Recently I entered the Big Guns Campaign with a Scale Link 60 pounder kit, in memory of my Grandfather who served in an RGA heavy battery of those on the Somme and in support of the Canadians on Vimy. As I wanted a full travelling display, and again as I cannot paint horses to save my life, I decided to stick with what I know and build the gun with a 1917 Holt 75 tractor.

This presents certain problems, apart from no kit availability as yet, of mixed scales. So this will be a pick and mix build using scratch parts and whatever adapted kit parts work.
I must say now that this build will not be for the purist. Frankly at the end, if it walks and creaks like a Holt, my Grandfather and I will be happy and after all the gun is the thing.
The other thing that I must say is that this build relays heavily on the relationship between the Caterpillar C60/ChTZ 65 family and the Holt.
Firstly I obtained parts of the 1917 Holt Driver's handbook and enlarged the plan to 1/32nd, then assembled the required collection of bits.

The Trumpeter ChTZ kit will provided the underpinnings,suspension and road wheels. The LZ Models Cat Sixty kit will provide a 4 cylinder gasoline engine for conversion and other parts. AA will provide the track plates and the other bag contains parts from FineCast a maker of 1/32nd white metal traction engine kits.The large traction engine wheels are also theirs for use on the 60 pounder.
Hopefully the end result will do him justice.

regards

So firstly I build the sub-frame from Evergreen strip.

Then I adapted the lower part of the S65 by replacing the small kit supplied drive wheels with large ones from an HB kit and using the altered return wheel from the tractor kit as the drive wheels that are connected to the large flywheel and engine. Sounds convoluted I know but the pictures may be more informative.



The delrin drive chains, connecting the drive to the as yet unbuilt fly wheels are Grandt Line, a little over scale perhaps but mostly hidden by the cover at the rear.
The front tiller wheel was made from a couple of white metal traction engine wheels, plastic strip and solder springs.
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The next is, I find, the slow bit between first cutting plastic and applying decals, making the parts to fill out the framework before I can assemble the final model.
regards

Uhm.. wow! That's some impressive tractor and some impressive scratch building. Very cool

Whoa. I did not see this coming at all!

Very impressive work indeed.



~ Jeff

Great idea & work...Good luck,i'll follow...

- that's just what I was thinking too.

Beautiful!

Thanks for sharing.

Very cool topic. Something I have actually never seen! Skills are awesome as well.
J