Caterpillar D6A

[David Herbert]

Those drawings are marked Caterpillar Tractor Co. I had thought that the armour was designed, made and fitted in the UK, possibly by Jack Olding Ltd. I can't see a reason for Cat to give a separate code to armoured tractors and only add 'SP' to other variants like pipe cranes which are just as different to base machines. There were lots of standard 7M D7s used by the military so it isn't because they were military contract.

David

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by David Herbert

Those drawings are marked Caterpillar Tractor Co. I had thought that the armour was designed, made and fitted in the UK, possibly by Jack Olding Ltd.

That is a common misunderstanding. Jack Olding was the UK importer for Caterpillar, and fitted some D8s with waterproof hulls to use as BARVs, which is where I suspect the confusion comes from. However, as I understand it, the D6(Armored) and D7(Armored) were entirely built by Caterpillar itself in the USA. Caterpillar having made drawings of the armour is a strong indicator, IMHO. (Note that there are some mistakes in the drawings, mainly the rear view: the hydraulic cylinders are too far apart, most likely because someone overlooked that the bonnet is narrower than the rear plate.)

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I just got some new photos from Christiaan de Braal, who said it was OK to post them here:

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Not sure why they wrote 1T3038 on the front when it looks like it’s actually 1T3045, though. I suspect it’s because they’ll be recreating the armour for that one too, since 1T3045 still had some of the original armour around the engine.

[Ed Storey]

Fantastic work and exciting to see!

[John P]

Fantastic work

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I’ll be going back tomorrow to take another look, and will post more pictures of the current state then.

[John P]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

I’ll be going back tomorrow to take another look, and will post more pictures of the current state then.

Did you get any help from the ACMOC in the states?.Looking forward to seeing the pictures of your progress.I cannot wait to see this one compleated