Hello
I am working on my HO railroad, with a timespan 1950-1955, western U.S.A. Now I am looking for Cat Bulldozers that are suitable for that period. Anyone has opinions about what models to look for, or has someone a link to where I can find information about machinery used in that period.
Olav in Norway
OlavM, http://www.woodlandscenics.com/ has a D223 bulldozer which will work, and if you dont mind painting, $9.95 is better than $40!![:)]
GHQ has a number of dozers and other construction equipment kits. They are cast metal, not lead or zinc. They include a driver figure. $25 to $40 list price; stocked by Walthers. Very good kits, I have built their forklift.
http://www.ghqmodels.com/store/ho-scale-construction-equipment.html
Ar you looking for a Caterpillar brand specificially or just a mid '50s era cat? I grew up with all my family (most of them 2nd or 3rd gen. loggers) calling most tracked equipment (where applicable)“cats”.
These are probably a little older than '50s but could be a starting point to kit bash. http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/785-233 http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/284-61006
Hello, and thanks for all replies, I really did not know that there was so many nice models of this type of gear from the ‘correct’ time period.
WP3020: Yes, I initially meant Caterpillar, but during today the respones have given me some valuable input.
The trouble for me was to find models that were correct in time, not models in general.
This is really a helpfull forum[:D]! (And due to the low USD exchange rate, I have renewed my MR & Trains subscriptions for another three years, so I’ll stay around!)
Best regards from Olav
I don’t remember Cat bulldozers in the '50s looking much different from the models of today. Except for the blade lift, which was a cable hoist on older machines but is hydraulic today. Over here childrens toy stores carry nice construction equipment toys, Hot Wheels and such. They are a little large for HO, being closer to S scale, but for construction equipment it doesn’t matter. The smallest Cat D2 bulldozer looked about the same as the humungous D9 which was so big it could doze a two lane road in one pass.
A tip to remember is that some of the construction machines that have been featured here dating back to the 1940s and 50s would still be appropriate for modelers with layout eras running through the early 80s. Construction equipment, such as bulldozers, power shovels, payloaders, pavers, and cranes were designed and built for 20 year life spans. Many exceeded that.
You can visit a local city/town library and look at photo archives of municipal construction projects over the years in many North American cities. Often times you can spot vintage units dating back to the WWII era still working in the 70s and 80s. Here in Tampa up until the late 80s, the Sol Walker scrap yard had a crane dating back to the 40s. Now that’s tough!