 |
| Liebherr branded
box. |
 |
 |
| Debris protection on the cab. |
 |
| Excellent details
on the body. The bolts on the body are painted silver. |
 |
| Detail
underneath. |
 |
| Excellent
hydraulics on the boom. |
 |
| Reaching up to
the tunnel crown. |
 |
| Stick rotates. |
|
 Comment on this model.
The Liebherr R 944 C is a tunnelling excavator
and as such it works in one of the harshest environments
of any machine. It is made suitably robust for the
task with heavy duty parts and plenty of protection to the
vulnerable components. It has an operating weight
of 44 tonnes.
This version of the model is in the colours of
Käppeli,
a Swiss family-run firm founded in 1910.
Packaging
The R 944 C comes in a standard Liebherr box style, and
it is held within two expanded polystyrene trays, and
wrapped in soft paper. There were no defects or
missing parts on the review model.
There is no information provided about the real machine,
or the model. A few spare track
links and pins are included, together with some wooden pointers
and this is a professional touch.
Detail
The model is compact and its chunky boom makes it look like
it means business. The metal tracks are of high quality
and the track frames and sprockets are detailed. Chromed
steps provide access to the cab. There are no moving
rollers on the frames, but they do have dirt scrapers fixed
above each set of tracks. At the front a dozer blade
is attached and the hydraulics for this have special covers.
The cab is unusual in that as it is a tunnelling excavator
it has no door and limited polycarbonate glass in some of
the openings. There are grab rails and mirrors and
a close-mesh guard on the front. Inside there are
pedals and joysticks, and the floor has a textured surface.
Behind the cab is a fire extinguisher.
Body details are really good and there are a number of
metal grab rails which give the model a quality feel.
Fine grille details are matched by panel handles and
painted bolt heads, and at the rear the lights have
grille protection. A mass of rubber
hydraulic lines run to the boom. The paintwork and
graphics are really nicely applied.
The boom is very good. Silver hydraulic lines lead into
rubber hoses and there are special protection plates
applied all over. The friction rivets used are
unobtrusive and there are a number of places where bolt
heads have been painted silver - a really great detail.
The only minor
weakness is that the colour of the hydraulic cylinder jackets
is very slightly different to the metal parts, but it is
slight.
Two tools are supplied. A mill attachment has four
cutting heads each with ten well formed teeth and it looks
very authentic. Hydraulic lines connect into the boom.
A separate ripper bucket has three very finely formed teeth
and is another high quality piece.
Features
The tracks roll, and the idlers are spring loaded to
tension the tracks and enable them to be easily removed.
The dozer blade can be raised and lowered, and the protection
covers to the hydraulics can also be raised. Rotation
of the body is smooth.
The main boom can be raised and lowered as can the stick,
and there is a full range of movement of the tools.
The boom can also be rotated 45° in each direction to enable
the tools to get to difficult to reach places and this feature
works really well.
The milling head has rotating cutters.
Quality
This is a high quality model with few plastic parts.
The paintwork is exceptional with the extremely fine work
on the bolt heads, metal pipes and other parts.
Price
The R 944 C is good value in the limited edition
colours.
Overall
This is an outstanding model that looks very
attractive in the Käppeli livery. It has
great attention to detail and works really well too.
Footnotes
The model was first announced at the Nuremberg Toy Fair in
2010 in Liebherr colours.
This version in the colours of Käppeli was
a Summer 2012 release and was made in a run of 300
models.
|
|
|
|
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| The parts out
of the box. |
 |
| Parked up. |
 |
| Heavy
protection to the hydraulics. |
 |
| Protective
grilles on the rear lights. |
 |
| Excellent hydraulic
lines and fire extinguisher behind the cab. |
 |
| Excellent
looking
tracks. |
 |
| Very good cab. |
 |
| Fitted with the
ripping bucket.
|
|
