Post by Muleskinner on Aug 24, 2013 12:42:04 GMT -8
When your dad is a logging truck driver starting out and moving from place to place to find the right job, to support the family, you see a lot of different types of rigs and equipment. Such was the case of my family back in the early 60's when we moved from Utah to the Redwood country of Humboldt County, in Northern California. Dad worked the sawmills and then turned to truck driving for various units in the area, until finally settling in with Wayne Bare Trucking in Arcata California. Onje of the his jobs found us moving from Rio Dell California to Hydesville, Ca which was located on a hill above Fortuna, Ca, where he was working for Elmer Height Trucking out of Carlotta California, driving Dump Truck.
Carlotta was the home of some of the largest of the Offers in the logging industry of Northern California. Names such as Georgia Pacific, Pacific Lumber Company, Mt. Pierce Trucking, and Carlotta Lumber Company just to name a few, plied the woods with their giant K-Whoopers, Pacifics, Macks Petes and so forth, bringing in the gigantic loads from the woods to the Mills and railhead landings. Yeager Creek area just North of Carlotta was a big out loading area for all the Pacific Lumber Company and Carlotta lumber Company's massive offers which made the run to Carlotta and the rail head, for off loading onto trains. The subject model is a representative of one of the Carlotta Lumber Company off hiway Pete 345 units which made the Yeager Creak run.
They were massive in looks but actually not much bigger than a regular 344 or K-whooper of the time. What made then look huge was the fact that the Cab sat up on 6" rubber biscuits which made it look higher than the rest of the rigs on the road. This raising of the cab also gave it more clearance underneath for the application of the Massive under carriage of the rig an the storage area located on the drivers side and the overly large fuel tank on the curb side. Other than that they were a normal rig. A majority of them had nine foot bunks though a few went as far as ten and eleven foot, for hauling the massive loads. Being in the seventh grade at the time, I had a special place where I could go and sit on a ridge and look down across Mantova Flats and watch these rigs coming in and out of the Carlotta Mill. Week ends for me was taken up by Offer watching from this spot.
For the model I used a resin 345 unit which is no longer produced and an old California Hauler parts donor. The Cal frame was extended and the hendrixson rear setup off of an International Eagle was used for the drive unit. The stinger was then added to the rear of the frame. An old metal casting of the ERTL head ache rack from the International Logging Truck was used and I distorted it so it would give the rig a little class and look more used. The Bunker water tank is made of Evergreen plastic. The welded bunking units which these rig had, was also built of Evergreen plastic. These units had every thing built into a solid removable unit so if any major maintenance had to be done to the rig, the whole logging setup on the truck could be unbolted and lifted off the rig and set aside, leaving a bare framed rig to work with. A very ingenious system, especially if you were transferring the logging setup to another rig!!
I was gong to put a regular modified Amt trailer on the rig but found after making the tube and reach change from the normal kit that there were a few major parts missing so the whole trailer became a scratch built project for the week end. All wheels and tires on the rig are from Ap40 and I used the military type wheels which were back in those days in abundant supply from the Surplus sales from around the country and a lot of rigs sported them in the woods when possible. The only draw back with them was that a lot of tire centers refused to recap them and they became a head ache when it came to getting rid of them, and o lot of them ended up as land fill or being burned which now days could land you a big fine and jail time in California. The rig I modeled was cummins powered and with most rigs like this the stack was mounted military style on the curb side fender and the breather unit placed ahead of it. Also on the headache rack hanging on the bottom of the lower cross member on the curb side of the rig, I placed the ever present Binder Swede as the unit was referred to, which gave the driver a little more leeway when tightening the binders of the rig.
Over all this unit was a real kickback to my younger years and being built from memory of days gone by came out a good representative of the way I remember those rigs roaring out of the woods hauling their massive loads right down to my usual rough out weathering to make it used and abused of the days. Thanks for reading and enjoy the model.
Carlotta was the home of some of the largest of the Offers in the logging industry of Northern California. Names such as Georgia Pacific, Pacific Lumber Company, Mt. Pierce Trucking, and Carlotta Lumber Company just to name a few, plied the woods with their giant K-Whoopers, Pacifics, Macks Petes and so forth, bringing in the gigantic loads from the woods to the Mills and railhead landings. Yeager Creek area just North of Carlotta was a big out loading area for all the Pacific Lumber Company and Carlotta lumber Company's massive offers which made the run to Carlotta and the rail head, for off loading onto trains. The subject model is a representative of one of the Carlotta Lumber Company off hiway Pete 345 units which made the Yeager Creak run.
They were massive in looks but actually not much bigger than a regular 344 or K-whooper of the time. What made then look huge was the fact that the Cab sat up on 6" rubber biscuits which made it look higher than the rest of the rigs on the road. This raising of the cab also gave it more clearance underneath for the application of the Massive under carriage of the rig an the storage area located on the drivers side and the overly large fuel tank on the curb side. Other than that they were a normal rig. A majority of them had nine foot bunks though a few went as far as ten and eleven foot, for hauling the massive loads. Being in the seventh grade at the time, I had a special place where I could go and sit on a ridge and look down across Mantova Flats and watch these rigs coming in and out of the Carlotta Mill. Week ends for me was taken up by Offer watching from this spot.
For the model I used a resin 345 unit which is no longer produced and an old California Hauler parts donor. The Cal frame was extended and the hendrixson rear setup off of an International Eagle was used for the drive unit. The stinger was then added to the rear of the frame. An old metal casting of the ERTL head ache rack from the International Logging Truck was used and I distorted it so it would give the rig a little class and look more used. The Bunker water tank is made of Evergreen plastic. The welded bunking units which these rig had, was also built of Evergreen plastic. These units had every thing built into a solid removable unit so if any major maintenance had to be done to the rig, the whole logging setup on the truck could be unbolted and lifted off the rig and set aside, leaving a bare framed rig to work with. A very ingenious system, especially if you were transferring the logging setup to another rig!!
I was gong to put a regular modified Amt trailer on the rig but found after making the tube and reach change from the normal kit that there were a few major parts missing so the whole trailer became a scratch built project for the week end. All wheels and tires on the rig are from Ap40 and I used the military type wheels which were back in those days in abundant supply from the Surplus sales from around the country and a lot of rigs sported them in the woods when possible. The only draw back with them was that a lot of tire centers refused to recap them and they became a head ache when it came to getting rid of them, and o lot of them ended up as land fill or being burned which now days could land you a big fine and jail time in California. The rig I modeled was cummins powered and with most rigs like this the stack was mounted military style on the curb side fender and the breather unit placed ahead of it. Also on the headache rack hanging on the bottom of the lower cross member on the curb side of the rig, I placed the ever present Binder Swede as the unit was referred to, which gave the driver a little more leeway when tightening the binders of the rig.
Over all this unit was a real kickback to my younger years and being built from memory of days gone by came out a good representative of the way I remember those rigs roaring out of the woods hauling their massive loads right down to my usual rough out weathering to make it used and abused of the days. Thanks for reading and enjoy the model.
