David Flynn built this spectacular model of a 1962 Galion T-600 road grader that his hometown highway department used between 1962 and 1980. David had a Umex Caterpillar No.12 grader that in January 2014 he was going to sell on eBay. David says it suddenly occurred to him that he could easily convert it to a Galion grader. The two graders may look the same, but they have many differences. David says he was going to do a simple conversion of the cab but one thing led to another. The main modification was changing the shape of the cab. The Galion roof does not overhang the windshield and the cab is tapered toward the front. He also slid the cab forward about 6 scale inches. He then shortened the hood and scratchbuilt a fuel tank. The Galion has a scarifier. David replaced the wheels with wheels from Wiking tractors. There were many additional smaller modifications. David used sheet plastic, plastic rods, and lots of parts from his parts boxes. The decals are homemade.
David notes the Umex model seems to be a little larger than 1/87 scale but the model ended up just about right. The Galion wheelbase is 5 inches longer than the Cat. With the smaller wheels the model turned out a scale 125 inches tall and 96 inches wide. The blade length, height, and shape turned out fine. The main weak points are blade lifts (crude), the scarifier (a little short and wimpy), no glazing, the seat (too wide), and the steering wheel (too thick). All in all, still, a spectacular conversion!
Posted April 3, 2014 |
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