Wooden Excavator Model

[Colin Giersberg]

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[Colin Giersberg]

Well, I see that it worked. Will try posting more and tell about this model and the builder which is not me.

 

[Colin Giersberg]

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[Colin Giersberg]

The jig used to make the track pads.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Mockup of the track frame.

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[Colin Giersberg]

The actual track frame.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Another view.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Ok now, time to tell you about this fantastic model's builder.

Back in 2005, I was checking out another message board that I visit, and I happened to see a post by a member named Woodchuck. His real name is Charles Fisher and he was from Bloomingdale, Michigan. He posted a question about any interest in offering plans of construction and mining equipment for those people that like to build models. Of course, I was interested and replied that I believed that there was an interest by the other members of the message board. After discussing this, he decided that he wanted me to draw up a 1/16th scale plan of a Caterpillar 5230B Front Shovel excavator. I managed to get a brochure from Caterpillar and began drawing it up. However, their brochures seem to have a lot of inaccuracies in the dimensions and my drawings have a number of issues in accuracy. We decided to continue with the drawings despite the issues and the photos that I will post in this thread will show the various stages of construction. I do believe that he had a lot more information about the 5230, and the results of the photos will bear this out.
As to the model, it is 1/16th scale as I said above, but it is all wood. Charles built it out of Maple, Walnut and Cherry. All of the railings were turned by him or his brother Rob, and are 3/32" in diameter. Some of these details will be discussed when I post the photos, so bear with me.

Now then, back to the photos.

 

[Colin Giersberg]

Both track frames finished.

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[Colin Giersberg]

The house. This connects the track frames together.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Another view.

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[Colin Giersberg]

The house with the track frames attached.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Crawler frame detail.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Now come the carbody.

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[Colin Giersberg]

The counterweight.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Mockup of the carbody.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Another view.

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[Colin Giersberg]

The first part of the boom.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Before the boom sides were added.

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[Colin Giersberg]

Boom attached to the carbody.

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