I found new interest in my old rebuild while doing another Tonka project for my son...he wanted a "fire dozer" like the one daddy was working on. So here I'll show you the progress on both.
Life started out for the AMT kit as a normal build 20ish years ago but I later added a tube roll cage to mimic a logging dozer- it was then totally built by whim since I had no references to go by{no computer} . Come the flood of '96 here and the dozer was damaged and honestly I wasn't all that keen on the way I built it then anyway so I stripped it apart and there it sat. Lately I decided to make the dozer a close copy of a pic from the web and just started redoing her. The difference was in the grill work- I wanted her to look different by installing a bar grill over an open hole where the old grill hole sticker was{no decals given back then and this kit was the early chrome sprue version, later releases had no chrome}. I used solder for the grill bars, brass mesh for the inner grill and some old pins I had for the new cab side rollover protection plates.....oh, the same type of brass mesh for the rear cab opening. I still need to remake the control levers since those got lost eons ago{doing so now}, add the plate roof when the controls are done, and then add some rework to the blade assembly up front and in back for the ripper bars.






Do fell free to laugh at my eons ago attempt at weathering on the AMT kit dozer...this will be redone of course after I figure out just what color I want on her{red to match the boys, standard yellow or old forestry green...probably yellow!}
Comments, critisms and the like are always invited-

I should've mentioned this before, so I'll add it now...the origonal tube roll cage was bent via candle flame and , well, showed it! My new found method of choice is to insert solder in the bend area to not only hold the plastic tubing in place/bend but to keep it from caving in...find solder that is big enough O.D. wise to fit snuggly in the I.D. of the used tubing - no heat will be needed this way. On tight bends one has to watch for cracking on a bend - this happened after getting alittle liquid glue near that bend when joining one of the cross bars so I had to add some filler.
I really do hope AMT rereleases this kit now! They had an excavator planned{as well as the garbage truck} that they never brought out sadly...hopefully they'll pick up back where they left off at.{hint hint AMT!}

good idea.
some very resourceful solutions there

and yes, any plastic dozers in 1/35 or 1/24 - 1/25 are most welcome

Cool...got most of the controls finished last night with the exception of the two foot peddles and they're nearly done. I'll post picks soon.

More progress on my dozer....son's needs a wheel fixed or replaced so that's on hold.
I painted the new additions on mine yellow and overcoated the rest to blend it all in modelmaster acrylic 4771 GELB RLM 04. I started to add more tidbits and some minor rust spots...nothing too bad wear wise because I want the look of "used, but kept up".



Next up I have the tracks to add two rivets to,on each link, so they look more like the real thing...this will take a while! I also have to add a guard top over the blade for extra height protection while clearing debris and some headlight cages wouldn't hurt either.
Now, question;
-do you think the current yellow muffler should stay yellow for that "I painted her all fresh yellow boss" look or should it be done in steel? I'm open for suggestions.
- the back plow bar is rather rusty compared to the rest of the rig, is it too much you think...tone it down alittle - freshen it up to match the rest?

weather it similar to the 'back plow bar', it is the exhaust after all...




this looks good because it was taken off of another vehicle in the fleet that is left in the yard out doors

Looking really nice, Bob. I like the changes you've made to the kit. I've seen this kit at a couple of shows, and thought about picking it up. Never have, though.

Jim

I had 3 of these kits, built the one shown and traded one to some guy who thought it was worth a whole lot for his two truck kits....I got lucky and paid something around $11 a piece from a guy at a swapmeet eons ago...one unbuilt kit left now. If you can find one cheap nail it as it makes for a great load or a stand alone piece.
They come two ways...early kits have chrome parts and later releases don't have any chrome. Oh, the early ones have "stickers" too - not decals....later ones have only the grill hole decal and no CAT markings at all.

I like the "borrowed parts" idea!....may have to run with that. As for the muffler it got painted silver last night after seeing a few on the road this last weekend during our vacation that had silver mufflers. It's a toss up as to whether the muffler is straight up or laid on it's side for better visibility.

Thanks for th input guys - I really appreciate it.
I wanted a slightly one off look to her, hence the grill work and since the rollover cages come in a variety of configurations it's rather open season there as well.
I just sprayed the 3rd coat of sealer on my homemade forestry decals for this one and should be able to apply them tomorrow...more details and tweeking tonight- pics this weekend!


One of these days I should build my JD backhoe kit I have stashed......the other bulldozer kit will be built when I find a nice set of multiviews on a pull scraper to go behind it.

Last one I saw was $50, and I thiought that was a little steep.

You can get the dozer decals from Special Appearence Decals. The sheet also includes Ruston Paving (should you want to do one in light blue) & Universal Construction.

Jim

Awh look at that...the origonals in actual decals...and with CAT markings- that's worth $8! Thanks bud! Now, note the grill holes there, those are the early ones where there's alot of them compared to the newer version kit where they use less holes and they're bigger - I like the old pattern better, but that's me.
Here, an older kit and good subject for a prime mover{no blade}.{lol-1/18th scale?!- nope!, 1/25th!!!}
old amt dozer-ebay
-$50 ain't so bad now-huh{lol}...
$$$ kit
Here's the very same kit I have left- note the grill holes
newer release kit

Alittle more tinkering and tweeking-
Added the headlight protectors, rollover cage gussets and the blade cage...still more to go though.



Next pics will be with a different background color since it seems to wash out the real color...

I've done alittle more tinkering with decals...here's were I'm at so far-




I found a decent pic of the US Forestry crest online and saved it to my folder, loaded that image to MS Paint and sized it, copied it multiple times for a decal sheet and printed them out. I made this crest in a dark green with no color for background{clear decal sheet} but if you wanted a white background just print it out on white decals paper and trim it/them out closely.
I'm making...should say remaking, a jig for drilling 4 holes in each track link for bolt detail- plastic was a bad idea as there's so many links it'd wear out quickly so I'm making one in sheet steel{band strip stock}. After that I'll need to cut the link heights down to make them look more realistic.
Questions-comments-critiques are always welcome.

I really like the job you did on the Cat. I rebuilt one that my younger brother had started when he was recovering from a broken back. Added an a-frame and two extra hydraulic cylinders to convert it to an angle blade. As soon as I can figure out how to add pictures here, I will post some.

Art