REVIEW - 42068 - AIRPORT RESCUE VEHICLE

INTRODUCTION

For my final review (of the 2H 2017 sets) we will be looking at the 42068 - Airport Rescue Vehicle. This set is the cheapest of the three new sets. It was supposed to be released in 2016, but TLG decided to postpone it to 2017. It's not entirely clear why, but it's probably due to the amazing line-up of 2016. Adding this set would have resulted in too much sets in the line-up and the sales figures for this set would probably have been effected too much. Or the development manpower is desperately needed for special 2018 projects :laugh: Either way, TLG decided to add the 40 Year Anniversary brick, two pins and push it to 2017.

In 2015 we got the 42040 - Fire Plane, but it has been a while since TLG released a fire truck. If my memory serves me right, that was the 8289 - Fire Truck from 2006. A lot of Technic fans were hoping to get something along the line of the Airport Crash Tender built by Lucio Switch, but I'm afraid we need to settle for something less extraordinary.

This set probably won't generate as much "Oooohhh's and Aahhhhh's" as the two other 2H half sets, but as with many medium sized sets, this set might suprise you during the build. Let's see if that is indeed the case.

SET INFORMATION

Number: 42068 
Title: Airport Rescue Vehicle 
Theme: Technic
Released: 2017
Part Count: 1094
Box Weight: 1,6 kg (approx)
Box Dimensions: 47,8 cm x 28,0 cm x 8,9 cm
Set Price (MSRP): € 89,99
Price per Part: € 0,082 
Price per kg: € 56,2 
Links: Brickset, Bricklink

THE BOX

The box isn't that big, but it surprisingly packs over 1000 parts.

BACKSIDE
The top half shows the vehicle with a summary of the different functions.  The bottom half shows the B-model, which is a Fire Rescue Vehicle.

CONTENTS OF THE BOX

This set contains:

• 1 Book
• 1 Sticker sheet
• 6 Tires
• 11 Unnumbered bags

BOOK
Unlike the other two 2H sets, this set doesn't have a sealed book.

 

STICKER SHEET
It would be great if TLG inserted the sticker sheet into the instruction manual, to prevent it from being damaged.

TIRES
Six tires are provided separately. These balloon tires are quite common in Technic, and other themes as well. They do appear once or twice every year.

BAGS
As the other 2H sets, this set doesn't have numbered bags either.

   

   

  

HIGHLIGHTED PARTS

This set doesn't really pack a lot of interesting parts. It does pack a big failure though.

MELTED SOFT AXLE
This is the first time I have received a faulty part in a Technic set. I once had a damaged headlight in a modular building, but never did I miss any parts, nor did I receive a faulty part in a Technic set. As you can see in the image below, one of the ends of the soft axle has melted when sealing the edge of the bag. The 12L soft axle isn't rare, but it isn't very common either. Lucky for me that I owned a replacement in my own collection. I can imagine that the average parent and/or kid would have been very disappointed. Luckily, TLG has a fantastic customer service, but you still need to wait for your replacement part to arrive.

  

UTENSILS
A nice collection of minifig utensils. They are provided in a separate smaller bag, instead of on a wheel, like we have seen before.

 

PART LIST

A single page to display the 1094 parts.

THE BUILD

The build starts with building the rear axle. The rear of the chassis packs two axles, but only the rear one implements a steering mechanism.

The other rear axle uses a differential. No color coding this time, since it only uses a single differential and doesn't implement a 6x6 drive train.

Here you can see how the steering mechanism is implemented. By turning the axle at the rear, the rotational movement is converted into longitudinal movement by using links. Since the rear liftarm has a different length than the front one, the rear wheel doesn't steer as much as the front wheel. This clearly visible in the image.

The maximum turn to the left.

Here's a video demonstrating the steering mechanism:

https://youtu.be/iObTWui_0SY

At this point it does seem like a rather strange build, with different subassemblies loosely connected.  At the top left of the picture you see the gear box, which is used to switch between two functions.

Here you can see a video demonstrating the early stages of the functions:

https://youtu.be/mU_dZZfKbpU

After some additional steps, both sides are nicely reinforced with liftarms, resulting in a rigid structure. The sticker near the gearbox lever shows the two functions. By the looks of it, you can choose to rotate or raise/lower the fire extinguisher arm. The rear of the vehicle also packs a 4 cylinder flat engine.

The arm is raised and lowered using a worm wheel. The rear shows the HoG (Hand of God) steering axle, the gearbox lever and the 12T bevel gear to manually operate the functions.

The rear bodywork is made as subassembly, which can easily be attached to the chassis.

The bodywork is attached at 8 points of the vehicle. It can easily be removed, although at the rear you will need to push out the 2L axles.

The cabin works well on this vehicle. Of course, the chairs are the common blue panels we have seen a million times. The rear view mirrors are nice and the nozze at the front is a cool detail. Some of the pictures show the front nozzle incorrectly positioned. Thanks to Barman for pointing it out. At first I thought it was a building mistake, but that wasn't the case. Simply a matter of turning the nozzle upside down...or upside down.

DISCLAIMER
The following pictures show the 40 Year Anniversary brick on top of the vehicle at the rear of the cabin. This is not the official position for it. When you follow the instructions, it's placed underneath the chassis of the vehicle. I do like a more prominent place for the brick. 

The correct position for the nozzle, when it's not used. 

The first thing that comes to mind is that the crane looks flimsy, but you tend to forget it's not an actual crane. Unless you count lifting the fire hose that is. It's called the extinguishing arm, which makes sense.

The cabin and crane conclude the build of the vehicle.

COMPLETED MODEL

The completed model is clearly recognisable as a fire truck. That's not very hard, given the color scheme and signal lights etc. Even though it's nothing really extraordinary, I do like the design.

Some people will immediately see it's a fire truck used at an airport. Here you can see a real life counterpart.

The three compartments on the side aren't linked together, so they can be opened separately.

The first compartment contains a toolbox with utensils (tools), which can be removed from the vehicle. This not only offers some playability, but it also allows a battery box to be inserted if you like to motorise this vehicle. The middle compartment already is prepared for attaching a PF motor. A clutch gear is not included.

The side of the vehicle with all the panels closed.

The rear of the vehicle shows the 16T gear, which is used to operate the manual functions, lifting/lowering and rotating the arm.

A comparison between the front and rear view of the vehicle.

 

The bottom view to show the chassis in more detail. Here you can see where the 40 Year Anniversary brick actually should be placed.

The final main picture with the front nozzle positioned correctly.

FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS

This set doesn't contain as much functions as the other two 2H sets, but that's only logical. 

STEERING
The vehicle has four (of six) wheel steering, where the rear wheels steer less than the front wheels.

EXTINGUISHING ARM
The top of the vehicle packs an extinguishing arm which has the fire hose attached. The arm can be raised, lowered and rotated using the 12T bevel gear at the back of the vehicle. 

FRONT NOZZLE
The front of the vehicle has an additional nozzle which can be rotated manually.

COMPARTMENTS
Each side of the vehicle has three compartments, which can be opened manually.

TOOLBOX
The front compartment contains a removable toolbox with lots of tools.

Here's a video demonstrating the functions:

https://youtu.be/OfsHyccfy6I

B-MODEL

The B-model is a Fire Rescue Vehicle. It looks like a nice model to build. A truck with a fully functional crane and a trailer packing a small boat.

SUMMARY

This is a decent set. No more, no less. It doesn't have many interesting parts, nor does it have very unique features. The steering mechanism is done nicely and you can properly operate the extinguishing arm, although the nozzle needs to be operated manually. The front nozzle also needs to be operated manually. The gearbox to switch between raising/lowering the arm and rotating the arm is very simple, but works like a charm. It's a nice introduction to a simple gearbox. Since all kids love fire trucks, this would make a very nice birthday present. A medium sized set with enough functions and playability to be enjoyed by a kid and with an affordable price to be enjoyed by the one who will be buying it.

SCORE

How do I rate this set?

7 DESIGN

Looks okay, nothing spectacular. 

7 BUILDING EXPERIENCE
 
Cool steering mechanism and extinguisher arm.

7 FEATURES
 
Simple manual features and a single gearbox. 

7 PLAYABILITY

Enough playability to keep a kid busy for a while.

7 PARTS

Only common parts, unless you are into red panels.

7 VALUE FOR MONEY
 
Price is okay for what you get.

7,0 IT IS WHAT IT IS

Thanks you for reading this review. All pictures can be found here. Discussion about this set can be found here.