A road trip to collect a Tracked loader.....picture heavy

[elliot330]

So the story begins… its late Friday night, my usual ebay searches ( I’m looking for an excavator) hit my inbox and I notice that a tracked wheel loader had just been listed, in Germany.

It looks a little odd, as its gold in colour! I Did a little bit of research and it transpires it’s a limited edition model from Graupner, for their 75th anniversary. They made 75 models ( anybody guess why?) and had them gold plated. I did a little more research and soon realised that this is infact a scaleart 963 tracked wheel loader, Graupner commissioned scaleart to build them. They originally went on the market for 13,000 Euros and came built and ready to run, with everything, all contained in a nice wooden box, and the best thing, this one had never been used…

So I placed a cheeky offer, which was instantly rejected, and rightly so. I placed another and waited…… Saturday morning arrived and I received a counter offer, we eventually agreed on a price acceptable for both of us. Excellent, so I agreed to buy a wheel loader from somewhere in Europe and wanted it now! The seller was very helpful and we made arrangements to meet at Midday the following day. I Looked in Google maps, its was 8 ½ hours away, plus an hour or two for the ferry…

So off I set at 1am Sunday morning, channel tunnel ticket in hand, passport in other and a pocket full of Euros… several hours later and many red bulls, I arrived at ttm-funktionsmodellbau and met Sven and his wife. Wow, what a shop, if you are ever bored and fancy a day trip and happen to be in Germany, go there, it’s the Hamleys of the modellers world. Its massive, it has everything you could ever want and best of all, they have a display stand in the middle of the shop with all the Wedico construction range on, for you to play with, the problem is I had limited time and it was after all Sven’s day off. But I managed to play for an hour.

Loaded up my new Tracked loader and headed back to the UK….. the rest they say is history.

Being gold plated it doesn’t photograph too well.. but here are a few any way.

The question is, do I use it, do I paint it Cat colours or leave it gold?

[RCTech9]

Use it.

[Snochaser]

That one is a dream of mine. Good for you. Congrats

[elliot330]

Originally Posted by Snochaser

That one is a dream of mine. Good for you. Congrats

Make it happen, you will not regret it. I've never seen so much detail in a model. Its all solid brass and weighs a ton... if this is how the rest of scaleart's models are, then they are good, expensive but good.

[RCLogger]

That is a very TOUGH CALL ! If you put it to work it will never look shinny anymore...hahah

greg

[mazdaparts]

If it is actually gold plated, I would be leary of using it. The gold plating could wear off and you actually loose money. This seems to be a functional collectors edition. If you got it cheap enough you could play with it. If you paid more than what a new model cost then keep it on a shelf.
Another thought is to contact the company and possible sell it to them or trade it to them to get a more functional model.
Either way its your money and you can do what you wish with it. Good find and buy.

[fhhhstix]

First off that thing is frickin cool makes my Stahl look like a kids toy. Next I say play with it and have fun the way it is and when it get's beat up then paint it.

Travis

[hawgfanman]

13,000 euro's! Holy Crap! Even if you only paid half, I couldn't see using it for fear of hurting it.

[td9clyde]

Originally Posted by fhhhstix

First off that thing is frickin cool makes my Stahl look like a kids toy. Next I say play with it and have fun the way it is and when it get's beat up then paint it.

Travis

yep i totally agree play with it then paint it and your stahl is still cool just needs a 4 in 1 bucket and paint

[carp]

awesome looking peice of kit mate tough call on whether to use it or not though, got any videos of it in action yet?

[Espeefan]

Given it's collective nature, that's a really tought call. I think that I would have passed on buying this model, for fear of ever running in the dirt. It's truly a work of art. Even the box is came in is really nice. I don't know if it would ever be worth more then what you paid for it, but I don't think I would have the heart to put in the sandbox. That is such a nice, one of a kind model. There are no scratches on it now, so I would have to say keep it that way. Hopefully you aren't hurting for money, so you can buy another, just to run and enjoy! By the way, I remember seeing this model, or one just like it, on E Bay a couple years back. Testament to how hard it is to sell one of these things.

[elliot330]

Hi Guys... thanks for the kind comments and advice..

If I'm honest, I wasn't after a loader at this moment in time, I really want a 360 to go with the dumper I have on order, however this came up and as I said earlier I really wanted something to play with.

With regards to cost, it didn't cost me much more than a completed Stahl loader would've cost, hence driving half way across Europe to buy it :-)

My problem, is using a limited edition model the right or wrong thing to do... I doubt it will ever go up in price, I also didn't buy it as an investment, although if you have a new 360 that you want to swop I'm all ears! I'm also not in the financial position to leave it in the box...

Writing this has made me think, I bought it to use and use it I will.... as someone suggested, I will run it for a while in gold, then tear it down and paint it in proper Cat colours.

[Lil Giants]

Originally Posted by elliot330

With regards to cost, it didn't cost me much more than a completed Stahl loader would've cost, hence driving half way across Europe to buy it :-)

Well you lucky dog!!! I am almost tempted to email Vario Germany & have them send you a 360 & you send that tl to me!

I have some idea what a Stahl model would cost & in comparison you got that 'Special Edition' for about half of a newly ordered one today... just goes to show there aint no collector value!!!

Use it! Abuse it! Enjoy it! Shelf queens are wedico models!

I may get my chance to see one this summer.

[Stepside]

wow! what a great machine! I'm jealous that you're only 8.5 hours from Germany... I've seen a lot of models on ebay.de, but its a little nerve-racking to send that much $$$ across the ocean...

[Stuff]

DO NOT USE!!! sell it to a collector and use that $$$ to buy a regular one. thats 1 of 75 man!!

[pugs]

I agree with Stuff, Sell it at a profit to a collector and buy a regular one with the money to use, that thing deserves to be on a shelf and if used should be on clean flooring, never in the dirt.

[Spliffy]

Ok i think i might have to get your address and come dribble on that beauty, could be there in an hour!!

at the end of the day in 10 years it maybe worth 60x what you paid or it might be 60x less!!!

i say go with your heart and make sure what you paid is what you get out of it in enjoyment and satisfaction, no matter how that maybe....

[elliot330]

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

Well you lucky dog!!! I am almost tempted to email Vario Germany & have them send you a 360 & you send that tl to me!

Use it! Abuse it! Enjoy it! Shelf queens are wedico models!

I may get my chance to see one this summer.

Don't tempt me... if it wasn't so big and heavy you'd have a deal

"I may get my chance to see one this summer"

Hmm, what does that mean, you are going over to Germany to see some, or better still ordering one? If its the later you will be amazed at the build quality.. I certainly am...

[elliot330]

Originally Posted by Stuff

DO NOT USE!!! sell it to a collector and use that $$$ to buy a regular one. thats 1 of 75 man!!

I think Joe summed it up, when they sold in 2005 we were in a booming economy hence the price it sold for new, also remember the new price was for a completely built up model, which if I'm correct still commands a huge premium from Scaleart, I guess the man hours to build one are a lot? however 5 years later its dropped 75% of its price, so I don't think it will ever be a collectors item, well certainly not in the next few years! There's another on ebay at the moment...

And to answer your question, If I sold it for what I paid, I wouldn't even have 50% towards a regular one

[elliot330]

Originally Posted by Spliffy

Ok i think i might have to get your address and come dribble on that beauty, could be there in an hour!!

at the end of the day in 10 years it maybe worth 60x what you paid or it might be 60x less!!!

i say go with your heart and make sure what you paid is what you get out of it in enjoyment and satisfaction, no matter how that maybe....

Blimey you are close... I'll be taking it to Yate next weekend to play - are you going to be there?