Tower Crane 42042 B - My Impressions

[Andy D]

I just finished the Tower Crane (42042 B). I originally started building the Crawler Crane last week. I built the drive base, the wonderful gearbox and had the gearbox attached to the drive base and some of bag 3 done. Then out of the blue, I decided to build the Tower Crane instead.

This was to be my second time building the Crawler Crane and I had never built the Tower Crane so… Why not?

The Tower Crane was a very enjoyable build, lots of interesting subassemblies (which I like) and something new in the form of the bracing of the gantry. When I got to the gearbox, I was a bit disappointed, instead of the one function per selector, the designer decided to put the drive and rotation on the same selector. It is not like there is not enough room, or enough parts. I am confused why they would build that wonderful gearbox for the A model then do this in the B model. The selector for the winch was built to use the selector as a reversible selector so that you do not have to switch the battery box. Switching the selector to reverse the function is just more intuitive to me. On this model, using the same selector for two functions has an added disadvantage, if you are using the drive selector and you select reverse on the battery box, then switch the gear selector to neutral, then go to select the winch it operates the reverse of what it was. Maybe this very picky, but, lets just call this my Technic pet peeve. I know they can use one selector to select the forward and reverse functions, so what not just do it!

There are three (3) motorized functions.
1. Driving
2. Slewing of the super structure
3. Winch

Driving, like the A model is very clunky, it goes chug, chug, chug when driving forward or backwards, also like the A model there is no steering, but that is OK for a Tower Crane. Not sure why driving is needed on a Tower Crane as they are mostly used in construction sites and are stationary or as freight cranes in harbors, but in harbors they are frequently on rails. But the 42042 has treads, so why not.

Slewing is very smooth and like the A model there is nothing to stop the rotation so it can rotate as long as batteries last. I really like the rotation and the implementation.

The winch also operates very smoothly and there is enough string provided to allow below level drops.

There are two non-motorized functions, the opening and closing of the grabber and the movement of the trolly. The grabber operates very smoothly. The grabber is a somewhat complex build, the same as the A model, but very well conceived and implemented. The other non-motorized function is the movement of the  trolly on the gantry. This is kind of clunky, but it still operates OK, The trolly  is well implemented, too bad it can’t operate more smoothly, but that is the nature of plastic beams.

The gantry is very well designed and to me it looks accurate to tower cranes I have seen in photos.

The driver’s cabin seems smaller than on the A model, but it is still OK. The location of the driver’s cabin is a very big reason why I could never, never, ever operate a real tower crane. I am amazed at people who can and like to work at such heights.

Overall, I really like this model, it functions well and looks nice.

Below is a view of the complete crane…

Tower Crane by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr

This photo shows that with a little rearranging, the designer could have added a second selector and made the reverse functions so much more intuitive by being on the same selector.

Tower Crane by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr

Andy D

[Maaboo the Witch]

Nice review! I built this a while back and really liked it. Not as elegant and attractive as the A model, but good B-model all the same. Harder to place atop my wardrobe, though... 

[Johnny1360]

Damn you talked me into building it now, not sure why I haven't already. This was my second Technic set and I just really didn't think the B model was worth the effort. Thanks for the motivation. 

[Andy D]

Great! @Johnny1360! It was a fun build, well worth the effort.

Andy D