Thanks for the comments, guys.
Jared, The 16v was the only engine I could find that looked proportional, except some super expensive resin models that I haven't seen in person. I thought the twin turbos would add a look of even more power. This carrier would probably weigh in at around 70 tons without the upper unit, around 140 with it, not including the counterweights. Truckin' that down the road is gonna take some serious power! Counterweights add up to 78 tons, always transported on tractor trailers over the road. (These figures based on 1/1 Link Belt crane transportation weight charts for a comperable sized crane)
The model, by the way, weighs in at around 32 lbs, when set up with all boom sections and counterweights.
Nathan, I bought my Sherline 2000 because of it's alleged versatility before I really knew anything about it. It has proven to be beyond my imagination for what it can do, especially as small as it is. Since it is a small machine you have to work steel slowly, just give it time to feed and cut shallow passes. But it will do the job. Aluminum and plastics are a snap. Being able to tilt the head makes it capable of cutting angles that would normally require a tilt table. The cool thing about the 2000 over other Sherlines is it has a far greater workpiece size capacity, since it has such a deep throat. And when the throat still isn't deep enough? Offset the head laterally so that the workpiece doesn't have to pass throuth the throat.
Another use for this feature is when I had to mill some off the baseplate but didn't want to dissassemble the whole unit. Note in the picture below, all the mechanism is on the baseplate, up side down.
If anyone's interested, here's a link to my photobucket with pictures of the crane's progress from the very beginning. Many of the ideas and components seen here have been omproved on and scrapped. That crude boom was only for test purposes. Most however, give an idea as to how the pieces were made and how the project evolved. The most recent are at the top, getting older as you go down.
http://s343.photobucket.com/albums/o...pix/?start=all
I still have a long way to go, but now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.