Caterpillar D5K2 Bulldozer

Presented here is the 1:50th scale Cat D5K2 LGP bulldozer from Norscot. The D5K2 has a weight of around 21 ton and is powered by a Cat C4.4 ACERT diesel engine which delivers 104hp. The D5K2 is typically used as a finish grading tractor and has "Stable Blade" control as standard to complement the user's inputs, obtaining optimal grading results.

The cabin interior has been modelled very convincingly with the driver's seat and side consoles all visible. The hand controls are integrated into the seat surround and the interior has been finished in a dark grey colour.

The exterior of the cab is also nicely replicated with integrated roof lights with silver lenses, a roof mounted antenna and windscreen wipers on the front and door windows while black printing has been applied to the side windows.

The rear of the cab has an overhanging air conditioning housing with inset rear facing lights and a ridged grill while below the rear window are the filler caps. The rear mounted three shank parallelogram ripper has a reasonable range of movement and all the rivet heads have been painted over which is now expected from a Norscot model.

The tracks on the model are much better looking than on the image of the prototype with tensioning keeping the tracks taut while the wide track pads have nice grouser and bolt fixing detailing. The final drive housings are also modelled with bolt fixing details while the lower rollers are cast into the track frames.

The front radiator grille has a very nicely textured surface which looks very authentic with crisp printing of the Caterpillar name and logos while the side engine panels are crisply defined, complete with slightly oversized grab rails.

The model is fitted with a PAT blade which does offer both up and down and angular movement. On first glance, this looks very well done but on further inspection, the angular adjustment cylinders are actually connected to the engine compartment, so as the blade is raised, the range of angular movement is greatly reduced. This looks to be an engineering compromise as it would be hard to fix the cylinders to the blade arms. The blade itself has a lower cutting strip with small indentations where the fixing bolts would be fitted.

The paint finish is of a very high standard with an even coating allowing all the cast detailing to show through while the printing is crisp and clear. The D5K2 is another good release from Norscot and is pictured blow alongside the recently launched D8T, showing the size comparison between the two models.