 |
| 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.
|
|
|
|
 |
| 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. |
|
