Good review; I agree with most of the main points.
The tractor looks great (I like the colour and the faring pieces especially) but functionally is unsophisticated. The trailer is a bit lucklustre both functionally and aesthetically. Although I'm sure a lot of people on this forum (like me) buy these sets mainly for the parts, LEGO sets are primarily aimed at children as toys, and I think in this case there would be limited fun to be had with this set ("A" model, I have not built the alternate model) mainly because the arm does not really work very well for its intended purpose of picking up and dropping the log.
I normally purchase Technic sets later on when they are discounted so comparatively I thought this set was poor value for money. I was expecting this though, so I was not disappointed with my purchase. The reason I bought this set ASAP was that I did not have any pneumatic sets when I was younger so I had to get my hands on this one! I was disappointed with the way the pneumatics operated, however. With only one pump on the compressor it takes a little while for pressure to build up in the system. Probably more pumps and/or an airtank would help to solve this problem? The pneumatic cylinders themselves are slow to operate against loads and generally seem weaker than I thought they would be. I have read that some people (mainly LPE guys) have re-bored the cylinders to increase the airflow, so I will probably try this when I aquire some more cylinders as "test subjects". Has anyone here tried this?
Regarding the performance of pneumatic cylinders generally, I could not imagine a much smaller load than the tiny arm on this trailer (and the performance with this was disappointing in my opinion). Perhaps they are better used in pairs rather than singly to provide decent force/speed? Or would a better compressor (more pumps/air tank) help provide better performance?
