Through the slightly streaked glass of the floor-to-ceiling windows of Chicago O’Hare’s C gates sits a United 787 bound for Tokyo. Ninety minutes before the passengers step aboard, even before the pilots begin their walk-around, ensuring the plane is safe to fly over the Pacific, three ramp workers roll up their sleeves against the biting Chicago air to load cargo on the aircraft. One stands right outside the belly, atop the cargo loader; another peers back from the cushioned seat of the cargo tractor; a third, lone man watches on passively.
Most people wouldn’t even linger for a moment to watch the operation; even fewer would pull out their camera to capture the seemingly mundane ramp operations. It’s safe to say I’m not most people.
Flying back to San Francisco aboard a new Boeing 737 Max 8, a new product was born. The cargo loaders—in honor of those three ramp workers braving the cold and dedicating themselves to the noble cause of international logistics. At TruScale Models, our small team of designers models each product, then produces countless variants before finally deciding on a colorway and specific measurements. Safe to say, this process takes quite a while—normally at least. Spurred on by this scene, we launched the cargo loaders just days after the idea arose.
But that’s not all. I wanted to recreate the scene (as closely as possible) using just TruScale Models’ products. By using bobtail tugs, cargo loaders, and a ULD starter pack, plus some other products we had lying around, I was able to make a fairly accurate recreation of the scene.
Yes, it is by no means hyperrealistic, but considering my recreated version is one four-hundredth of the full size, it was nonetheless quite impressive. Somewhere out there is the Boeing 787 pictured above, perhaps bouncing between Chicago and Tokyo—or even traveling across the Atlantic to Tel Aviv (where the aircraft had just arrived from). And in a small, 1:400 scale diorama sitting in San Francisco, sits an aircraft, on display, being loaded with model ULD containers.
And that will forever bring a smile to my face.