The Marmo Method Modelbuilding Guide #16: Building A 1/35th Scale Catepillar Sixty Tractor

By Richard Marmo

Containing 17,700 words and 98 photographs, this book combines the tracks and a few other parts from the Trumpeter S-65 Stalinetz tractor kit with a resin & photoetch conversion set from LZ Models to create a 1/35 scale multimedia model of the Catepillar Sixty. If you want to add early farm equipment to your collection, this project is a must.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rincom Productions
• Release date: Jul 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005325626

Richard Marmo

The author is a freelance writer and professional modelbuilder. He has also spent decades researching his family's genealogy. He has written three print books, several hundred articles and created several CD-ROM photo galleries. Along the way, he has produced well over 1,000 models for clients ranging from Aerospace companies to private collectors. A self-described aircraft/science fiction nut...ahem, enthusiast...he will and has built just about anything you care to name, depending on his client's requirements.A native Southerner who was born in Tennessee, he has spent most of his life in Texas (He got there as soon as he could.). He lives in Fort Worth with his wife, Nelda, his dog, Magnum, and more model kits than he'll ever be able to build in this life.

Book preview

The Marmo Method Modelbuilding Guide #16

Building A 1/35 Scale Catepillar Sixty Tractor

by Richard Marmo

Copyright 2022 Richard Marmo

Smashwords Edition

All photos by the author except where otherwise credited.

Smashwords Edition license statement.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of contents

Introduction

Getting Started

The Engine

The Frame

The Suspension System

The Tracks

The Engine, Part 2

Foot Pedals & Floor

Details & Color

The Engine, Part 3 & Radiator

Paint & Weathering

The Small Shop

Fenders

More Details, Etc

Fuel Tank & More

Installing Tracks

Display Base

The IPMS/USA & How To Join

About The Author

Introduction

B

ack around 2012, Trumpeter digressed from their usual offerings of aircraft, armor and ship subjects when they released a 1/35th scale kit of a unique Russian Tractor, namely the Stalinetz S-65. Originally developed as an agricultural machine, WW-II saw it being being used to tow artillery pieces.

What makes this kit so interesting...and the inspiration for this ebook...are a couple of things. First, in the early 1930s, the United States helped Russia build their agricultural tractor industry literally from the ground up while Stalin was trying to jerk the Russian people kicking and screaming into the 20th Century. In 1933, the Chulyabinsk Tractor Plant spit out its first tracked tractor...or crawler tractor if you prefer. Crawler is probably the more accurate term when you consider it covered ground at the mindboggling rate of 2 1/2 - 3 mph. A Texas jackrabbit would leave it eating dust! At any rate, the tractor that the S-60 (which became the S-65 as the design was developed) was based on was the Caterpillar Sixty and the two were so close in appearance as to make no never mind. Performance was another matter entirely.

You could build the Trumpeter kit and have it pass for a Caterpillar Sixty, though the truly knowledgeable would quickly tell the difference. But that’s where L.Z. Models comes in. This Irish company produces some fantastic conversion kits for the various versions of the S-65 and one of them just happens to allow you to convert the Trumpeter S-65 to the Caterpillar Sixty.

The fact that the Trumpeter kit produces a finished model that is only 4 1/2" long, contains over 430 parts and the L.Z. kit throws another 70 resin and 40 photoetch parts at you means that this is a full-blown multi-media project that is not for the faint of heart.

Getting Started

The Trumpeter Kit:

The Trumpeter box is a substantial 8 1/2 x 13 x 2" and it is crammed with 439 injected styrene parts, 8 photoetch parts, a two sided painting and marking guide in color and a 12 page construction booklet. If you haven't already developed a parts box from previous projects so you have a place to toss all the kit parts you don't use, you will when this project's completed. With a few minor exceptions, we will only be using the tracks and running gear from the Trumpeter kit. The rest? Well, as they say, parts is parts.

The LZ Conversion Kit:

My kit arrived in a securely packed and well taped package. Inside I didn't find a conventional kit box, but a large Ziploc bag containing two smaller Ziploc bags, a sheet of photoetch parts and a CD-ROM. The two smaller bags are crammed to the gills with some 70 small, very small and near microscopic parts. You're definitely gonna need an OptiVISOR or your favorite magnifying system unless you have the eyesight of an eagle! And don't forget a pair or two of high precision tweezers, either. The rest of the needed tools? We'll deal with those along the way.

The small photoetch sheet contains 32 parts while very detailed instructions run to 26 pages as a PDF on a CD-ROM. Most of the pages are essentially high quality photos that can be easily read in Adobe Reader or other PDF reader on your computer screen or printed out if you prefer.

What do we build first?

We don't. Contrary to our usual attitude that we don't need no stinkin' instructions, it is strongly recommended that you spend some time reading the instructions. You also need to study and print out the parts layout you see below.

And so you don't lose any of the small parts, which is a real risk with the LZ conversion where this project is concerned, I'd suggest finding a suitable small box to dump everything into. Remember, once you open those Ziploc bags, you're not going to put all those parts back into them. Also put the photoetch sheet aside until it's needed, someplace where you won't run the risk of dinging the thing up.

Don't forget the CA & Same Stuff

All of the resin and photoetch parts will require CA with an occasional touch of Accelerator. Keep in mind that BSI products are private label, which explains