1:35

Working machines at 1:35

An excavator at this scale runs about 20 cm long and offers dozens of assemblies that look as though they ought to move: cranked booms, hydraulic rams, pivot pins and track frames with separate links. Versions with a breaker hammer, a crusher or a grapple show the same machine in different roles, which makes a pair of identical undercarriages with different attachments surprisingly collectable. Agriculture is represented by a combine harvester and a vintage threshing machine, logistics by a forklift.

How to choose a construction machine

By mechanical complexity

A forklift or a roller is a friendly weekend build. Excavators and twin-boom demolition machines carry many times the assemblies and deserve some experience with accurate pin joints, so the booms hold the pose you set them in.

By the scene you have in mind

A machine comes alive in context: a pile of rubble, a heap of spoil or a loaded pallet tells a story without a full diorama. You share 1:35 with military vehicle model kits and model figures, so an operator in the cab or a labourer with a shovel finishes the picture. Decide the pose of the boom before the pins are glued, because it fixes the whole composition.

By colour scheme

Factory orange and white need a solid, opaque coat over a light primer, and hazard stripes mean masking. A working machine without dirt looks like a showroom exhibit, so budget time for a patina from the outset.

What to add

• weathering products – washes and oils into the gaps between mechanical parts
• weathering pigments – dust and dried mud on tracks and arches
• model glues – accurate joints on pins and rams

Smaller working vehicles and fire appliances sit in 1:72 civilian vehicle model kits, the whole working fleet is listed under civilian vehicle model kits, and period civilian cars for the same scenes come from 1:32 and 1:35 car model kits.