| The box. | | | It looks convincing despite the small scale. | | Painted lights at the rear. | | Outriggers out. The spreader plates are not supplied with the model. | | Rigged with a single fall of rope. | | Detailed cab. | | Lifting a beam with the boom extended. | | Counterweights are convincing. |
| The Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 is a 9-axle crane rated at 750 tonnes capacity and was designed to fill a gap in the Liebherr range between the 500 tonne LTM 1500 and the big LTM 11200 crane.
The crane was officially launched at the Liebherr Customer Days event at Ehingen in June 2012. To commemorate the introduction Liebherr commissioned a scale model of the LTM 1750 and it was made available for the event.
Packaging
The model comes in a Liebherr-branded box design with the model held within a pair of clear plastic formers. There were no defects on the review model, but one door mirror was missing which was supplied separately.
There is no information on the real machine included, and no instructions for the model, although assembly and rigging is straightforward.
Detail
The carrier is good with rubber tyres on the detailed wheels.
At the front the driving cab is well detailed with wipers, nice painted lights, and clip-on door mirrors. It has interior detail also. The engine detail behind the cab is excellent considering the scale. At the rear the carrier has lights detailed with graphics and the outrigger beams are plastic with chevron graphics applied.
The crane body is a nicely made part and the cab has good interior detail although there are no handrails outside, and a silvered ladder adds to the detail.
The counterweight tray is a metal part with the winch drums for luffing gear formed solidly within the casting. The counterweight stacks are two solid pieces with very good graphics.
The boom has a metal bottom section and there is one section able to be telescoped which is made of plastic. There is a metal pulley at the boom head with the main cluster of pulleys being a single plastic moulding.
The hook is a solid metal block which appears to be a modelling compromise in order to provide weight. However when rigged on the crane it is the least realistic aspect of the model.
Features
The model rolls well in a straight line although there is no steering functionality.
The outriggers fold out from the side of the carrier. Although the pistons and pads cannot be lowered directly, they can be lowered to touch the ground as the whole outrigger beams can be clipped down. It would have been nice if some spreader plates were included with the model.
The crane cab can be moved from transport to working position.
The counterweight tray is a separate part which pins into position and it can be posed on the carrier deck to replicate self-ballasting.
The boom has one working telescopic section. The boom can be raised and the cylinders are just stiff enough to hold the boom up.
A working winch can be operated using a key and the hook can have one fall of rope which is a compromise because of the scale.
Quality
To enable detail in the smaller scale there is more plastic than in a typical 1:50 model, but it is still very much a diecast model. The paintwork is good and the colour match of plastic parts is very good.
Price
The model is good value and is a less expensive option for someone wanting a model of a large mobile crane.
Overall
This is a relatively small model at under 35cm tall, and the carrier is 23cm long so it is ideal where display space is limited, or even as an item on a model railway layout. Although there are a number of modelling compromises to suit the scale the model looks good and is highly recommended having regard for the scale.
Footnotes
The model was first appeared in June 2012 at the Liebherr Customer Days. The production version of the model was renumbered 08-1113.
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| | The parts out of the box. | | The hole in the body is for the winch key. | | Simple chassis. | | Posed self-loading the counterweight. | | Outriggers are good even though they are plastic. | | High quality detailing in the engine area. | | Convincing main rams. | | Boom top. | | A big crane. |
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