The other day I was perusing the toy department at the local Wal*MArt, and spotted some small Caterpillar construction equipment, which to me looked pretty close to N, or at least very small HO. I can't remember the brand name, but you can find them in a clear plastic box, attached to a black plastic base with a flathead screw. I picked up a crawler-treaded backhoe, small bulldozer, and a tractor, all painted for Cat. For those of you who have seen these critters, whadaya think- are they N scale or close enough to work?
They are HO scale & the only way I knew is because I used to deliver them for a rental company I used to work for,But alot of people are useing them for flat car loads and the look good.
If they are the Cat-Minis by Norscott then I think they are closer to N scale than HO.I do not remember the exact size of them but I have a few on my layout and they look fine to me.
They also sometimes have military equipment. I bought a tank that might look good in a park setting, but too big for a flat.
If memory seves me corretly then three of the fou are very close to n scale. The bulldoe ia bit large.
The Norscot Construction Minis now have 5 or 6 in the set of 15 and all but one are near N-scale. We keep them in stock. Pricing is very reasonable.
Norscott minis.........couldn't remember the name (a disturbing first sign of senioritis...). I didn't think they were exactly N scale, but if they look close enough I'll use them. Atany rate, the price was right.
Bill Cawthon reviewed the Norscot Construction Minis in the May 2007 issue of Model Railroad News. Here is a listing of the vehicles and approximate scales from that article: 315C L excavator = 1/141 D5G XL dozer = 1/95 906 wheel loader = 1/101 420E backhoe and loader = 1/130 The dimensions of the 315C L, when measured with a 1:160 scale ruler are nearly identical to the larger Cat 320C L, with the exception of the cab. I do not have a sample of the newest Norscot Mini, a 793D mining truck, but judging by the photo in 2008 Norscot catalog, it might even be too small for Z scale. Edit: They also have a new Cat 272C skid steer loader in the catalog listed as a Mini, but that one appears to be larger than HO scale. Carter
My wife calls it "Some-Timers Disease" (as opposed to Alzheimers). Some-times I can remember the name.... Some-times I can't remember the name....
Yep, at $1.98 each I figure they're worth fiddling with. I was thinking they look OK as-is but you could probably swap out the seat and make a few minor mods and get them to look closer to actual n-scale. Even though the dozers are huge, I was thinking of a new cab and converting them to side-booms like Hulcher uses for rerailing locomotives. I was planning on making operators fetch four of them from the crew lounge and station them around any derailed loco or freight car they created in an ops session for a few minutes as a penalty. And of course we would take a photo of them near their mess for posterity sake. Not often you can have that much fun for under $8.
If you ignore the model designations, they are close enough to work....for example the D5 is way large for a D5, but if you place an n scale figure on the walkway, it really doesn't look out of place.....so pretend it's a generic "large bulldozer" and you'll be OK. And as Carter mentioned the 315C is closer to a 320....but not many people can read the lettering, and even fewer know the difference between a 315 and a 320, or what they look like next to trains. The basic problem with the Cat Minis is they aren't actually built to a scale.....they're built to fit in the little clear plastic box they come in. So smaller items appear too big and big items appear too small.
Hey Wig-Wag-Trains......looked on your site and couldn't find the Construction Minis.....where do you hide them?
Hmm.........not a bad idea. Get another Cat 'dozer, build some sidebooms to put on both, place on either a lo-boy trailer or flatcar, or as you say, pose'em somewhere & model a visit by Hulcher's Vultures. Or perhaps, just use them sans sidebooms for heavy-duty construction or mine work. Considering the era I model, I may remove the Cat markings, since they're too new for the 1970s. A yellow excavator or 'dozer should subliminally say Caterpillar to a casual observer.
For a dozer try Rather than the Norscott dozer try the Bruder mini, which is also a CAT licenced product. The dozer and other product are an optional key ring toy all scaled at 1:128. In the case of the dozer the key ring isn't installed, a ripper is instead. The balde and the ripper move up and down. I think the dozer is ideal for those big coal, iron mines and construction sites. There are a number of tractors and trucks that some may find useful to represent larger versions. See http://www.bruder.de/englisch/main_art.asp and click on the "mini series". The US site is at www.brudertoys.com. You may also want to consider the universal hobbies key rings (which some sellers on eBay pass of as N Scale). I am not sure of the exact scale but they have a good range of agricutural tractors etc and Komatsu construction vehicles which are often passed of as N (www.dm-toys.de) http://www.universalhobbies.net/index1.htm. Cheers, Chris
I have the excivator and it looks great. Probably will use it for a construction scene on the layout. I hope they do more. It would be nice if they stuck in the 1/150 to 1/160 range on the Mini series. Does anyone know when CAT went to this paint job?
