Concrete Carrier and Bulldozer
Built by Adrian Ashford in April 2009
This is based on a model featured in the April 1952 issue of Meccano Magazine.
The main reason for building this model was to make use of the plastic caterpillar track, which I brought when it was introduced in 1974, but never used! Although primarily intended for use with the plastic Meccano of the time, it could also be used with the standard metal Meccano. The original model used eight 3” sprockets and chain for the tracks.
The model is a good attempt at producing an interested model. It represents a machine used on building sites, having a bulldozer on one end, and a hopper for carrying concrete or cement at the other. It has been built more or less as per the instructions, with some minor changes to suit my own ideas.
I’ve used a motor with gearbox, powered by four AA batteries, in place of the E20R in the original. This drives one axle of the tracks, via a differential gear, which enables the model to steered by applying a brake to one of the tracks. The bulldozer blade can be raised and lowered, and the hopper can be tipped.
There are a number of models which have appeared in the Meccano Magazine and Meccano manuals over the years in which the dummy tracks could be replaced with the plastic track.