 | | 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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|  | | Card included. |  | | Tyre tread is shallow. |  | | Cab is good. |  | | Cylinders are all the same colour. | |
|  | | Profile view. |  | | Being loaded by Caterpillar 988K. |  | | Rock hard - for rocks. |
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