 |
| Caterpillar branded
box. |
 |
 |
| Reasonable
steering angle. |
 |
| Detailed
chassis, but some plastic parts are not the best. |
 |
| Engine is
modelled. |
 |
| Tipping angle
is reasonable, but intervention is required to hold the
pose. |
 |
| Poses well with
other models. |
 |
| Rear outer
wheels are removable. |
 |
| It is still
wide because of the platform outside the cab. |
|
 Comment on this model.
The Caterpillar 775G is used for mining or large-scale
earthmoving operations.
The maximum gross vehicle weight is 112 tonnes, with a
nominal payload of 64 tonnes in Tier 4 Final
configuration.
Packaging
The model comes in the Caterpillar-branded box style for
a Tonkin model, and
inside the model is enclosed within a one-piece plastic holder that pops
open to release the model.
The first model received had a number of defects and was
replaced. This replacement review model had no missing
parts or manufacturing defects.
The box
includes a small collector card which has some
information about the real machine and a nice photo.
Detail
The chassis detailing has a number of plastic
elements and this has allowed some decent detailing, but
other aspects such as the tanks are not so good with a
less good
colour match and one tank has only an outer side.
Some of the finish was also untidy. The transmission
and steering looks good however.
The wheels are detailed but the rubber tyres have a
shallow tread pattern. Mud flaps are hard plastic.
At the front the metal hand rails are good although the
mounting points are a little over-large. The engine
grille is nicely cast with the lights and Cat logo
picked out well. The wheel chocks at the front
would have looked better if they were a lighter yellow
like the real truck.
The cab is cast well and inside there is a CAT logo on
the seat back. A nice aspect of the model is the
detailed engine which is visible from some viewpoints.
The air intakes and exhaust are simply modelled in
plastic.
Behind the cab the chassis is interesting but two large
black screw heads would have been better painted.
At the rear the suspension cylinders are very good with
small graphics adding detail.
The dump body is metal and looks convincing. It
includes a small unsilvered mirror at the front and
there are lifting eyes on the top outer edges. The rams are
two stage but painted yellow throughout including the
pistons.
Features
The truck rolls although there is some stiffness in the
axles. It steers reasonably well with a decent
angle obtainable. The rear axle suspension works
well with significant oscillation possible.
The outer rear wheels are removable (although they are a
tight fit) to represent a narrower transport
configuration but as other parts of the truck cannot be
removed, the overall width is actually unchanged.
Rock deflectors move in between the rear wheels.
The tipping mechanism extends to a reasonable angle, but
the piston elements used do not have enough friction so
the maximum tipping angle cannot be posed without the
body dropping half way.
Quality
This is a reasonable quality model with some plastic
used.
The paint finish is generally very good and the graphics are sharp.
Price
It is fair value for the quality offered.
Overall
This is a good smaller-sized mining truck, with some
nice aspects. However it misses the opportunity to
be really good with the quality of some parts not the
best. However it is certainly recommended.
Footnotes
The model was available from April 2014.
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|
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|
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| Card included. |
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| Tyre tread is
shallow. |
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| Cab is good. |
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| Cylinders are all the same colour.
|
|
|
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| Profile view. |
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| Being loaded by
Caterpillar 988K. |
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| Rock hard - for
rocks. |
|
