LEGO TECHNIC 42009 Mobile Crane MK II

When I was a kid in the '60's, my Dad used to work for Samsonite. He'd come home form Denmark with bags of Lego bricks, even some of the 'new' gears and electric motors. Fast forward to 50 years later, once I saw this kit I had to give it a try to get my feet wet with Lego Technic. (OK, so I built the 42042 crawler crane first as my inauguration, so technically this is the second Technic kit I've built) SO MUCH has changed over the years! The 42042's gearbox was AMAZING to watch how the power was split for the forward and reverse functions, then distributed via the clutches to the appropriate function.But the 42009 blows all that away. And to be honest, I've only just finished the bag 1 build and have yet to complete the bag 2 and bag 3 builds for the crane base and boom, respectively. Before I even opened the box I looked at the instructions on line. Holy moly! The bag 1 (first) build consisted of 15 (FIFTEEN!) separate bags of parts. Looking at the instructions on-line, the PDF's were pretty clear for the most part, but occasionally there'd be some confusion in where the parts went. The book is more clear than the PDF's, but the on-line at least get you familiar with the steps needed to complete the task.When I opened the box and looked at the 15 bags for build 1, I knew right away I couldn't just dump the parts into a bowl or two (or 5 or 6) and try to find the specific part I needed. There are a lot of Technic beams, of course, and a lot of the standard black (2-length) friction pins, blue 2-length axle and pin connector pins, and blue (3-length) friction pins, but also there were a few pins that looked like those but were grey or light tan. Huh? Come to find out, the grey/tan ones allowed the pins to rotate in their holes in the beam, so it was important to use those when called out in the instructions. There were 10 to 15 different axle shafts, and the one thing I noticed was there were some short beams that could insert both an axle and a pin (or two), the most odious to the builder was the two black pieces where in one case the axle fitting was perpendicular to the pin, in the other case it was parallel to the pin. Oh boy. Construction could get messy real quick if these two were confused.At that point I stopped and just sorted each part. Took two hours to go through all the bags and put each unique part into its own little 3 x 5 plastic bag. Once that was done I made a little tote tray from the 42042 box that was partitioned into 3 inch wide sections. All the Technic beams were in one section, the couplers in the next, shafts, in the next, the hybrid axle-pin parts in the next, the half-width beams in the next, then gears, then the one-of-a-kind and two-of-a-kind parts.Then I started building. In the bag 1 build you start with the lower chassis frame, then the steering racks for the 4 (of 5) axles that actually are steered. Next comes the central gear mechanisms where power comes down from the crane base, then sent to the clutch that selects the outrigger function (extend/retract outriggers or raise/lower footpads), followed by the mechanized outriggers themselves, then the 'engine' and the front cab, for 235 pages of instructions.The outrigger mechanisms are incredible. The gears needed to get the power from the central shaft and distributed to extend the booms or lower the feet is plain AWESOME! You can run the gears by hand to check the assembly during the build, but just be sure and RETRACT the feet to the UP position on all 4 feet when doing the final assembly, otherwise the feet will be out of synch. The foot extension mechanisms come retracted when you get them, so if you follow instructions and just build it, things will work out OK. But if you're like me and want to see where the gear power goes, you have to play with it to watch the gearing, but just reset when you're done.It takes a while, be patient. I cross-checked each assembly with the picture before I turned the page to the next assembly, and occasionally I'd find a mistake that had to be corrected before moving on. Every mistake like that could snowball into a major issue later, like the time I used a single black cross-beam (described above) where the instructions called out for one that had three pins and one axle fitting. Sure enough, one of the shafts didn't quite fit properly on a subsequent assembly, but I could make it work. I thought 'the instructions are wrong,' but then something else didn't fit or didn't seem like it was going to, so I had to go back and find my mistake. Fortunately I did.Sorting the parts helped quite a bit, as I knew where each one could be found, and if not, was in the bag marked 'oddballs.'So I got through the bag 1 build with just an hour or two each night. Usually with Lego they give you extra couple pieces, but I was surprised when there were NO spares of the afore-mentioned 3-length friction pins, blue axle/pin couplers, and the big bag of what seemed like over 100 of the black two-pin couplers only had about 4 of them when I was done. Lesson: Don't drop any!The cab doors open, the rear-view mirror adjust, the wheels steer, the pistons move in the engine (there's even a differential at the driving wheel, which is awesome), and the outriggers extend properly and the feet lower (after the outriggers have been extended just a bit, it turns out the feet won't lower when the outriggers are fully retracted)That's it for now, will update when I get done with the next two bags.Sorry to see this kit is out of production, but if you can get a hold of one, it's definitely worth it if nothign else than to sed how far Lego has come.Edit #1: Finished the second bag set (5 bags of parts in that one) for the crane power gearbox and power distribution. It was awesome to see how the power was distributed from gear-to-gear and over to the power selector clutches. I'm blown away at the capability of what's in this kit. But it worked perfectly!There weren't as many things that could go wrong from improper assembly as the bag 1 build, but there were still the clutch gears that had to be inserted the correct way, otherwise the clutch wouldn't work. The instructions did show a close-up for this and showed the correct way (with a green check) and the incorrect way (with a red "X") on how it was supposed to go.Which was a bit different than the first build on the outrigger axle shaft gears. In order for all the outrigger feet to go up and down in unison, there's a gear that takes the power and couples it to the linear actuator at each foot. The linear actuator has a yoke, or "Y" fitting that the axle passes through. The small tan gear can be installed on either side of the "Y" fitting, and it's important to follow the instructions exactly because on the right side of the crane the gears are installed on the inboard side of the "Y" fitting, on the left side they're installed on the outboard side. This makes the feet raise and lower in synch. If you don't pay attention to the instructions and put the gears on wrong, some of the feet will try to retract while the others try to extend. It's subtle, but pay attention and it'll be fine.Edit #3: OK, I'm all done now that the boom is finished. It was straightforward as compared with the rest of the assembly, but I did have an issue where a part was missing, namely, the nylon cable that extends up the boom and winches the hook up and down. Nowhere to be found in the kit, anywhere. I was ready to go buy some nylon string at the local hardware store, but my wife suggested I call Lego and get a replacement. On a whim, I called on Sunday, and they answered. Sure enough, they were kind enough to send the replacement even though the kit is no longer in production; it arrived the following Saturday and I was able to complete the kit. They did ask for the date code, and I was surprised I was able to find it: There are some clear tape pieces (4 of them) that seal the box from the factory. On one of those tapes is a four letter date code, in black ink. Of course, the box it black at that point, so the date code is impossible to see. I did manage to find the one piece that had the date code, but when I removed it, the black cardboard came off with it. I scraped the cardboard off the back of the tape and found the code. This was all while the operator was waiting, mind you. Note: the date code's 3rd digit is a letter, not a number, so initially I thought it said "8" when, in fact it was the letter "S." But I got the replacement part.Now that it's completed, I've got to say this kit is AMAZING! I don't know how they're going to top this one, even the new huge mining machine, even with the tank treads and conveyor belts, doesn't seem like it matches the fun factor of this crane.

This is an extraordinary set. Extraordinary.The complexity of the build, the breadth of functions and the way they have been put together is truly truly exceptional, even by Lego's standards.The attention to detail is fanatical. Doors open. Wing mirrors move. Seats fit mini figures. No one buys this set for those elements but they have been thoughtfully, painstakingly included.The level of technical sophistication too is astonishing. Wheels steer. At different degrees to give a perceptibly tighter turning circle. And the exposed engine is a joy.If it has a flaw, it is that it's outrigger raising assembly strains the motor, saps torque and isn't quite as "easy" as it should be. This is a minor yet significant complaint.The thoughtfulness with which all these functions have been brought together into one 'control.box' is astonishing. I am in awe of the people who designed this model.A joy to build. And an iconic set. And to those unnamed technical and design folks who conceived and productized this set, my deepest admiration

Just amazing! Right price point finally. Tons of pieces, very clever machine, and it was $196 or so. These $400 or even $300 sets-- I'm sure they are great, but not $400-great. If Lego will make more big, awesome, affordable sets like this, I'll keep buying.As for the set itself, it has it all. Complex, enjoyable build, linear actuators, cool transmissions, friction clutches, jillions of beams and pins for your own play time. It just couldn't be a better set.

This was my first Lego Technic purchase ever, I have owned numerous regular Lego sets since childhood. The first thing I noticed when starting this set was how differently the parts snap together, very different from a traditional Lego set, much more challenging which was what I was looking for. This set was amazing, I had an absolute blast putting it together and seeing how all of the gears and mechanisms worked together. The initial purchase price seemed kind of high at first, but once I got started putting this thing together I realized that for the number of pieces and quantity of moving geared parts, it was a bargain for the price.

There are some parts that have not the same color like the yellow, there are other parts that have not a good quality, poor material quantity or bad inyection process.Is a expensive article that I expect a very good quality, bad I really disappointed.

My 12-year old grandson put this together. It took a few hours but he was so engrossed in it he wouldn't even stop to eat (or play on his devices). It was pretty intricate, with many parts, but he loved it and wanted to start on another one right away. The finished product was very impressive. It's a high-quality item and will last a long time. I highly recommend it for boys or girls who love to build.