Post by Muleskinner on May 10, 2013 10:48:08 GMT -8
In keeping with my collection theme of old logging Iron, I found a picture which I took many years ago, when I was back in West Virginia visiting relatives, of an old Log Loader which I found sitting along the road at Red House above the Poca River, not to far from Rockbranch my old home town.
It was basically shop built except to my surprise when I started looking at the loader itself it turned out to be a United 45 model Manufactured right here in Eugene, Oregon, close to where I live now, back in the early 60's.
The rig itself, was built for the purpose of loading Pulp Wood which are small logs for the paper industry on the East Coast. I had only one shot on my then Conventional camera and had to make the most of it and get a shot of what I could of the rig.
I was recently going through a bunch of old photos which I had accumulated over the years and found that very photo I had taken years before and decided it would be a good addition to my collection. So with picture in hand I began scrounging up the parts from the parts boxes for the build. As luck would have it I had an old Chevy resin cab of the type used on the 1:1 rig and an old Revell Chevy Step-side Pickup model which supplied the grill and part of the interior parts.
The 1:1 rig had a heavy frame under it so I discarded the chevy pickup frame and built my own frame for it. Once this was done the good old Dodge (wonder) Tilt cab supplied the drive train and axles for the build, plus a few other parts. The 5 hole buds are resin with AMT Trailer tires put onto them. The tires actually fit quite well in the rims to my surprise.
Once the basic rig was completed, I began to construct the loader out of Evergreen Plastic and everything else I could find which would work. After the loader was constructed and I was going to fit it to the rig, I noticed some thing peculiar about the truck.
In the past few days we have been having real hot weather here in Oregon and the heat had caused the frame to bow under the weight of the resin cab and other parts which can be seen in the series of accompanying photos. So instead of stripping it down I decided to just go ahead and finish building the rig and leave the bow in the frame. It actually work out well as it added the age to the model and gave it a look which a lot of these rig obtain in their hard use and abuse in the logging industry.
With the addition of a few parts from the AMT Logging trailer kit, the head ache rack, side steps and a few others it all started to come together. One thing I needed was a hydraulic tank for the loader and rather than use a fuel tank or construct one, I used a 55 gal Barrel from the AMT Tilt cab Ford Flat Bed, which gave the whole model a more shop built appearance.
When it was completed, I hand painted the cab and loader Union Pacific Armour Yellow and the frame and under carriage flat black and then went in a heavily weathered it out with various shades of earth, Mud, Rust and dirt. Below are the results of the overall build, which will eventually eventually carry the logo for my fictional Logging outfit: R. Fink Logging of Norway Oregon.
It still has a few places that have to be touched up and partsd added but for now its complete.
It was basically shop built except to my surprise when I started looking at the loader itself it turned out to be a United 45 model Manufactured right here in Eugene, Oregon, close to where I live now, back in the early 60's.
The rig itself, was built for the purpose of loading Pulp Wood which are small logs for the paper industry on the East Coast. I had only one shot on my then Conventional camera and had to make the most of it and get a shot of what I could of the rig.
I was recently going through a bunch of old photos which I had accumulated over the years and found that very photo I had taken years before and decided it would be a good addition to my collection. So with picture in hand I began scrounging up the parts from the parts boxes for the build. As luck would have it I had an old Chevy resin cab of the type used on the 1:1 rig and an old Revell Chevy Step-side Pickup model which supplied the grill and part of the interior parts.
The 1:1 rig had a heavy frame under it so I discarded the chevy pickup frame and built my own frame for it. Once this was done the good old Dodge (wonder) Tilt cab supplied the drive train and axles for the build, plus a few other parts. The 5 hole buds are resin with AMT Trailer tires put onto them. The tires actually fit quite well in the rims to my surprise.
Once the basic rig was completed, I began to construct the loader out of Evergreen Plastic and everything else I could find which would work. After the loader was constructed and I was going to fit it to the rig, I noticed some thing peculiar about the truck.
In the past few days we have been having real hot weather here in Oregon and the heat had caused the frame to bow under the weight of the resin cab and other parts which can be seen in the series of accompanying photos. So instead of stripping it down I decided to just go ahead and finish building the rig and leave the bow in the frame. It actually work out well as it added the age to the model and gave it a look which a lot of these rig obtain in their hard use and abuse in the logging industry.
With the addition of a few parts from the AMT Logging trailer kit, the head ache rack, side steps and a few others it all started to come together. One thing I needed was a hydraulic tank for the loader and rather than use a fuel tank or construct one, I used a 55 gal Barrel from the AMT Tilt cab Ford Flat Bed, which gave the whole model a more shop built appearance.
When it was completed, I hand painted the cab and loader Union Pacific Armour Yellow and the frame and under carriage flat black and then went in a heavily weathered it out with various shades of earth, Mud, Rust and dirt. Below are the results of the overall build, which will eventually eventually carry the logo for my fictional Logging outfit: R. Fink Logging of Norway Oregon.
It still has a few places that have to be touched up and partsd added but for now its complete.
