Here's some links to my plastic fleet as well as my die-cast fleet. I've had the Legos for years and recently started collecting die-cast models. Lego Fleet The last picture was done in an art class, I didn't want to do a "normal" valetines day project. Die-cast Fleet
I've got that Lego loader as well! I didn't change the loader arms at all (couldn't get the lift height and dump angle and breakout force to where I wanted them), but I messed around with the back end so now it's a lot beefier. And it look like a (shh; don't tell Cat) Volvo. As for my die-cast set... hmm, sometime I'll take some pictures and post them. I have an S250, 773, "T200" (I took the tracks off it and replaced them with my 863's understructure), V518, a Deere 250, a Deere 7600, and a spreader. I'm "retiring" my 7600 and spreader, but the others see service as long as I'm at home. It must be hilarious for the neighbors to see me, a college student, still playing in the dirt with toys.
I had to make my loader a high-lift, my trucks are too big. I wish that I had the money to buy the pieces to keep everything the same color, but Legos are expensive. I make everything that I build to work as realistically as possible. I have been known to test a few of my things in the dirt (college student as well). I should have put a tape measure in the pictures, because you really can't tell how big some of the things are (the boom truck reaches 2 feet in the air, and the tractor trailer is 3 feet long)
Do you work as a contractor and take classes? That's pretty impressive! Where are you at and what's your intended major? I lost a counterweight while plowing some snow one day with the loader. Still have two more, fortunately, so the loader can still pick up some stuff.
Any equipment that I get to run belongs to the family business, and it's still more like a hobby than a business. I plan to try and get into the local Operating Engineers union after school and then take over the family business years later. I go to school in Nyack, New York and my major is strange "Business and Philosophy Interdisciplinary studies", basically I get to mix and match business and philosophy courses to make up the core of my major I built a cage off of the back of my loader and use batteries for counter-weight .