Review: 60073 Service Truck
Posted by Huw,
If you're reading this on the 25th: Happy Christmas! Don't worry, I do have better things to do today than write reviews so here's one I prepared yesterday so that you have something new to read.
For veteran LEGO collectors, 2015's City Construction sets are largely 'more of the same', diggers and cranes that we've seen many times before. One set however, stood out as being something different: 60073 Service Truck. The set features a van and trailer complete with a chemical toilet 'portaloo'.
The short wheelbase van sports a sloped bonnet and cab which are commonplace on modern vans in Europe. Despite this being a slightly juniorised set (age range 5-12), there's an impressive level of detail on it.
The back is packed with stuff you'd typically see in such a van on a building site. A loader crane arm folds neatly at the back. There's also a small control panel for the arm.
The portaloo looks great. Like most toilets in sets -- which seem to appear with increasing regularity these days -- it uses a 'Lifebuoy With Knob' for the seat. If you have ever used such a latrine at a festival perhaps, one look at the the blue interior and bowl will no doubt be bringing back memories of the delightful aroma typical of such facilities :-)
Two minifigures are included. On the right, a construction worker attired in typical hi-vis orange garb and sporting the new one-piece hat and ear protector piece that CapnRex101 mentioned in his review of the new bulldozer. On the left we have a character that I've certainly not seen before in a construction set: a white collar worker: maybe the foreman, maybe the surveyor or architect. Whoever, it's good to have someone not covered in orange.
Both are printed on the back. The construction worker with a hoodie hood, the professional with braces and utility belt.
The arm extends to enable the toilet to be lifted off the trailer. I don't normally apply stickers as you know but it would not have looked the same without the male/female sign, which appears on three sides, but not surprisingly on the door.
The toilet sides would have looked better if 'Plate 4X8 W. 12 Knobs' had been used instead of the 4x8 plates but a blue version of that part hasn't appeared in a set since 1995.
So, this a fun set that provides two things every construction site needs: a toilet and the boss. The toilet is sure to provide young minds with hours of amusement :-)
I paid £18 for it, which seems reasonable. I suspect it will be $19.99 in the USA.
Anyway, I hope you have a great Christmas day and received plenty of rattling boxes from Santa!
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22 comments on this article
It should be noted that the packaging was quite notable and attracted me to purchase the set (became available to Australians from LEGO.com this morning). It illustrated a quite amused foreman lifting the toilet onto the truck whilst the now annoyed worker was still in it (always a source of humour throughout society). It drew my attention. Unfortunately Lego has used stickers for the male/female toilet symbol? Shame on them... Why couldn't this piece be printed? I am sure a printed version of this tile could have applications in other sets. Anyways very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Brickset (thank you for providing an invaluable service) and its users.
I agree, the build of the service truck on its own was comparable with the great vehicles set of previous years. Definately one for multiple copies, and building with different bodies on the truck.
Got mine 3 weeks ago. But did'nt got the stickers in the box. Now waiting for the stickers ( why not printed). But hey... At least Lego has a good customerservice.
This is the one set i picked out as a must have from the 2015 city line. Figured it would be great along with Fairground Mixer.
We should see how many more sets everyone owns by the end of the day
Good choice for the review - added to my wanted list. Happy Christmas to one and all!
Nice review! I´m not really into city sets, but this one looks nice, and I´d recomend it :)
as for dixi's (portable toilets) in other sets, I believe the lego movie flying plunger has one... te alternate build
Neat review.
@Proteasome: It does, but this one looks slightly better. :-)
Nice review, Huw! I was going to get this and now the review has made me want it even more - hope I get some Christmas money! Enjoy your day, Huw! :-D
That's a neat little set, I definitely want one.
I think the first set to include a portapotty or portaloo or whatever was the 7905 Building Crane from way back in 2006.
http://brickset.com/sets/7905-1/Building-Crane
Ah yes, thank you.
They should have changed the male and female in the bathroom sign to minifigures.
It's good to see toilets making their way out of Friends and becoming more commonplace in the City line.
The Flying Flusher also had a porta-potty. That set isn't a City set, but it's close enough.
Was going to mention 7905 but someone already did, as well as flying flusher.
Thanks for the review Huw. As always, it is great. I do like this set and will likely get a few for the town.
However, there is one nagging point. Two guys, but only one seat in the vehicle, and I doubt you want to have the guy riding on the trailer or in the potty. I know it is LEGO and all, still a bit nagging to me though.
Also, is that wheel for the trailer a new part?
Still can't get used to the nose of this vehicle, I get the idea and it's good they tried something different, but it just doesn't look right to me. Ah well, something to mod.
This is one if the few sets I will probably pick up this year, a lot of the city sets just don't appeal to me at all.
This is one of the few new sets that I have to acquire. I just love the idea behind the set and the fact that LEGO went out of their comfort zone a bit to bring it to production. As for Christmas presents, as far as LEGO-related, I got 71006 The Simpons House and 10236 Ewok Village!
I got 5 legosets
@madforLEGO- No, that wheel was seen in 3 Cars sets on Holley Shiftwell, Dune Buggy Trailer, Blue Racer, and a Shell and Ferrari promotion sets.
Am I the only one thinking, that with so minor changes the portaloo would make a good TARDIS (replace the door, remove the toilet sign and exchange the knop on the roof with a blue light)
The truck looks fairly boring, but it's nice to get another porta-potty. And the new hard hat is pretty sweet-I've got one of those because my little bro got 60075 for Christmas.
The "boss" torso is not new, it first showed up in the big mine set from a few years back. The orange torso with the overalls is definatly new though (any time LEGO creates a new City torso that isn't emergency services related is almost always a good thing in my book :)
When will this set be available in the United States?