LEGO 42043 Technic Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245 Truck - Multi-Coloured

If my life were to be sponsored by a company it would probably be lego. As a child every christmas either featured lego as the main present from santa or was a major factor on the agenda. As a "grown up" I have pretty much indulged in one of the big sets each year for the past 6 or 7 years now whether that be giant R2D2 or a pair of horizon expresses.On this basis, I would say that this set was not my favourite, but it was still certainly excellent fun. However, recalling being a child and enjoying de-constructing sets and making my own thing, this set would have been legendary. There is such a wonderful array of pieces to play with and with power functions and pneumatics, together with steering, tilting tipper, suspension and differentials in the build, all manner of possibilities.Additionally, when looking at the price point (base lego price is £170 but often cheaper here) compared to the number of pieces you get, this is a very good value set, particularly if like my childhood self, there is a burning desire to simply have more lego pieces than you know what to do with. As an example, the star wars sandcrawler has a few hundred extra pieces but the price point is nearly £100 more.On to the build itself, this was certainly testing, particularly the crane arm. I am pretty sure 12 year old me would have coped with it perfectly well though and it would have kept me quiet for a very long time and probably secured compliance and eating of vegetables without complaint for some weeks. The finished product is very smart looking with good attention to detail and makes a fine addition to my bedroom window sill.

Excellent product, and great amazon service. Delivered a day before estimate delivery date.I found building the model pretty straight forward. Most of the bags are numbered for ease of building and the instructions are very clearly printed and easy to follow. There are c 2500 pieces in the set, and the instruction manual is just shy of 500 pages so not for the novice builder. The model took me aprox 8-9 hours to build.Product is very realistic, just like the Volvo loader from last year, and on the box are some pictures and specs of the real thing. Has plent of movement - outriggers, tiping cargo hold, rotating grabber. Phumatics to control movement in the grab, though the only downside is that lowering the main/bottom pump results in a very quick uncontrolled drop of the arm which is not realistic. Otherwise really good, fun and educational model.

WOW I love this model. It is huge and I mean HUGE. It took me 5 days to build this beast. The motor provides power to the tipper body so it can tip it's load, to extend the stabilizers and also to power the pneumatic pump that in turn drives the crane. The cab doors open as they should and the cab itself weirdly tips forwards. The suspension springs on the rear axles are nice and soft and the ones on the 2 front axles are a bit firmer and the steering is easy to turn. This is the best LEGO Technic truck model I have bought to date. It's just like the real thing bar the cabs tilt. BRILLIANT! I haven't built the secondary model yet, but I'm sure it's as impressive. I wonder what great model will come next.LEGO Technic 42043 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245 Truck

This technic set is simply brilliant. After building the Porsche GT3 RS technic kit I didn’t think anything else would come close to that kit never mind beating it! I bought this kit on a whim because I was bored and was browsing Technic kits which is never a good idea if you don’t want to spend money.I am very glad I did buy it though, build time was about 2-3hrs each evening for 5 evenings, it was quite technical challenging with all the pneumatic hoses to route but this made it more fun.Would certainly recommend it to anyone who likes Lego and enjoys a good challenge.I certainly rate it better than the Porsche GT3 RS kit although it would be rude not to have both kits ;-)

The last Technics model I built was a logging vehicle around 18 years ago (set 8443 if you were interested) and while I was on leave I got reminiscing about building it and running the pneumatics. So, I naively thought, as an adult I surely will be able to appreciate the 'flagship' model for 2015 which not only has double the amount of rams but also motorised tipping, outriggers, crane turntable and pump!And thus began the most harrowing 72 hours of my life. (Actual build time was around 16 hours with breaks)Seriously though the build is very challenging and I wouldn't recommend letting a child attempt this without adult assistance unless they are a hardboiled veteran. It was interesting that the part I appreciated the most was actually the suspended double axle at the rear of the lorry and connecting that to the straight 6 'engine' at the front.The major flashpoints for me were connecting the pneumatic pipes to the valves and then mounting the completed cab to the front of the lorry. The first is a challenge due to the limited space and then realising that the cables are meant to be arranged 'just so' in order for the crane assembly to be mounted behind the battery pack. The cab was a problem as while the manual showed how to attach it, I found the space I had to work in meant I couldn't see what I was doing. In the end I just cheated and took the front bumper and side off!So what of the completed model? For the most part it doesn't disappoint however as mentioned by a fellow reviewer, the first ram on the crane does have a nasty habit of crashing down unless there is quite some pressure supporting the weight of the boom. I found that you really need to have a light touch on the valve and that helps.All in all this is a very impressive set but not for beginners or lapsed old-hands at all.