Review: 60409 Mobile Construction Crane

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In the last of my current series of reviews of LEGO City sets, today I will have a look at 60409 Mobile Construction Crane.

I have left this review to last, as out of the four sets in this series, this was the one that intrigued me the most: how would a LEGO City set of this scale work in a LEGO City environment.

Read on as I review 60409 Mobile Construction Crane and compare it to some real-world cranes that I think this model is based upon.

Summary

60409 Mobile Construction Crane, 1,116 pieces.
£94.99 / $109.99 / €109.99 | 8.5p/9.9c/9.9c per piece.
Buy at LEGO.com »

This is possibly LEGO City's most ambitious mobile crane ever released

  • Very closely resembles real-world versions of similar all-terrain mobile cranes
  • It is designed at an accurate scale
  • The crane boom is slightly unstable when it is fully extended
  • Due to its length, this model will not turn around corners
  • Stickers are slightly off colour

The set was provided for review by LEGO. All opinions expressed are those of the author.

The box

The main image on the front of the box shows 60409 Mobile Construction Crane being set up in an active construction site. The rigger is radioing instructions to the crane driver as the crane's hook is freed from its stowage position and the boom is being luffed up.

A second, slightly out of focus, mobile construction crane is working in the background.

The principal play features are demonstrated in the images found on the rear of the box.

The main image on the rear of the box shows 60409 Mobile Construction Crane in its stowed configuration driving along a City street.

There is an image on the rear of the box to help you get a sense of the size of this model. At 48 cm (19 in) long, the completed model is 53 studs long.

In my opinion, the 60409 Mobile Construction Crane looks to be based on either Liebherr cranes LTM 1750-9.1 or LTM 1650-8.1: it looks more like the LTM 1750 version, but the LTM 1650 crane has eight axles and a safe working load (SWL) of 650 tonnes.

These two cranes measure 22m and 21m long (72 to 69 feet) respectively, so this makes the LEGO City 60409 Mobile Construction Crane built to an approximate scale of about 1:45 when compared to a real-world version of a similar type of crane.


Instructions

There is a moderate-sized 200-page instruction book where the assembly has been divided into 355 build steps.


Stickers

There is a medium-sized sticker sheet provided. I'll comment on the colour of these stickers later in the review.


Parts

All the parts come in these eleven numbered plastic bags. There are no loose parts.

New parts

These 3x8x4 crane sections are a new mould and are found exclusively in this set. Five of these elements make up the main or base boom of the crane. The telescopic boom section slides easily within these sections.

The 6M worm gear has been seen in eight sets. The new part is the 2 x 8 special plate with gear catchers on the underside that are found exclusively in this set. There are seven of these plates on the underside of the telescopic boom section.

The worm gear meshes with the gear catchers on the underside of this special plate.


Minifigures

LEGO City Construction is an equal-opportunities employer. There are four construction minifigures in this set.

The odd one out here is the project manager minifigure: it is extremely unlikely that any construction employee would be permitted on a work site without the obligatory high visibility vest. LEGO used to produce a removable high-visibility bib which could have been useful here.

All four minifigures are wearing hard hats and one is wearing ear defenders.

The high visibility vests, bibs and leggings were seen in this year's 60420 Construction Excavator minifigures.

The two male minifigures have alternate hair pieces should they wish to remove their hard hats.

The two female minifigures have alternate printed expressions.

As seen with many of this year's LEGO City sets, there is a cross-reference to another LEGO City set: the project manager holds a 2x4 blue printed tile with a blueprint for the 60421 Robot World.


The build

The eleven numbered bags make distinct modules or sections of the mobile crane.

Bag 1

The build starts by assembling the Portaloo. What is it with LEGO City construction sets and Portaloos? My initial thought was that it was somewhat overkill to use an eight-axle, 650 tonne SWL crane to lift a Portaloo unit onto a building site!

It is, however, quite an ingenious design by sandwiching two bright bluish green (dark turquoise) door frames between the white door and the white rear wall. The three-stud wide toilet is removable.

The minifigure does fit into the Portaloo even with the toilet roll off to one side as shown above.

The build continues with the assembly of the chassis of the crane.

Like the United Kingdom, New Zealand is one of the seventy-five countries where people drive on the left-hand side of the road. Wherever possible, I am in the process of converting my LEGO City sets to reflect this driving format.

In the real world, however, due to their specialist nature, nearly all large mobile cranes are manufactured with the driver sitting on the left of the drivers' cab, reflecting that the majority of the world uses the right-hand side road format.

The printed console used in this cab has appeared in 106 sets. Over half of these sets are from the Star Wars theme.


Bag 2

The front of the crane is quite a compact unit. There is a stylised elephant logo sticker on each side. Unlike the similar stickers used on the 60420 Construction Excavator, these stickers have a distinct colour difference to the Flame Yellowish Orange (Bright Light Orange) parts that they are stuck onto.

There are several Flame Yellowish Orange parts that are new in this colour. So new, in fact, that they don't show up in the Brickset inventory yet. This link takes you to the Rebrickable inventory (which is complete) sorted by Hue and you can see "rare" parts shown.

A hatch opens behind the cab to reveal the engine. The sand blue engine parts have only been seen in two other sets.

As you can see, this model is nearly nine studs wide (eight studs plus the width of two tiles).


Bag 3

The second module of the 60409 Mobile Construction Crane is assembled.

I was expecting these modules to articulate similar to how the four-axle LEGO City 7249 XXL Mobile Crane bends. All the chassis modules on this set are rigidly connected together.

The real-world crane's chassis would be rigid and articulation would add complications with the boom's stowage, so it makes sense that the LEGO version is rigid, too.


Bag 4

The next module of the crane chassis has a brick-built turntable. This turntable is similar to the turntable found in 60420 Construction Excavator.

The principal pivot in both turntables is the use of the green 1x2 beam with ball joint as seen here.

The turntable bearing surface is made up of a combination of four, six and eight wide curved tiles.


Bag 5

The last chassis module is added and this completes the chassis. All these modules are rigidly connected, so you can see here how long this vehicle will be.


Bag 6 and Bag 7

The four folding outriggers are assembled with the parts from Bags 6 and 7.

Bag 6 assembles one pair of folding outriggers as shown below.

Bag 7 assembles the other pair of folding outriggers.

These four outriggers hinge in towards the chassis and double as mudguards for the 4th and 5th pair of axles and the 7th and 8th pair of axles.


Bag 8

The crane wire is a 200cm (79 inch) medium cord in dark bluish grey. This cord is quite slippery when tied and inferior knots will often slip loose. I have tied a Bowline knot.

The hoist unit is assembled.


Bag 9

The main boom is assembled using the five new 3x8x4 Crane Sections. You can see in this image the colour difference of the stickers.

As referred to above, I believe this crane is modelled on either the Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 or LTM 1650-8.1 cranes.

Liebherr cranes follow the following nomenclature:

  • LTM - Liebherr Telescopic Mobile
  • 1750 - 1 for the product series and 750 for lifting capacity in tonnes
  • 9.1 - number of axles and crane version

So, in my opinion, the 650T8 sticker indicates that this LEGO City construction crane represents a crane with a lifting capacity of 650 tonnes (716 tons) and the model has eight axles.


Bag 10

The crane is completed in its road configuration by Bag 10. The telescopic boom has been threaded into the main boom; The main boom head and shelves, load block and the crane operator's cab have been built.

This link will take you to a comprehensive diagram showing the names of the various parts of a mobile crane. There are also links on that page to product details for Liebherr and Demag mobile cranes.

The load block has two new red and white 2x2 printed tiles.


Bag 11

The base plate (that is the correct term) that supports the ballast or counterweights is assembled along with four ballast blocks or counterweights. The ballast blocks are pinned together using Technic pins and are then pinned to the base plate. The base plate clips onto the rear of the hoist unit.

The stickers on the 2x2 black tiles indicate that each ballast block weighs 10 tonnes (11 tons). Again, this is consistent with the ballast blocks used on Liebherr cranes in the real world.

There are four outrigger floats that incorporate the new Plate Special 2x4 with Ball Receptacle on Top.

All of these accessories sit neatly on the base plate.

The biggest omission of this set is any support vehicle to transport these items to the construction site. They just sit around spare when the mobile crane is configured for transport on the road.

In the real world, these crane accessories are transported to the work site by another truck. Mobile cranes of this size are exceedingly heavy, and they must shed these weights to be permitted on the main highways.


The completed model

This three-minute YouTube video shows a Liebherr 1650-8.1 mobile crane driving to a work site and being set up. It will give you some idea of what 60409 Construction Crane would look like if it were to be set up in the real world.

Here is the crane set up with the outriggers unfolded with the crane's weight supported by the outrigger floats.

The ballast has been rigged and the crane operator's cab has been swung around in place.

As commented in my 60422 Seaside Harbour with Cargo Ship, 1x1 round plate with shaft are being used in lieu of mini-antennas as machinery lever controls. I much prefer the mini-antenna parts.

When the mobile crane is rigged for road transport, the main boom rests on a crutch just behind the driver's cab. The load hook can be secured so that it does not swing about.

This is a good view of those new red and white 2x2 printed tiles.

This crane is a mammoth one with the telescopic boom extended.

The crane boom assembly does wobble about quite a bit when winding in or lowering the hook. I believe this is primarily due to the brick-built turntable design.

The two main boom hoists or lift cylinders extend by simply pulling the boom up. The two Medium Stone Grey 15M Technic beams slide out of the black telescopic arms.

The 15M Technic beams are held in place by one Reddish Brown 5M Axle with stop end.

There is one spare Reddish Brown 5M Axle with stop end stowed on the right side of the hoist unit. Just next to this stowage position are the two low narrow tyres which operate the crane boom functions:

  • The forward tyre rotates the worm gear which extends the telescopic boom section. This axle is also the boom hinge pin.
  • The rear tyre turns the hoist winch which raises or lowers the hook.

This image below shows the 60409 Construction Crane with the blue 60324 Mobile Crane alongside for comparison.

That model's stickers have RH 60T3 which stands for:

  • RH for the set's designer, Robert Heim
  • 60T for a safe operating load of 60 tonnes (66 tons), and
  • 3 for 3 axles.

This image shows you the scale of this crane when rigged ready for use in a LEGO City street setting.


Overall opinion

One of the challenges with the 60409 Construction Crane will be how it is incorporated into a LEGO City setup. With eight rigidly connected axles and a chassis nearly half a metre long (over 3 feet) this vehicle will not turn around LEGO City corners.

It is longer than a 48x48 baseplate; longer than one and a half modular buildings such as 10326 Natural History Museum. It is longer than three of the current 16x16 road plates.

At over eight studs wide, it is wider than the eight stud lanes of those new 16x16 road plates.

The Dimensions - Operating on road section of this PDF brochure for the Liebherr LTM 1750-9.1 crane shows that all eighteen wheels are angled for when the crane steers around a corner. The 22m (72 foot) crane turns in a wide circle with a diameter of 32m (105 feet).

LEGO City vehicles have never had steering incorporated and trying to mimic such complex steering geometry on this LEGO set would be impossible. Articulating the chassis would also introduce its own problems.

Sticker hue

The yellow of the stickers is slightly lighter than the Flame Yellowish Orange (Bright Light Orange) of the parts that they are attached to (as seen in this image, below).

I've nested four Flame Yellowish Orange tiles and one Bright Yellow (Yellow) tile below.

The 80T sticker is from 60420 Construction Excavator while the plain elephant sticker is from this mobile crane.

These two stickers have a distinctly different yellow/orange hue from each other and the Flame Yellowish Orange tiles. The Bright Yellow (Yellow) tile is there for comparison. The image doesn't show the difference in colours as clearly as I would have liked to show.

The base plate, ballast blocks and outrigger floats

Perhaps the biggest omission of this set is how to handle the base plate, ballast blocks and outrigger floats when the 60409 Construction Crane is dissembled and set up for transport on the road.

The best solution would be to have a dedicated support truck to transport these essential crane accessories. Perhaps this could be a future LEGO City construction set for 2025 release.

Final verdict

Despite all of these omissions or negative comments, I truly like this crane and believe it will work well in a LEGO City environment.

This is by far the longest and tallest LEGO City construction crane and is also built at a reasonable minifigure scale.

The set retails for £94.99/$109.99/€109.99. At 8.5p/9.9c/9.9c per part, it represents good value for money.

Pros

  • 60409 Construction Crane is an attractive addition to the range of cranes available in LEGO City.
  • This crane closely resembles real-world versions of eight or nine axle all-terrain mobile construction cranes.
  • It is built on a reasonable scale when compared to the size of a comparable read-world version of such a large construction crane.

Cons

  • This is an ambitious build for a LEGO City set. Due to the size of this set, it makes it slightly unwieldy.
  • There is room for a supplementary support truck tasked to transport the crane's accessories. This could either be a MOC project or a new set released in 2025.
  • I believe the crane boom would be more stable if a traditional turntable had been used instead of the brick-built version in this set.
  • The colour of the stickers could be improved.


Thanks to TLCHEF for the great LEGO City backdrop used in the diorama image.

37 comments on this article

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By in Netherlands,

"Due to its length, this model will not turn around corners"
Just like real cranes, a pain to move within city blocks!
I love how scale accurate this thing is and I'll probably get it at some point later this year, but it's gonna be tough to find a suitable spot within my city.

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By in Netherlands,

Kinda mixed feelings on this one, only reinforced by this review.

It sure does look mighty impressive, there's no denying that. I did like that smaller 60324, but right next to this behemoth it looks like a joke. Considering the sheer size I don't even have much issue with the price. And those new worm pieces, gotta love everything Lego is doing with that worm!

But that size.....even when not very accurate, I think they should have given it an articulated chassis, maybe in a way where the segments could be locked in place? Or the more elegant though complex option: give it steering! Yes, it can actually be done: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-186848/M_longer/60409-steering-mod/

And it should have included som actual counterweights, as other (video)reviews have shown you better not try to lift anything substantial with it....

Not for the first time this year this seems like a set that's bigger than it needs to be, actually hindering its play value. Is this actually an 18+ display model disguised as a City set?

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By in United Kingdom,

The new city team have really outdone themselves this year. As a construction enthusiast you can tell this model had a lot of love and care put into its design.

I agree with the comment about it being a disguised 18 plus set. This is incredibly impressive not just for children, but for adults who have a deep interest in these types of machinery.

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By in Poland,

This and 60420 are a chance for me to return to City after about 10 years of break, because they remind me of the golden years of the 2005-2009 series. All in all, I have a large collection of old City, which I am still expanding with MiSB sets found at bargain prices on Bricklink or Ebay. As for construction sets, I have almost everything from 2000s (except maybe 7905 , which I will decide to buy when I find the space for it and Town Jr in which I have no interest), but these new sets are so good, especially Excavator, that I think they will expand my collection of City building sets, from which I have not bought anything regularly for about very long time.

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By in Germany,

I really like the review with all the links to the real world example (and the recommended knot).
Also a very nice picture with all the spectators including Obi-Wan!

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By in United States,

Portaloo's are awesome. A very important and delicate piece of a construction site to maneuver.

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By in Netherlands,

@darthjazno said:
"Portaloo's are awesome. A very important and delicate piece of a construction site to maneuver."
But if you need a crane like this to lift it, someone must ahve done a pretty big number two.....
(and where's the all important brown piece for that? Did Lego actually forget that?!)

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By in United States,

This set looks so close to being an upgraded successor to the nostalgic 7249... but that rigid structure feels more like a limiting factor than admirable realism.

I don't have the space for this model, and I'm not an active buyer of City, so I'll ultimately pass on this set, but this is definitely a solid inclusion among the "disguised 18+" high-end City sets.

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By in New Zealand,

A sizeable city in the background I see! No wonder the crane has trouble getting around the buildings!

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By in Belgium,

I have built it last weekend, and it’s very impressive! Playing with the boom and the hoist was so much fun! What is not shown in the review is that the operator’s cab can be rotated out of its position, another neat play feature.

I’m very happy with it, despite the lack of joint in the vehicle to allow for easier turning

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By in United States,

"My initial thought was that it was somewhat overkill to use an eight-axle, 650 tonne SWL crane to lift a Portaloo unit onto a building site!" Maybe it's an elaborate prank on the guy sitting in it. Up until that last line, I was thinking, "Looks like somebody wanted to flex his Modular Building collection."

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By in United States,

Incredible review! I’m very tempted to get this and the other construction crane now.

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By in Puerto Rico,

@Tuzi said:
[[[[Due to its length, this model will not turn around corners]]
Just like real cranes, a pain to move within city blocks!
I love how scale accurate this thing is and I'll probably get it at some point later this year, but it's gonna be tough to find a suitable spot within my city.]]

I believe it is because this crane is way too big, like this is for large scale projects instead of most of our cities.

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By in United Kingdom,

@Maxbricks14 said:
"A sizeable city in the background I see! No wonder the crane has trouble getting around the buildings!"

Wouldn't you love an article on how each official Brickset rewiewer arranges their cities (if their modulars are on display)?

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By in Canada,

Too bad the weights that would stabilize the crane are just for show. If Lego could have somehow implemented actual weights, it would have been cool. Still, it's an awesome looking set.

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By in New Zealand,

@HJB2810 said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"A sizeable city in the background I see! No wonder the crane has trouble getting around the buildings!"

Wouldn't you love an article on how each official Brickset rewiewer arranges their cities (if their modulars are on display)?"


Yes I would. I see lots of people's displays at conventions, but I personally would love to see the Brickset staff arrangements.

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By in United States,

@Maxbricks14 said:
" @HJB2810 said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"A sizeable city in the background I see! No wonder the crane has trouble getting around the buildings!"

Wouldn't you love an article on how each official Brickset rewiewer arranges their cities (if their modulars are on display)?"


Yes I would. I see lots of people's displays at conventions, but I personally would love to see the Brickset staff arrangements."


I'm open to looking at this request.

I will be shortly be posting the next instalment on my "Organising your LEGO collection" series which was a project I commenced due to organizing and transporting a large, modular LEGO train display.

https://brickset.com/article/111996/organising-your-lego-collection

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By in Australia,

Good review.

The crane is way too big in my opinion. It doesnt need to be and as the review and other commenters note, the oversize nature of it actually creates issues that severely detract from it.

The LEGO truck, car transporter and excavator are all also too large. Maybe they are closer to a real life scale but lego used to have a good LEGO scale that roughly worked for minifigures and across themes. Breaking that to me is a terrible idea.
Especially when even just existing City sets will be completely out of scale with sets like this.

Note when I use the term scale, its not about getting all pedantic about 1:87, 1:100 or whatever, its about sets looking good alongside each other and making sense.

Do you really want to buy a crane for example that immediately makes all your other cranes look ridiculously tiny and silly?
Do you want a crane that costs a lot and takes up heaps of space, yet ultimately can only do the same as the much smaller but better scaled crane does?

Gravatar
By in New Zealand,

@FlagsNZ said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
" @HJB2810 said:
" @Maxbricks14 said:
"A sizeable city in the background I see! No wonder the crane has trouble getting around the buildings!"

Wouldn't you love an article on how each official Brickset rewiewer arranges their cities (if their modulars are on display)?"


Yes I would. I see lots of people's displays at conventions, but I personally would love to see the Brickset staff arrangements."


I'm open to looking at this request.

I will be shortly be posting the next instalment on my "Organising your LEGO collection" series which was a project I commenced due to organizing and transporting a large, modular LEGO train display.

https://brickset.com/article/111996/organising-your-lego-collection"


Ah yes, that article was good and I was wondering when it's sequel would arrive.

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By in Canada,

@Brickchap said:
"Good review.

The crane is way too big in my opinion. It doesnt need to be and as the review and other commenters note, the oversize nature of it actually creates issues that severely detract from it.

The LEGO truck, car transporter and excavator are all also too large. Maybe they are closer to a real life scale but lego used to have a good LEGO scale that roughly worked for minifigures and across themes. Breaking that to me is a terrible idea.
Especially when even just existing City sets will be completely out of scale with sets like this.

Note when I use the term scale, its not about getting all pedantic about 1:87, 1:100 or whatever, its about sets looking good alongside each other and making sense.

Do you really want to buy a crane for example that immediately makes all your other cranes look ridiculously tiny and silly?
Do you want a crane that costs a lot and takes up heaps of space, yet ultimately can only do the same as the much smaller but better scaled crane does?"


Yes, I want a large crane that looks like it belongs on a construction site instead of a bunch of smaller cranes. I do think it should have had steering, but it's still great. Now if they could make a nice combine and tractor...

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By in Germany,

Great review thanks. Am still 'uming and ahring' over the scale of the thing and how it would integrate. Fascinating rabbit hole links to RHT/LHT and real life cranes made a 10min read a lot lot longer:o)

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By in United States,

Dang. That's huge.

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By in Germany,

Yep. This was clearly made for AFOLs, not for kids. Like the other 100+$ vehicles. And then, some insist there is no parts bloat.

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By in Italy,

I wasn't expecting a Bonkle piece for the turntable

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By in Croatia,

Impresive set for build and display!
Perfect AFOL set, City themed. In range with construction vehicles like 60074, 7746 and tracked vehicle from 60124
I will buy it at discount (and make 4 axle crane of it).
This kind of sets, that looks realistic, should be in separate Lego theme, like modulars in Icons. Get back Expert theme and Expert logo back! And put in sets like 60420.
Comparing 8-wide Lego cranes minifigure size, 60409 is greatest looking but to big for most Lego cities. They are: 7249 (to big), 7633 (big wheels and better), 60026 (big wheels and perfect), 60324 (no comment).
That elephant logo company need name: Brickbuster, Brickhard, Brickzilla, Colossus, Monster, Titan, Bulk, Jumbo? What do you think?

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By in Germany,

At a nice discount I will definitely get this, but I'll also add the steering mod, since that to me is an essential feature. And considering that it's not that hard to implement, I wonder why the designer didn't incorporate it in the first place.

Gravatar
By in Germany,

@AustinPowers said:
"At a nice discount I will definitely get this, but I'll also add the steering mod, since that to me is an essential feature. And considering that it's not that hard to implement, I wonder why the designer didn't incorporate it in the first place. "

Nobody told them to.

Gravatar
By in Germany,

@jkb said:
" @AustinPowers said:
"At a nice discount I will definitely get this, but I'll also add the steering mod, since that to me is an essential feature. And considering that it's not that hard to implement, I wonder why the designer didn't incorporate it in the first place. "

Nobody told them to."

No, but considering the size of this behemoth, especially in comparison to the LEGO City it's supposed to interact with, one might have thought they would have been creative enough to incorporate it anyway.

Gravatar
By in United States,

I'm really loving your reviews. Thank you.

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By in United States,

Bag 9 has an "onion."

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By in United States,

@linkf78 said:
"Bag 9 has an "onion.""

I cried when I saw that comment. It's fixed now. Thanks.

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By in United Kingdom,

Working in construction, the counter ballast is too small. which is why the stability is an issue. but its still awesome!!

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By in Poland,

I love this set, I ordered it even before the release, just because of images. When it arrived I started to love it more.
It's not without some flaws. It's wobbling during the work because of that ball mounting in the turntable. The screw pitch is big so the beam has tendency to self retract during lifting when the beam is raised high. It may be prevented thanks to that spare stick, but it's not looking great.
Nevertheless it has lots of features best described as "like a real crane" which I admire. I really wanted a big, big crane able to construct spaceport installations and now I have such crane. Spaceports have lots of open space, so I may ignore problems with tight city roads :)

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By in Indonesia,

Some of the crane sets from TLG always hoisting Portaloo. such as set 7905 and 60073. I recall there are other sets but I currently don't remember.

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By in United States,

@one79 said:
"Some of the crane sets from TLG always hoisting Portaloo. such as set 7905 and 60073. I recall there are other sets but I currently don't remember. "

I suggested before that this set depicted a prank, and apparently it's a widespread prank in Lego City!

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By in United Kingdom,

@M_longer said:
"It needs steering:
https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-186848/M_longer/60409-steering-mod/?spot=designer_mocs "


This is genius; I love modding new sets and this is just superb; no idea how the solution is executed at all but the additional parts are only around £15 plus the cost of the instructions themselves - definitely worth looking into. Sadly due to already being overdeveloped (although admittedly I am now having to go 'up' rather than 'along' so probably in need of a crane), my city just has no room for this...

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