Wsi Liebherr Ltf 1060 - 4.1 mobile crane 'hkv' by cranes etc tv

The Liebherr LTF 1060 is a truck-mounted crane and it has a capacity of 60 tonnes. This model of it has the crane mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Actros chassis and it's in the colors of Hebetechnik Kranverleih of Cologne in Germany and for simplicity it is known by the letters HKV. The model comes in a Liebherr branded box and it should be factory sealed but for some reason this one isn't, and with the top tray off all of the parts are nicely wrapped. Once out the box there is just a few bits of packaging to remove from the model. As usual for a mobile crane we will just assemble it first in road-going configuration, and there is not too much to do on this model in order to achieve that. Firstly the counterweight gets positioned amidships and it goes there so that the load on the axles is equalized when the truck is on the road. The crane is already rigged with a hook out of the box so the only other thing to do is to fit the fly jib. It goes on the side of the main boom and pins into position and the only issue is it can be a little bit tricky to line up the holes to get the pin in. To start the detail we will look at the chassis and as always it's very detailed for WSI, and when you look very closely there is fine details such as hoses. The wheels are detailed and look nice in HKV livery and the Actros cab looks good too and has a two-tone interior and a realistic number plate. Under the cab is an engine and it is nicely marked 'Mercedes-Benz'. A particular plus point on the model is the very small graphics which are highly detailed. These also extend to the outriggers which are metal and realistic, and the front ones have storage baskets on the side. The high detail continues with the cab which has got nice controls and 'Liebherr' on the seat back. Inside the body there is various hydraulic hoses detailed and the boom detailing is very smart too, including metal pulleys in the boom head. The fly jib is a metal part with a nicely formed lattice. But particularly nice are the main boom sections which have a realistic thin wall profile and sharp graphics on every section. Here we have the crane looking particularly laid back so let's have a look at the chassis, and all of the wheels turn easily enough. There is steering of the front two axles but it's springy and doesn't move very much. At the rear the axles have sprung suspension. but oops... As you can see one of the bars has just sprung out of position but it is quite flexible so clips back into place. At the front each of the individual wheels also has sprung suspension. We're on site so now let's set the crane up for some lifting activity and as always the first job is to set the outriggers. The beams rotate outwards and then extend and then you can lower the pads by unscrewing but the good thing is there's no unsightly screw threads, as you see smooth pistons. The pads are mounted on a little offset arrangement so that they can be tucked under the crane for traveling, but when setting up you centralise them and put in a little pin to secure them. Plastic spreader plates are also included with the model and when it's all set the outriggers will hold the crane wheels free. So there we are all stabilized at which point one can unhook one's hook and proudly raise one's boom... However on first raising this boom it is more than a little sticky so not only does it take effort to raise but it goes up in jerks. But it will probably smooth out a bit once it has been raised or lowered a couple of times. At this point the real crane would rotate round and pick up its counterweight. However that doesn't quite work on the model because of the fixing arrangement, so we need to get a bit handy and fix the counterweight manually and that's easy to do because it just pushes up into place. Once it is attached it is no problem turning the crane round because the tolerances have been engineered properly. Let's now dash forward and have a quick look at the driving cab and that tilts nicely but unfortunately it won't pose in the tilted position. Of course not to be outdone the crane cab also tilts and it will hold any position. There's also an access platform which pulls out from underneath. Enough of tilting cabs already let's get back to the boom and extending the sections is smooth and easy, and at maximum extension each of the sections has the usual locking pin method. So with the boom up and all the sections extended you get quite a big model. So with it fully extended let's run the tape over it and to the top of the boom is about 33 inches or 84 centimetres. But if you want to go to the maximum you can add the fly jib on and that gives you another 13 inches or 33 centimetres. It fixes onto the boom head with a couple of steel pins and then the fly jib gets unfolded and pinned into position. You have to unfold it because for some reason WSI have not included a pulley at the end of the lattice section, and if there was one here you could run a hook of it. Well here the hook has already been magically reeved off the fly jib but perhaps the hook block is a bit too big to be a single line hook. To complete the rigging we need to remove the hoist cut-off chain from the boom head, and that involves pressing out the plastic pin. Once it's out the best thing to do is to leave off the plastic pin entirely and just use the hook on the end to the chain to hook into the top of the fly jib. The weighted end then gets clipped onto the hoist rope. With the fly jib rigged another feature comes into play, and that is that you can alter the offset angle. It is controlled by a cylinder but it's very stiff so it holds a pose. With the crane set up you can now do what you really wanted to do and that is play crane driver. This version of the Liebherr truck crane from WSI looks really good in the colours of HKV. Both the detailing and the features are very good and as a model to have sitting in the display case it is outstanding.