MiniArt US Bulldozer (38022) - 1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models

[Julien]

US Bulldozer (38022)

1:35 MiniArt via Creative Models

 

 

Bulldozers have been around in construction since the 1920s however the term Bulldozer came from the 30s as before that they were called Bullgraders. The Blade (the curved front piece) peels layers of earth of and pushes it forwards. Tracks were introduced really with the Caterpillar company. 

 

 

The Kit

This kit is a Caterpillar D7, however there is no information in the instructions on this (probably for licencing), given the different types of jerrycan available I would hazard a guess also that its post war.  The kit arrives on 36 sprues, a small PE fret and a small decal sheet.

 

 

 

Construction begins with the engine which is the heart of the machine. As this is visible it is a small kit on its own with a large number of parts. The engine and its transmission take up the first 3 pages of the instruction booklet and complete with the radiator fit into the front part of the chassis which builds up around it.  The left and right track roller assemblies are then built up with a complex assembly including the wheels and track tensioning system. 

 

 

 

Next the driver area is built up over the engine/transmission area and the roller assemblies are attached to each side. the radiator grill is then added at the front and the side plates for the operator entry are added. Next up the complicated looking winch arrangement which moves the blade is made up and added. This fits at the rear of the cab and goes over it, with the cab roof being added. The tracks are added at this stage each link has 4 parts! and there are 36 each side.

 

 

 

The last stage is to construct the large bulldozer blade and it supporting structure. The blade can be fitted straight on or with an offset to the left or right as needed. 

 

 

Markings

As it's a civilian vehicle very little in the way of markings are supplied.

 

 

Taken from MiniArt's website

 

Conclusion

This is an important piece of US construction equipment which miniart have made an excellent kit of.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

 Review sample courtesy of

[fatfingers]

NINE parts per link???  Blimey. Does look a nice kit though and a great base for weathering practice.

 

Regards

 

Steve

[Julien]

22 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

NINE parts per link???  Blimey. Does look a nice kit though and a great base for weathering practice.

 

Regards

 

Steve

Actually its 4 parts per link, I counted more than one link which were in a scrap diagram on the instructions. There are basically two side plates, a link pin and the track plate.

 

Julien

[JeroenS]

Whoops, my finger accidently clicked the "order" button ... on a random website, I have no idea how I got there, that just happened to have a page with this kit on it... 

 

Well, I recently bought a 1/35 scale truck from MiniArt and it is so well detailed that I had this brand in the back of my mind. And I was also still looking for some utility vehicle. So this is just perfect. 

[Biggu]

Did Miniart change tier plastic, I have one of the first release D7 dozers, and it is almost impossible to build as the plastic is so brittle, every piece breaks, I would be interested in this if they have a little better plastic.....  this looks to be a real cool kit.... can anyone enlighten me??

[JeroenS]

1 hour ago, Biggu said:

Did Miniart change tier plastic, I have one of the first release D7 dozers, and it is almost impossible to build as the plastic is so brittle, every piece breaks, I would be interested in this if they have a little better plastic.....  this looks to be a real cool kit.... can anyone enlighten me??

I've opened up the box (warning: huge amount of parts 🙂), and took out some of the sprues. It's the same plastic as in the truck kit I'm currently building. The plastic is actually a little bit flexible and soft, but not too soft. It sands easily and generally goes together well. Only thing is that attachment points between parts are sometimes virtually non-existent. I'm using Tamiya's extra thin quick setting stuff and it melts the parts together nicely though. I'm actually looking forward to building the dozer but for now it's back in the box. 

[Biggu]

Thanks Jeroen, so I am assuming then , they must have remedied the very brittle plastic situation.... as mentioned I have one of the early D7 'crawler', and yes , it has lots of bits and pieces, but is a bit of a patience tester due to the breaking of EVERY part.... I would love to build the 'new' Cat, and as a  civilian unit, it has such potential and is not the usual Tiger tank model..... a nice change and hats off to  Miniart for going this way....