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The box. |
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The parts out of
the box. |
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| Dragline bucket.
Jewellery clasps have been used to provide a quick hitch.
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| The fairlead works
well. |
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| Very detailed dragline
bucket. |
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| With a suitable
weight (not included with the model), the Weserhütte can
be rigged for demolition duties. |
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| It looks great
on a Scheuerle trailer.
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The Weserhütte W 180 is one of the NZG
historical series.
Packaging
The model arrived in the typical style of box for this series.
Outside is a drawn picture of the machine at work.
Inside, the model is packed within a polystyrene box which
has a separate section for the dragline bucket and other
pieces. The review model arrived with the rear handrails
bent out of position, but this probably occurred in the
factory as the box was unmarked, and was easy to correct.
There is a simple and clear instruction sheet which explains
how to rig the model.
Detail
The model itself is a little smaller than most other crawler
cranes, but it does not lack detail. The undercarriage
has fine metal tracks and the track frames have rollers
top and bottom.
The body itself is detailed well with grilles, lights and
exhaust pipes. Doors open at each side and at the
rear and there are two opening flaps on the top front.
Handrails are fixed to the rear of the body and those to
the sides are provided separately and push into place.
This allows the walkways to be removed for displaying the
model on a low loader in transport mode. The floors
of the side walkways have a realistic mesh appearance.
Inside the body internal machinery details are provided
with the engine and gears all modelled. Cab details
include a seat, levers and pedals.
The jib sections are good with the only disappointment being
that the main rectangular boom section is a single cast
piece rather than made up of two separate sections.
This means there are only two jib lengths possible.
Jib connections are of the longitudinal pin variety which
work adequately well on this model as the overall jib length
is not great.
The dragline bucket is very good with realistic chains and
perforations in the bucket itself although it looks a little
large on the model.
Features
All the main crane functions can be operated. The
winches are worked using the special tool supplied for the
purpose so there are no distracting plastic winding handles.
The opening doors greatly add to the realism of the model
particularly as they reveal detailed machinery inside.
The model looks good on a low loader although it would have
been even better if the A-frame on the roof could fold flat
as presumably the one on the real machine did.
The track sprockets are spring loaded at one end to keep
the tension on the tracks and this makes it easy to remove
the track from the sprockets if required.
If jewellery-type clasps are fitted to the end of the main
hoist and dragline ropes, it becomes easy to disconnect
the bucket and show the model on crane or other duties.
Quality
The casting is very high quality with some particularly
fine detail work on the dragline bucket and jib. The
paint finish is also very high quality as are the decals.
Very little plastic is used on this model and even the internal
gears are metal.
Price
Although the model costs more than similar sized modern
models, the quality makes the additional cost well worth
it.
Overall
This model is of the usual high standard of the NZG historical
series. The few minor gripes mentioned do not detract
from the overall pleasing impression this model gives.
Although not the biggest crane model available, the fine
detail and modelling of the machinery in the body makes
you want to look at it closely.
Footnotes
The model first appeared at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 2003.
In 2005 a version in blue was announced together with an 'aged'
version which was painted to look dirty and old. A
version with a piling hammer was introduced in 2005 as model
NZG 596.
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Profile view. |
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| Opening the sliding
doors gives access to the winches and allows the internal
machinery to be seen. |
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| Rear view with
opening door to the engine compartment. |
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| Opening flaps where
the hoist rope emerges from the body. |
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| Ready to smash
away. |
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