Reviews : AMT Lowboy Trailer & Bulldozer

What can I say?, typical AMT kits, lots of parts, some flash, a little warpage, but in the end, very large and impressive models! The only things I didn’t care for were the chrome parts on the dozer kit, I’ve worked around a LOT of heavy equipment and theres no chrome on them, stainless steel and bare metal yes, but super shiny chrome, no, A bath in LA Awesome cleaner took care of the chrome issue. The overall fit of the parts was pretty good, the trailer went together very quickly and everything fit nicely, the deck was not very realistic so I used basswood strips to simulate a heavy timber wooden deck and stained it with thinned Tamiya XF-64 brown paint, and used Plastruct angle for the edges. The tie downs are nice and I turned them upside down to simulate their position with a load attached. The chrome rims also got a bath in Awesome cleaner and then painted the trailer color. I didn’t care for the metal decking on the rear of the trailer so I added some safety tread embossed styrene and painted it with Tamiya XF-56 metallic gray,.Decals are mostly scanvenged from the parts boxes and the paint was a custom blend of Tamiya flats and gloss. The dozer kit was a bit more challenging, everything fit pretty well, some flash and slight warpage but no major problems, the turbo charger does sit a bit high on the engine and the hood won’t fit exactly right, so test fit and trim the parts if you need to. The ripper assembly is nice, but the provided pins are way too small, I made some from Plastruct solid rod and sheet styrene, the pins on the real machines are huge heavy things and designed to stay put. I scratchbuilt a cab cover using research pics from online sources, it’s not 100% accurate but looks good. I read some reviews saying the tracks were difficult to assemble, it can be and there might be breakage of the pins if you force them too much, I used a small flathead screwdriver to GENTLY pry apart the parts the pins fit in, and they popped right into place, I also painted the tracks with Tamiya XF-56 metallic gray, I added some diamond tread styrene to the cab floor and a fire extinguisher, decals are scanvenged from parts boxes and the whole project lightly weathered. It was a fun build, definitely not for a novice modeller.

2 in 1 - nuff said!! Lots of fun. Flashing was minimal; mold lines varied, but a bit of time and they were cleaned up. Note that both kits are molded in YELLOW. The trailer went together super-fast and square - but be careful or you can get it out of square pretty easy. • My frame rails (all four) were warped; some EASY bending got them straight - but one main rail broke. I was able to get it back together and reinforced. • One of the suspension mount crossmembers got broken at some point; it arrived broke. I was able to cobble a repair, and once painted, it wasn't visible. • The metal axles were nearly an inch too long - be sure and check them before installing. • The decking was replaced with basswood strips - use plain ol' Elmers wood glue on a brush to set the planks in place! The dozer was a challenge at some points. • The radiator and fan guard locations are vague at best - I did a lot of test fitting, and once glue was starting to set, I FINALLY got it set! • Mounting the drive/suspension assemblies was trying, to say the least. • The tracks go together very quickly, but be careful you don't break the little tabs. ** TIP ** The rocker pivot arm (or whatever they call it!) just sits in a slot under the engine. Nothing holds it in place, so when you pick up the finished kit, the arm cones out. If you put a bit of flat plastic over the pivot point, you can secure the arm. The end result is one of my best efforts! Pictures will have to wait until my next hometime and I get more paint - I ran out!

This has got to be one of the best kits. The only thing I don't like is the fact that the bulldozer is a Caterpillar D8H and when it was first released it had the decals that were correct. However for some reason Caterpillar did not want A M T to use the name anymore. I'm glad that A M T continues to manufacture this great kit. The trailer is a Loadcraft and the original kit had decals that had the Loadcraft decals. I remember buying this kit around 1972 and could not wait until I completed it. It is still outstanding, The bulldozer load has got to be the greatest load ever to grace the hobby. This Loadcraft trailer is also offered with a electrical load consisting of 3 large transformers 3 large wire rolls with mounting and a few smaller insulaters. This is also another great kit. The trailer goes together easily. The bulldozer is more complex and requires skill to get it perfect. I never had any issues with these kits. All you need is patience and time for an outstanding build.

Yes, the dozer is vintage AMT with all the shenanigans that follow. But, check out all the 3D printed options for the dozer!!! Wow, what a rabbit hole to go down. I'm going old school Logging industry with mine... OK maybe the first one. LOL. I was a Porsche modeler from the start. Things went sideways after the MAN TGA auto transporter I built. Then the heavy plant/equipment haulers I saw in Europe. This is a great combo kit. I love these beasts!!!

My oldest son bought this for my youngest son their both satisfied with it, and it will be a challenging build for them. Just looking I did not see any flashing and details seem great, this will make a great addition to his collection, I don't know the cons yet as they haven't started this project yet.

This is one of those kits that I'm glad I waited till I had ALOT of experience under my belt due to the unnumbered parts & sometimes vague instructions, I'm glad there alot of D8 pics online to use as references lol... Recommended for experienced builders..

Wow I was so happy to get this kit. perfect moldings! So detailed! Too much chrome but you can easily fix that. I replaced the deck with real wood. Very nice kit, will buy another one.

None of the pieces of the bulldozer are numbered. This looks like it might have been a defective set. Hopefully I can navigate my way through the instructions.

2 in 1, you can't beat that! You know you're getting a project when you feel how heavy this kit is, a lot of detail! Great project kit.

not a bad kit a lot of cleanup and frame out of shape