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| Caterpillar branded
box. |
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| Heavy
truck proportions. |
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| Reasonable
chassis detail. |
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| Impressive
bulbous look. |
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| Much of the
detailing on the cab deck is plastic. The water cannon is red. |
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| It is big. |
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| It tilts to
allow access to the chassis. |
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| Rams are two
stage. |
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 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. |
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| Spray bar is
metal. |
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| Mud flaps are
flexible. |
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| Hatches on the
roof.
|
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| Profile view. |
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| Lights are
painted and there are lifting eyes at the top. |
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| Steep tipping
angle. |
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| Impressive
tank. |
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| Opening gate at
the top of the ladder. |
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