 | | Terex style box. |  |  | | Metal pulleys in the boom head. |  | | Painted lights at the rear. |  | | Ready for the road. |  | | Fleet number on the cab. |  | | Smart wheels. |  | | Two stage plastic outrigger beam. |  | | Tilting cab. |  | | Lifting a load. |  | | Solid on the outriggers. |  | | Rigged on the lattice section only. |
| The Terex 100/4L is nominally a 100 tonne capacity mobile crane with a main boom length of almost 60m. It can carry a 19m overall length double fly jib and another optional jib extension increases the overall system length to almost 82m.
The model does not include the optional jib extension.
This version is in the colours of Felbermayr, the Austrian construction and crane company.
Packaging
The model comes in standard two piece expanded polystyrene trays held together by a picture sleeve which has a photo of the real machine, and a graphic of the extended boom. The review model had a missing part on the winch which was resolved by Conrad.
There are no instructions provided with the model which would be disappointing for an inexperienced collector. Nevertheless assembly is reasonably straight forward.
Detail
There is little detail on the underside of the chassis with the steering mechanism for the axles being purely functional. The wheels have good all terrain tyres and it is good to see that the wheel design for axle 3 is different from those on the other three driven axles.
The outrigger beams are made of tough plastic and the pistons are standard screw threads, with plastic pads.
The driving cab has door mirrors and stylised beacon lights on the roof. The headlights have small plastic lenses and there is a towing hitch although it is too small for the hook to fix onto directly whilst travelling. Interior detail inside the cab is reasonable. There are no number plates, but there appears to be a fleet number on the cab door.
Behind the cab, the carrier deck has diamond plated anti-slip surfaces and a couple of ladders is formed within the casting. At the rear of the carrier the lights are painted and there is another small towing hitch.
The crane cab has plastic grab rails and inside there is an operator's seat and controls, with the computer console having detail. The rest of the body is simple, with some metal hand rails. The counterweight comes in six separate pieces including the cheek weights. The main slabs have lifting points which could be used to attach thin chains.
The boom sections are diecast metal and fairly simple, and the top section of the telescope ends up narrow due to the modelling tolerances in diecast. There is a small spooling drum on the lowest section but the larger spool shown on the box photo is not modelled. In the boom head and fly jib the pulleys are metal which is an improvement over the plastic type used in the Terex-branded version of the model. The fly jib has a convincing metal lattice work section and the swingaway part is plastic although the colour match is excellent.
A single pulley hook is provided, and the pulley is metal, and the block has nice red and white stripes.
Features
The steering works very well and consists of linked front and rear pairs of axles. This means crab steering can be simulated, but not all the steering modes of the real crane as axles 3 and 4 are not independent.
The outrigger beams are two stage and can be pulled out to any extension and the pads lowered. They can successfully hold the weight of the crane.
The crane cab tilts smoothly to a good angle.
A good feature is the counterweight which can be attached to simulate different configurations, and it can be fully posed on the carrier deck in the middle or at the rear.
All the usual crane functions work fine with the crane rotating and the boom able to be set at a reasonable angle, and the boom cylinder is stiff enough to hold a pose. The six section telescopic boom can be smoothly extended to full length and each section has the usual locking mechanism to prevent the boom retracting.
The fly jib is pinned to the boom head using small plastic bolts and can be fixed to be straight, or at one of two offset angles. The swingaway portion can be pinned into position or left retracted so overall the fly jib provides a variety of display options.
The winch is operated by turning the winch drum directly and it has enough friction to hold a reasonable load.
Quality
The model is robust and strong. The paintwork and graphics are very good although were not quite perfect in one small area on the review sample. The Felbermayr colour scheme and graphics are reproduced very well.
Price
It is a little pricey for a four axle crane model.
Overall
This is an interesting model because of the modern cab styling and is very attractive in the Felbermayr colour scheme. It has a couple of improvements over the previous AC100/4 model including a longer boom, and also has metal pulleys rather than the plastic of the Terex liveried version of the AC 100/4L. It is easy to recommend.
Footnotes
The model first appeared in Terex colours at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 2012 and was available soon after. This version in Felbermayr's colours appeared in June 2012.
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|  | | The parts in the box. |  | | Profile view |  | | Chain (not included with the model) used to tie the hook for transport. |  | | Smart graphics. |  | | Fly jib stowed on the side. |  | | Axle 3 has a slightly different wheel design. |  | | No detail underneath. |  | | Outrigger pistons are screw threads. |  | | Loading counterweight. |  | | Cranes Etc team discussing the football match. |  | | Angled jib. |
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