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JopieK

REVIEW: 6693 Refuse Collection Truck

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INDEXED

Name: Refuse Collection Truck

Set No.: 6693

Theme: LEGO System / Town

Year: 1987

Pieces: 103

Minifigs: 2

Price: unknown

Special parts:

4215ap08 (Yellow Panel 1 x 4 x 3 with Recycling Pattern), just occurs in this set (2x).

4598 (Red Bracket 2 x 3 - 2 x 2), occurs only in this set and only one other set.

This truck was introduced in the same year that LEGO came up with the garbage bins that of course also appear in this set.

Have you ever wondered why most of the time the streets of LEGO City are so clean and neat? No litter, no garbage everywhere, no chewinggum on the streets. Even with so many different inhabitants, it seems to always stay that way.

However, the older AFOLs amongst us, have experienced totally different situations: rubbish everywhere, smelly and dirty looking pavements, minifigs that were losing their standard grin.

That is why LEGO came out with this magnificent truck back in 1987. Before that, people needed to put there garbage in bags or maybe barrels. From that year on, every miniman and miniwoman is happily using a trash bin. The minifig civil servants never seem to become tired and the Garbage truck comes every other day to collect the rubbish and keep the city clean. The secret behind the clean LEGO city and the always happy 'standard grin' of our minifolks are the anti-litter warriors that use their powerful machines and handy tools to just get the job done! So if you don't own a garbage truck, better try to get one, before your standard grins also fade and your streets become as dirty as Naples (where the garbage collectors recently had a strike for quite some time).

01Full.jpg

An overview of the set including instructions (actually one is included in the set). Unfortunately I afraid we don't have any boxes of this set left.

02Set01.jpg

Another image of the LEGO items in the set. It shows the truck, two civil servants to perform the waste collection duties, two garbage bins and a broom and shovel.

03Figs.jpg

The two chaps that always seem to smile, even when the litter that they collect really stinks.

04Acc.jpg

The accessories that accompany the set. A broom and a shovel to help cleaning up in case a dustbin tips over.

05Back1.jpg

A very nice feature of the set is that the elevator at the back can be lifted in more or less the same way that real garbage trucks do.

06Back2.jpg

As you can see here, the dustbin is emptied through a red 'train window'. (It seems to be that the hinges of my version will need some 'revision'.)

Panels inside the back of the truck maximize waste capacity for this 4 stud wide truck.

07Det01.jpg

It is nice that the designers added this simple red round brick on a clip. Presumably it should depict cylinders to let the back compartment tip for emptying or otherwise it might be gastanks.

08Set02.JPG

Again the complete set. It is very complete set but some additions could make it even more playable:

- garbage (e.g. a green flower bottom or some round plates 1 x 1)

- a place for the second worker to position himself on, when the trucks needs to drive to the dumpsite or an other street and also vertical bars for that second worker to hold himself by.

09Fea01.jpg

This is what the truck will look like when dumping the litter at the recycle plant or dump site, the whole back nicely tilts, so that all the litter will fall out of the truck.

10Back.jpg

A view on the back of the truck. Quite a small but yet effective opening.

11Front.jpg

The front of the truck. Only one seat for just the driver, but I personally prefer that to a 6 wide truck that fills the total width of the streets and has problems with corners. Of course set 7991 (The orange garbage truck of last year) is also nice, we also own some of those but we never put them in our LEGO Town since they take too much room and the color scheme of 6693 is also more preferable to us. The two panels with the printed recycling pattern are a bit worn so we might recreate the recycle logo and put it on a sticker some day.

Playability: 8/10 (Like I mentioned it is too bad that the set doesn't have any litter [however LEGO also saw that and has put litter in the 6693 set])

Design: 9/10 (a really nice truck with two minifigs and very nice details)

Price: -/10 (I was not able to get any price information, at bricklink one can still obtain a 2nd hand one for about 25$.)

Overall: 8/10 (a set that should be entitled a 'classic' in the same list as the pizza restaurants, the 7750 and the blacksmith shop)

12Final.jpg

That was all the pictures I was allowed to take since it seems that those brave man still have quite some trash cans to empty. Thanks guys for doing the dirty work so our minifigs stay happy and our streets stay clean!

Peeron

Lugnet

Brickset:

Bricklink entries

Additional notes on the review:

My brother has always been keen on garbage trucks. However when he became aware of this truck it wasn't available in the stores anymore.

Newer sets that had the 'recycling theme' we not that good. They didn't have the emptying mechanism. So after our dark ages, one of the first sets we bought, were some of those nice refuse collection trucks.

Although the new orange truck has the desired mechanisms and thankfully is a decent garbage truck, we more like 4 wide trucks than 6 studs wide trucks, so for the years to come our LEGO town inhabitants will still be seeing this great truck to control their waste problems.

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Definitely the best garbage truck ever, the color scheme is great and the design is awesome. Outstanding, without a doubt. I must have it sometime :cry_happy:

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This truck is simply beautiful! It's on my brickset wanted list! I love the colour scheme. Red and yellow are the right choice for this vehicle! The back part of the truck can be opened, so it can discharge the rubbish like real garbage trucks. You've also mentioned that in your review, and I find it a wonderful detail! Thanks for the review, JopieK!

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It would be cool to see a review comparing this set with the newer orange garbage truck.

Well I might want to do that, but then in a different way as the railroad maintenance: I will then review the orange one and make comments on it compared to this one.

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Yeah its very nice along with all the older sets. I've got the Cement Mixer that was released around about the same time as this.

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Thanks for the review. Like many such town sets, I would characterise it as cute. Contrasting it to the new bin lorry, it's nice that this set has two minfigs (more realistic) and two bins. Those bins are a great addition to Lego, although wheelie bins would be nice now (need some kind of 2x2 container you can clip a plate onto as a hinging lid, and clip mini-wheels under the back two studs).

Having two minifigs is a superior point for this earlier Lego rendition of a bin lorry. In fact, even though our bins are now emptied by a private company rather than the local council (as was the case up till the mid 90s), and of course for the last two decades there have been wheelie-bins, bin lorries have three guys - the driver and two collectors.

However, our bin collectors for sure don't use a broom or shovel! Indeed on occasion they've befouled the street themselves if something goes wrong with hoisting the bin on the mechanism!

The shape of the lorry in the set is still quite accurate, pretty good for a four-wide vehicle (I must admit to preferring the newer vehicles).

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Thanks so much for the great review, I love that truck!

I hadn't realized there was a real 4-wide recycle truck out there. I must get it one day to replace this abomination currently doing garbage duty in my town:

lego6564.jpg

I think that truck has seven pieces total in it. I do like the blue color though ...

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It would be cool to see a review comparing this set with the newer orange garbage truck.

True, woold be good for the people that have few new City sets like me, and your review is good BTW!

I own this set however, because it was really cool those days, nowadays all trucks nd cars can do neat things, but that wasnt so back then.

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Greetings! :classic:

Just looking through the review index when I came across this one. I recently acquired this set through ebay which came with a practically perfect box and instructions. I would almost say that no one played with it much as all of the parts were brand new. Anyway, I just wanted to say that this is a great set that was worth the $14.99!

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Great to find this review of a classic set and it's far better than any yuk set from 1997 OMG what were they thinking !

I prefer the six wide for trucks, but for the 80's it was perfect and even today still holds it's own !

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Great review, and I love the soft yellow effect to the pics :thumbup: IMO, the most recent garbage truck should've used the same piece for lifting the cans into the big bin instead of the droid arms :sadnew:

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