N Scale Detail Item

I was looking around the web for some kind of N scale modern mining truck like those used in the Powder River Basin and elsewhere, but I didn't think I'd find one. A guy on an N scale Facebook group pointed me at a CAT 793D Mining Truck model by Norscot Minis, their number 55426. This was produced ten years or so ago, but it can still be found on eBay. I discovered you need to search with various combinations of words and SKU to find them.

They turn out to be pretty inexpensive, and I ordered two. The ones in the picture have had the bed weathered with grimy black, as videos from the Powder River area show the trucks weather this way.

I looked up the prototype dimensions of a 793D. It turns out its overall length is 42.2 feet. The model is 1.75 inches long. 1.75 inches times 160 is 280, divided by 12 is 23.3, so the model is roughly half size for N, but the effect is good, and it looks like it will work as a background item. I find there were other construction items produced as Norscot Minis, apparently to equivalent small scale, so my eye is out now. A post on Trainboard says the 315C L excavator is about 1:155, very close to N.