Simply lovely, one of the best trucks ever made I think. Simple 90's design with one simple task: pick up containers. Good design as it is, yet I always loved to adjust and expand this truck. First of all with extra containers. Flatbed for some cargo, closed containers for storage, an office-unit for you construction site, you name it I got it. Or use the 6532 dumper as a container, with just two sliders on the bothem and a pickup-hook it fits perfectly on there :) Once I became a 'pro', I even made a fitting trailer to go with it. The truck would lower and lift the units on to, or from the trailer just like the real deal. Awesome :) Any cons to this truck? Not really. Ok, stickers over multiple bricks is a no-go. But this set doesn't need stickers at all to be honest. So once they are gone, you won't miss them. Some people mention the fact that operating the winch/hook might be difficult for a kid, I've never experienced it that way. Just make sure the rope doesn't tangle up and you'll be fine. Only thing that might be a weakness, is the rubber band that pulls down the hook. Over time, it dries out and loses its tension or even snaps. Good thing is that they are replaced easily by a random rubber band. Tension is adjustable by simply moving a single plate at the bottom of the truck. Minor design-flaw: the two red bricks that seal in the winch stick out of the cab and aren't finished of at the top. Drivers cab can't be built further back, it will clash with the hooksystem. I used to 'fix' this by simply adding two exhaust pipes on top of it. It's the small finishing touch it deserves.

Super cool, great parts, pure nostalgia... And oddly difficult to play with. My kid, although very good at playing with LEGO has difficulties to understand the "hook" mechanism, after a day the truck was left behind, and the play continued with the container. I think I'm more in awe with this set than my son is...

Together with #6693 Refuse Collection Truck this one was responsible for cleaning up our lego town, in all these years since nothing has changed yet as these two are still as important as ever.

Box/Instructions

A slightly bigger sheet compared to other contemporary (early nineties) road vehicles I had, but this was one of the bigger ones and some more steps are needed: 18 in total for the truck and 8 for the container so 26 in total. By way of comparison, #6693, which is about five years older, needed 13 steps for the truck plus another 13 steps for sub-models so in the end it evens out. No entire booklets for a build of ~100 pieces yet!

Parts

Several new parts came in this set: those wider medium wheels and tyres, the hinged gate for the container, the hook arm, the brick with moulded grille... Also some other parts I never had that many of: the minifig torso with black coverall, the black shovel and the included bracket 1 x 2 - 1 x 4 was the only one in gray in our collection, they were still exciting back then as we didn't have that many of them in other colours anyway.

Minifigures

Just one, but as mentioned the black coveralls have been rare in our collection so points for that. The same for his tools, the only other black shovel we had was in #6693. And another broom is never missed.

The build

I was never too fond of the 2 x 2 hose reel holder as it wasn't as easy to manipulate as its bigger older brother, the 2 x 4 winch. In this case however, a nice solution was given that made these small holders instantly better and made me try similar solutions for #6081 King's Mountain Fortress. There, in my eyes, the difference between both pieces was most obvious as the drawbridge there was never as easy to handle as the one in #6080 King's Castle. The rest of the truck is nice too, especially the flatbed construction supporting the container and the way the rear window on the truck is built (it is very close to the hook of the container lift arm though, looks a bit dangerous to me but that's another story).

The completed model

This was one of my favourites back when I got it and it still is very nice now although it doesn't look all that impressive anymore with the newer six-stud-wide trucks in town. The container function works smoothly, the rubber band is still holding up even after more then 20 years of play and storage! There are some (small) negative points too: the container should be a bit heavier as it tends to get pushed up by the rubber band so it wobbles a bit, the container hold is actually very small and there's nothing included to throw in there. The worst part of this set are the stickers which go over several bricks, needless to say these have not survived...

Overall opinion

Nicely complements #6693 as a more ecological alternative, more importantly both are still extremely well liked by my children and are considered absolutely necessary in any lego town. I guess getting rid of garbage in big trucks never gets old...

If you liked actions to do with a neatly designed vehicle in a good colour scheme, then this set pretty much fulfilled all this at a reasonable price (at the time).

Minifigures

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• Black dungarees.

The driver in black with red cap is a perfect addition, a solo character with a job to do and transport. Where would he be without the black spade and brown broom clipped neatly on to the red container.

Smart Truck = Smart Town

The promotional descriptions for Octan sets once suggested the search for new energy sources and this set added to a semi-environmental subtheme within the town theme. This is a great vehicle for its containment unit and hatch, the string and wind up system and for its winning design as a four stud wide truck -they don't get much better.

Perhaps the Recycle Truck was a true representation of refuse management at this time in Scandinavia but through available sets the emphasis for your Town activities is often the same; socialise, clean, tidy, maintain, rescue, rule, build. You never get a 'Tramp with Cardboard Box' set though it could only be followed by 'Homeless Shelter' (This could raise the issue: how many of your towns people are without accommodation and have to sleep on the street?!).

Clean white hubcaps, a grey/metal flat bed and clever securing rail improve the model further. Its winning style finishes through the use of a clever rubber tyre controlled winch and release arm, and a red and white cab topped with a couple of alert lights. The build is reasonably straight forward and the parts are varied and top notch for the size of set with good colour minifigure pieces and a range of inspired parts in design.

Grey plates and tiles lay on to a black spine plate, an often used strong vehicle chassis basis. The grey plates also include a small vehicle axle. Offset plates position the winch nicely and angled plates allow front and rear light and grill effects, not the best front on a truck possible but completely effective. The winch wraps up the thread neatly right behind the driver, not the safest seat rest! But the cab is built traditionally and the box recycle skip is satisfyingly solid. The winching action works brilliantly with only marginal lean sometimes. It can be lowered and left or backed up to and raised remarkably well.

Loaded

Overall the truck is very strong and a totally pleasing build, model and character from a great range. The set could only remain lacking in minifig scale (the four stud cab squash) or for the want of chains over string or extra waste (bricks) to go in the truck. Otherwise its among the absolute best of Maintenance subtheme. So where can the truck go with the waste material?

SET REQUEST: Recycling Centre.

Update: Released.

This set has a great idea that actually works well to mimic a real Bin Loader ! The rubber band! Prefect tension enable the steady winching up and down action of the bin! and the hook with retrackable length is way special and cool!

Pros:

Great Idea with the rubber band!
Looks just like how the Real Bin Loader works in real life !

Cons:

Sticker over ALOT of bricks...
A little too small and too short to look big and fierce like the real one..

Conclusion, buy this set for the great idea !