Help Please ID this Caterpillar

[Ewan]

This just arrived today, the seller (who was selling quite a lot of Benbros) had it listed as Benbros ? and my curiosity got the better of me.
As you can see it is slightly larger than a Lesney 8d, but has the engine style of a Lesney 8b/c. There are no makers marks, just the 'Made In England' on the bottom. It doesn't look like any of the Benbros 'Mighty Midgets' to me....

DSCN7039 (450x337).jpg (83.72 KiB) Viewed 2593 times

DSCN7040 (450x337).jpg (81.42 KiB) Viewed 2593 times

DSCN7041 (450x337).jpg (92.47 KiB) Viewed 2593 times

[nickjones]

Made by Morestone / Budgie.
I don't think it was available on it's own, It is usually found as the load on an articulated transporter.

[Ewan]

Thanks for that Nick, I must learn to think a little more 'out of the box' - I'd searched through every miniature range I could think of!
I'm happy anyway, a slightly 'different' addition to the crawler fleet

[nickjones]

Vectis pic -

[Ewan]

I notice the ramp on the trailer appears to be cracking up, as are quite a few pieces of my tractor! I've had quite a few Budgies, mostly Renault trucks and never noticed it on any of them before - are they known for it?

[nickjones]

Hi Ewan.
Morestone were a toy factor much like Moko so their toys were manufactured by an assortment of smaller companies, So some of their toys suffer from fatigue and some of them don't, The Air BP superfueller is a wonderful model but very often suffers from fatigue, The little 1-75 size Esso petrol pump series that came from ex lesney Rodney Smiths factory does not, with the exception of the blue Ford Thames van #17 which was obviously made elsewhere.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Thank's Nick for showing those pictures, very nice. We don't see much Budgie, Morestone or Lone-Star on these pages (please note members, there is a section for these, go find it and post away!), and for you to post three pictures together Nick, wow, you are pushing the boat out

...and talking of boats, how's your new toy coming along, a little update please!

Ghosty.

[nickjones]

...and talking of boats, how's your new toy coming along, a little update please!

Ghosty.

I have a small collection of Budgie trucks, they look the prefect scale when sitting next to 1-75 cars, I'll post some pictures tomorrow.

The boat is coming along nicely, The hull has been given a coat of anti fouling paint and the waterline stripe has been repainted, The top of the hull had a patchy white haze from uv but I polished it out with T-Cut. The wood trim from around the top of the hull was damaged in places and rotten in others, a 10 foot stip of iroco has been ordered to put that right, and ebay is supplying dvd player and speakers, I have the exact same stereo in the BMW, both have usb so I can keep all my fave tunes on a dongle.
One job I am putting off is freeing up and unblocking the toilet seacock. yuck....

[motorman]

...and talking of boats, how's your new toy coming along, a little update please!

Ghosty.

ebay is supplying dvd player and speakers, I have the exact same stereo in the BMW, both have usb so I can keep all my fave tunes on a dongle.

MMMmmmnnn let me guess, a little bit of Kenny Rodgers and Tammy Wynette, some Elvis (of course), maybe some Rubettes and Showaddywaddy, then some Status Quo to end the party "Whatever you want, whatever you like.........................LET ME ON BOARD CAPTAIN!!!!!!

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Calm down Alex, calm down...it's only a boat and talking of boats, as we are...Nick, you may have already told us the Vessel's name (see what I did there, I've upgraded it for Nick, so he'll have to send the cheque in the post for that!), but I have forgotten it, so it couldn't have been a very catchy name, so I have got together a committee and we are brainstorming a new name for it, and a few are knocking about such as..."The Lesney Lady", "Sea-King", "Nick's Nautical Number" and a few others, but the one I like so far (and one I thought of myself...), "Titanic II", got a certain 'ring' about it, I think that could be popular...

Ghosty.