1:50th Scale Manitowoc 4100W Vicon Equipped Ringer Crane
Presented here is the 1:50th scale Manitowoc 4100W ringer crane which is an amazing piece of engineering and a faithfully reproduced model of a famous crane. The model is supplied in a large box and requires some assembly to get the crane erected.
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The Manitowoc 4100 ringer base is supplied pre-assembled and requires the crane housing to be connected to the slewing ring. The individually linked metal tracks freely rotate and the small drive chain has been added to the drive sprockets. The eight stabiliser pads are equally spaced around the ringed frame and they can be lowered to provide good stability. The four main hydraulic jacks are riveted to the ringer frame and can be rotated to lower into position. Hydraulic pipe detailing has been fitted to the frame and jacks which adds to the level of realism. |
The counterweights supplied with the model consist of three sections which connect together and fit to the rear of the crane body. There are also six rectangular counterweights which are placed on the rear counterweight tray once it has been connected to the crane with the supplied pins.
The front boom mounting arm is highly detailed with main and back mast connection points as well as the rear counterweight tray mounting bar all pre assembled. The main crane body is the same casting as the previous 4100W releases with opening cab door, fully reproduced cab interior, opening side engine compartment door revealing the engine components within and opening roof and crank case doors.
Once the crane's upper structure has been secured to the ringer base, the crane can slew smoothly and the rear A frame is pre-rigged with rope which is a welcomed touch as rigging cranes can be a real challenge.
The back mast is made up of the boom and base sections of the standard 4100W lift crane with reconfigured boom tip and the rope is pre-rigged on this section from the main winch inside the crane housing. On the sample here, the rope was very well prepared and secured with masking tape so erection of the boom was relatively straight forward.
The assembly instructions supplied with the model are very good with easy to follow step-by-step stages so it should not be too difficult for anyone to erect and rig the crane.
The rear A-Frame is pre rigged with the four large rope connections already fitted. These four ropes screw to the tip of the back mast with a second set of four ropes which connect directly to the counterweight tray. Incredibly, all the ropes on the sample model were at the exact length so they are all nice and taut.
The back mast is supplied fully rigged and taped up and it can be a little tricky to remove all the tape and keep the ropes on the pulleys. I found that the easiest way to keep the parts reeved was to connect the pennant lines from the boom tip to the equaliser before removing the tape. Once tension is placed on the equaliser, I carefully removed the tape ensuring that the rope was always kept taut and this worked out very well.
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Two load blocks are supplied with the model which consist of the standard ball hook with riveted tie off connector along with a large, six pulley hook block with additional weight side panel detailing and a swivelling/rotating hook with lift up locking bar.
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The connection to the main boom is via the equaliser block and on the ringer version, the connections are made a little differently, as can be seen in the picture below.
The assembly of the main boom is very easy and on the model reviewed here, I chose to add two additional 40' main boom sections from the optional 4100W ringer extension and jib kit to give the crane a little more height.
Once fully erected, the upper structure rotates freely around the ringer base and the individual pads can be adjusted to provide a perfectly level base. The reeving of the load block is interesting as the rope is wound on one of the winches and the other winch is empty (Except for a rope tie off fitting). The instructions suggest that you unwind rope from the winch, reeve the hook and take the end of the rope and attach it to the second winch. This has the effect that both winches should be turned to raise/lower the hook block.
If you are planning on fitting the #123 jib from the extension kit, you cannot reeve the hook block as detailed in the instructions but there is an instruction sheet with the extension kit which details the new rigging. If you are planning to add the extension kit, I would suggest doing so while assembling the main model.
The packaging for the model is excellent, with the model very well protected in a two piece polystyrene inner carton. The outer cardboard box is very sturdy with the top lifting off to reveal the inner carton. The A4 sized model assembly instruction booklet has a clear, step-by-step guide to fully assemble and rig the model and there is also a fold out A3 information card which details the benefits of the Ringer system. This is another excellent model and compliments the previously released lift and dragline versions of the 4100W perfectly.
1:50th Scale Manitowoc 4100W Ringer Extension Kit
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The 4100W ringer extension and jib kit allows for the ringer to be built with an additional 5 x 40' main boom sections and a 40' and 20' back mast extension. The #123 fixed jib can be set at three different angles and separate rope pennants are supplied for this purpose. The detailed instructions supplied with the kit show how to dismantle the original model and re-assemble with the extra boom sections and there is only one configuration detailed in the instructions. |
The #123 jib can be connected to the model without using any of the extra boom sections as the boom supplied with the ringer model do have the jib tie off points cast into them. The supplied rope pennants for the back mast only allow the full 40' and 20' sections to be used so you cannot easily just add the 20' or 40' rear mast sections on their own.
