I spotted one of these Shovels several years ago, under construction on another Forum, by a current member of this forum. I was very intrigued and sought out some of the components required for such an endeavor. As stated in my earlier post in "What's on the bench 2022", I had the luxury of watching Mr. Eberle build one of these first........mine will not be a "carbon copy" but there will be common components with some subtle differences. I will be using components of three different models in order to produce a "reasonable" facsimile of the original as used by the U.S. Army Engineering Battalions during WWll. The chassis is from a ROCO Minitanks Honest John missile launcher I played with as a young teen. The cab is from another ROCO model; Corbitt prime mover and lastly the shovel itself, a small rendering from Wiking, it came as part of a demolished building kit I bought for my first Diorama, some years ago. First is a pic of what the actual shovel looked like then some pics of the basic models I will be using to complete the build. Enjoy........oh, and before anyone says anything , yes......the operators cab on the shovel is on the wrong side. Not sure what to do about that (if anything)......still mulling it over.
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So I spent most of yesterday and the day before chopping and hacking off the unwanted bits and pieces of the Chassis for the missile launcher.........It is a bit of a time saver as the wheelbase is within a couple of inches of the required 197" for the shovel version. Brockway Being one of the primary builders produced frames for all three versions in 185",197" and 220" wheel bases.
Next up is the cab (stolen from the Corbitt Prime mover (short wheel base) as the cab steps and fuel tank were molded into the Corbitt frame I ended up scratching a fuel tank and steps. The mods to the chassis of the shovel are rather drastic as there was a lot of "stuff" that had to disappear. once it was properly shimmed and leveled on the frame it don't look half bad. The distance between the shovel mount and the back of the cab got a covering of "tread" plate to fill the void.........looks like a good place to lay a spare tire, Hmmmmmm. -
Wow Rick that's some build you've started there. Good progress as well.
Pity about the crane operators position, nothing you can do about that.
Front row seat please .Comment
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It's OK JR, Paul had to deal with the same situation on his build as well......it's a small compromise on an otherwise unobtainable model.. I do however, have a trick or two up my sleeve (along with a pair of Aces from last Saturday's poker game) as to modifying the shovel cabin to a different Mfg. by the name of Osgood. They also produced shovels for the Army and the Control Cab is oriented similarly to the one you see in my build. As you can see from this photo (for ref. only) the cab is close , so some work will be required to configure it properly. Also, here is a shot of the New front bumper and Winch assembly. still some work to do but you get the idea.Comment
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Interesting stuff Rick. Always good to see someone going down a road less modelled…….Comment
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Very different and very interesting Rick and off to a flying start too!
ATB.
AndrewComment
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Hi Rick
Kit bashing a model at 1/87 scale is making a hard job harder. Looks like you've done your research and you're well on the way
JimComment
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Great start to this miniature madnessComment
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Superb work Rick. Looks like your having a lot of fun with this project. Interested to know where you got the tread plate from please??Comment
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Miniature madness at its finest !!
John.Comment
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Fantastic project rick , i love a cut‘n‘shut job ! Excellent progress so far , cheers tonyComment
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Tim, Andy, Jim, Mick, Mr. Jones, John and Tony......Thank you all for the encouraging comments. If it had not been for the "pioneering" work of Paul E. I probably would have never thought of doing one of these beasts. Yes, it seems I'm off to a good start but I feel that won't last, as soon I will be faced with "rigging" this monster and as I have not done this before it will be uncharted waters for me to muck about in.......might have to kick Paul a PM and pick his brain. Cab mods are next along with cutting down the soft top to cover a single seat cab.
Steve, the tread plate is no longer in production ..........I acquired two sheets (3.5" X 5.75") of this material at a local hobby shop at the least, 20 years ago. I still have one sheet and some bits left.....It has been much easier to work with than its etched brass counterpart.........I shall miss it when it's gone as it is no longer in production.Comment
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Great start Rick. The Osgood was too much for me.Comment
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Rick very nice work. I used to drive a old Brockway 360 back in 1992 not as old as yours mine was a 1969 no power steering and a very long hood I loved that truck. Good idea using the long frame from the Honest John. Seated by Mr. Jones and Commander Race.Comment
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Thanks Paul I'm not going to go too far down that road myself........just enough to give the impression that's all.
Glad you stopped by Lee, those old trucks were hell on ones physic.....my uncle was a trucker and suffered for it.Comment
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