Model FMC Skidder - Part 3

In part 2,  I had prepared the tracks and some of the components.

The blade kit arrived and I thought while the blade did not look right at all,  I could use the hydraulic cylinders.  I'll talk about what I did a little later.

A little of the ol' Chop-Chop!

I had mentioned I had gotten a M548 kit -  Well, I thought I ordered it- It never did show up.  So as I was thinking where to start, I started looking at the main body of the M113 and started thinking... then grabbed the handsaw and some styrene.

...hmmmm, cut these off...narrow this down...shorten this...shorten that...add stuff here...glue the mess together... There we go!

I managed to get the profile I was looking for. 
It is a little crude looking, but as I started converting measurements from my reference photos to the model, the artistic process of "That looks about right" started applying.

As I built the body, it occurred to me I didn't need to worry about the engine or the transmission, as those were not visible anyway.  Shifting the focus from a precision interior / "just like real life" construction helped me in the modeling process, as it would have overwhelmed me as a first-time scratch-builder.

as the front took shape,  I switch my attention to mounting the blade. The blade kit I picked up had some pivots that I could use - a touch with a jewelers drill and some brass wire gave me some working piviots, and messing around with some styrene got me a proper stacking blade.  

How I left it over the summer

After a summer break, I thought about how I should continue this.  after digging up the reference photos again,  I started on the operator platform.  the TLAR system sets the winch in place, then I start adding control levers and details.

The seat was rather interesting to design. After not finding anything in the right profile in 1/35*, I brought out some sculpty and set to work.  in about half an hour, I got a seat exactly how I wanted it. about 15 minutes in the oven, some sanding, and its ready for paint!

Right now, I'm working on the cable arch.  I need to build the fairleads and complete the log tray, then I can start preparing it for paint!












*1/35 is a common scale for military models, and all I could find in part accessories seemed to only be for military, and WW2 stuff at that.  I don't mean to rant or knock a hobby, but, what about civilian equipment? The only equipment that comes close seems to be because the military used it (Such as the soviet S60/S65, regular farm tractors that were conscripted to tow artillery). Come on. In World War 2, Unarmored bulldozers were very common with US troops and there is a picture of Massey Harris farm tractors that were being produced for the Canadian Air Force.  It seems absurd to not include civilian machines into dioramas

Finding regular construction equipment in precision scale plastic models seems to be extremely scarce.  It's probably related to competing with the die-cast models. Only other option seems to Model engineering and Remote control, which although extremely cool, is also extremely expensive. 

Operating Equipment

Whenever I come home from school,  I somehow find some excuse to run the bulldozer.  I'm not entirely sure why, but even at a young age, I was attracted by the metal-tracked machine.  Dad wound up having to mount a child's car seat in the one corner of the canopy so I could ride along without him worrying about running me over.

Perhaps its the way the tracks move past the operator's station.  Perhaps it is the "Clacking" noise paired with the bouncing of the tracks moving that fascinates me.

On the farm, we are using a Cat D6D to clear land and keep the driveway cleaned. When operating it,  I seem to "Zone Out" a little, where I don't really think about what I am doing - rather,  I think of what the machine is doing.  You feel every vibration; hear every noise; Sense the load on the engine and the position of the blade;   It's a bit of a neat experience.

I think for me it is a form of meditation.  The concentration needed to make the machine flatten ground or knock something down forces you to forget the outside world and focus on your immediate area. Sure, you can think of other things during a long push, but a lot of those thoughts are forced to be "Background Processes"

So I leave you with a poem:

STUDY OF A BULLDOZER

Abominable machination.
A destructive reputation.
Angry figure of claws and blade.

Yellow paint and rust, polished blade and tracks,
it does not care what others think.
It tries to understand the earth,
by carving into the ground.

Strong willed,
it goes where it pleases,
shaping the earth with its art.

-Chris Pritchard (2011)

FMC Skidder Model - Part 2

I had received a couple of the kits and began assembling what I can. The main part assembled was the tracks - each individual link had to be drilled out and pinned with some brass wire.

The drilling was pretty simple - especially when I put the 0.5mm drill bit in a Dremel and set it for a low speed.  The pinning was a little tedious, mainly over the size of the links, but I'm glad they are not any smaller!  

I also selected a bit of paint for the machine.  I am going to try out acrylic, mainly because I never had good experiences with enamel.

I understand acrylic is more prone to fading, but I believe a proper clear coat will avoid those problems.

So far, I am impressed - I did not use a paintbrush on these parts - I spread a bit of paint on the engine using the toothpick I was using to stir the paint, and I covered the road wheel literally by smearing the paint that was on the cap.

In both cases, the paint not only dried to show the details, but also had no translucency.

The paint scheme I am going with is what FMC used - Red for the undercarriage, blade and arch, and white for the operators cab and hood.  The engine will be that ugly marine green that Detroit Diesels are known for, and I'll go with a dark grey for the steering gearbox and transmission.

I'll need to delve into resin casting for the transmission.  On the M113, the steering gearbox was almost in-line with the engine with a direct connection from a Allison transmission.  On the skidder, the engine is elevated somewhat, and uses a driveshaft from a Clark "dropdown" transmission.  What I will do is play around with modeling clay until I have a proper "Master", then start looking around for casting kits.

I bought a model winch that I will use for modelling the cable winch in the back.  It might be on the small side, but I should be able to use it or even play around with it with resin.

Model FMC Skidder Project

The buggy project would be fun to do, but I do not have the time or resources to attempt that big a project right now.  Let's shelve it for another time (I may try something over the summer) and try a different project

FMC Tracked Skidder

In the 1970's, the Industrial Conglomerate FMC attempted to enter the forestry market by making a tracked skidder.  Using the undercarriage of the Military's M113 tracked APC (that FMC also built), the FMC skidders were and still are eye-catching on the work site. Because of their low profile and light weight, they are commonly used in both swampy and steep terrain, where wheeled skidders would either be unsafe or impractical to use. 

They did have a fair share of problems, mainly in that the APC undercarriage was intended for high-speed travel, not heavy pulling.  Sprockets and road wheels would break, track pads and pins would bend, and the maintenance costs on the undercarriage were astronomical. As a result, these skidders quickly grew an infamy that kept them in niche markets.

In the 1990's FMC started to spin off their divisions, and sold the manufacturing rights of the skidder to their main Canadian dealer in Nelson, B.C..  The dealer (Now known as KMC) makes a living reconditioning older machines and building new skidders with modern technology and engines.

This project will build a scale model of a 210CA skidder, the more iconic of the FMC skidders notable for its stylized hood.

Planning and Parts Selection

Since I have determined the skidder uses the drivetrain off a M113, I figure "Kitbashing" a M113 tank model kit would be the easiest way to get the parts to model the undercarriage. The most common kit is in 1/35 scale, so that should give me a lot of options. The upper half of the machine will be modeled using hobby-grade styrene.

Some quick searching on the internet got me four kits:

• Academy M113A2 - Academy's model is preferred by other modellers for being the most detailed model.  Also interesting to note is the m113 model has pieces to model the engine and interior, which is a plus.

• AFV Club M548 Cargo carrier - the M548 is a M113 built for cargo / heavy artillery duty - basically a tracked pickup truck.  While not as "detailed" as the academy model, What's noteworthy about it is the roadwheels are spaced apart a little, just like the FMC Skidder.

• Verlinden M113 Dozer Kit - This will be the "Stacking blade"

• Friulmodel ATL-17 Metal Track - this gets me some working track to use.  It is not prototypical - the skidder tracks did not have rubber pads on them and had grousers at the piviot point - but this should be acceptable for now - at least until I figure out resin-casting on my own :-)

 Some of my Christmas bonus went to getting the service manuals on the skidder, so now I know how it's put together.  Suppliers like Plastruct and Evergreen sell styrene in all sorts of shapes, so fabricating the upper half of the skidder would be a relatively easy process.

The kits are in the mail, so I'll have to wait before I do anything.  Man, I am excited!

Other posts on this Project:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4