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muleskinner

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Everything posted by muleskinner

  1. I found the original sitting in an old loggers front yard in the moutains near here and photographed it for modeling a few years back. As usual with me I built it as it was in the Pics, to show it's years of use and abuse, when it was in it's prime. The original has long since, gone to the scrapper, but I think the model is a fitting monument to a piece of equipment which should have gone into a logging museum.
  2. Tony back in the early days of logging here in the Northwest and else where in the states, they used teams of horses, Mules and Oxen to skid logs to the landings. The nickname given to these Loggers were Mule Skinner or mule, horse team herder, Bull Whacker or Oxen team herder and when the tracked cat came along, the term for the Cat operator just carried over to CAT the type of machine Skinner as in herder or operator. Hence forth Cat Skinner. If I use a term which doesn't quite come out understanding to anyone out there, let me know and I will try and explain it. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have a habit of using some very weird slang when discussuing or talking about the good old days of logging or general logging to be specific.. There are also other slang words which were used, but this forum is not the place to mention them!!!!
  3. The front detail picture is the wrong one for this set. I will make the detail correction for the front of the CAT here.
  4. Very good job. I love those older weather beatin rigs!!! I've thought about buying one of these rigs and now I'm convenced to do it, looking at the detail. Seen a few of them in Europe when in the US Military.
  5. Well gang, here she is in all her Pacific Northwest glory! I finally got her up and looking like she was used and abused in the woods during a long logging career. I had to rely on photos and my own expeeriance working behind one of these as a chocker setter and as an operator later on, to put her into perspective. I chose to put a wheeled arch behind her, rather than take any more time casting links for a tracked version, which will come later on, as I left the wheels removable, so I could add the tracks later. Most of the Protos of these archs were interchangable from wheeled to track any how so the feel is there in this one. The whole cat and arch was painted with Tamiya Camel yellow (1 and Half cans) and left under a lamp to dry real good. After the drying phase was completed I went in and did the small detail work with various colored acrylic paints. Once this was completed, the engine was given a wash down with watered down Black Calligraphy ink to darken and shade the details. Ink was also used on the various details on the cat and arch. Once this stage was completed I used a watered down ceramic acrylic color called Cinnamon (used in Pottery) and washed the whole unit down with it in various shades to give it the surface rust effect that cats this old and now days show after years in the woods. The next step after this, I used Polly Scale Acrylic mud (#505206) and watered it down to various stages and washed over the lower parts of the cat and Arch. Once this was all completed I gave the whole model a light shot of Testers dull coat to flatten any shine left to the units. The lift line to the blade and main line of the winch were made out of Nylon archetectual twine stained and weathered to look like haywire and then wound around the winches. To give the Cat a working look I relied on my past memories of Choker setting and made the Chokers with working bells and stubs, then permanently attached them to the lead line dog. The pictues will show the chockers attached to some plastic logs I used to illistrate a turn of logs about to be winched and snugged for transport. Over alll this was a model to be reconed with, as it contained a lot of small detail parts which had to be made under a magnified light, but was a lot of fun to complete. Now that I look back on my own days in the woods and this model, I can almost hear the roar of the engine, clanking, cracking and straining of the lead line, while working as a Catskinner and choker setter here in Oregon and Northern California.
  6. This is an update for the Cat Repower I am building. The arch for the lead line is completed along with the blade and the Hyster lead winch. The working Chokers not shown are completed and awaiting attachment to the lead line bull. The arch is modeled off of a Redwood arch which once was used in the same area as the Off Hiway Mack which my son is presently building. It is completely built out of Evergreen plastic and has an ajustable main arm on it. The wheels and tires came off of the ERTL Pay hauler and are on it temporarry until I can cast up a set of rubber tires for it. I also used the front outside rim off of the ERTL International Logging Truck as it fit right inside the Payhauler rim. The next step is to give it an overall coat of cat yellow, and add a few minor details to it.
  7. Was going through the files on my computor and found this picture of the Redwood Construction Logo, Before they chaged over to Redwood Coast Trucking. This logo also shows they changed their shop and office location to Eureka, California from Arcata, California. Their shop is actually located between both cities in a small township called Manila, California. It can be used on the era truck you are going to model as they used both the old and this one for many years before their buy out. good luck on your model and I hope the information helps.
  8. Attached is one of the older logos for Redwood Consruction Company. It is the one I remember most and after blowing up the picture of the truck you posted it is the same one as on the truck. The Logo is in the shape of the end of a log and painted as follows; Dark Brown outter bark ring The inner part of the log is more of a lighter reddish brown to simulate the color of redwood for which they hauled. There are aslo fine lines in black to represent the growth rings of the tree. The lettering is block with REDWOOD (white) the predominate lettering centered in the middle of the log inside the bark ring. CONSTRUCTION (white) is a third the size of the REDWOOD lettering and is centered below it. Around the bottom of the log above the bark ring are the words; ARCATA, CALIFORNIA (white) their shop and office location. Outside the logo and on the bottom of the door is painted 80,000 GVW ,the rated weight of the vehicle in black lettering. Hope this will help you in building the model of Redwood Constructions Truck.
  9. These are the pictures of the T-800 Kenworth which shows the new color but has the early 60-70 rigging on it. I remember what the logo looks like for the earlier trucks,and can draw it out for you and tell you the colors to use to reproduce it. Give me a couple of days and I will post it for you.
  10. I live here on the West Coast in Oregon and spent my time in Humboldt County in Northern California where Redwood Construction Was a big outfit. They have since changed their Name to Redwood Coast Logging and changed their Logo slightly. Theeeir trucks went from a turquios type color to a more sky blue. Tamiya Frech Blue is a good match for the new color. Today they mostly haul chips and very few logs but in the days when I was living there they were the third largest Log haulers in the area. If you go over to the model truck forum and post a request there, My son who also builds logging trucks from Humboldt County California, has a lot of his logging truck models posted there. If you are interested I have pictures of the rigging on My nephews truck who drives for Redwood Coast Trucking which I could send you. The Truck itself is a standard T-800 Kenworth set up with older general trailer and truck bunks. They would be good to build an older Redwood Construction logging truck off of.
  11. The model in subject, was is based on the real Truck which is presently in the Oakridge Museum, here in Oregon. Bill took the pictures of the proto while we were in the Eugene area and passed them on to me. I thought long and hard about the best approach to building the truck, to add to my older Logging Models for a long time before starting on it. The truck is one of the last remaining units like it in the Pacific Northwest which is still in running condition. I was told the owner of this truck used it off Hiway for hauling logs and had it been repowered some where along in it's career with a cummins diesel engine. The truck itself is a chain driven Mack and has seen a lot of years in the logging industry hauling logs around the Willamette Forest and Cascade areas of Oregon, for various lumber companies. Now days on special occasions it is driven in Parades and what not but, for the most part, spends its time on the museum lot. To build this Model, I used the 1926 Mack logging truck from Monogram and reworked the frame to get the right length by adding the stinger tail. The water tank, for the water cooled brakes, came from an Autocar kit and was located to the left of the frame. The fuel tank on the original was squared and had to be scratch built for the right side of the truck. Located between the tanks on top of the frame was a small tank used as an oil trickle tank for the main drive sprocket. This I made by lengthening an old air tank and adding the brass trickle lines, which can be seen in the close up photo. The Proto had doors on it but I decided to remove them, as a most of these type trucks had their doors removed, in case the driver had make a quick exit. The trailer is a copy of a trailer built by Portland Boiler works in the 1930's. The original is presently on display at the Oregon Truck Museum near Salem, Oregon. The trailer features a movable reach which on this model I fashioned out of Basswood as, the original trailer had a wooden reach. A lot of the older rigs, had the wooden reach, because it was cheaper and if you had to replace it you just went to the closest mill and had them cut you a new one. I cast the suspension on the trailer using white metal and still have to add the airbrakes and the hosing lines along the reach. The Model is painted with Tamiya Camel Yellow and then weathered down to show the effects of being used in the woods and sitting at the museum exposed to the elements.
  12. Yes I know that but for me as I don't build very many vehicles with chrome on them, I short cut and grab a can of Dull coat and spray them down. I like the worn dull look on them. Most of my vehicle builds would look out of place with chrome as they spend most of their lives in the woods instead of on the road. As in the case of this truck I just used an aluminum colored paint brushed it on and dull coated over it. But thanks for the info.
  13. This model, which I built a couple of years back, is based on the actual truck owned by Gross Logging in Catching Creek, Oregon, not to far from my residence. It is the pride of the fleet and at times doubles as a Logging truck with a general trailer set up. The head ache rack remains on her at all times to make the change over easier time wise. As you can see the over cab platform of the dump box was modified by Cutting Torch asnd removed to accomidate the Headache rack. She has a 5x4 twin sticker and is powered by a cummings turbocharged engine which makes her one of the most reliable and used trucks in the company. I have driven this truck many times and she really has a mind of her own at times. Hauling Loaded she is as smooth as silk on the roads but when empty, she is a kidney rearranger that won't quit! To accomplish the building I used an AMT Alaskan Hauler and various other kits, plus scratch building out of plastic to get the desired results. As with most of my logging equipment I build them as I see them and photograph them. Since Old Blue is weather beaten and worn was the reason I chose the Alaskan Hauler to build her. The kit contains no chrome parts and this made it easier when it came to doing the weathering on her. I replicated her as she was after one of her far and in between washings to get her up to looking at least road worthy, though she vary seldom goes beyond Catching Creek unless hauling logs as a logging truck. To get the desired effects on her I first completed her with Tamiya French blue and then did the weathering with a combination of acrylic paints used for pottery. I chose this paint as it has a real dull and muddy look to it when dried and when used in conjuction with Black calligraphy ink and water can give some really dramatic finishes.
  14. The winch is powered at the front of the unit and engaged by the Skinner through a means of levers at the platform. The haywire runs through a block at the front attached to this winch and then to the blade. On some of the older cats there was a long frame which ran the full lenghth of the Cat above the engine and skinners platform to the rear of the cat , on the back was the haywire winch, from which the hay wire was then threaded up the the rear of the frame and then along a series of rollers and blocks to the front of the frame and then down to a block located on the top of the blade. This was a dangerous setup, as the Haywire would eventually wear out (and in logging it does very quickly) and if it broke, the skinner was wide open to its wrath. In logging the over head rigging was prone to also hang up on low hanging tree limbs. Very few logging machines were rigged this way. On the cat picture you attached, you can see the front blade winch protruding from the bottm of the radiator. The unit looks like it has a 5x4 block system from cat to blade because of it being a D9, 8 or 6 with a heavy blade. Also on this cat it looks to have a split intake manifold, because of the two breather units on the left side. The other picture shows the breather at the front of the Skinner deck which, in my time I have only see one of these in the woods. The biggest complaint about this setup was that it was in the Skinners way, when in operation. Another reason was it was dangerous was, if the Cat should raise up on a nol and then slam down the other side the skinner (and I'm Speaking of experiance I had as a skinner here in the Oregon woods) could be thrown forward. There is nothing that hurts more tha hitting a bunch of levers or in the case of the picture, the air breather mounted as such. I will correct myself here, as I told you in my last reply, that the breather goes on the right. They were always mounted on the left, but I have seen some owner mountings where thet were on top of the hood and in the case of the photo which you sent, on the Skinner deck.
  15. One thing (which I have yet to do) is to remove the turbine unit from it and move the breather down to the side of the engine, on the left. The other is to modify the Exhaust manifold to have the stack come off the manifold and through the new hood, None of these cats I have ever seen had the turbine units on them until, later on in their logging days, if they lasted that long in the woods. I assembled the Engine complete and modernized to build the cat around it. this way, I could see where to make the changes, to back date the engine to the early and mid fifties. Some of the earlier cats had a small Gas engine on the right side which was started first to bring the diesel up to power. That is a later project on another cat.
  16. The engines that I had seen when stationed on Okinawa while in the Military, were of an aluminum color or yellow. That engine being chrome seems to me to indicate an aluminum type color.
  17. The basis of this model is a representation of the Cats used back in the early years of logging here in the Northwest. In most cases the owners would, rather than invest in a new Cat for skidding logs, take their older cats and repower them, such is the case of this model. These cats which the model is based on was by all means no easy piece of Machinery to operate on the narrow and steep logging sites which we have here in the Pacific Northwestern states. The operator (Cat Skinner) spent most of his time standing up to operate these brutes as Hydraulic systems of Clutching, Braking and so forth was still in the future. To stop these machines ment leaning on both Braking levers and at the same time standing on the two floor braking pedals which were usually locked in single action instead of individual, while at the same time putting the trottle level in idle down position. When pulling a wheel or tracked skidder with a Redwood or Fir one log turn behind, this could be a harrowing experiance for the Cat Skinner! To raise and lower the Blade on the unit, the skinner used the 'L' Shaped bar on the right hand side of the unit connected to the blade winch on the front of the Cat by means of a heavy round or square rotator bar which ativated the winch clutching unit. The model is based widely on one of these Armstrong units, which is currently in the logging Museum at Point Defiance Washington, and the ones I remember as a kid, operating in The Northern California Redwood area. To begin this project I took the standard AMT Cat (which has a lot of flaws in its design) and removed all the Hydro Connectors from the front end and cut down the side engine sheilds. I then added a new radiator shrould to back date it , to the forties and early Fifties. Instead of the grill plates which the Proto had on, I decided to go with the steel wicker type unit which most California units had on them, to keep from having to drill a hundred little holes as the other had. The operations deck had to really be modified with brass wire and new floor decking, to acomidate all the levers and so forth. The drive sprocket for this unit also had to be modified, which I accomplished by removing the outer drive sprocket ring from the original Model Part and using a rear rim off of a 1926 Mack model, applied a spacer and the sprocket , to complete the spoke type drivers which were on these cats. When finished this Cat will also have a wheeled or tracked Skidder arch ( I haven't decided yet) behind it to replicate the real units as they were used. The back of the cat will also have a hyster winching unit attached and an older type blade which I am now in the process of scratch building.
  18. I think it would be a good idea as I have seen these units used in the Pacific northwest for eveything from Garbage trucks to shop trucks for logging outfits. Right now there is one which was used as a shop truck for sale on the hill above my house. they would be a welcome addition to the model truck market.
  19. has not set their status

  20. I am Bill Bitners father who built the Self Loader unit which he intern built the International Self Loader around. He insisted I get my models up on the net so here goes. The pictures may be a little dark but that can be blamed on the fact that I am just learning my new digital camera. The topic of this posting is a Prentice Heel Boom Log Loader which was built off a prototype that belongs to a logging company not to far, from where I currently live. Except for the undercarriage, which is off the International ERTL 5000 Dump Truck, the deck and loader are intirely scratched built from Evergreen Plastic in 1/25th scale. It is not completed as of yet and has a few minor details which need to be added. The operators cabin is made to tilt forward to lower the highth of the vehicle when being transported by Lowboy, or for maintenance. It is completely plumbed underneath with hydraulic lines to the boom and the electro lines to the grapples. The boom will raise and extend forward and the live heel and grapples also work on the model. The whole unit will rotate on it's platform 360 degrees. The lettering was hand cut and added to the back of the unit, from plastic. There is a deck boom stabilizer on the front middle of the deck to rest the boom when in Lowboy transport and the hood to the engine compartment opens with help of a set of plastic roll hinges whichI made for it. There is a heel rest added to to front of the vehicle which is actually owner added to the proto unit to rest the heel and grapple unit in for moving the unit from one landing to the next, on site. Other details to be added to this model are the Hydraulic and fuel tanks underneath the carrier deck. Opening door and operator window on the cab. Outside illuminating lights to the front and rear. The interior of the Operators cabin has to also be added as they were using the unit when I took the pics and couldn't get into the protos cabin. Overall it has a lot of hours involved in it and as you can see is very close to completion enough to give you an idea of the size of the proto type unit.
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