Redwood and Doug Fir Country King Cat

[muleskinner]

The model depicts one of the Newer Cats which made their way into the big tree country in the late thirties and forties to help harvest timber in the Pacific Northwest coastal areas. It was built off of a 1938 unit which was reconditioned and rebuilt here in the Oregon area. These Cats came at a time when the six and seven model were struggling to bring in the old growth turns, with some nearing the end of their serviceability as far as skidders go.

The new D8 which would soon replace many of them was up gunned and heavier and able to cope with the massive logs being harvested. They were equipped with larger engines, heavier spring suspension, trannies, Final drives and track suspension which was a must in the area they would be working. The pony had its exhaust rerouted from the engine compartment and better protection for the Cat Skinner was made possible by the addition of the Sierra type Skinner top which arched over the skinner deck. Though some were equipped with the extra seat, it was eventually eliminated as the Regs only specified one man on the unit for safety reasons, when operating.

These brutes also were equipped with double winches such as the model D8N Hyster unit which I added to my Model. They had also the straight Blade which was better when pushing logs on the deck and kept down the logs blade climbing as with the curved blade. the blades were also equipped with decking cleats which helped in rolling a log over top of another and when needed stacking. The Cat would come forward and drive the cleats into the log and lifting the blade the log would come up with the blade using the log behind as a guide and roll up and over. Although they were a helpful addition they were eventually removed because of being a safety hazard for any one who happened to walk into one while the blade was in the raised position.

My Model also has the strong arm lever for blade control and the Rhino Horn set up on the front which was braced by Haywire to the front of the Cage. Due to the open configuration of the grill of the Cat, A steel guard was added to the front of the Rhino mount to assure added Protection to this area of the unit. The unit also has enclosed lower rollers to help protect against debris from fowling the lower area of the tracks.

I equipped the Cat with a CARCO tracked arch which was scratch built all except the tracks which are off a die cast model. The unit is equipped with one 16' and one 10' chocker for the turns, attached to the fair lead line of the winch. The winch is also equipped with roller guides up and down and from side to side for easier drawing of the fair lead.

After the model was completed, they were both painted Dark Japanese Yellow and weathered with the arch receiving the heaviest, as the new D8 were teamed with Arch's already being used on the site. The model took a lot of time and research to get it where it looked like the original 1:1 s which were used at the time by Simpson of Korbel and Pacific lumber company of Scotia, California. It could also very well represent an Oregon or Washington Big tree unit with a little modification.

[ra7c7er]

COOL COOL COOL COOL. What model did you start off with or did you scratch build everything?

[muleskinner]

COOL COOL COOL COOL. What model did you start off with or did you scratch build everything?

The model started out as an AMT D8H Cat and was modified to back date it. The arch behind it was scratch built.

[Old Albion]

William,

An outstanding piece of model engineering. Thanks for sharing this superb model with us.

Dave

[Carmikeman]

that is a great build! i know where there is an old cable cat about that size in the weeds.

[old-hermit]

Darn good piece of work. Great transformation to a working class dozer.

[stangman]

William,

I showed the first picture to my wife and she didnt believe me that it wasnt real. That is how good it looks. I love your builds. Keep up the good work.

Bryan