Meccano Giant Walking Dragline Excavator

This CAD model is my slightly modified version of a Meccano Giant Walking Dragline Excavator (Model No. 10.24) from 1973. Dragline excavators are commonly using for dredging and open-pit mining operations. The model appears to be roughly based on a Ransomes & Rapier excavator manufactured in Britain during the mid-1900s.

The “walking” feet spread the immense weight of the excavator over a larger area than caterpiller tracks to prevent them from sinking into the ground. However, they travel very slowly, only a few meters per minute.

Real excavators of this type are massive machines. The largest walking dragline ever built (“Big Muskie“) had a 450-foot (137 m) boom length, 220-cubic yard (168 cubic metre) bucket, and weighed 13,500 tons (12,250 tonnes). Entering service in 1969, it mined coal for 22 years before being dismantled and sold for scrap in 1999.

The model includes an electric motor for driving the two walking feet and for operating the winches to raise and lower the boom and operate the bucket. The drive train for each mechanism can be engaged and disengaged using control levers. The main body of the actual model is about 18 inches (46 cm) long and the boom is about 44 inches (112 cm) long.