Dunno how that duplicate of the deck got there and it doesn't appear in the field when I go to edit it out. One of those "things" sent to frustrate.
A Borg Dozer on a 1:87 MTH 60' HTTX Flatcar
- Thread starter tootnkumin
- Start date
truckdad
Well-Known Member
TOOT?, I cant wait to see the end result. 4 or 5 carloads I thought you said? The oil stained and missing planks were the order of the day as I remember and most of the flatcars I saw were really beat up, especially along the sides in the chain trays. Just looking at your model brings back memories, some not so pleasant as one time while unchaining a machine I got a sliver in my knee. Next day it was sore, next day red swollen and infected, next day in the hospital on antibiotics. Almost lost my knee from infection from a tiny sliver from the oak deck boards.
Dave PV
Dave PV
Toot - outstanding work on the new batch. The missing/broken deck boards lend greatly to the atmosphere.
DavePV- Ouch - made me "winch". Redwood splinters are even more painful!
DavePV- Ouch - made me "winch". Redwood splinters are even more painful!
Thanks dave, wood splinters are very dangerous, apart from being also painful, well known to go septic. Some wood's are worse than others too. You can just see a couple of ends of the other cars, upside down, waiting on the production line. The trucks and wheels have been painted/weathered. Here's the underside of the cars to show the high level of detail.
All I've done there is give a basecoat of thinned white, bit more weathering to follow. These cars are quite sturdy, have stood up to quite a bit of handling, but there is one bit that is very delicate. The coupler cut bar handle hooks onto anything and everything, is extremely easy to bend, which I have done several times. Even just leaning the car over bends it inwards. Not sure what it's made of but none have broken off yet. You might be able to make it out against the coupler in it's background.
By chance, after we were talking about the chains before, come across a diagram of the method you described and later, one in a y/tube video. Seems the standard for them now is 4 chains per side over the tracks for the D9's, 5 for the D10's + wood chocks, and for the D11's, a large angle iron piece along the inside of the tracks and that angle bracket, bolted to the tracks and deck channels. Wish they'd do some of the "Biggies".
All I've done there is give a basecoat of thinned white, bit more weathering to follow. These cars are quite sturdy, have stood up to quite a bit of handling, but there is one bit that is very delicate. The coupler cut bar handle hooks onto anything and everything, is extremely easy to bend, which I have done several times. Even just leaning the car over bends it inwards. Not sure what it's made of but none have broken off yet. You might be able to make it out against the coupler in it's background.
By chance, after we were talking about the chains before, come across a diagram of the method you described and later, one in a y/tube video. Seems the standard for them now is 4 chains per side over the tracks for the D9's, 5 for the D10's + wood chocks, and for the D11's, a large angle iron piece along the inside of the tracks and that angle bracket, bolted to the tracks and deck channels. Wish they'd do some of the "Biggies".
truckdad
Well-Known Member
Toot, maybe leaving the coupler cut handle bent would be more prototypical. Unloading off the end of the car onto a dock seemed to destroy everything in the path. I was always leary when going over the gap between the car and dock with wheel type machines and especially the Cat 826 trash compactors. They wanted to "fall into the gap unless the gap was filled with blocking. And then there was the bent brake wheel shaft that wouldn't turn! Not trusting the wood wheel chocks, once I chained the flatcar to my lowbed so it wouldn't roll away. Not sure how the RR figures load securement but if it is like the way the DOT does trucks, I can see a similarity. Basically, the aggregate working load limit of the chains must equal 1/2 the weight of the machine. The D-11 is considerably heavier than the 10 and wider. I would like to see up close how they secure the D-11. If I ever get my railroad going, I plan to model removing a Cat 637E from the railcar and loading it on a jeep and dolly the way I used to haul them but I cant find a 37 in HO scale. I'm thinkin just get the 627 in 1/64 and change the lettering. Maybe do the same with a D-9?? to make a 10 or 11.
Dave PV
Dave PV
If you go back to page 3/post #22 and drag the progress bar along to 3:38min, there are 4 D11's till 4:16min. (can't see their ID's, but their tracks are overhanging the sides of the decks) If you can go to full screen and pause it, you can make out the end of a length of RSJ steel, poking out from under the tractor on each of them, and the pieces that are bolted vertically to the tracks. No chains over the tracks on those. There are D9R's before and following those. There are a few D10's also in the leading groups. That other walkaround video has a D10 behind the Loco and a D9 before the caboose.
I've got 5 of Norscots 627G scrapers, to follow this lot, but at least I don't have to dismantle them to model the load. The Dozers are the most complex to do. Another company, Diecast Masters, seem to have taken over at least, Norscot's HO D9T and upgraded it with some black painted parts and an operator figure in the cab. Their model # is 85209.
I've got 5 of Norscots 627G scrapers, to follow this lot, but at least I don't have to dismantle them to model the load. The Dozers are the most complex to do. Another company, Diecast Masters, seem to have taken over at least, Norscot's HO D9T and upgraded it with some black painted parts and an operator figure in the cab. Their model # is 85209.
truckdad
Well-Known Member
Toot, I did see the unusal way they attached the D-11s to the deck and I,m sure they wont move but after a lifetime of chaining equipment down I think a few crosschains from track to deck would make me feel better
. Sounds like you are planning an entire train of CAT machines? Cant wait to see it.
. Sounds like you are planning an entire train of CAT machines? Cant wait to see it.
Could be a while. I did have some vids on my computer of when I had stuff on 89' flat cars (an error when I knew no better of where to research), but they became corrupted somehow and unwatchable. Collected the Norscot stuff and a few others over time and then went looking for the MTH cars, only to find out just since starting this thread, they have a new lot in the pipeline soon. I think that's the first repeat in years. Now I need the money to get what I'd really like to have in TTX.
I haven't looked into the Komatsu Dozer yet. It is the biggest in the world apparently. No-one has dared make a model of it in HO yet. The stuff that has been done in 1:48 or 1:50 is a real incentive to go O scale.
I weakened and bought 2 more of the latest D9T's from the new producer of these models, Diecast Masters. Confirmed that they are the previous Norscot models, with what I believe is probably the latest color scheme, Caterpillar are using. A 2 tone yellow and black. Also answers the question of why one of those D9's on the train had a black blade. These now come in a very fancy tin container, within a quite plain, thick cardboard box (might only get that if mailed to you), a molded black foam interior surrounding the model in it's tin and a complimentary booklet, advertising the other lines. Of note is that there are a number of the previous HO types missing from the list.
My first thought was that it was a larger scale, because, alongside the ones I have stripped down it looks massive, the blade I was sure was much bigger. But actually placed next to the ones on the flatcar decks, it was just the fact that looking at the open front does make it appear so.
Anyway, a couple of comparative pics
These DCM ones also have an operator figure installed in the cab, which I won't need or want. I had prior to buying, stripped one of my other ones right down as far as I could get it by just taking out the 3 screws holding most of it together. 2 in the base underneath and 1 up inside the body that secures the motor housing to the mid section. Tracks get removed first, the stretch over the sprocket and wheels. The problem then how to remove the cab, which while able to be wriggled about a bit, wouldn't come free. Looking up inside beneath, I could see the protrusion that the 3rd screw went into, but directly in front of that was a similar blind one, which would suggest maybe another screw or locating peg for the cab or it's interior (there is a seat in the Norscot ones). The other thing that would prevent the cab being removed even if that is so, is the rollover protection bar over the cab's roof. That has legs on either side which connect to the track guards. Looking up under them, I believe I can see the ends of small dowel extensions from those legs, passing through the guards. Just what or how to knock them out will be the test of whether that rollbar can be dislodged without damage to anything else. A shame they don't seem to offer the model with or without driver.
When I begin this dismatling, I'll add pictures of how I did it (once I remember how I did them the first time)
My first thought was that it was a larger scale, because, alongside the ones I have stripped down it looks massive, the blade I was sure was much bigger. But actually placed next to the ones on the flatcar decks, it was just the fact that looking at the open front does make it appear so.
Anyway, a couple of comparative pics
These DCM ones also have an operator figure installed in the cab, which I won't need or want. I had prior to buying, stripped one of my other ones right down as far as I could get it by just taking out the 3 screws holding most of it together. 2 in the base underneath and 1 up inside the body that secures the motor housing to the mid section. Tracks get removed first, the stretch over the sprocket and wheels. The problem then how to remove the cab, which while able to be wriggled about a bit, wouldn't come free. Looking up inside beneath, I could see the protrusion that the 3rd screw went into, but directly in front of that was a similar blind one, which would suggest maybe another screw or locating peg for the cab or it's interior (there is a seat in the Norscot ones). The other thing that would prevent the cab being removed even if that is so, is the rollover protection bar over the cab's roof. That has legs on either side which connect to the track guards. Looking up under them, I believe I can see the ends of small dowel extensions from those legs, passing through the guards. Just what or how to knock them out will be the test of whether that rollbar can be dislodged without damage to anything else. A shame they don't seem to offer the model with or without driver.
When I begin this dismatling, I'll add pictures of how I did it (once I remember how I did them the first time)
That was my thought too when I saw it. It's a bit like the railroads repaint their locos etc from time to time to bring them back up to as new looking as possible, whilst we do the opposite with our models. What is dissapointing is there are so many of these types of loads, such as this Dozer, that are shipped semi assembled, that model makers ignore as a market. I guess it would take a bit of bravery on their part to give it a try. There are details that could be added to this particular one quite easily, like the hydraulic hoses that supply the rams. Other ones, such as the 627G Scraper, have a plethora of pipes and hoses that would be very difficult and time consuming to replicate in HO, let alone get good photos of to copy. I've got an idea to produce the droop in the tracks of the Dozer before putting the chains on, that I'm going to try. The rubberised plastic used for the tracks does limit that a bit, they are already a stretch fit to a certain extent, but I think it will enhance the appearance.
One of the club members has some HO tractors with metal tracks, but I've never been able to find them with a search. I bought a model trench digger from MB Kleins as a trial once, which showed metal tracks in the illustration, but had rubber ones in fact. There is a plastic HO log loading tractor, comes up in the pictures at the top of the What's New page, I think, that shows linked tracks too, in plastic, but have never been able to locate that either. The fact that they have been done and done well, is frustrating. I can't imagine that they would be absolutely to scale, but the effect would be compensation.
