Case TR270 Tracked Skid Steer Loader

Presented here is the 1:32nd scale Case TR270 tracked skid steer loader which has been produced in China and is supplied in a windowed box with cardboard outer wrap, complete with two additional attachments.

The attachments consist of a grapple bucket, hydraulic hammer and standard digging bucket. The hammer is a nice addition with the printed Case designation along with bolt fixing details and the metal grapple bucket with two seperately adjustable plastic grapples looks the part, especially with an open bottom although on the model reviewed here, one of the grapples was damaged where it hinges with the bucket. The hydraulics are stiff enough to hold the position chosen and hydraulic valve coupling detail has been added to the arm while boom stop brackets have been added to the front of the chassis which is a nice addition.

The cab is modelled with a non-opening glass front door, complete with handle and windscreen wiper fitted with the interior visible within. The cab frame has integrated front and side facing lights in the top corners which have clear plastic lenses with a glazed roof window and curved rear window.

The rear of the model has textured grills cast into the rear and upper sections with coloured plastic lenses inserted into the cut-outs which is nice to see, although the assembly leaves a lot to be desired, as can be seen below where additional plastic has not been removed from the lenses before fitting. Assembly in general is poor with one of the arm handles missing and white residue visible where parts are glued.

The track frames are plastic and there is a slight angle to them where the top sprocket is not vertical which gives the model a strange look when viewed from the front. The frame mountings are plastic so there is a lot of flex on the track frames but it is not possible to straighten them sufficiently for them to hold vertically. The tracks themselves consist of a single strip which has been crudely joined and careful positioning of the track is needed for this not to show. The three bottom rollers are functional and the tracks can be rotated.

The addition of different attachments in the box is a nice touch, especially as they are different to the attachments supplied with the wheeled version, and can be interchanged as shown below. The quick coupler plate connected to the arms is made of plastic and has small raised lumps on the underside to hold the attachment in place. Unfortunately, this is a bad design as the bumps shear off the first time the attachment is changed. While the model looks good displayed on the shelf, the poor quality assembly is very dissapointing.