Issued 1960-66    Length 114mm

Euclid manufactured heavy earth-moving equipment and the Euclid Tipper Truck was a familiar sight during the era of UK Motorway building in the 1960's. Making a model of it with plenty of 'play' value was a natural move and in fact this was the first of three Euclid vehicles made by Budgie and two further models were planned but never reached production.

The real Euclid Tipper Truck was large and Budgie's model was similarly on quite a solid scale. It was centered on a long chassis which included the external front radiator and provided the frame on which the hydraulic rams were fixed which lifted and lowered the dumper. Both the chassis and the dumper were always coloured bright orange.

The red cab was a separate section rivetted onto the chassis. It carried the 'Euclid' name on the front and also on each cab door. On the side of the engine an unpainted metal compressor cylinder was fitted.

Central to the model was the large dumper which was modelled with external ribs and a protective shield above the cab (under which was cast 'Euclid Tipper Truck'). It was connected at the rear to the chassis and in the centre to a twin-ram hydraulic lift. This held the dumper at any chosen height. On the forward sides of the dumper there were 'Euclid' logo decals, one on each side, although sometimes these were missed so Tipper Trucks without decals are found.

The first issue of the Euclid Tipper Truck had orange painted metal wheels but later these were left unpainted. Because of the double hubs at the rear which had two tyres each, the Tipper did not get fitted with plastic wheels.

The Tipper Truck initiallly appeared in a box with no numbers (A1) which is scarce. It was replaced by one with small numbers on both the picture sides and on the end-flaps (A3) which was in use for both variations of the Tipper Truck. Eventually there was an upgrade to one of the late 'Budgie Models' boxes (A10) and to an open-sided blue & white window pack (C1). Also, it was sometimes included in Budgie Gift Sets and so is quite a common model.