When I was young I loved Legos. I had buckets full of them, or I would have had buckets of them if they were ever actually in the buckets. Mostly the were spread out across the floor in various stages of construction. I had castles, pirate
s, and space ships all mixed together the same time. They were some of my favorite toys.
I stopped collecting of legos sometime in high school, and it’s been a long time since I’ve put together a complete Lego set. Working in the store here I am often reminded of all the fun I used to have with many similar sets years ago, so when Mike asked me to put together this Technic set for the store to give away some time soon I jumped at the task.
Aside from the first Lego Mindstorm’s that came out back in 1998 I never really had too many of the Technic Lego sets. I had always veered toward the more whimsical lines such as the Castle and Pirates sets. I suppose I had always wanted the more “imaginative” type of legos, and the “realistic” stuff just didn’t do much for me. But I have to say that I had a great time assembling the truck. Especially fun were the “technic” parts, where the gears and cranks worked in sync to move the various parts. The way the Technic sets are constructed really is impressive. Of all the ways that Legos help kids to learn the Technic line really gets at the kind of spacial relationships that can be hard to teach.
Easily the most impressive feature of this set is the moving piston engine. The eight pistons are attached to a small crank shaft that isconnected to the two rear wheels by a series of gears so that when the truck is pushed the pistons move in and out like a real engine. This is the kind of thing that can really help a young child or even a teenager understand the workings of a mechanical engine.
Over all this set of 608 pieces took me about two and a half hours to put together. It was a great “distraction” from my usual work and if you have a child (or an inner child) who is interested at all in how things work mechanically I cannot recommend the Technic Legos enough.
This lego set is going to be given away soon! Stop into our store to sign up for the raffle.
-Allen
