Review: 60074 Bulldozer
Posted by CapnRex101,
This year City offers a new spin on many traditional themes such as police and construction with the release of swamp police and demolition based sets among others. Our first review of a standard release 2015 set concerns one of those demolition sets, 60074 Bulldozer, which is priced at £24.99 in the UK and contains 383-pieces.
Perhaps surprisingly it is a full six years since we last saw a minifigure scale bulldozer in the City line with 7685 Dozer. Unusually for LEGO City therefore this is probably a vehicle that was due for an update, and in my opinion it has been worth the wait. This and 60083 Snowplough Truck were the only two LEGO City sets that really stood out to me from the first wave of 2015, and I am not disappointed with either!
Box and Contents
The box artwork is standard fare for a LEGO City set as the bulldozer and accompanying accessories are displayed in front of the tall skyscrapers of the city. I believe the logo has undergone a slight update as it now appears to be softened a little bit against the blocky text of previous years. The two demolition crew members both seem to be working hard, with one driving the bulldozer and the other wielding an enormous sledgehammer.
The back of the box shows some potential play scenarios one could set up and we also have a rear view of the bulldozer to convey some of the details not visible in the image on the front. It is worth noting that there are no tabs on the box, which is instead sealed with tape like many larger sets. This is a trend which appears to be growing year on year and I am all for it as pressing on the tabs can damage the box unless you are careful.
Inside are two instruction booklets, three numbered bags and a very small sticker sheet. There is certainly no need for more than one instruction manual, but I suppose including more than one encourages a family to construct the set together.
Minifigures
Two minifigures are included in this set, one male demolition crew member and one female. Both make use of some nice pieces introduced in the last year or two and I am particularly pleased to see Gail's combined hard hat and hair piece from The LEGO Movie Collectible Minifigures making another appearance.
The male demolition worker wears a hard hat and ear defenders along with a dark blue shirt and tool belt. I believe the combined hard hat and ear defenders piece is new having looked through City sets in the last couple of years, although I may have missed them appearing in a set before. Regardless, this is a great piece which looks far better than the separate ear protectors seen in 2013 and before. Beads of sweat are printed on the head and his torso features a tool belt and suspenders on the front and back. Both of these pieces appeared previously in the 2012 mining based sets but are reused to good effect here in my opinion.
The female worker has an entirely different design. She makes use of the combined hard hat and hair piece from Gail the Construction Worker in The LEGO Movie Collectable Minifigures series which looks great here and wears bright orange overalls. To be honest I do not buy many City sets so cannot be certain whether or not this design has appeared before, but they are new to me and are highly detailed! A huge sledgehammer is included for her to knock down walls which is a simple build, but does the job.
The Build
Construction begins at the base of the bulldozer with the chassis and caterpillar tracks. There is nothing particularly unusual about this part of the build although fitting together a total of 84-track pieces was tedious, albeit unavoidable.
The second bag contains pieces for the engine and cab section of the dozer. This too is a very simple construction as one would expect for a City set, but there is a bit of SNOT building to form some vents on the sides of the vehicle. I quite enjoyed the simplicity of the build to be honest as it makes a nice change from the Star Wars sets I am more accustomed to.
The third and final bag completes the bulldozer with the addition of the blade to the front. There are no unusual techniques used here but a smattering of Technic keeps things interesting. The ruined building being demolished is the final part of the set to be built which is simple but includes some useful dark red pieces.
The Completed Model
This set has pretty much everything I would expect from a bulldozer. It is impressively large next to a minifigure and although it is far smaller than 7685 it is definitely more realistic at this scale. The blade can be raised using the Technic bars and rams which is a nice feature, but I would have liked a little more friction here as the blade will simply fall back down unless it is moved above the engine block.
The radiator grille and a pair of lights adorn the front of the vehicle which looks suitably beefy and there are some nice vents and smoke stacks to add some detail on the top and sides. A step on either side of the cab allows the minifigure access, although there are no doors and you must remove the roof panel to seat someone inside at the controls. There are a couple of warning lights and another floodlight on the roof and at the back is a ripper, a tool used for breaking up the ground surface so rubble can be transported away by hand or in smaller pieces. A chain also hangs down here which I suppose must be for pulling something along behind the dozer, although I am not entirely certain.
The primary play function however is that you can knock down the building using the bulldozer. I do not think this kind of thing happens very regularly as a bulldozer would mostly only be used for manoeuvering the rubble once another vehicle had destroyed the bulk of the building. Although this model only looks very simple, it provides a lot of play value as the walls are only attached using jumper plates, making them much easier to topple.
In order to knock the building down you will of course have to drive the bulldozer back and forth. On hardwood floors this would once have been a problem as the plastic caterpillar tracks do not provide sufficient grip to roll, but not any more. Just like in 60036 Arctic Base Camp there are two rubber wheels inside which touch the ground at the same time as the tracks, thus allowing you to roll it along with ease even on smooth floors!
Some additional pieces of rubble, a wheelbarrow, a pneumatic drill, two pieces of dynamite and a warning sign are also included to provide more options for how you want to flatten the house! A sticker is used on the sign but this is one of only six, and all are easy to apply, so this is not too much of a problem in my opinion.
Overall
I rarely buy LEGO City sets unless they are really something special. Most of the Police and Fire sets do not interest me, but when images of the demolition sets appeared my eye was instantly drawn to the bulldozer and it went almost to the top of my wanted list for 2015. Having now purchased it, I am delighted with every aspect of it as it seems to be just about the right size, there is plenty of playability and there are some useful accessories included. For £24.99 this set is excellent value, and will make a great entry level model to the LEGO City theme as it is not too difficult to build but still offers an impressive variety of pieces of varying types.
I would certainly recommend the set to those looking to add a construction site to their LEGO city and there are some pretty useful parts including a red wheelbarrow, some dynamite and quite a few dark red pieces. The new hard hat with ear defenders and rare combined hard hat and hair pieces are great too, although obviously more specialised and only really useful for construction minifigures. Quite simply, if you are looking for a construction vehicle, this is the perfect package.
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12 comments on this article
Where did you get this, Capn?
Here, in Finland, Kotka, we have new Lego Chima Tribe packs in shops.
^^ In his local Toymaster, East Sussex.
The Entertainer has started putting stuff out today, I picked up a couple of sets earlier in my branch in Hampshire. Friends, Chima and City were available with more to come I think.
annoying that i am working until Xmas day!i could feel my credit card getting a bashing if i went near my Entertainer in Brighton!!Which Toymaster in Sussex was it Huw?
^ Eastbourne. No need to worry about the Brighton Entertainer though as they have not had a delivery and are not expecting one, so no new sets in there at the moment.
This was the one City (demolition) set I really hadn't planned on getting, but after seeing your pictures and reading your review, I may have just changed my mind...
The rubber wheel sounds like a superb detail to put in, very thoughtful of TLG, especially with laminate flooring being so popular these days. A very well spotted detail to put in the review too!
All the image links are coming up 404 Page Not Found for me.
Nice review, can't wait to get it. I have the Bulldozer from 2009, and this will look perfect beside it. Good price, too. :-)
The construction sets this year appear to be somewhat juniorised (large parts, not much detail), would you say that was the case, Capn?
^ I don't think that is the case with this set. The largest piece here is the 6x12 plate used for the blade, which is ideal as it is obviously very smooth. Most of the other sets in the line however do include lots of juniorised pieces, particularly 60076 Demolition Site.
Is it just me or is the chassis similar to the driller truck in 60036 Arctic Base Camp? Anyone know if it is the exact same build or different?
I'm a sucker for City and could definitely use this bulldozer.