I got this set of a friend. It was never built and mostly sealed. Some of the best features of the set is how power functions can bring the container up and down. I would recommend this set to an experienced builder as parts of this set can be quite tricky to build. However, once built it is a stunning set. I don’t usually play with my sets but watching the beam going up and down is quite fun. Some flaws with this set is that it has a lot of stickers and a lot of empty space that could have been used for more detail. Over all this is one of my favourite sets I own and makes a great display on a shelf.

firstly, I must put that due to my strong sentimental attachment with this set, I refuse that there could be anything wrong with the set. It has a nice blue, grey and black colour scheme, which gives it a clean, neat look. The unloading/tipping mechanism is great, and both functions work without a hitch.

Box/Instructions

Just your usual lego instructions

Parts

Useful patrs include:

battery box, m motor, linear actuator, some blue beams and panels, small see-through pieces for lights.

Minifigures

N/A

The build

Not very challenging, but not monotonous,

The completed model

Looks cute (for a truck anyway), works well, a great display piece. The blue on the cab is a great touch

Overall opinion

In my incredibly biased opinion, everyone should go out and get at least one, and build it and love it forever. Amen

As others have indicated, this set will probably never be enshrined in the Technic Hall of Fame, but it certainly does have its charm.

The Build

It only took me two and half hours to assemble the A model, including opening the bags and sorting their contents, which is pretty quick for a Technic set with almost 700 parts. The relatively short build time should probably be an indicator that this is not the most complicated build. Indeed, there are really only two mechanisms in the model: the steering linkage and the tipping/lifting mechanism.

The steering linkage is typical of most Technic models, but the tipping/lifting mechanism is rather unique. It was not obvious to me during the build process that this mechanism would work as advertised -- there is definitely some subtlety there. The linear actuator raises a rail assembly under the container. This rail assembly is jointed in the middle. For the tipping function, the entire rail assembly is raised, and for the lifting function, just the upper half of the rail assembly pivots. The tipping/lifting selection is made via a lever on the side of the truck chassis. In one position, the lever allows the lower rail assembly to move freely; in the other position, it locks the lower half of the rail assembly down. The locking mechanism is where the subtlety lies. There is lever that hangs down from the lower rail assembly. The end of this lever dovetails with another lever assembly that is linked to the selector switch. In one position the the hanging lever is pulled slightly forward, which prevents it from moving upward; in the other position, the hanging lever is pushed slightly backward, which allows it to disengage from the lower chassis lever assembly.

Playability

The playability of the main model is good, but it could have been better. In addition to the steering and tipping/lifting functions, which all work very well, you can also open the cab doors, and lock/unlock the rear tailgate via a small switch at the rear corner of the container. That's not a bad set of functions, but it would have been nice if there were some other function. Also, the container is very shallow, which means that the tailgate is very short. That, in turn, means that only very small items loaded into the container will actually pass through the tailgate when the container is tipped.

Pros:

• The set does include some power functions parts -- a battery box, an M motor, and a linear actuator.
• The lifting function and the switch to convert from tipping to litfing are somewhat unique, and they both work quite well.
• Neat blue-and-grey color scheme. Note, though, that there are probably not nearly as many blue pieces as you might expect, since they are used only for parts of the cab and the rim of the container.

Cons:

• Playability could have been improved by including another function or two -- perhaps a V6 engine or some kind of suspension for the rear axles.
• Some of the details are little goofy looking, like the tailgate lock that other have mentioned. The container looks too shallow as well -- but at least that can be easily fixed by adding a few more rows of beams to the sides.
• As others have mentioned, the linear actuator grinds badly at its extreme ranges. The really annying thing about this problem is that it could easily have been remedied by including a clutch gear in place of the 24T regular gear that sits on the axle that drives the linear actuator.
• There are only 4 gears included (6 if you include the 2 yellow knobs in the steering linkage).

Summary

I definitely liked some of the features of this set, including the tipping/lifting mechanism and the blue Technic pieces, but there are also many areas in which it could have been improved. Nevertheless, I give it a thumbs up, especially if you are interested getting in the power functions parts.

P.S.

There appears to be a trend to include power functions more and more in the Technic sets. While I like the power functions, I'm not so sure whether I like this trend. If I continue to acquire sets like this, I am going to end up with a pile of battery boxes that I'll never use. I almost like the approach taken in sets like the 8053 mobile crane and the 8265 loader better -- don't include power functions parts, but do include instructions for adding power functions parts to the model.

Only gripe I had with this set was the lack of a slip-gear to stop the awful grinding noise when the LA reaches the end of it's travel.

I installed a white 24 tooth clutch (Part No 60c01) to rectify this and now it's perfect.

I bought this set because it looked fun to build, and I thought my son would enjoy playing with it when I was finished. It took me almost 6 hours to put together (but I think I'm a bit slower than average), and I enjoyed it very much. There wasn't much that gave me trouble, although I did put in the wrong pieces a couple of times due to my own carelessness and had to backtrack.

My son loves playing with this. It holds a nice amount of cargo, he loves the doors, seats, mirrors, and steering wheel. It's very durable for play. He likes the power function, but the terrible noise it makes at either end of the function really bothers him.

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• Pros

• Very attractive color scheme
• Pretty easy to build
• No rubber bands! (I suck at those)
• Power Function
• Lots of nice little details, like doors that open and close, seats that move, adjustable mirrors.
  

• Cons

• Quite a few stickers, long skinny ones that are always a challenge to put on so they look nice.
  
• Horrible noise made by the power function when it gets to either end.
  
• B model instructions not included, you have to download separately.
• 3 missing tiny pieces in my set, but I had replacements available.
• The tailgate lock (if that's what it's called) is stupid-looking.