Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/335762
EquipmentWorld.com | July 2014 9 on record | by Marcia Gruver Doyle MGruver@randallreilly.com 1:50 scale passion T here's talk these days about how contractors aren't as emotionally tied to their equipment, that iron has just become an asset to acquire and then dispose. While I see the logic of this, there's at least one area remaining where emotion and equip- ment are deeply intertwined: construction scale models. Most who move dirt for a living have at least one or two of these models tucked away in a corner, a gift from a dealer or manufac- turer. But be aware there are people, includ- ing contractor Leon Thompson on our cover, who have thousands of models, and are on the lookout for more. It's a deep-rooted passion, prompting us to call our report "Model Mania." To properly tell this story, we knew we needed to go outside the confi nes of what you'll see in this issue and create a web page, equipmentworld.com/ modelmania. Through the generous help of the DHS Diecast forum (forum.dhsdiecast.com) we were able to tap into the collector community, and get some great stories and photo galleries for this site. Take collector John Gibson, for example: "I've been a model equipment and real equipment lover since before I could walk. I was even named after John Deere!" John's favorite model is his Ertl 1:50 Deere 470G LC excavator. "I like it because of its price, detail, functionality and build quality," he said. Shay Stutsman, project manager for Stutsman Gerbaz Excavating in Snowmass, Colorado, is a third generation contractor. "I got into collect- ing because as a young boy all I wanted to do was to play with the real equipment, so my dad gave me the next best thing: a model of my favorite machine, a Cat 953 track loader." When the company bought a D Series Cat 953 in 2008, Stutsman had a model built to match, including company and dealer decals. I know we've just touched the surface on all the collector stories out there. Won't you tell us yours? Haven't quite caught the bug yet? You can start your own collec- tion by going to equipmentworld. com/modelmania and signing up for one of 13 scale models we're giving away this summer. (A tip of the hat to Ertl, Bobcat, Volvo, Case, Classic Construction Models, Deere, Norscot and DHSDiecast for providing our giveaways.)