT / Ertl 1/24-scale L’il Gasser kit.

The cab interior is nearly box-stock. The only addition was a giant gear shifter / leg controller made from the pocket clip of a spent pen. The external door mirrors came from a Revell Honda Civic kit, and the ladders for cab entry are from my model truck part stash.

The Dodge boys designed this one for fishing. Who needs a bass boat when you can walk right into your favorite lake? When you’re done, you can walk back to your cabin, or just leave her there in the water for next time. But, don’t sit in those outrigger seats while she’s walking. They’re just for fishing and have no seatbelts, extra padding or shock-mounting to prevent you from getting bounced around pretty bad while the AT-AT is walking at a full trot. The side outriggers are made from balsa glued on top of sheet styrene, and the seats are from two AMT / Ertl Moonscope kits.

Here’s a tip: if you’re fishing from the passenger seat, never try to brace yourself against the door if you hook a big, mean sturgeon with lots of fight in him, because that sucker – the door that is – will pop right off and you and the door will take a swan dive; hence, the wrong color, ill fitting replacement door on the passenger side. That door is painted with Model Master Acryl Marine Corps Green, and the rest of the body is Model Master Acryl Dark Green. Note that the body is molded in red plastic which I find is always difficult to paint.

The legs and chassis are built more-or-less box stock from the AMT / Ertl kit. The only additions were the exhaust pipe made from the cap of a dried out ‘Expo’ whiteboard marker, and the front and back wood bumpers made from balsa and attached to the chassis with piano wire struts. The bumpers are meant to be wide enough so that daring swimmers could dive from almost anywhere along the rear outer perimeter of the vehicle.

Get a ‘leg up' on your fishin’ buddies and buy a Dodge AT-AT today!

Image: Left side

Image: Rear

Image: Looking down

Image: View through the rear window

Image: Cab

Image: Close-up, left

Image: Right

Image: Underneath

Image: Winter trials