The cab is equipped with a cab guard for protection

against flying debre's on the site

The under carriage is from a Norscot 365B L, I had to have metal tracks

so I used a few sets from a JOAL Komatsu D155 and painted them black

which ended up fitting great and working perfect

Here is a front view giving a nice close-up of the grapple attachment

The amount of work and time I put into this model is unbelievable, the boom

is based on a Norscot 365B L excavator boom but had been cut down the

center and shortened to the specifications of a CAT 350 L excavator. By

shortening the booms length for a 350 L the rest of the entire boom

had to be grinded down into shape. All the hydraulic cylinders had

to be cut off and resized and then relocated into the proper places

View of the rear

The carbody is based on an ERTL CAT 5080 but cut down to the size of a

350 L. Brass railings and ladders have also been added to rtry and resemble

the real thing as much as possible

The entire top of the machine has been scratched bult since no other

models have the same upper structure as a 350... The raised engine

compartment is actually made out of bolsa wood coated with a thick

layer of bondo, with brass side vents.

Here's another view of the raised engine compartment as well as the

smoothed out upper structure with brass railings and hydraulic

lining leading from the carbody into the boom

To add finishing details hydraulic lining was added to the boom and

each of the hydraulic cylinders, a nd of coarse new "350 L" water

slide decals were added to make the conversion complete

The grapple is a rare fine crafted piece from

the Canadian manufacturer Sherwood Models

The grapple is made from casted metal so it's

quite strong and yes, it actually works!

The angle of the grapple can be adjusted by

removing a small nut and bolt to move the

arm up or down into four different posistions

A front view of the open dinosours mouth for you

...And a closed shot

This picture should prove just how much work was put into creating the CAT

350 L. You can see how much the 5080 carbody had to be shortened

and how an entire new upper structure had to be created

Although this baby took much, much longer then I had expected to finish I

am actaully very pleased and proud with the end result=)

And off she goes as she leaves Ken's custom model factory

Here's an in action shot of the CAT 350 L excavator loading up haul

trucks with debre at this old concrete building demo site

And here's one more pic of the 350 L hard at work as it moves some

steel I-beams and stacks them into a nice pile