1:50th Scale Manitowoc 18000 Crawler Crane

Presented here is the 1:50th scale Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane with MAX-ER . From opening the huge box, measuring an impressive 77 x 45 x 45cm (30 x 17 x 17in) with a weight in excess of 20Kg, you cannot help but be impressed with the excellent packaging as all parts are secured in three polystyrene layers. The top layer has the back mast and main boom sections along with the cab and some of the counterweight pieces. The middle layer has the main boom top, complete with the jib sections, jib and remaining counterweights while the bottom section securely holds the main body, MAX-ER attachment, the four hydraulic jacks and the toolkit.

The undercarriage, body and counterweight trays are all assembled out of the box and the A-Frame is pre-rigged with rope which is a great start to the building phase. Most of the parts are pre assembled which greatly reduces the time needed to assemble the model. The four hydraulic jacks are first to be assembled and locate into the holes on the main body.

The undercarriage features some of the most authentic looking metal tracks seen so far on a crane model with tensioned idler wheels keeping the individually linked metal tracks taut. The drive motors are fitted to the sprocket and four access ladders, complete with hand rails and mesh steps provide access to the platform which also has highly detailed mesh walkways that greatly add to the realism of the model. The counterweight trays mounted to the undercarriage each hold three large black weights (one weight is permanently connected)  and each counterweight stone is fitted with four lifting hooks.

The highly detailed cab features a sliding door, fully reproduced operator station with Manitowoc logo printed on the seat back, external grab rails, metal wind screen wipers and mesh walkways, complete with safety railings. The rear of the cab has printed safety markings and can be tilted back to give the operator a better view of the work area, just like the real machine.

The front slewing motors are located between the boom mounting points and flexible hydraulic hoses are visible. The winch hose connections are locatod above the slewing motors and the hydraulic hoses need to be connected during the build stage before the rigging is carried out. The fit is quite loose so I ended up using PVA glue to hold the hoses in place. This might be what the supplied super glue should be used for.

The mesh walkways are a feature on the entire model with side and rear platforms added. Three access steps are added to each side of the main body and cut outs in the frame sides give access to the internal engine compartment. The detailed power plant, complete with radiator grill and cooling fan are all visible along with the hydraulic and fuel tanks and the two winches used for the A-frame and whip line.

The main boom foot has three winches fitted, two of which are already loaded with rope ready for assembly. Flexible hydraulic hoses have been added to the winch motors and have connectors fitted which locate with the main body during assembly. The boom is supplied in several sections and needs fixing together with the supplied screws.

The back mast is also supplied in two sections with all pendant lines already assembled out of the box. The rear mast has another winch fitted, complete with hydraulic cables and wound with rope while the mast top has metal shieves which are used to rig the main boom to the back mast. These sections also need fixing together with screws.

All the booms are hand built from brass which gives a quality feel to the model. The small screws used to join the boom sections ensure a positive and sturdy connection with no danger of coming apart. One potential issue with hand built components is their tolerances and during assembly of the model, everything located and fitted together with no problems which was somewhat surprising. I was expecting to have to manipulate the parts a little in order to get them to fit together. Several boom sections do show slight kinks and twists but this is not really noticable once assembled.

There are a number of counterweight parts supplied with the model which fit together. The four black pieces fit to the undercarriage while the large red counterweights are used on the MAX-ER. There are 13 counterweights per side which fit onto the counterweight tray at the rear of the main body. Each piece has four lifting eyes and the small weights have steps on each side. The main load block consists of 15 shieves with a swivelling double hook complete with load retention pins.

The MAX-ER attachment features four working stabilisers which extend to keep the unit stable. There is a central ladder giving access to the platform above, which has photo etched walkways and access, via step irons, to the connection points which screw to the pendant lines fitted to the rear mast.

There is a small ladder fixed to one of the stabilisers giving acces to the junction box and cabling runs around the entire frame. The four large wheels with authentic rubber tyres freely rotate and feature detailed wheel hubs and full 360 degree rotation.

The connection to the main crane frame is a little tricky and requires two pins to be inserted through the holes. These holes are hard to get to and it was difficult to get the two parts to line up correctly. Once connected, the pendant lines need to be connected to the sprung mounting points on the MAX-ER. The stiff springs keep everything nicely tensioned which adds to the overall appearance of the crane once fully built.

While this model is amongst the most detailed crane models available, it can only be built in one specific configuration which could be a problem for collectors who no not have the space to display the crane in it's fully built state. The top of the main boom has riveted stays which prevent the model from being built without the luffing jib. The pendant lines coming from the back mast are also fixed so you cannot build the crane without the MAX-ER attachment.

This is probably the only issue that lets the model down and it would have been relatively easy to use screws for these joints thus allowing the collector to choose how to display the model and in what configuration. For the more adventurous, it should not be too difficult to drill out the rivets and remove the luffing jib, although this is such a fine model,  you wouldn't want to risk damaging it.

Another interesting observation is the winches themselves. The A frame winch has a braking feature where by the drum is sprung to allow it to lock into position. All the other winches are free rolling with no braking mechanism. This has only been a problem with the whip line as the weight of the headache ball causes the drum to unwind on it's own. The tension of the rigging for the boom and luffing jib are so far enough to prevent the drums from moving on their own. As the A frame is riveted to the main body preventing much movement, it is strange that this winch has the braking mechanism when it is not really needed.

The model is supplied with a small toolkit consisting of scissors, pliers, screwdriver, tweezers, straight and curved needle, a tube of super glue and a pair of gloves, all mounted in a clear plastic container. This is another nice touch and the tweezers came in very usefull during the rigging stage.

The 74 page wire bound book which is also supplied gives full specifications and configurations of the real crane along with a fully comprehensive set of instructions on how to assemble and rig the model. This is amongst the best set of instructions I have ever seen with a model and everything is clearly explained. To top it off, TWH have included a DVD which contains footage of the assembly procedure and pictures of the real machine.

To sum up, the Manitowoc 18000 is an amazing model with much more detail than similar models from the likes of Conrad. The hand built booms give the model character and the use of mesh walkways, metal pendant lines and other fine detailing give the model a Museum quality feel. The addition of the comprehensive instructions and toolkit add even more value and the packaging is excellent.