LEGO Technic Excavator Construction Toy 42055

Product Information

Unlike the other three large Technic sets released this summer, this one is not based on a real-life machine. Its design is certainly influenced by real BWEs but it looks nothing like any that I have been able to find pictures of. Take a look at some images yourself and see if you can fine one. It's massive! The arm is 75cm long. It stands 45cm high. It's 28 cm wide. There are a lot of nice finishing touches: the walkways, handrails, lights, ladders and so on which enhance its appearance considerably. Thanks to Evvilspoon, who's also built it, for confirming that it was not just my model that had problems with the 1x1s. Having now built it, I can confirm that it is indeed an impressive machine, but it's really pushing the limits of what is possible with the Technic system and one motor...

It's a long satisfying build and the finished model looks great, but how does it operate? Unfortunately this is where it's a bit of a let down.

The completed model

After 225 steps and about 3.5 hours of building the chassis and lower part of the body are complete. The 1x1s often just sit on the agitating plate and sometimes never exit. This is because (a) they are not spherical and (b) the plate is not completely smooth, so depending on how they land, they don't always roll down it. The plate's up and down movement is not sufficient to encourage them to move! Light Bluish Gray Electric 9V Battery Box 4 x 11 x 7 PF with Orange Switch and Dark Bluish Gray Covers Upload an Image in the specific color if you have one and the one in the above listing is not available.

Basically, as the conveyer moves an 'agitating plate' is raised when the 1x5 beams on the belt pass under its end, which then drops again once it has passed. This in turn causes three axles under the input chute, mounted at a slight angle and spaced to allow 1x1 rounds to pass through them but not the 2x2s, to move up and down/vibrate as well. The 2x2s travel on top of the axles to their exit on the left (in the photo below) while the 1x1 fall through to theirs, on the right. You can see the ends of the three axles in the picture above. I am therefore not able to wholeheartedly recommend this set: Personally I think it's pushing the boundaries of what's possible with Technic, particularly the Power Functions system, a bit too far and the model has suffered as a result.

Frequently Asked Questions about Lego set 42055 Technic Bucket wheel excavator

Die-hard Technic fans will want it regardless but if you are on the fence or have limited funds, there are much better Technic sets released this year that I would buy before this one. Bags #8 add the cab, bodywork, walkways, lights and other cosmetic details. Overall, the build time for the entire model is around 7 hours. You can also see in this picture the three axles that transfer power from the upper part of the machine to the lower part. They are connected using 'slip axles' which means it is easy to disconnect them for testing purposes.

Note: I took the pictures outside in the garden this morning so they have a nice 'warm' tone to them.) The driveline for driving, turning and the small conveyer belt are also connected with these parts. Here it’s more obvious. The parts don’t hold tight to the axle but can slide. This allowing some wiggleroom when lowering and raising the big arm. The first thing to bear in mind is that you will need nearly all of the parts to hand to build it because, unlike the main model that's built from numbered bags, to build this you need to open all of bags #2 - #8 and sort the parts before you start. Consequently you'll need a very large area to work on.Now, by this point the model has become so big that it no longer fits on my regular photography table so I was unable to take more photos until I had something bigger. The following pictures are therefore taken with different lighting in a different 'studio' and to be honest I am not that happy with them but hopefully they will serve to illustrate the finished model. This is definitely a model that benefits from a video review but they are thin on the ground on YouTube at the moment. If I wasn't hopeless with a video camera I would have had a go myself. Following on from that, the rear end of the digging arm is constructed which includes the control panel/gear box. Here you can see the innards before they are hidden by the top panel.

It's a great set to build and to behold but its operation lets it down a bit. Also, its size -- while impressive -- will make it difficult for many people, myself included, to display. It's not something you could take into work and put on your desk, for example!

Verdict

Step 2 builds the bottom part of the frame, on top of which the rest can rotate. I found this part a bit boring. Everything is double symmetrical, so often you have to build the same thing twice or four times. After experimenting this morning, I found a simple fix for the latter problem which doesn't solve it fully but does improve things considerably: It's somewhat front-heavy so there is a bit of a tilt on the body which results in the vertical frame not being exactly vertical. It doesn't seem to interfere with operation though.