Though I still hope to get a Cat sometime in the near future, I am also thinking of the possibilities of building a half or third scale model that could be hauled more easily from Pennsylvania back to Illinois for plowing day at our farm.

I was thinking maybe a miniature version of the 40's era D7, using a compact diesel for the power. My question is, is it possible to fabricate a pony motor to start the diesel just like on the real ones? Possibly using pistons from a mini dirt bike or similar small engine like old lawn mower pistons?

Also, thinking the possibilities of making a replica D7N towing winch for it using a small truck winch in disguise inside another housing.

Has anyone ever built a replica Caterpillar that could give some advice and share your work and pics?

Thanks
Aaron

just get a D2

This was part of the 2018 National Show in San Antonio. Texas. This man was truly devoted to spend the time and money he did fabricating this machine. And a fine job he did.

Check out this guys work, it might make you want to go full size. Looks like a tremendous amount of work.

Haul a D2 to Plow Day and pull three 14”s with the big boys!

I agree with all the previous comments, really good thoughts...

-building something from scratch is a serious commitment...a ton of time, effort, engineering, money, fabricating....please realize the can of worms you are opening !

- far better off purchasing what you want, need, the first time. it costs plenty just restoring and repairing alone!

Plowing with the D2

Hi,
it certainly is possible a quick Google found this unit.

makezine.com/2015/02/17/dad-builds-mini-...rom-lawnmower-parts/

I recall another that appeared at one of the shows that was more lifelike but so far have not been able to locate a video of it.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

A D2 has definitely crossed my mind, but still a fairly heavy guy to haul over the hills we have here to get it home. with a home made, I could condense the weight a ton or two. would be a great expense for sure as well as time, but would be fun to take my other hobby of building/modifying Cat models to doing one on a much larger scale.

My goal one day would be to own an RD-4, that is the crawler my uncle had that started this journey, but they are getting tougher to find it seems.

building a half size crawler is a huge amount of work.

as others have said its definitely easier to get a d2 or a holt 2 ton as they are the baby machines and even they take a lot of work if you want to go the whole hog full strip down and rebuild route. we were lucky with our d4 which is only 5 tonne wringing wet. d2's are small enough to shift on a car trailer or a small body truck they only weigh around 8000lb