 | | The box has an excellent cover photo. |  |  | | Heavy looking body. |  | | Detailed cab with safety grille on the window. |  | | The articulation of the drilling arm and body tilting allows horizontal drilling. |  | | Shown with the body tilted forward. |  | | The DP1500i being transported between sites on a Nooteboom Pendel X. |
| Sandvik is a Swedish company which was originally founded in 1862. Sandvik Mining and Construction is a business area within the global Sandvik Group, and currently has over 16,000 employees. One of the products of this business area is the DP1500i.
The DP1500i is a crawler-based surface top hammer drilling rig typically used for bench drilling in quarrying operations, and is equipped with intelligent technology to allow accurate information about the drilling activity, and the performance of the machine, to be captured. It can drill holes up to 150mm (6in) diameter and has an operating weight of 22t (48,000lbs).
Packaging
The model comes in a nice picture box and it also includes some basic information about the real machine which is a welcome addition. Inside, the model is well packed within expanded polystyrene trays which provide good protection. There were no defects or missing parts on the review model.
The only assembly required is to fit drill rods into the rod changer, and this takes only moments.
Detail
Out of the box, the model feels heavy and solid. The tracks are rubber although those on the real machine are steel, and this is probably a modelling compromise resulting from the small size of the tracks. They are mounted on some fairly simple track frames which include a plastic drive sprocket. A hydraulic cylinder connects to each track frame.
The main body of the machine is all metal and the castings include texture to represent the grilles present on the real drill. At the rear, there are painted spotlight clusters and these look effective. The operator's cab is metal with only the safety grille and mirror support being plastic. Nine painted spotlights are present on the front of the cab. Inside the seat and controls are modelled well.
The boom is a very good piece of modelling. The hydraulic cylinders have plastic jackets and there are other plastic parts but the colour match to the rest of the model is excellent so the plastic parts do not detract from the look of the model at all. Metal drill rods are provided and perhaps the only detail missing is a drill head to fit on the end of the drill rod. The look of the model is also enhanced by the rubber hosing.
Features
The rubber tracks rotate smoothly. The track frames have a tilting mechanism which allows the body to rotate either forwards or backwards, and there is a good range of movement.
The safety grille on the front window of the cab can be opened to allow the window to be cleaned.
The boom has full articulation allowing the drill to be posed in horizontal and vertical poses in the same way as the real machine. The drill motor slides up and down the boom and the drill rod carousel rotates. On the side of the boom, the drill rod handler swings in and out to load a drill rod. The overall functionality of the machine is modelled very well.
Quality
This is a very good quality model in keeping with Conrad traditions. Solidly made, with nice paint and graphics, and with an intelligent use of plastic which has a very good colour match to the metal parts.
Price
The model is not cheap, but is good value overall.
Overall
Sandvik have commissioned a very good model from Conrad, and the result delivers. Some further detailing would have been nice, and perhaps an opening body cover would have been interesting, but there is enough functionality in the model to enable some interesting poses to be set. It is highly recommended to anyone interested in adding to a collection of mining models.
Footnotes
The model was first introduced in 2008.
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|  | | Inside the box. |  | | Folded neatly for transport. |  | | The tracks have a tilting mechanism to allow the body to tilt. The range of movement possible is illustrated here. |  | | Opening grille lets the window cleaner in. |  | | Set up and drilling. |  | | Detail at the top of the boom. |
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