Fist of all, yes this is a small review for Eurobricks but still, it's a review.

To the set. The design is good but a bit ugly, wheels are good but need to be bigger like in 7244 but still quite nice and the tipping itself is good but let's leave the actual facts to the completed model part! I am not going to write about the instructions because I can't find them and frankly I can't be bothered to try so don't moan about it.

Box/Instructions

The box size I haven’t actually ever seen before, it's like big but not big (sounds strange but you'll see if you buy it!) if you see what I mean. The printing is pretty nice for a truck. The front has the truck showing it as pretty darn cool (as I said earlier it's not that pretty though) and the miner placing dynamite at the rocks the blow them up and with the mining sign behind him on a sandy like floor with rocks, grass and the city behind him. The back is it's normal self showing you the ways to play with it such as making the rocks full of gold fall to the ground (with the miner unbelievably close to the rocks!), blowing up rock while making the miner run away, climbing the ladder on the front of the truck, finding gold and of course driving the vehicle!

Parts

For a £19.99 set this has some pretty cool parts, such as the massive wheels, the rare Red Technic, Link 1 x 9 Bent (6 - 4) piece which let's the truck dump things, the Light Bluish Gray Brick, Modified 2 x 4 No Studs, Curved Top thing on the sides and the timer thing for the dynamite which I found very amusing.

Minifigures

The build

The completed model

Summary

This is the second monster truck that Lego have recently produced in the city range. The previous one was 7344 Dump Truck from 2005. Unfortunately my review of that set was lost after attacks on the site, but my follow up where I complained about bent axles has survived. I recall I liked truck for looks but considered it very juniorised with its one piece tipping bucket, and I was concerned at the quality of the parts which showed variation in the shades of yellow and as I said the soft axle bricks.

Seven years on, this latest offering retains the modular construction effectively being 3 sub assemblies put together the chassis, front engine cab and radiator assembly and the tipping bucket which as a previous reviewer notes is not one piece but made up of normal bricks – this definitely adds to the building experience and uses click hinges to create the rear raised floor. There is an attempt using the inset wall element and some grille bricks to give the ribbed effect seen on the prototypes, but it could have been done better – using more yellow and less black and grey elements would have been a start, but also using more of the inset wall elements. Perhaps I am too discerning as an AFOL and your average younger builder won’t care.

The chassis and tipping mechanism using the 4 x 6 angle beam used on front loaders on tractors and diggers works well and there are 2 turntable bricks on top which snap tightly into 2 round 4 x 4 plates on the bottom of the bucket to allow it to be clicked on last and tightly.

The front is done well with a dark grey backing plate for the black grilles, a convincing cab and exposed engine with stub exhaust on the top deck. Either side of the radiator there are 2x2 yellow round tiles which are larger versions of these smaller features found on the front of Caterpillar trucks. The previous big wheel arches from 7344 are now absent and there are just plates on plates making up the main deck. There is a new element I have not seen before 4654580: Angular Plate 1.5 Bot. 1X2 which allows things to be put at 90 degrees but from the bottom rather than the top - i am sure this will become a favourite. I think the front is let down by the three 1 x 2 plates with stick in red – they should have been yellow. The middle one is used as a mounting for the ladder brick on the front which is an improvement on the previous set that had no way of the driver getting in.

There are 2 boulders with a gold rock crystal and 1x 1 round tiles inside to act as a load and a sheepish looking miner Minifig with the excellent miners helmet with light – not that you would probably need one in an open cast operation where these trucks are usually found. There is also some dynamite with a 1 x 1 clock tile attached as a timer. There is also a road sign warning of blasting.

The wheels do not steer, but I did not have much trouble turning my truck, and the only other working playability feature is the tipping mechanism with the boulders.

As I said, maybe I am older than the average builder and too critical, it is not supposed to be a faithful replica, but it would have been nice to see more use of yellow elements and larger square section rather than round section tyres which are more true to prototype, as would have been double wheels to the rear.

Overall, I think this is a nice model, some things are better about this truck than the previous offering and others were better on the older truck which probably looked the part better with more yellow elements including the one piece bucket, but I did like the fact that was not a feature of this set. Another example is there were handrails around the deck of the previous offering and there are none here, but you do get the front ladder.

Due to limited playability, the use of odd colours for certain things and overall looks I can only award it a 4. I note if you are in the UK it has been reduced from 20 to 15 GBP at Argos stores and is definately a bargain at that price.

Inspired by the release of the set and a recent TV show featuring a mining truck, I decided to rebuild mine to try and be as accurate to prototype as I could – the results are on my Brickshelf page or just search on CAT, Caterpillar or the set number, but I do concede there is little of the original set left – it is now really a MOC rather than this set modified.

Purchase Price:

Approximately £20.00 (It was a gift from my wife!)

Box:

The image on the front and two sides of the box shows the Mining-Truck, Road Sign, Minifig (Minor with silver hard-hat carrying dynamite) and two Rocks (one of which is open revealing gold!).

The top image shows the Minifig carrying some gold, two rocks (one of which is open and about to be blown up by the lit dynamite) and a Road Sign (with the Danger: Blasting symbol). The 1:1 scale image is of the Minor Minifig.

On the back of the box it is split into eight sections. The first image is the same as the front of the box, with an open version of the box showing three bags complete the build. Below this image are four related sets (4204 - The Mine, 4203 - Excavator Transport, 4201 - Loader and Tipper and 4200 - Mining 4x4).

The next five images show the set in various uses. Firstly the Minifig climbing up the front of the Mining Truck to access the cab. Below this is an image of the Minifig making a swift departure from the rock that he has just placed a stick of dynamite. Below again is an image of the Minifig inspecting the gold that he has just extracted from the rock.

The next two images show firstly the Mining Truck with its back tipped up and the Minifig acting as a Banksman, and secondly show the Minifig inside the cab of the Mining Truck driving away from the open (now empty) rock.

The final image is the standard Hey! image. This one is of a smiling minor wearing the mining helmet with lamp.

The box contains three numbered bags, four 56x26 tyres, an 80 page Instruction Booklet and a sticker sheet with 5 stickers.

Build:

You are first told to open Bag 1. This contains 56 parts and a smaller bag that has 35 parts in it.

The Minifig Minor is built first. He is wearing a mining hard-hat with lamp and is holding a small piece of gold (a single gold Lego stud). His expression is very serious and he has beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. His attire is a blue shirt with dungaree braces and tool belt printed on front and back. His legs are plain light brown.

You then build the dynamite (with timer), road sign (applying sticker) and two rocks, both containing one gold stud and one larger gold piece.

The main build from Bag 1 is the frame of the Mining Truck and wheel axles. you will be required to use one of the two number plate stickers within this build.

Bag 1 build time is a little over 5 minutes. When you have finished you have six smaller parts remaining (1x 4227155, 1x 4650498, 1x 4255629, 1x 4523159, 1x 3005741 and 1x 4565452).

Page 31 of the Instruction Booklet tells you to now open Bag 2. This contains 49 parts and a smaller bag which contains another 36 parts.

This section builds the cab and front end of the Mining Truck. You are required to use the second of the two number plate stickers within this section. In what is a first for me with Lego City lorry cabs, the place where the Minifig sits is a completely smooth 2x2 plate, so the Minifig is not held into position.

Bag 2 takes about 5 minutes to construct. There is only one part left after this section of the build (1x 4633691).

The final part of the build is Bag 3. Page 47 tells you to get the four 56x26 tyres and open Bag 3. Bag 3 contains 72 parts and a smaller bag containing another 23 parts.

This section builds what is a rather solid tipper for the Mining Truck - much better than producing a single element - and finaly puts the wheels on. There are two stickers that you need to apply on either side of the tipper.

No parts of left over when you have finished Bag 3 and this bag takes about 10 minutes to construct.

Instruction Booklet Extras:

At the back of the Instruction Booklet you are shown a setup of the Lego City: Forest Police sets 4440 (Forest Police Station), 4439 (Heavy-Lift Helicoptor), 4441 (Police Dog Van), 4437 (Police Pursuit) and 4436 (Patrol Car) on page 75.

Also included on Page 77 is an image of this set interacting with the other mining sets 4204, 4203, 4201 and 4200 as shown on the back of the box. I would have thought that this should have been put in before the Forest Police image.

Page 76 shows an advert for the WiiU game Lego City and Page 78 has information for the Lego Club.

Additionally the parts list shows 92 different parts are used to construct this set with 371024 and 241226 both being used 13 times.

Conclusion:

This set is easily worth more than £20.00 for the parts alone (if you do not keep your sets separate like me). Lego have been very good to us here!

In building the sides of the tipper you are told to make it twice, but the image shows a reversed side for the 2x1 yellow textured pieces (horizontal lines one side, vertical the other), so if you make as instructed the Mining Truck would look slightly strange. I noticed this whilst building so it was a very easy fix.

The cab is basic but needs to have some way of holding the Minifig in place as he rattles around. This has been done countless times on other Lego vehicles, so I wonder why Lego decided to do it this way?

Also I would like to have had three more boulders as five would have filled the tipper quite nicely and another Minifig is always good to have.

My first brickset review so I'll keep it short and sweet :)

Having only gotten back into Lego as an adult around 6 months ago, Ive taken every opportunity to build as much variety as I can. This mining truck is my first 'construction' kit (except 4434) so I coudlnt wait to give it a go.

Build

I found the build to be pretty simple, not challenging, but fun. It is perfect for younger teens as theres an abundance of large parts that go together fairly easily

Parts

Im a big fan of plates, and this doesnt dissapoint. Several large Dark Grey plates will no doubt come in handy at a later date as I start to cannibalise the set. The large wheels and tyres are a great too.

Playability

The size of the truck is amazing. It easily dwarfs all my other city sets. The wheels could have used a turning mechanism for cornering however

Cons

If simple isnt your thing, this can be an issue. It is an easy build, not challenging. As previously mentioned the set is great at driving forward, not so much on the turning side :) Some sort of front wheel steering would have solved that.

Pros

Price (low for the parts and set size IMO), Fun to build, fun to drive around (and over other cars)

Overall

One of my favorite City sets. I will have fun playing around and customising it

Elements:

Most of the parts are yellow and black. There are some other colours, e.g. blue, tan, grey and red. There is a good number of actual bricks and not too many plates. Two 1x2-2x2 upwards rectangular angle elements were an interesting surprise for me.

Other than the 1x1 fuse/dial and the minifigure, there are no printed parts. Anything else uses stickers, e.g. the number plates.

You can't see it in the picture, but there are two 4x4 turn plates under the bucket. That's a nice detail as it adds easy variability with alternative builds.

Build:

The model is is simple to build and won't take longer than ca. 20 minutes. It is straightforward, but I was surprised at one or two occasions about the choices made by the designers. The finished model is quite stable.

Kudos for not making the bucket one single huge bucket part. The bucket walls are 2x-subbuilds. There are some technic parts, but not too many.

Features:

The model is very convincing as a mining truck, so it is more than just a big truck. It has a few nice features, i.e. the ladder to the driver cabin, the motor top, and the gas tanks between the wheels. The bucket is moveable, of course. Other than that, there are no obvious play features.

In my opinion, however, the space of such a big model could have been put to better use, either in details or features; i.e. there is nothing under the motor hood and between the wheels.

Playability:

The model doesn't go around corners well. This is a common Lego problem with fixed front wheels, but it is particularly obvious in this model.

The minifigure comes with a mining helmet and a 1x1 translutent round tile, which is another nice detail.

I found the timed explosive hilarious. Not so sure about the street sign. The boulders are, obviously, a nice addition. In my opinion, the street sign somehow doesn't fit into the set, though.

Conclusion:

The truck is pretty wide, so it probably can't drive through most Lego City streets. In that sense, one wonders how well it fits into the Lego City play world. For playability, it should probably also turn better. I liked that such a comparatively big set had only one minifigure, which keeps the price low I guess. It has mostly interesting and useful parts, too. In my opinion, it's a good buy.