Actually, that is a Cat 60, more likely used in WW1. Check the sides of the radiator, labeled SIXTY. I'm not that knowledable on the early Cats, but somebody will come along who is.
Thanks for all the neat links,
Alan

Hi, Boely.
Welcome to the forum. Nice resin model.

The Cat D7's used in WW2 would mostly have been either D7 7M series - 1940 to 1944 - or Cat D7 3T and 4T from sometime in 1944 onward. The 4T was a special version made for the U.S. military services and I think the main differences were in the transmission ratios. Many of these would have been fitted with a LeTourneau dozer blade of some descrition and a rear-mounted LeTourneau double-drum cable control unit. To the best of my knowledge, there was not a military version of the 7M series D7.

I suspect that there were probably quite a few bare tractor D7's used during WW2, fitted with the above-mentioned LeTourneau double-drum cable control units and used for pulling various models of LeTourneau Carryall drawn cable-controlled scrapers.

The PlusModels gallery that you linked to does indeed show many photos of Cat Sixty crawler tractors. These would have been manufactured between 1925 and 1932. I did not see any Best Sixty crawlers that I recognised in any of those photos. Best introduced the Best Sixty crawler in 1919 and produced it through until they merged with Holt in 1925 to form the Caterpillar Tractor Company. The new company continued producing the Sixty model crawler until 1932. They released a diesel version of it in 1931 but only 157 diesel Sixty's were built before the whole Sixty model line was replaced in 1932. The diesel Sixty was Caterpillar's first diesel crawler - or diesel anything for that matter

Hi, Alan627B.
From the above, you can see that the Sixty was not used by any military forces during WW1 as it didn't even exist. Good pick on the tractor model as not being a D6 though.

Almost all American-built crawlers in miltary use in WW1 were Holt machines. Holt manufactured their 5-ton and 10-ton models in armored versions for the U.S. military services during WW1 and many were used as artillery tractors. Holt also built the Holt 120 tractor as a heavy artillery tractor. By WW2, at least two other U.S.-based manufacturers of crawler tractors had got in on the act, International Harvester and Allis Chalmers and LeTourneau manufactured almost everything EXCEPT crawler tractors.

Hope this helps.

Deas Plant and the others thanks for the information and the welcome!!

Deas Plant,the Resicast kit of the D7 Dozer with Le Tourneau blade,am I right in that this scalemodel kit is for sure an Caterpillar D7 3T dozer with le Toureneau blade?
I mean this Dozer kit:
www.tonyshop.fr/resicast-1-35-45/us-doze...neau-blade-5213.html
This is for sure an D7 3T dozer?
If so than I can used it in an 1944-45 US Army Corps of Engineers diorama in Europe.
As said I want to place it on the back of an Fruehauf flatbed trailer with dolly and as hauler I am going to use an Corbitt 6X6 6-Ton truck.
For the corbitt truck I have the TM,so that is going to be an big help in building and detailing an correct model of this truck!
Only finding reference,s on the 16 and 20-Ton Fruehauf flatbed Trailers with dolly is another story!

I have found today some nice photo,s of Dozers in WW2:
images.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://ww...1%26hl%3Dnl%26sa%3DN
I hope you like those picture,s!
(you can click on the photo,s to enlarge them)

Greetz!

Jelle.

Here some pic's from a restored D7 in the Netherlands.

QuaD many thanks for these great picture,s of my scalemodel in the real.
I have placed them right away on my HD as reference for building and detailing my Resicast D7 3T Dozer model kit.

I wish I could find some good picture,s and/or drawings of an scraper as used in WW2 by the US Corps of Engineers in WW2 in NW-Europe.
I would like to scratchbuild an scraper or equipment like that in 1/35 to go on my diorama.


Greetz!

Jelle.