[Review] 8043 Motorized Excavator

[BrickWild]

Last year, I wished to Santa Claus for the Lego Technic Motorized Excavator but unfortunately didn't come true due to production issue. Until finally, I bought it from my local Myer department store!

Here it is!

Box opened:

Instructions & decal sheet on cardboard backing:

Building Process:

A Tupperware tub supporting the back to reduce stress on turntable!

Boom arm about to be installed:

Model completed, dumping spare bits in the components tray as a test run!

[legolijntje]

Nice review, but it can use a bit more text, e.g; your conclusion, what is showed on the picture....

Anyway, I added it to Brickset

[Jim]

Nice review, but it can use a bit more text, e.g; your conclusion, what is showed on the picture....

Anyway, I added it to Brickset

These pictures make me want to build it again. And possibly buy a second one, just because I like it so much!

[timslegos]

I just ordered mine and i can't wait for it come!! I haven't gotten a set in a few years so it will be like Christmas day again haha.

tim

[Jim]

I just ordered mine and i can't wait for it come!! I haven't gotten a set in a few years so it will be like Christmas day again haha.

tim

You won't regret this set! Have fun!

[timslegos]

You won't regret this set! Have fun!

Thanks i can't wait!! How long did it take you to build?

tim

[Jim]

Thanks i can't wait!! How long did it take you to build?

tim

About 4 to 5 hours (an average of around 250 pieces/hour)

[timslegos]

About 4 to 5 hours (an average of around 250 pieces/hour)

wow that isnt to long at all.

tim

[backbone]

wow that isnt to long at all.

tim

It took for me nearly 3 hours to build (with unpacking).

[P4trickvH]

Nice got it to, waiting till price goes down or there is a good discount so i can get a second one and build the B model two.

[backbone]

wow that isnt to long at all.

tim

It took for me nearly 3 hours to build (with unpacking).

[Razvy_cluj_ro]

It took for me nearly 3 hours to build (with unpacking).

Wow! 3 hours?!? I build it in 5 hours... I'm very pleased about it! It a great set, is very playability, I love it! I like the motors, the linear acuators and all pieces, because are useful !

P.S.Sorry for my english...

[Jim]

Nice got it to, waiting till price goes down or there is a good discount so i can get a second one and build the B model two.

I think 129 euro is the cheapest you will find in The Netherlands and I doubt it the price will fall. Also thinking about buying a second set, just because I love it so much.

[Beeba]

I bought it yesterday for 135,99€ at amazon germany, should be delivered tomorrow =)

[Jim]

I bought it yesterday for 135,99€ at amazon germany, should be delivered tomorrow =)

Nice! It will look great with your 8258 Truck (have you received and built it already?)

[Sokratesz]

I got mine second-hand for 100 but even 130 isn't a bad price considering all the PF parts it has.

[Beeba]

Nice! It will look great with your 8258 Truck (have you received and built it already?)

No, DHL can't handle his own "packetstations". I will get the 8258 today and with the 8043 a very long lego-session can start

Quite an expensive week for me...

Edited August 3, 2011 by Beeba

[Jim]

No, DHL can't handle his own "packetstations". I will get the 8258 today and with the 8043 a very long lego-session can start

Quite an expensive week for me... :D

Quite an expensive, yet probably a very rewarding week! I wish I had two flagships coming my way.

Have fun!

[Arfman]

Also, the B-model is very nice to see and works perfectly, even with the "old" LA's. I built it after I found out I had to replace the LA's (my 8043 was bought the day it came out), just to see how it looked and worked. After I got the new LA's, I rebuilt the A-model. Tip: make sure every moving part (like gears) has a bit of slack between it and the Technic beams. The smoother it runs, the better. I paid very much attention to it when building it for the second time, and everything seems to work just a little smoother because of that.

[FuzzyBallz]

I finished building mine a few days ago. Took me a few days to complete. I made sure all the gears are free to rotate during the build. It came out nicely. The problem I have is my place has all wood floors, so the motion when the excavator's moving looks weird.

[timslegos]

I just got mine yesterday and built it super fast (while doing summer homework haha) i will post pictures sometime soon of the modifications.

tim

[FaithRaven]

There was a sale on Amazon.uk for like 110 pounds down from 139 and then the set got removed from their listing. Is it out of production ? I was going to order it in the next few days.

Edited August 28, 2011 by FaithRaven

[Wiseman_2]

There was a sale on Amazon.uk for like 110 pounds down from 139 and then the set got removed from their listing. Is it out of production ? I was going to order it in the next few days.

I seriously doubt it is out of production. In the UK at least it will probably still be sold by TLG until 2012. Most likely it is just that Amazon themselves don't stock it anymore, but they'll still list it as being sold by other suppliers. At the moment the cheapest on Amazon is sold by Hamleys, but at £157 you'd be better off just buying it from shop.lego.com.

Or if you are the patient type, you could wait for a sale price elsewhere; Argos typically have sales on large sets from time to time. Personally, I'd just swing for it now, it's easily one of the best sets of the last few years IMHO.

[LegoBNX]

I bought two yesterday to make Lego GBC modules out of it (comes with basically all the things you need). They are separate though so in the future I can disassemble the GBC and build the excavators themselves. It really is a wonderful set but the arm of the excavator is said to work slow.