I think that says it all right there!

Personally, I avoided the 993k because I think its an ugly machine. The flaws with its wheels and diff cover only made the decision easier.

The 988 however is a much more interesting machine. It also appears to be far more detailed and imo, is better value. Its a shame about the flaws but ill overlook them and hope to add one to my collection soon.

On the positive side, there is a potential few $$ up for grabs here. Some of you casting / styrene guys should be onto a retrofit diff cover piece already. Small, cheap and easy.

Rowan.

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1:25th scale CAT 375L excavator

Tom I thought the same thing. You clowns want museum quality at Walmart prices. If you want quality you have to pay. Tom no phone call yet I've been busy but I think I'll get it this week

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Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

I think the fact that Tonkin's trucks are in 1/53 scale is a much worse issue than the issue with the 988K. I know it has nothing to do with Luc but Tonkin has quite a few nice lowboys in their truck series which will look odd with their new 1/50 scale Cat series.

Are they perhaps considering a new 1/50 scale series of trucks with lowboys to match the Cat series?????

Really, an odd scale like 1/53 is beyond me.


Dolph

It's also interesting to see so my complaining about a small issue, but yet we are happy enough to pay outlandish prices for models from Conrad that are do under detailed it's not funny. My god I payed less for my WSI LTM1350 and it's 100 times better than my Conrad LTM1300.

It's curious that an individual member here got more of a reply on Facebook than the collective did here? Granted; it wasn't much more, but stating a mistake had been made is more than the post here contained.

What is truly sad here is that there is no mention of correcting these flaws on future models!

There's no point in dwelling over the 988K, it's done and you either take it or leave it. It was very clear at the DHS open house that no changes would be made from the "production prototype" on display there, and I would be willing to bet that the model castings were already done in part or fully at that time.

It serves no purpose to present a model to the collector for observation, opinion, criticism, etc. if there is no opportunity to improve or correct things.

Another facet of this whole thing is; it's my unofficial understanding that Tonkin was under some time constraints to get at least two pieces to market before the end of the year. If the 775G gets out by Christmas, I'll consider that source having good intel.

In closing; perception is an interesting phenomenon and I enjoyed the analogy of the new car, BUT you cannot "un-see" something.

I saw one in the Cat gift store in Peoria yesterday. Nice job Luc!

Don't get me started on ccm expencive disappointeds. I had 2 988 loaders....bent and broken railngs...parts of the model with no paint on them....buckets that don't have proper movement. ..and front axles that wobble on the mounting screw....but its ok right ??? Ccm is the high end museum quality model maker. How dare tonkin miss a differential cover.

This thread was interesting with all the various opinions on the 988K but I thought I would order one and make my own mind up.

I picked it up yesterday and i have mixed feeling about it. Sitting there in the display cabinet it looks good, it's currently sat next to the CCM 992c. The missing casting off the front diff isn't too bad but the handrails are badly bent and out of alignment and I don't think that was done in the packaging because the worst side is the one opposite to the plastic former's holding it in.

The play in the rear axle is shocking, it's got that much play you'd think the rear was a steering axle! The carry angle of the bucket is poor but I think that can be sorted by removing the little tabs.

The front axle has a lot of play but i think, the front and rear axle play can be rectified with some thought. It's something i plan on working on.

As I said, it looks good sitting there, but it still has to grow on me.

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New UK based Scale construction forum.

www.scaleplantandconstruction.co.uk

There is a frustration factor here,

I'm a Cat fan and would have loved this 988,but its the few basics that got to me,the spoked inner wheels and the front diff housing,to me these are just a "givin" that the likes of Tonkin should have got right even before the model was dreamt up,and leave the more intricate detailing to be added or not,Norscot got a serious drumming over issues like this,like the disfunctional ejector blade on the 657,how maddening was that,one of the main functions of a scraper and it was made fixed??

The next thing that annoyed me even more was Tonkins response,telling the collector after giving us your hard earned cash, to pose the model in a way that the issues pointed out won't be noticed,that is a total farce!! they should have acknowledged the points to improve on and left the collector thinking that they are constantly working to improve and make a better model,you get this attitude from almost anything these days,instead it seemed like they feel they got busted for releasing "something" in Cat yellow.

I'm looking forward to their future releases,and I only hope they use history as a guide,see what the collector wants,see what made the collector unhappy in the past,quality,construction,functions etc,read reviews and forums and work off that,if they can produce a total winning model they will be as successful as they want.

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Why is "phonetically" spelt with a "ph"?

... It's better to be silent and thought a fool, then to speak up and remove all doubt

The complex of Newgrange was originally built between c. 3100 and 2900 BC,[2] meaning that it's aproximately 5,000 years old. According to Carbon-14 dates,[3] it is more than 500 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, and predates Stonehenge by about 1,000 years.