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.