 | | Caterpillar branded box. |  |  | | Heavy truck proportions. |  | | Reasonable chassis detail. |  | | Impressive bulbous look. |  | | Much of the detailing on the cab deck is plastic. The water cannon is red. |  | | It is big. |  | | It tilts to allow access to the chassis. |  | | Rams are two stage. |
|  Comment on this model.
The Caterpillar Mega MWT30 Water Tanker is based on the chassis of a Caterpillar 785D Mining Truck. It is a conversion produced by the Mega Corporation and has a capacity of 30,000 gallons (114,000 litres). The tank kit weighs 31 tonnes.
It is used for dust suppression during mining activities and the tank tilts to allow service access to the chassis.
Packaging
The model comes in a Caterpillar branded box with windows on two sides and it is fixed to the base with very tightly wound ties. The review model had no missing parts, and there is no assembly to perform.
The box has no information about the real machine, but some of the features of the model are described.
Detail
The large tyres are good and are not too shiny. There is a bulge in the sidewalls and the tread pattern is fine. The wheels are plastic parts with an excellent colour match to the rest of the model and they are detailed.
The chassis has a heavy construction and there is no unsightly gap where the engine should be as it is blanked off which is an improvement on the earlier 785D model. Plastic is also used for the tanks between the wheels.
The front of the model is impressive with lots of fine metal handrails. The ladders and stairs are plastic, as is the other equipment on the cab deck and the main radiator grille at the front, but they all look good. The driving cab is metal with some interior detail, and it also has metal grab rails and a windscreen wiper. A pair of large driving mirrors are positioned on each side of the truck. There is some nice small detailing such as the air horns below the driver's cab.
The water tank is a large metal casting with a good structure and there is a 'Mega' logo on each side. The ladder and rails along the edges are soft plastic, as is the red water cannon at the front. At the rear the spraying bar and valves are metal and nicely formed.
There are flexible mud flaps behind the rear wheels but none in front of them. Also included are bars for removing debris between the rear tyres.
Features
The steering works and has a reasonable range of movement before the tyres are fouled on the tanks behind.
The rear axle has a good suspension mechanism which allows either independent oscillation or both wheels to move together.
The mirror opposite the driver's cab can be folded in for transport, but not the driver's side mirror.
At the top of the stairs the gate in the railings can be opened to provide access to the ladder.
The water tank can be tipped and the dual stage pistons open well and are stiff enough to hold any pose. The tipping angle is very good.
Quality
This is a well made robust model which has a number of plastic elements, but the colour match is good enough that the plastic is not obvious.
The paint is good and the very few graphics are sharp.
Price
It is priced quite a bit higher than the 785D mining truck model.
Overall
This is an unusual model of a support truck used in heavy mining operations. It is large and well made, and goes well with other mining equipment models.
Footnotes
The model was shown at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 2012 and was available from November 2012.
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|  | | Metal handrails are painted black. |  | | Spray bar is metal. |  | | Mud flaps are flexible. |  | | Hatches on the roof. |  | | Profile view. |  | | Lights are painted and there are lifting eyes at the top. |  | | Steep tipping angle. |  | | Impressive tank. |  | | Opening gate at the top of the ladder. |
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