 | | The box. |  |  | | Stretching out. |  | | Narrow tracks are good. |  | | Looking underneath the engine is visible. |  | | Nice Caterpillar name on the counterweight. |  | | The Cranes Etc team decide it is a good idea to load a Peterbilt Dump Truck with the 245. |  | | Loaded on a Rogers Lowboy. The Rogers is 1:50 scale but the 245 at 1:48 scale still goes with it well. |  | | Good shaped teeth on the bucket. |
| The Caterpillar 245 was a machine in the 60 tonne weight class. It was introduced in 1974 and was manufactured in the USA and Belgium. Some 4000 units were made up until production ended in 1988.
Packaging
The packaging is of a high standard with an outer cardboard box containing a presentation box wrapped in tissue. Inside, the model is contained within polystyrene trays and has its own tissue wrapping. There were no defects or missing parts on the review model.
There is no information about the real machine or the model, and there is no assembly required.
Detail
The narrow tracks are very good quality and consist of individual metal pads. They are mounted on good frames which have working rollers on the top, and the drive sprockets are cast well.
The body has good detail within the casting including panels and handles, and a fine gauge radiator grille. Metal grab rails surround the roof which has a perforated mesh surface allowing some inner detail to be seen, and the exhaust pipe is metal. Inside the body is a detailed plastic engine. Along the sides are some stepping platforms and these are extremely fine gauge mesh. At the rear the Caterpillar name is impressively rendered on the counterweight.
The cab is simple outside as per the original with a debris guard on the roof. The interior detail is good with accurate looking levers and pedals, and console controls.
The boom and stick look heavy and are busy with the mass of hydraulic line detailing and there are well formed lifting eyes. The cylinder jackets are very good with nice details. The rivets used on the model are generally unobtrusive and painted.
The bucket is a heavy metal casting, with particularly good shaped teeth.
Features
The tracks roll smoothly and the idler wheels are spring loaded so removing the tracks is easy.
The model rotates well, and the boom and stick have a good range of movement with the hydraulics being stiff so any pose can be held.
The bottom dump bucket opens although the cylinders that control it are non-functional.
At the rear of the body two panels open providing access to the engine bay.
Quality
This is a high quality model with some fine casting details. There is little plastic used and the colour match on the hydraulic cylinder jackets is excellent. The small graphics used are sharp.
Price
Although it is a more expensive excavator model, the quality makes it worth it.
Overall
The Caterpillar 245 is a well-remembered machine and CCM have done it justice with this model. Well packaged and detailed, the only thing missing is some information about the original machine, but with that said it looks great and poses well.
Footnotes
This model was introduced in 2010 in a run of 1250 models. A version was also made in an excavator configuration.
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|  | | Profile view. |  | | The 245 is a big machine. |  | | Good cab interior. |  | | Fine mesh walkways. |  | | Impressive hydraulics. |  | | Opening doors. |  | | Bottom dump bucket. |  | | It just fits on the lowboy deck because of the width between the tracks. |  | | Parked up at the end of shift. |
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