Earthmover Heritage Display DW21

We have recently begun making a heritage piece for a person who worked in the earthmoving industry in the early 60's. There was not a lot available artifact wise as this person did not own any equipment but drove it, so we got a little creative on this one, also space was an issue. We are using a few photos in this display and have produced a couple of models to support the theme. Earthmoving in this period was certainly an adventurous and pioneering form of employment as many large projects were being undertaken all over the country. Actually this was an incredible work heritage to have built up over the years.

Sometimes when portraying a heritage display, we cannot use an original item. It may not be available, its too precious, or its original use may prohibit it being part of a display with other items, which may be affected by its residues etc. In a case like this we will replicate it. This time it was a CAT generic fuel cap, complete with a million diesel spills as it was in constant use.

We were wanting to add something 3 dimensionally visual to this small display, in keeping with this person's life/work experience. There was not much available, luckily we did stumble across a small model CAT DW21 motor scraper. The model itself is approx. 4" or 100mm long so as stated, it is small but fits well into the overall size of the display. It was manufactured in a gaudy yellow plastic, so we set to and repainted it. We also added a few details which were missing including a driver! Note the safety equipment of the day was replicated dutifully! (Khaki shorts, white singlet, and a floppy hat; no earmuffs) A layer of grime was added and a dirt load and its ready to be set into the display unit.

The overall idea was to simulate an earthmovers dashboard in a stylized form to hold the images, model and information. The full sized model CAT fuel cap adding weight to the illusion of this display.