Gentlemen,
I've been playing with rock crawlers over at scale 4x4 rc for a long time. Reccently while i was bored I ran across videos of Little Giants construction digging out his basement on youtube again. I thought that looked like fun, ventured back into the rc ag & industrial forums and started finding out that hydraulic models are in 'cubic dollars' so maybe not fun after all...
Then i saw 'the stuff' and 'small haul' converting doepke Unit cranes and Tonka dump trucks and saw a more affordable entry into this world. Old toys and servos being massively cheaper than hydro, this could work. Cable machines are cool and have more visible stuff moving around and i don't have to worry about rivet counters telling me my build is wrong since it's a toy.
So i started by finding my 1990s 1930s nylint dumptruck, and scaling up a papercraft crane i found on a japanese site, then began making it in brass.
While working on it i ran across a 1955-56 Nylint Clark T-24 Michigan Crane which saves a ton of time vs rolling my own. I noticed a couple guys on here have converted these already so i'm hoping i can steal some knowlege.
Right now i'm wanting to build 3 cable drums and slew, build a dragline bucket. i'd like to eventually add drive and steer and maybe lighting.