Review: 60181 Forest Tractor
Posted by Huw,
At last, 2018 sets are now showing up in UK stores, so CapnRex101 and I will be reviewing as many as we can in the coming weeks.
I'm starting my reviews with 60181 Forest Tractor, one of this year's City 'great vehicles'. It seems like just yesterday that the last vehicle to help the good folk of City with deforestation, 60059 Logging Truck, was released, but it was in fact 4 years ago. Even more surprisingly, it's been 8 years since the release of a City tractor, which last made an appearance in the excellent farm sets in 2010.
Anyway, let's see what this latest 174-piece set, that retails for £17.99/$19.99, is like...
Minifigure
The set provides us with a single minifigure, a forestry worker. Disappointingly, its torso is an old 'stock' one that's been used in many construction-themed sets since 2015 but the head, Smirk, Peach Mark, Pupils, Stubble Beard and Moustache and Sideburns Pattern is new.
The brown-shirted worker is equipped with a hi-vis jacket and a utility belt, from which a pair of pliers protrude from the pocket at the back.
The single-piece safety hat with ear defenders was also first produced in 2015.
Overall then, a perfectly serviceable and appropriate minifig, although not that exciting.
Accessories
The set's parts come in two numbered bags. That numbered 1 contains the parts for the minifig and accessories: chainsaw, shovel, sawing trestle, a couple of logs and a young pine tree.
Tractor
This is not a licensed product but there's no question that the tractor is based on German company Claas' Xerion series of vehicles -- four large equally sized wheels, the company's trademark lime green livery, and distinctive shape of cab.
Consequently, it looks great! The front in particular is very neat, with SNOT techniques and curved slopes used to create a nice-looking engine cowling.
On some models of the real vehicle the cab can rotate, but that's not the case here.
The 'bull bars' part is new for 2018 and is extensively used in other 2018 City sets.
The play functions of the set, apart from the obvious driving the vehicle around, are limited to picking up the logs with the rear-mounted arm, and attaching them to the chains to drag them along.
Apart from the aforementioned bull-bar piece there are no new parts in the set but there are plenty of interesting ones, such as 8 Wall Double Corner 1X2X1 in light grey, and I believe the 2x4 wedges, seen under them, are new in lime green.
Verdict
A minifig-scale Claas Xerion. What's not to like?
I can find no fault. It's pretty much the perfect City set: a great-looking model of an interesting vehicle that provides some play value, albeit limited.
The only thing I can pass comment on is the price. £17.99/$19.99 is not a bad price by any means, but it has fewer pieces than similarly priced sets, no doubt due to the large wheels and tyres, so it's not a great one to buy just for parts. You're probably like me with way too many wheels like this that you have no use for already...
It's a superb addition to the Great Vehicles series, which is just as well as it's been a bit lacklustre the last couple of years.
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27 comments on this article
Too bad the cab can’t be rotated like on it’s bigger brother. Would have been a nice touch
Hi Huw,
I agree with your review. There is only one litte mistake. Saying that Claas is a Danish company is like saying John Deere is a Mexican company. ;)
Claas is a German company.
Best Regards,
Lunde
^ Thank you, corrected...
Not a bad deal for $20 IMHO and I can only say that I think a 2nd minifigure would have added a bit more playability. Thanks for the review!
Nice little set!
Be great if Lego did farm themed sets again.
If this were in the Western US, it would be loosely based on a 'Skidder.' We use skidders also in Wildfire support roles, either to remove fuel (ie trees) to create fire breaks, or as "Skidgines" instead of grabbling a log, they hold large water tanks on the arm and have a pump. They are more rugged than typical engines, and can help get water where it is most helpful!
All that to say, this set may be a rare City purchase for me!!!
Ehh, it's a bit generous to say the head is new. The little fold over his smirk is now peach-coloured instead of black, but other than that, this guy has been in a hundred sets over the past 12 years.
Anyway, that said, it is a pretty neat little set, always nice to see City do something outside Fire, Police, and the latest "action" subtheme.
I like it. Definitely will pick up a couple once some decent discounts appear
Do you generally call a spruce a pine in English? Seems wrong to me. They're two totally different trees.
^ its a gappy cone shaped piece of plastic, resembling an evergreen tree. More we do not know.
This is a cute set that will be added by summer maybe, I have other priorities for January.
HA I didn't even notice they updated the head I use for my own sig fig. Well spotted. What a bizarre, minuscule change for which to add a whole new color to a print and generate a new part number.
Very nice review & photos as always and I fully agree that it's an excellent set for what it is. We now just need a hauler rig to go with it.
Cool set and will go well with 60059 and 60021 Cargo Heliplane from 2013.
If any improvement could be done with this set then it would have been to add the 2x2 round tiles with tree rings on the end of the logs, like what is used on the floating log in 60171 Moutain fugitives, to give the log a more sawed look.
This looks nice and reminds me a bit of the excellent logging truck, 60059, from a few years back.
^^^ "Well spotted" -- whoever inventoried the set for BrickLink can take the credit for that :)
I think a hinge in the middle would have greatly improved the playability of this one!
It's a definitely an interesting, cute little set, but I'll definitely be waiting for the price to drop when it comes out in Australia. Usually these great big vehicles start off about $29, but then, by about the middle of the year, they drop down to $20 or so. For $20, it's far more worthwhile.
This is the only 2018 set I have bought so-far, and I must say its a very fine edition to my city. I love the color of the body and the shape of the cab, and who doesn't love massive plump tires?
I stupidly didn't get on board when the City Farm subtheme happened (curse you, Past Me!), so this is exciting. I'd have preferred it if they'd done one with small wheels at the front, but this is a very nice set and should be good inspiration for new dioramas, too.
@ catwrangler: in my personal opinion the BIGGEST mistake that LEGO DOES - is to release their sets - just plain.. you see some box art picture that vividly captures your attention - you open the box, built it up .. and in most cases are left with some dumbfounded feeling ".. but that is not what I saw in the store"..
.. of course its not.. I TOTALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND.. why LEGO could not put into EVERY SINGLE ONE set a printed backround (as seen on the box art). since they have the means (aka some stupid SW "exclusive" A4 posters - which I just threw into the trash bin..) or multiple "movie sets" - like Ninjago filming set.. or Batman Movie make your movie set.. - there they had no problem no equip the set with some nice background.. so they can do that..
^As a kid I would have just thrown a printed backdrop away. It doesn't follow you down the hall when you drive the tractor to the forest in the foothills of the Green Mountains (the living room sofa). As an adult, I wouldn't throw it away but I wouldn't use it either, because I don't feel like displays (especially for a cheap City vehicle that's meant for vigorous play) are worth the effort of pinning a poster to the wall.
Great review of a really good set. Yes, other 20€ sets have more parts (even Star Wars..), but it's a great toy and nice to look at. Can't await the first mods to include a rotating cabin, that would have been the icing on the cake for this one.
^^^Kids don't need small paper/cardboard backdrops to imagine an environment though. When I was younger I used furniture in my bedroom for scenery. A couple of cardboard boxes became mountains, a blue rug was an ocean, some pillows formed rolling hills. We should always encourage imagination, not hinder it.
The chainsaw looks a tad unwieldy but I guess it's difficult with the amount of parts that are available.
Otherwise the set looks great.
I had never noticed the farm sets from 2010 mentionned in the introduction. These are great.
Not sure I can convey why, but I absolutely adore this set.
While the tractor looks great the arm looks to flimsy and plain.