Construction, Combat Engineer, and Bridging Equipment

[Mossie]

Calibre 35 are a resin manufacturer & do a host of conversions, detailing sets & diorama bits, as well a few figure sets & vehicle kits.  Of most interest to this thread is a 1/35 Clarke CA-1 WWII era bulldozer & associated driver figures


There are also some conversions to create engineer versions of tanks & vehicles:
1/35 M31 recovery vehicle for Lee tank
1/35 Crane attachment for Famo
1/48 Bergetiger conversion for Tiger tank

And a 1/35 German pontoon bridge


This one has been around a while, the Hasegawa 1/72 US Aircraft Weapons loading set has a Ford tractor with it.  You could scratch up engineering equipment for it, such as a bucket, backhoe or bulldozer blade.





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[famvburg]

     I've seen pics of a Cat(?) earthmover/scraper - based transport vehicle for the USA. IIRC, basically the dirt-hauling section was replaced with a flat bed & the whole thing was Army green. Looked cool. I guess there are 1/35ish earthmovers available, most likely in diecast. IIRC, AMT did a 1/24 one years ago.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Diethelm Berlage has converted the Revell 1/35th scale Mercedes Benz Unimog truck from the standard cargo truck to a front loader and dump truck variant that is most impressive.  


(image source: Diethelm Berlage/Modellversium.de)

Other Unimog conversions by Diethelm can be seen at these links:

Unimog TLF 8/18 (1:35 Revell)
Unimog FL-Kfz 1000 (1:35 Revell)

[apophenia]

Panther.

Yes. That photo came from Ken Bell's 'Not in Vain'. This 1973 book is a compilation of Bell's wartime photos and later images (often taken from exact same spot) showing postwar reconstruction. The Panther is illustrated knocked out in 1944 and then rebuilt as shown by GTX.

[Mossie]

'Plant' is quite a general term & can refer to machinery in general.  Construction vehicles or even a whole factory (i.e. 'Chemical Plant') can be referred to as such.  Most modern buildings have a 'plant room' (not a greenhouse!) to accommodate air conditioning pumps.

B.W. Models in the UK do a huge range of white metal support vehicles in 1/76.  Most of them are British, or at least have been used by the British Armed Forces.  Among them are several excavators, bridge layers, cranes, tippers, lorries with various fits & fire fighting vehicles many which could double as civilian vehicles.  I picked up their catalogue at the Telford show, there is some very interesting stuff.

There is a partial build up (model completed but not painted) of a Cat D7 on this web page:
http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=19782&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[dy031101]

How far has the progress of wheeled off-road vehicles gone?

I know tracked chassis are still the first thing people have in mind for this, but are we technically ready to see a bulldozer- and demolition-gun-toting wheeled combat engineering vehicle?

[Hobbes]

Wheeled vehicles are in use by armies:



They just tend to be lightly armored (if at all). Front-line equipment needs so much armor you pretty much need tracks to keep the ground pressure to a reasonable level and avoid getting stuck everywhere.

[MAD]

As an Assault Pioneer - I would like to see a small and lightweight multi-role engineering vehicle, which could be airlifted into an AO by the likes of a S-76 Blackhawk or at worst a CH-47 Chinook.
It would need to be tracked (as wheeled vehicles regardless of what manufacturers may say are not up to the task - regarding terrain and weather factors!!!) - although this contributes to a substantial weight.
Although you may get away with rubber tracks(?)
I am thinking of something along the lines of a modified Porsche (Rheinmetall) Wiesel 2 air-transportable armoured fighting vehicle, as used by the Bundeswehr!
I would like to see it fitted with a frontal hull mounted dozer blade (which folds away like that of the Swedish Strv 103 (S-Tank) and a small and lightweight backhoe type system (something like that used on a Bob Cat).
Add an 'A-Frame' arrangement and electrical winch (which can be used for pulling and also used via 'A-Frame' crane.
This would allow for faster construction of defensive emplacements like weapons and fighting pits, anti-tank defences and underground HQ's, RAP's and ammo bunkers!
I would love to see what people are able to come up with in the way of a profile!!!!!!!
I would even like to show my 'Head Shed' and DSTO your concepts
After all anything is better than an 'E-Tool' !!!!!


M.A.D

[rickshaw]

Wheeled vehicles are in use by armies:



They just tend to be lightly armored (if at all). Front-line equipment needs so much armor you pretty much need tracks to keep the ground pressure to a reasonable level and avoid getting stuck everywhere.

Wheels are preferred for those vehicles which are intended to operate just behind the FEBA.  It allows high-speed redeployment and use in convoy without the need for a transporter.  Those vehicles operating in the FEBA or being used for clearing heavy obstacles tracks are preferred for their lower ground pressure, better traction and the ability to carry heavy armour.

[Jeffry Fontaine]

IF you manage to find a cheap MLRS you could modify the wheeled excavator and mount it as depicted in my butchered up image.  Maybe leave the engine compartment whole so that you don't have to rely on the prime mover as a source for the power.

The original concept that I had created by cut-and-paste of images was certainly worth more research.  I thought it would be best to see what it looked like in a 3D graphic before any polystyrene was slaughtered to create the model.  I think it came out looking pretty darn close to my original idea and with a few more bells and whistles added on like tool boxes and such it will look the part it was intended to play as a tactical power shovel digging bigger holes than an E-Tool would ever be capable of. 

This was the result of editing and merging two dynamic component 3D models using SketchUp.  It went together rather well and with a minimum of fuss.

[Weaver]

For 1/76th fans, check out Dapol's range of plastic kits, which are primarily intended to support 00-gauge railways.

This is the thing that particularly caught my eye:



JCB (Kit Nr. C045


There's quite a few other interesting bits for whiffery there too. The crane wagons would be good for some of the tank conversions seen earlier in this thread, for example, and the buildings are, of course, diorama-fodder. Prices are sensible too.





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[kitnut617]

A lot of that stuff looks very Airfix-y to me Weaver, is that where some of it comes from.  The JCB looks like one that came with a flat bed rail car and I remember building the Scarob and the Rail Bus, plus a bunch of the others when me, my bro and Dad had a big rail layout going back in the 60's

[Weaver]

A lot of that stuff looks very Airfix-y to me Weaver, is that where some of it comes from.  The JCB looks like one that came with a flat bed rail car and I remember building the Scarob and the Rail Bus, plus a bunch of the others when me, my bro and Dad had a big rail layout going back in the 60's

Yep, that's right. Airfix bought a load of (very well thought of) engine and rolling stock models from Rosebud Kitmaster when they went bump, and then added to it over the years. Either when Airfix went bump, or when they just dropped the range, Dapol in turn bought it from them.

I'm just glad I can get the Stevenson's Rocket for steampunk projects without butchering a "collectible" kit......

[GTX]

Thought someone here might appreciate this:



Regards,

Greg

[Jeffry Fontaine]

Hauke Ahrendt has posted some images of his Elite Models 1/35th scale Deutz 60 PS Planierraupe (bulldozer) on Modellversium.

It is nice to see some combat engineer/construction type equipment models being offered that are not labeled Caterpillar or John Deere.