REVIEW: 60074 Bulldozer

[woofmcmoose]

Bulldozer

Set #: 60074

Year Released: 2015

Piece Count: 387

Minifigs: 2

RRP: £24.99 ($39.99, E29.99)

My first set from this year's Demolition range I present to you 60074 Bulldozer. In checking if this set had yet been review I came across 7685 (http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=24589), which appears to be the only comparable set Lego have done. I unfortunately don't own 7865 but to me 60074 looks smaller despite the larger piece count (352); probably as these pieces are spent on the accessories and the set is scaled for the smaller Technic treads.

"Call in the heavy-duty demolition Bulldozer! The dynamite has done its work and it’s time to demolish the remaining part of the old building to make way for new. Help the demolition experts finish off the job. Jump aboard the powerful bulldozer with its huge, moving blade and ripper, and tear down the remains of the old building! When you’re done, help the experts to clear up the rubble using the bulldozer’s powerful blade!"

The Box

Front:

The front is all action with the 'dozer smashing through the remains of someone's home, presumably so the Octan Corporation can build a new coffee chain on the site? You also get a peek at the additional worked and accessories in the bottom right. The rickety fence in the immediate background looks somewhat giant when compared to the 'dozer in the foreground. Clearly we are in some suburb of Lego city as the skyline is some distance away over a nice green field. The Large blue border has changed from the left side, as on previous city sets to the top, and now encompasses the slightly fatter city logo.

Back:

The 'HEY!' graphic has been combined with the modular build graphic, leaving more of the area for action. You get a good view of the 'dozers ripper at top left and bottom left and centre you see the other worker setting dynamite with a sledgehammer; safety first folks!

Top:

The other sides are dull, just blue and text. Our top edge though shows of the accessories again (no 'dozer) and gives a 1:1 of the 'dozer driver, which got me excited as I spotted new headwear!

The Minifigs

Two figs in here; one in the new 'demolition' Hi-Viz and hoodie print which includes a printed utility belt with radio on the back print.. I must say the detail is a step up from previous Lego Hi-Viz wear and even puts Emmett to shame. Speaking of which our demo lady uses the same hard hat and ponytail as the Gail CMF from the Movie. The guy's blue shirt and harness with tools combo, whilst still good, has appeared before in the mining range so wasn't that exciting. The guy's hat on the other hand with it's integrated ear defenders is new and just looks great compared to the baseball cap and ear defenders combo seen in various cargo sets as there is no gap between the ear defenders and ears (well minifig head sides; only elves have ears in legoland). No 'hourglassing' on either torso so the fig parts are completely interchangeable too.

Front:

Back:

The heads we've seen before, not sure why the guy is sweating- maybe the 'dozer doesn't have air con, or maybe he's concerned about his co-worker grinning whilst wielding explosives and a giant sledgehammer.

The Parts

Plenty of yellow bits, which as with many modern light coloured parts means some poor colour matching:

Some interesting parts though; Technic cogs and wheels in dark bley, my first ever 3x3 plates, a castle window, 1x1 round tiles in pearl grey, clip on triangular sign with cool (albeit stickered) exploding brick sign.We also get a minifig chain, a pair of light bley teeth, light bley 1x2x1 'brick' elements and (not pictured) a fair few dark red brick elements.

The Instructions

Two booklets of equal size but not thickness, number 1 for the 'dozer, number 2 for the ruins and accessories. Both have the same cover though so you have to open them (or guess based on thickness) to find out which builds what.

Inside, colour differentiation is good and the light blue background remains exactly that and doesn't ever interfere. Part callouts, mini-steps and 1:1 reproductions all make the instructions very easy to follow:

The Build and Model

The build starts with a very robust chassis frame build, though I don't think it really needed to be 4 sub-builds as shown here:

The chassis just keeps getting heavier; 3L techinic axles go in for extra strength:

Possibly the only fiddly bit is adding the inner wheels, which serve to keep the tracks turning and allow skid steering. If you have very large fingers this may be tricky but I found no issues:

My only dislike about the chassis base was that the tracks seemed very slack when added:

You could take 1 element out but then they become very tight and slightly 'toe-out' at either end.

The base chassis finished and end of Bag 1:

Yes the rest does just attach to the base by those two 2x4s but the clutch power seems sufficient and I didn't have any unplanned disassembly events even with fairly robust handling. You may notice that due to the slack in the tracks one end appears to have 'flopped' away from the cog which damages the aesthetic somewhat.

Bag 2 builds the upper half of the 'dozer and the 'dozer blade. Here's a part way shot so you can see the cab and the moderate engine detail compared to 7685 (though why 7685 needed jet engines I don't know). The sticker on top adds some detail but again suffers from poor colour matching:

Out driver gets two levers to drive around like an old school tank.

And the 'dozer is finished (with the rubble laid out precisely per the instructions):

The blade is a 6x12 with studs on 3 edges if you hadn't guessed. Overall I think the look of the machine is good and probably on par with 7685.

A view from the back, showing the ripper; note the final stickers for the set number and warning stripes (on two sides of the same 2x4 brick). My only complaints are the exposed studs at the sides of the cab (a 1x3 tile would add strength and looks here) and that the tracks have again 'flopped' away from the drive. You do notice after picking up the model that sometimes the tracks don't quite re-seat either and you get an grind than click as you drive before they pop back into place. The Cab, whilst it looks nice requires at least on windscreen removing to get at the driver. As suspected, clearly the driver doesn't have air con, as he has the windows open!

The blade is a lot more articulated than 7685 appears to be and can go all the way up here:

I'm still not sure what the chain is for; dynamite wheelbarrow surfing perhaps?

The accessories build goes quickly with nothing really to note, except the size of the warhammer (er...I mean sledgehammer)! The walls attach to the building base by a limited number of studs for easy demolition.

A quick shot of the whole set together:

The clutch power on the building though reduced is still significant, it does not just push over easily when you drive into it; demolitions can be quite high energy affairs when the studs let go:

Or perhaps the parts flying everywhere is due to someone leaving behind some dynamite:

The Verdict

Build& Model: 7 The build was quite fun with enough variation to keep me interested throughout including some technic and a little bit of SNOT. The 'dozer looks good and feel about right for city scale, though I think a few refinements and extra detailing could have been accomplished without much change in price point. I wouldn't trade out the accessories for extra detail though as that would impact playability 'out of the box'. The slack tracks really bug me too.

Parts: 7 A good parts selection but I don't think anything is unique.

Figures: 9 The new hard hat pieces are great, printing on the Hi-Viz and hoodie combo is very detailed and the parts are all interchangeable.

Playability: 8 Knock down the house, knock it down again, push the rubble around, blow things up. Plenty to do at first but it may get repetitive after a while.

Value: 7 £24.99 just feels a little steep for this set. Although the price per piece is around 6.5p (8c) most of these parts (84) are the tracks.

Overall: 7 A good model and build but not quite 'great'. The figs and accessories do however, make up for some of the minor issues with the 'dozer. If you can get it for less than RRP you'll probably be very happy with it.

[frog4gators]

The dozer itself is great. I agree the original price is steep based on the fact a majority of the pieces are the tracks. I was able to get the set on sale for $25 (almost half off) so that made it a steal!

[gazumpty]

I quite like this set...and managed to pick it up when Amazon.co.uk had it reduced :) nice review...I am liking the current construction/demolition sets

[WhiteFang]

Fine review and decent set too. I have the older City bulldozer which is massively big but this seems like the right scale and size which is very appropriate to demolish or clear the path within the city layouts. Thank you for sharing.