Garbage Truck

This set was so much fun to build and it's still very fun to play with. My nephew and I joke that our Lego community/City has trash/recycling service available. He even takes spare parts from other lego sets and has his minifigures "put out their trash" to have this vehicle pick-up and then take everything in the truck to the outskirts and dump all of it into a pile to create "landfill" of sorts. Best part is that since it's Lego, none of it is actually trash and it's all in fact recyclable/reusable!I actually used this set to talk to my nephew about the importance of recycling and reusing things whenever possible. All while building and playing with Lego bricks. He even told me that he understood and even talked his parents into recycling more often. It's funny how something as simple as a Lego set can really inspire all ages and types of people. I've always loved Lego and it feels good to share the fun with my nephew. :) more less

60118 Garbage Truck is a smallish set of only 248 pieces, but I have to say those pieces are put together in such a clever way that it made my day! When opening the box I found three numbered bags, two instruction booklets and a sticker sheet for nine stickers inside. The build begins with bag one (no surprise there), which contains the parts for both a green and gray dumpster, along with some trash to fill it, and two male minifigures. The minifigures are a mustachioed driver (now with sideburns!) attired in a blue cap, a blue jacket with orange stripes and sand blue trousers, and a smiling coworker dressed in a blue cap and jacket and orange overalls. Both minifigures are fairly common-looking and have printing only on one side of their heads and torsos. There are no leg prints, either. Bag two has the parts for the mainly white cab and the mainly gray chassis of the garbage truck, while bag three reveals the pieces for the orange trash container and the dumpster emptying mechanism plus the rims and wheels for the truck. I looks as if the orange 1x2x3 panels (element ID 6129594) are a recolor and at the moment they are exclusive to this set. The set is pretty easy to build, in my opinion. The dumpster emptying mechanism is basically the only part of this build that might cause problems for an inexperienced builder. Applying the stickers might also slow the build down and induce annoyance, which is why I strongly recommend using tweezers instead of fingers to paste them on. Some builders may also experience trouble getting the larger plates (such as the 2x16 and 4x12 plates) pressed down firmly enough and may require assistance from someone with stronger fingers. I like this set a lot, there seems to be something satisfactory about filling up and emptying containers. The two fish with a silvery sheen, yellow banana and transparent bottle posing as garbage are a really nice touch, and also the handful of extra parts (including one small wheel) can be used to extend the garbage selection. The dumpster lifting function operates quite smoothly and the dumpster is surprisingly steady on the forks even when hanging upside down. The tilting orange container also works nicely and I noticed the truck is so well balanced that even when tilted to the extreme, emptying the truck from all that garbage will not tip the whole truck over. Here are some observations (not to be confused with criticism) I made while playing with the set: 1) The driver just barely fits in the cab, heightwise, so if one just happens to have an extra pair of ear protectors from a previous Lego set (such as 75911 or 75913), applying those on his cap will mean that he will be too tall to fit in. 2) Since the cab can only seat one minifigure, there should be a ledge for the second one to stand on and/or a rail for him to hold on to at the rear of the truck. At the moment, the worker minifigure can be attached to either the shovel or the broom at the back, but it looks a bit silly and very dangerous. 3) If the green dumpster is full of garbage, it is almost impossible to empty it inside the truck without spilling some of the garbage. The emptier the dumpster, the less spillage there will be. 4) Some of the garbage tends to get stuck on the studs at the bottom of the truck. For smoother emptying of the truck I suggest using some flat tiles to cover those studs. 5) The truck looks a bit ridiculous driving around with nothing on the forks, but those forks sure come in handy if the truck gets stuck in traffic: I was able to pick up the small red tractor from set 76054 Harvest of Fear and lift it on the roof of the truck. 6) The truck looks minuscule when compared to the camper from set 31052, but it will fit better on the existing road plates and I would say it is more to scale with buildings such as Corner Deli (31050) and even Brick Bank (10251). more less

It's another garbage truck – the last proper one we saw for City was back in 2012 with 4432: Garbage Truck. There hasn't been too many decent ones, so getting this one is most likely worth it. After all, what city is complete without a garbage truck? Without them we'd all be living in filth. more less