Set Review ➟ 60223 Harvester Transport
Summer is over and if you haven't brought in the harvest yet it is about time you did! When I came across this set some time ago it really stood out to me and so here we go with a seasonal review of a Farm set that can very well have a place in your city.
I must say I was especially attracted to this set because of the combine harvester. I was looking for something to add to my City and a farm vehicle might not seem like the obvious choice. But the combine harvester fits on a large transport truck. The perfect scenario for a traffic jam in small city :)
Another reason I was interested in the set is that it comes with mobile instructions through LEGO Life. It looked like the perfect opportunity to finally test those out.
As usual, the set comes in numbered bags (4 of them) and there are three instructions booklets and a small sticker sheet.
Bag 1:
I decided to build the set with both the instruction booklet and the LEGO Life instructions open at the same time and see how those compare.
Several things drew my attention. As a long-time LEGO builder, my eyes tend to wander ahead to see what is coming and what is the next part I am going to need. Especially with this kind of build that has a very limited number of elements per step I tend to gather elements for several steps in one go. This does not work with the app. The reason is that you only see one step at a time so you can't get ahead of yourself.
You may also notice that the step on my phone shows a single element being added whereas the instruction booklet shows 2 elements being put together before adding them to the model. I count this as a disadvantage of the digital instructions.
But digital also has its up-side. In the below image you can contrast the same building step in digital and paper. In the paper version you of course know there is a bar attached to the back of the stack of bricks, because you have just built it this way. In the digital model however, you can actually see the most relevant side of the build and confirm the bar is still there :)
One of the steps shortly after this one made me feel all sentimental:
I remember building cars based on a 2x8 plate, some wheel hubs and a steering wheel and then upgrade them with doors like these. This door element was first released in 1978 and it is still in use!
There were no builds with studs facing forwards back then and this truck looks a lot more professional than any of the models I built back then! For a moment it felt like the driver would fall out of the front of his cabin.
Next is the trailer. The little black hook at the end of the trailer connects perfectly with the round tile with hole on the back of the truck. The black boat stud not only keeps the brackets in place, it also provides i plate of ground clearance so the trailer doesn't need any supports when it is disconnected from the truck.
The combination has a total length of 34 studs and the trailer is 8 studs wide.
Intermezzo
I jumped right in with the truck, but the set begins with a truck driver. After finishing the truck and trailer it is time for another few small builds. The truck driver isn't the only minifig in the set. There is also a farmer and a scarecrow. The scarecrow may end up directing traffic in my small city :)
The truck and trailer are ready so it's time to build the cargo.
The combine harvester is built in two stages. First up is the vehicle:
At first the build looks very square, but there are studs facing many directions and slope elements and stickers make the harvester look a little more streamlined.
Stage two is the actual harvester. It basically consists of a series of very similar modules that are held together by hinges.
It can be easily attached and detached from the harvester
The hinged design allows the harvester unit to take up less space when uncoupled from the harvester and placed on the transport truck. It slots into the frontmost two hinges on the trailer.
The other two unused hinges are there to secure the combine harvester itself into place:
Conclusions
Overall, the set is fun to build and has great play value. I like the use of hinges to secure the harvester and the blades into place and to easily separate the blade from the harvester. Since this set contains two vehicles it makes sense to also have two drivers, and the scarecrow is a nice little extra. The stickers in the set really make it come alive. Time to build a corn field…or that traffic jam in my city :)
We wish to thank LEGO for providing this set for review. The opinions in this review are not supported or endorsed by LEGO.
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