gday, i was just wondering if there were any scale models of the clark-michigan 475? Or any of the michigan loaders? matt
To date, there has not been a production model of the Michigan 475. Michigan wheel loader models that have been produced are; 125B by Conrad 175A by Mercury 175B(?) by Denzil Skinner 175C by Conrad 675 (with variants) by EMD 'Hope this helps,
Matt, I was in Dyersville Iowa at the construction toy show a couple years ago and a fella there had a custom made 1/50 scale model of a 474B. It was a resin model with tires and such off of mining trucks and the like. I remember that he had the 475B and an O&K RH 400 front shovel both custom made. Keep your chin up, you might get lucky!
BYMO will launch a 1/50 scale model of Clark - Michigan 475B next year. Check the following link: http://www.cranesetc.co.uk/editorials/2010/feb10/bymo/bymob.htm
I was looking for some images of 475 III A Michigan loaders. Back in 1968 when I started work at the quarry we had one of those. Ours was actually the display model from the LasVegas show a year or two before. It had chrome ladders, handralls and even exhaust stacks. It was powered by a 1710 V-12 Cummins Last I knew it was driven over the road from central NY to one of our sister plants in Penn. Had to remove the exhaust stacks and cab due to height. I think the last time I worked on one of those was many years ago down in Verdon Virginia. Did an in chassis rebuild of the transmission. Other than the size of the parts it was not a bad job once I removed a bunch of hyd. hoses to gain access. Spent a couple days disassembling it then had to drive over to Charleston W. Virginia to get parts and back the next morning to put it back together. I guess they must have used a few of those in the coal mines as the dealer had all the parts on the shelf for the rebuild! Blue Ridge Mountains in the middle of the night sure was a lonely place. One side note, when I got back home in central NY I told the boss we needed to check out the front end of the company truck they sent me there in. One of the other guys in shop crawled under it an was tapping on things to knock off dried mud when a tie-rod fell off! Glad that didn't happen at 2:00am up in the Blue Rdge mountains or they'd still be wondering where I was hiding!
that BYMO thing is a real joke!!!!! it has been announced since 2009 and we never heard of it.....what a joke!!! We only saw the prototype and that's it!! I guess if i want a scale model of the 475, i am gonna have to build one, like i did with My Link-Belt LS7400..... Max.
I have a belt buckle with a 475C loading a Euclid R50 dump.
Hey Shovelman, that 175A do you know what scale it is? Ive never heard of Mercury...modeler or toys? Thanks Ross
Hey alan627b that's a great scale model. I'm also looking for a list of scale model of heavy equipment or trucks that I can buy. If you have some reference of it, please let me know. Thanks
Hello, I thought I would post a photo of my custom Michigan 475B. I painted the rims and radiator blue, with blue stripes etc, looks really nice I reckon. I also added aluminium exhaust pipes. Hope you like Regards from down under Peter
Nice looking model.
BYMO Clark 475B Ok so did you check and see the model of BYMO? It's 1/50 scale model Clark 475B.
Yes, i did.......... Now, it is part of my collection....i guess i just needed to be patient.... Max.
I am working on a project which will take years but is worth. It's about a 1:24 scale model of the Clark 75B tractor shovel, a wheel loader belonging to the small range of wheel loaders in the Clark and Michigan range. The scale model is divided into two phases: 1) 3D CAD drawings based on authentic factory drawings and dimensions, and 2) solid model thru rapid prototyping process. The number of scale models is undecided yet but it should be limited to 500. The budget is huge and around 40K, the reason why I need to think wisely and take my time for such a project. But once set, you wouldn't believe your eyes how detailed it is.
Well I was going through a bunch of old files and stuff trying to make heads or tails out of what passes for an office at home and found the only picture I have of the Michigan 475IIIA we had back in 1968 when I started work at the quarry. Does not show much of the machine. But thought I'd post it anywho! Can't make out who is in the seat and not sure who is holding on to the top of door. But the guy half in the cab is good old Wayne Cowen! Back when he was a kid working in another of the companies quarries in the next town he said they were still using mules to haul stone to the crusher. The guys in the shop liked old Wayne, we would put a machine together after a major repair and tell him to go see if there were any weak spots. If it was still moving on it's own and he had a smile on his face an hour later we knew it was going to hold up just fine!
Nice picture of a veri interresting machine!! Thanks for sharing it, kshansen. Max.
Now that's a real machine. Were those about the same size as a 988 back then?
Yes, the comparison was a 988. They made the 675 for a few giant contractors to crush the competition of the 992 which was the largest rubber tire of the time.
A 475 is closer in size to a 992 than a 988
992 carried a 16yd bucket while the 475 had a 12yd. So yes. It is closer to a 992 than a 988 which I think was a 10yd.
Don't have a copy of Cat Performance Handbook around here but the online spec's for the 988H show it as having a 10.0 cu/yd bucket. Back when this 475IIA was working in the quarry as a load and carry machine to the primary crusher it was most times running along with a 988 87A1964 machine. As I recall the 988 at that time was only a 6 yard machine, or a little more. Every letter increase for a Cat loaders seems to move up bucket size a bit. A quick look at Ritchie Auction site lists the bucket on a 988B as 7.1 yards and I know the 988 B were a step up from the 87A models. Of course if you start putting coal buckets on them all bets are off!
Thank you for this great info!
Yes, large loader sizes have increased so much since the models came out that I can't keep track of them. Kind of like after the L model dozers came out, they're gonna have to resize them and add another model in there. I think that Michigan 475 had a pretty good reputation back then, I guess Cat just slowly overtook their market share with equal or better loaders over the years, or more than likely just better support.
Two biggest problems I recall we had with the 475IIA were: 1. Hoses and oring failures. Probably not so much Michigan's problem just the "state of the art" for those items back then. Anyone remember those steel backed oring'seals Cat used for years? 2. Brakes, again compared to the competition probably not that bad. As I recall the locking brake chambers were a little tricky to get working right. Recall some roller/wedges that would get worn and not hold good. Seems you had to apply the service brakes then activate a parking brake valve to lock the brakes on. Good thing they had big buckets to use for parking brakes! About the best thing about them was the transmissions. Could be rebuilt in frame by one guy working alone! Did just that one December down in Virginia. But there were a ton of hoses to remove to get access to the covers!