REVIEW: 60035 Arctic Outpost

[Prezes]

Review: 60035: Arctic Outpost

Details:

Series: City / Arctic

Qty of bricks: 361pcs

Qty of minifigures: 3

Oty of bags with bricks: 4 large bags and 5 small (2 small bags in bag#4)

Bricklist: BrickLink

Price: ~40Euro

Brickset

BrickLink

It's time for the biggest and in my opinion the most interesting of expected sets: Arctic Outpost. Tractor with coupled Arctic base, or I should wrote a part of it. The first pictures, when day-to-day were discovered some secrets series, it immediately captivated me. Tractor seems to be non-trivial, but simple modular design. On one side tractor, on the other "scientific camping skiing", ie mobile arctic base. The original idea! Oh! Somewhere between the skids yet intertwining small wheeled vehicle, such ATV ;-) Okay, let's tearing of the box !

Box:

Typical rectangular around 40cm x 25cm. Quite big. Traditional, Lego City colours: blue, white and orange. On the back side a couple of several scenes featured set. No more surprises. Below pics of the box.

FRONT & REAR

TOP & BOTTOM

RIGHT & LEFT

Instruction:

Two nearly 70-page booklet. The first describes assembly steps for tractor and small quad. The second is for base. Standard size.

Minifigures:

Three of men, including two drivers (quad'a and tractor) and a mobile laboratory worker. Two drivers are already well known to me the employees Arctic series. They're almost like twins, distinguishes the colors goggles. Worthy of attention is a lab worker. Cool peaked cap, interesting outfit, goggles and still preserved colors. Minifigs in a series of Arctic are really very good!

Interesting bricks:

Just a couple, looking from my point of view:

Landing Gear 1X6 W. Hole Ø4.85

Right Door W/Knob Hinge 1X3X3

Left Door W/Knob Hinge 1X3X3

Plate 2X4 W.Snap/4Xø4,85

Rock Crystal "No 1000"

WORK IN PROGRESS:

1. QUAD:

2. TRACTOR:

I can not pass by. Tractor is simply amazing. Great design. Designer, departed from the well-known concept truck City. Forced is a certain sense, the environment in which machine works, but on the other hand prefer to convince myself that this innovative approach. He picked up the chassis, increasing the clearance by the use of wheels with large tires; the same that were used in the 60027. Entire chassis of the tractor is confusingly similar to the monster truck of 60027. A lot of special lights, headlights hidden behind shields, four additional headlights on the front hood, another four at the roof. Yeah! Behind the cabin great and simple storage. Holders for the tools on the side of the tractor and small stairs to reach the toolbox. At the back, small yellow crane.

One of the best Lego design ! It is a pity that the vehicles do not have a registration, can anyone of you know the 'father' of this set?

3. BASE:

Finished set:

BENEFITS:

+ tractor - is simply out of space ;-) ! There's always something which I may found, but this time I do not want, simply because it's surprised me totally !

+ cool minifigures (especially guy from the lab)

+ colours, as always

+ a lot of playability

+ not much labels, but I think that the logo Arctic could be printed as done in the scooter: 60032 or for the quad

WEAKNESSES:

- the quad's driver grossly smiling ;-)

- protruding black antenna, much beyond the height of the entire structure, (I know it need to but but it do not help my for storage),

- If I looking correctly, on the packaging orange stud on the pile hand, is on the other side than in instruction,

- runners in the trailer, after lifting themselves, twist to much,

Summary:

The set is successful. Everything is tip-top. Nothing to be disappointed, expectations from the packaging were fully transferred to reality. Tractor bomb ! For this trailer, which could be a little better IMHO, but what we get is good too and fully allows you to enjoy an Arctic base. Small quad, go around there somewhere "under the feet" will be a great element to lose, sooner or later. Especially in child hands But who will be bothered that ATV, after all, the boss is bigger and waiting somewhere else! You can see that the model is well thought out, used every free space giving a lot of fun. The tractor is one big, compressed lump, which in the hands of a child survives a lot. The trailer can be more in case of emergency, but whatever... I'm going to ride truck :-]

[TWO2SEVEN]

I really like these sets. If I get a space to set up a bigger display before these go away I may pick them up, along with a lot of white bricks and tiles! :)

[scottwb2010]

Thank you for posting this review Prezes. Great photography.

I had already purchased this set as with all the Arctic theme but was waiting to build this. I actually read your review last night and after reading it decided to build the set.

A couple of things I surprise me on this set. The Tractor Unit has wheels, when in his theme, all other functional vehicles have tracks. Would have thought that a unit to pull the Outpost Lab this size would need a tracked vehicle rather than tyres. TLC Maybe should have swapped this with the tracked vehicle from 60036 Base Camp. Although the Tractor Unit is a great build, it might have served a better function in the city Fire Dept as a Heavy Rescue Unit!

The other thing is the actual "Outpost Lab" Strange design IMO due to the way the side wall opening doesn't sit flush and the hinge for the opening of the roof. The gap in the roof must make it freezing in the Lab. If the had built it 8 studs wide like the Command Post the 4430 Forest Fire Transporter, then the side opening could have sat flush along the side wall.

[Prezes]

Thank you for posting this review Prezes. Great photography.

Thanks scottwb2010. If you have some spare time check out my small blog where I'm describing a couple of my sets (new and old) and of course taking some photos. Unfortunately blog is in Polish but the language of photography is universal ;-)

My Lego Corner

I had already purchased this set as with all the Arctic theme but was waiting to build this. I actually read your review last night and after reading it decided to build the set.

That's my target. Push you to buy and assembly by your own hands.

BT: I'm not a TLG employee :-)

A couple of things I surprise me on this set. The Tractor Unit has wheels, when in his theme, all other functional vehicles have tracks.

And this is what I like in this set. Wheels in tractor are unique for all Arctic 2014 sets. On the other hand they do not look ridicioulous. For sure, real Arctic vehicles are using wheels. Would be funny if TLG will propose us typical Lego wheels, as in ATV, but here we receving large wheels with open space under the tractor which is looking great and correct solution taking it from the engineering point of view.

TLC Maybe should have swapped this with the tracked vehicle from 60036 Base Camp. Although the Tractor Unit is a great build, it might have served a better function in the city Fire Dept as a Heavy Rescue Unit!

I also like vehicle which is in set 60036 but that's the only part which I like in 60036 :-( I bought and already posted my review of Arctic Ice Crawler: 60033 (I remember your post there!). Of course I also agree with you that this design should be copied and implemented for the next heavy duty trucks. I'd like to see it as a Lego Paris-Dakar race truck.

Thanks for posting, everyone !

Edited September 18, 2014 by Prezes

[apsilon]

Nice review, you've covered it really well. Good clear photos as well.

I agree with you about the tractor. It's odd having wheels in that environment, especially to tow a large trailer, but it's also a pretty cool design. I've bought most of the Arctic line as there's a lot of cool elements to it but as a MODer I haven't built any of them OOB.

I ended up modding the trator by adding an extra pair of wheels and an enclosed control cabin for the crane/drill (so it combined the function of the tracked drill from the base camp set).

Then I used left over parts from the mobile outpost, the tracked base camp vehicle and parts from the collection to build a tracked outpost.

Makes a little more sense to me. I've almost completed a tracked trailer/lab to go with it as well as a few other things. I plan to some time do a diorama for all these as I really like the line (though mining in the Arctic was a little bit of an odd choice).

Hope you don't mind me sharing these here.

Edited September 18, 2014 by apsilon

[scottwb2010]

Great Mod's you've created apsilon. The Tracked Outpost would be more suited than the official release. Look forward to seeing more of your Arctic stuff.

[tennridgerunner]

I got this set today at Walmart on clearance for $35 along with 60034 for $19 (unfortunately, I'm stuck on dial-up for a little while, so no picture review of that set right now).

To be honest, I mostly bought it for the orange bricks since it doesn't seem to me like a very well designed set. The truck is kinda cool (I agree with you guys that it should have tracks, but I guess TLG just didn't want all the vehicles to look so much alike), but I really don't have any love for the "trailer."

ATV

This one I could take or leave. It's not bad, but it could have been a lot better. It comes with a tow chain, but there's nothing to pull except the ice piece. This really should have been the vehicle to carry the chainsaw rather than the lab. It's also worth noting that the "hood" piece is the only printed brick in the set, which is odd since there were thirteen stickers included; I chose to only apply the crane and TV screen decals to keep my orange bricks viable for alternate builds.

Truck

IMO, the neatest part of the set. Despite being the only large vehicle in the series that isn't tracked, I can still see it being functional. I really like the front bumper. The interior of the cab is a bit spartan compared to other trucks (just a steering wheel and backrest), but whatever. The storage holds a crate with a few accessories and the crane in back is pretty obvious to anyone looking at pictures. I actually like it being side-mounted quite a bit and plan on repurposing it in future MOCs.

Lab

Yeah, not a fan of this at all. For TLG standards, I feel that the overall build is a bit sloppy. There's a gap at the roof hinge due to superfluous male hinge pieces (there are five when two would have done the same job and looked cleaner. The opening wall also doesn't quite look right since it makes the left side of the lab wider than the right and is too heavy for the hinges, thus leaving a small gap at the forward end. I would really like to know why this lab only has a microscope and viewing screen. All that room inside and the only other piece of equipment is a furnace, which I really hope is supposed to be for scientific purposes and not heating the lab, because no one in their right mind would have an actual fire place for heat in a vehicle on a research expedition. The storage compartment is nice to have, but it only holds the chainsaw. My last gripe is more of a pet peeve. Lego always waits until the very last to tell you to put the wheels on a vehicle, presumably because they think they'll be in your way, even though they won't. On the lab, the skis go on at an early step and flop around for the rest of the build. So, the one time that the instructions don't wait until the last step to install the skis/wheels, is the one time that they're in your way. lol

Summary

I hate to say it, but I would rate this set as below average. It could and should have been better. For instance, 60034 was very well done and absolutely worth the money. That set had some pieces used in ways that had never occurred to me.

Edited March 1, 2016 by tennridgerunner

[Merlo]

I'm looking at a tractor from this set on my  desk right now, and I just have to temporarily raise this topic from the dead to echo the conclusion of the reviewer: who made this! How? It is incredible!

I always knew you can do amazing things with enough time and enough bricks, but this is comparatively small and does not involve any advanced methods, techniques or special bricks. It's just a crazy skilled and tasteful build.

It really evokes the feeling of a an actual massive tractor and at the same time it invites you to play with it, it is somehow realistic and toy-like at the same time, completely disregarding the fact those two things are usually at odds.

Lego usually captures their sets from the best angle for the box art, but this one looks great from almost any angle. All the way from shaping to the incredible color composition, this thing should be in a museum somewhere.

I really should put it away somewhere as having it on my desk makes me look at it too much instead of working. I'll grow an extra thumb just to give this set three thumbs up!