My scale work pics

[JD4020]

I dont play with toys, I was taking pictures of my highly detailed models. :D

First set of pics, digging a foundation.

[JD4020]

The big Deere dozing.

[JD4020]

Little Deere dozer

[JD4020]

Grader

[JD4020]

Cats and Deeres get along well

[JD4020]

Excavator doing some trenching, and more random pics.

[tonka]

that looks fun

[stretch]

Reminds me of someone I know...:rolleyes: Looks like 1/64th? I have the 12G (16G in 1/87) and that small Deere. :usa

[hoeman600]

You Were Playin And You Know It:d

[oldtimer53]

your Cat excavator needs the stick cylinder overhauled/

[JD4020]

That aint the only Cat that needs help, heres the backhoe.

[Dozerboy]

Should of stuck with JD lol

[Dirtman2007]

That aint the only Cat that needs help, heres the backhoe.

you played with it too much:D

[dayexco]

i gotta ask....you guys REALLY play w/toys like this? my 5 yr old grandson is parking his toys...and wants to run the big stuff...these pics must all be in fun?

[RollOver Pete]

i gotta ask....you guys REALLY play w/toys like this? my 5 yr old grandson is parking his toys...and wants to run the big stuff...these pics must all be in fun?

Hey now.....
Back in my younger days (1968-1974) I had a huge Tonka dirt spread.
In fact, thats how I got my feet wet in the dirt business.
The little tricks and secrets that I often use today were learned and perfected right in my back yard.
Things like slot dozing and production loading were way more important than worrying about girls and the cooties that they often spread.
At the tender age of 8 I knew that anything more than 1.5 tire revolutions was not efficient or productive loading.
I could care less what the green M n M's were for.
I just knew that if they were mixed into my fills, the soils man would make me remove them.
Keeping unwanted girls off of my dirt spread always made for a more productive day.

My advise to your grandson...
What he and most of you see as toys are actually valuable learning tools.
Use them!
Those of us who attended the backyard apprenticeship training sites often become some of the industries "Top Hands".
Those who didn't develop that special bubble in their rear from not using their (toys)tools of a higher learning are easy to spot on any construction site.
So sure, the pics can be fun.
It's the learning that's serious business.
:cool:

[JD4020]

Well, if I didnt live in the city with people watching me, I would be playing. But right now its practice, what he said. :)

[Dirtman2007]

Hey now.....
Back in my younger days (1968-1974) I had a huge Tonka dirt spread.
In fact, thats how I got my feet wet in the dirt business.
The little tricks and secrets that I often use today were learned and perfected right in my back yard.
Things like slot dozing and production loading were way more important than worrying about girls and the cooties that they often spread.
At the tender age of 8 I knew that anything more than 1.5 tire revolutions was not efficient or productive loading.
I could care less what the green M n M's were for.
I just knew that if they were mixed into my fills, the soils man would make me remove them.
Keeping unwanted girls off of my dirt spread always made for a more productive day.

My advise to your grandson...
What he and most of you see as toys are actually valuable learning tools.
Use them!
Those of us who attended the backyard apprenticeship training sites often become some of the industries "Top Hands".
Those who didn't develop that special bubble in their rear from not using their (toys)tools of a higher learning are easy to spot on any construction site.
So sure, the pics can be fun.
It's the learning that's serious business.
:cool:

Your right about the practice you can learn from those little toys when your young. I spent many, many hours moving dirt around in the backyard. I wore many pair of pants out on my knees in the dirt. At one time my site had grown to about 400 sq feet! I had a pure town onetime, cutting roads, moving dirt here and there. Ahh so much fun.

Hey I'm still doing those things:eek: just with bigger toys!

[dayexco]

Hey now.....
Back in my younger days (1968-1974) I had a huge Tonka dirt spread.
In fact, thats how I got my feet wet in the dirt business.
The little tricks and secrets that I often use today were learned and perfected right in my back yard.
Things like slot dozing and production loading were way more important than worrying about girls and the cooties that they often spread.
At the tender age of 8 I knew that anything more than 1.5 tire revolutions was not efficient or productive loading.
I could care less what the green M n M's were for.
I just knew that if they were mixed into my fills, the soils man would make me remove them.
Keeping unwanted girls off of my dirt spread always made for a more productive day.

My advise to your grandson...
What he and most of you see as toys are actually valuable learning tools.
Use them!
Those of us who attended the backyard apprenticeship training sites often become some of the industries "Top Hands".
Those who didn't develop that special bubble in their rear from not using their (toys)tools of a higher learning are easy to spot on any construction site.
So sure, the pics can be fun.
It's the learning that's serious business.
:cool:

there's a method to everybody's madness....mine doesn't quite mesh with people over 8-9 yrs old...playing in sandboxes...if that trips your/their trigger....have at it!!!!!:drinkup:drinkup:drinkup

anyway...i learned from one of the best, my father died when he was 65 yrs old...and it wasn't in a sandbox...my son learned from me...and hopefully....his sons will learn from him. all in a structured/controlled setting, not within the confines of some 2 x 6's or 20.5-25 filled with sand and tonka toys...if it worked for you and yours...good deal, dude!

[stretch]

...all in a structured/controlled setting, not within the confines of some 2 x 6's or 20.5-25 filled with sand and tonka toys...if it worked for you and yours...good deal, dude!

Unfortunately...that's all I had for a looong time, even with my small fleet of Tonka's. They're out in the pasture but we start them up occasionally to let the little kids run them. :drinkup

JD4020, you only showed us one pic of the HO fleet with the Deere backhoe and the 160M...can we see a few more?

And tell them to keep playing, I second what they've said...it really is a good way to learn about this stuff. RollOverPete, I still have the Tonka dozer I used to push slots with. :rolleyes:

[euclid]

Did you make motor noises while digging in the dirt? Nice pictures you took and it looked very realistic!

[AtlasRob]

Did you make motor noises while digging in the dirt? Nice pictures you took and it looked very realistic!

Aw come on :mad: theres no cables there not electric, course theres noise, we're kids aint we, how you going to learn if the blades too full, if you dont hear the motor start to lugg down, you got to learn to ease off the controls a bit, else the tracks a start to spin.

ROP, happy memories, dried runner beans were the best rock I ever had, just never got round to having a crusher.

Great pics, keep digging :bouncegri

[JD4020]

Heres another of the HO excavator woking on a bridge site on my HO Duluth Missabe and Iron Range model railroad.

[JD4020]

Heres the excavator on a site where were building an addition on the fire station, another bay for another truck.

And although we had a below average winter, we still made good money pushing the white stuff (what I most look forward to doing in two years when I get my comm. ins., but I might work for someone this winter).

[JD4020]

Today was a horrible day! Called it quits on our two jobs early today due to heavy rains. We have the excavator and cat skiddster at a site where we are ironically digging a pond. We are about 2 feet down, so the rain was able to collect fast. Our other site, is a few more miles away and recieved the brunt of the storm system, dumping 3" of rain in a few hours. This site is at the lowest point in the county, on a golf course, where we are doing final grading. Being such a lowspot, the 3" of rain ended up as much more than that. The baby Deere might need some help, my new employee got lazy and when we quit, left it in what will eventually be guess what, another pond.

[JD4020]

I didnt get real close to take the pics, because I didnt want to swim. Here are the rest, Ill be up bright and early doing some recovering work. Hope the 4X4's are ready! At the smaller sight where its not as bad, I might be able to dig a drainage ditch and resume work.

[JD4020]

I just noticed the drop af water hitting in that very last pic, to the left of the cab.

[JD4020]

Well about 4-5 hours after the rain quit, I called some of the guys to go and take a look with me, we had 6 trucks, and even though (dont ask me how) all the water drained away from the Baby Deere we werent going to attempt ANYTHING. As you can see in the pic, shes buried over the tracks on one side. Their calling for more rain over night. The other 3 pieces at the same sight, (big dozer, bobcat, and grader) were on more solid ground and should be able to come out on their own power. Well have to give the Baby Deere some help with another Deere though.

[Lashlander]

Nice Dios. Keep us posted on your flooding. Looks like you have some cleanup to do.

[JD4020]

Well today has been a much nicer day, a brief shower in the morning, and after that nothing but HEAVY wind. We took a backhoe to the Baby Deere and dug her out, then we pulled it out with the backhoe, (godd thing its 4x4) We pushed it up onto a trailer to be towed back to the shop. There are pics from the Baby Deere, stuck and at the shop, along with pics of the Babcat that was flooded.

[JD4020]

More pics.

[JD4020]

The Bobcat. And some of a foundation we are digging.

[JD4020]

More foundation.

[stretch]

whoooa...that's a nice Pete! Good luck with the baby Deere, we've had a few of those problems too.

[JD4020]

Thanks, Ill get a shot of the other petes next week. I have a side dump, belly dumps, and one more straight dump. My main mechanic said the Bobcat just needs to dry out and it will be fine. All the systems in the Baby Deere were drained, flushed, and refilled, wont try to start it till next week till it too has time to dry out.

[dayexco]

please tell me you're 7-10 yrs old

[bear]

Heck Dayexco I'm 28 and you should see the jobs me and my nephews do. :D We had a nice footer job last week!:rolleyes:

[JD4020]

please tell me you're 7-10 yrs old

Ok, Im 7-10. :D

But if you want me to be truthful, Il be 17 in August, school got out on tuesday, and Im bored, so this is how I can kill some time!

[Bellboy]

JD4020: Is you JD 310SE and other kit in 1:87, or is it 1:64? If 1:87, where can i get one???? I am desperate for some JD 1:87.

[Cat is ALL]

hahaha I cannot see myself ever doing that I prefer the real thing but let him have his fun haha

[JD4020]

JD4020: Is you JD 310SE and other kit in 1:87, or is it 1:64? If 1:87, where can i get one???? I am desperate for some JD 1:87.

The one in the pic is 1:50th. However, ertl dos make one in 1:87. go to 3000toys.com and look for 1:87 deere stuff. And for the backhoe, try zycon models, I cant remember th site name, google zycon models.

[iceberg210]

I'm so glad there are people my age (18) and older who aren't ashamed (nor should they be) of working with machines that are on a smaller level. I still play/work with my Tonka's. I've built roads, towns, etc etc etc. I even built a ski resort in my back yard along with massive cut and fill projects that had to go into the project. Would I have rather been running larger equipment? Of course! But I'd if you can't do the big rigs, Tonka's are by far better then nothing, and certainly doing a huge project that you would need acres and acres of land to do is impossible for most of us on a full scale version so we might as well do it on a smaller level.

Its fun, and there's no harm in fun, especially when it teaches you stuff. the first time I got on a loader people were shocked how well I was able to do, and I believe that is in part due to the practice that I had had on a smaller level. I'd use (and still do) my loader for everything. Cutting, loading, even some rough grading, and I've been able to transfer some of that experience to the full scale models as well.

I firmly believe that experience with the smaller models help with the larger ones. You learn concepts like how to set up an effcient loading operation, slot dozing, how to load a truck properly, how to make cut and fills, the idea of little adjustments and small steps to accomplish large tasks, moving slowly to lessen mistakes that you have to fix latter, care of your equipment, etc etc etc. These and many more lessons can be learned with smaller scale machinery.

While I know there is no perfect substitute for the full scale machines I will leave with this real life example. I'm not trying to brag but for my age everyone always tells me I'm an incredible operator of all kinds of machinery. Even compared to other people who have the same amount of seat time I still fair better then most, and I'd have to think some of that goes back to my Tonka days. Even now when I'm trying to figure out how to stage a project I'll set up a model in Tonka and figure out the best way to do the job in miniature before taking the big rigs out. You'd be suprised in all the different places you can learn.

I'll have to get some pics up of my projects some time I think.

Thanks for the pics, great work you're doing!!!!:drinkup

[Bellboy]

JD4020: Is you JD 310SE and other kit in 1:87, or is it 1:64? If 1:87, where can i get one???? I am desperate for some JD 1:87.

Do you do your construction work with 1:50 or 1:87? I am sorry to be so pedantic!

[JD4020]

Do you do your construction work with 1:50 or 1:87? I am sorry to be so pedantic!

The equipment in my pics ranges from 1/87 to 1/32, depends on which site Im woking on.

[Deere9670]

please tell me you're 7-10 yrs old

no need to be smart, we all started in the sandbox until we had the opurtunity to get on the real thing. For me it was an old mustang skid loader and an old 580 case backhoe when i was 12. Now ive moved on to bigger machines, but it all started with the little toys. dayexomo: if you dont have any thing nice to say, dont take up space with your smart comments.:mad:

[JD4020]

no need to be smart, we all started in the sandbox until we had the opurtunity to get on the real thing. For me it was an old mustang skid loader and an old 580 case backhoe when i was 12. Now ive moved on to bigger machines, but it all started with the little toys. dayexomo: if you dont have any thing nice to say, dont take up space with your smart comments.:mad:

I think hes only jealous af my nice equipment. I bet he doesnt have as many nice Petes as I do!

[Bellboy]

I need more machines. let me leave and come back in 2 years time...

[[-Agent-]]

i gotta ask....you guys REALLY play w/toys like this? my 5 yr old grandson is parking his toys...and wants to run the big stuff...these pics must all be in fun?

We don't have to pay for fuel!!! Well yes we do, but it is just a hotdog or 2. ***

[Bellboy]

And maybe the occasional greasing up with a cadbury Tempo or lunchbar. Ah, preventitive maintenance.

It like hardly rains here in Winter, so if I try any work, All I end up with is a mouth full of dust. Atleast the stuff doesn't stick, but then there is the problem of dust getting anywhere else. Plus I have dogs to contend with! oh the list never ends.

And just posing the machines would give my mom a heart attack! Well, some times she doesn't see what I do in the garden, so it might be safe to try?

I don't think so! with the 1:87 its easier, coz' they're not so detailed and less likely to get kicked away by a marauding pet.

[cat 325ccr]

nice! i like the water!:drinkup:drinkup