8960 Thunder Drill

[Alldarker]

As I have already posted in this review of set 8957, I was very surprised that the PM sets have been released for retail since this week, here in the Netherlands.

This is review of the second set I bought (for €29,95), the 8960 Thunder Drill.

The Thunder Drill is the second largest set in the theme.

When opened the box contains three large bags, 4 loose wheel parts, a sticker sheet and the instructions. Two of the large bags are numbered 1 and 2, and each contain a smaller bag. The third bag contains more wheel parts, and the bagged orange rock monster called Firox.

This theme numbers its vehicles like it they are the Thunderbirds: the sticker sheet denotes this vehicle number 5. The instructions have a parts call out on every page, but this is very <insert that tiresome argument>: no more than 4 parts are ever called for per stage. This picture shows some of the new parts in my collection. A couple of these parts are big, but very interesting. This part comes in black (for the wheels) and orange (as part of the drill). Especially interesting is this part. As you can see, it has gear teeth on the inside of the rim, allowing for some interesting ways to power these wheels. And a second feature of these wheels is that a pair of these wheels can link into each other. This feature isn't used in this set, but it is shown in the combined model on the back of the box. Lastly we have the drill head. Like the wheels, this piece also has gear teeth on the inside of the rim.

Apart from Firox, this set also contains two more figures. I am especially fond of this figure. His soot stained face would probably go very well with a lot of steampunk creations. Like the figure in set 8957, he two has a symbol on his torso denoting his function, in this case a very appropriate drill head. And like the other figures in this theme, he too comes with a shocked expression. The second figure seems to be a higher ranked worker, or perhaps a star of some kind! His second expression is also very cool.

All four faces are fun and have character. All in all, I like these two figures a lot more than the analyst included in set 8957.

Building the set is an easy challenge. You are supposed to start with bag no 1, but I just threw all the pieces together without any problem.This photo and this one show two fases of the build. Yes, there is a flame coming from some sort of a hole in the cabin; it looks quite dangerous for the operators! Eventually you add the wheels. The front pair of wheels are on a single axle which, using gears, powers another singe verticle axle. This is so as to power the drill head.

Next we start building the drill head. This really is the cleverst part of this set: using this construction in the drill head, the drill head is actually planetary geared. This means that as the front (light bley) part of the drill turns clockwise, the other (dark bley) part turnes counterclockwise!

When all is good and done, these parts are left. Yes, this does include an extra pair of goggles, even though the instructions only mention one pair! This is the finished vehicle. It's certainly a powerfull looking vehicle with nice greebling and a chain on top and with a pair of huge headlights to light the way. The cabin does have just enough standing room for both figures, although they should be careful not to get burned or to accidently light the dynamite in the crate.

The play value of this set is good. You are able to open the roof and check the drilling mechanism. And of course the drill itself turns when the Thunder Driller is pushed along. Although it looks good, I'd say the drill parts do turn too slowely. It's a 1:1 gear ratio: one rotation of the drill head per rotation of the front wheels. This really should have been geared up, so they would turn a whole lot faster than the wheels. Still, this shouldn't be too hard to realize with some extra parts, and it's an excellent and realistic feature in a great looking set.

All in all, a nice set, made extra good by a nice (though slightly improvable) feature of a working planetary geared drill, and by two very sweet and useful minifigs.

Of final interest is that the instructions contain a link to www.lego.com/powerminers/buildinginstructions for the instructions to the alternate combined models. This set combines with 8958 to make the "Aero Shredder". At the moment of writing this review, this page isn't active, though.

Full gallery

Parts: 8/10

Minifigures: 9/10

Detail: 8/10

Playability: 9/10

Price to parts: 7/10

Availability: 1/10 (for now, except in the Netherlands?)

Color rating: 2/10

Overall rating: 8/10

EDIT: All links have been changed to the regular Brickshelf links, instead of the deeplinks, due to the ENORMOUS size of these deeplinks. Sorry for any inconvenience!

Edited May 23, 2009 by WhiteFang
Indexed

[rriggs]

Thanks for this review. It nice to see what's in these new sets so early in their life. They're only just appearing in shops so this is really useful. It would be nice, however, if the pictures were embedded rather than just links. Also, the pics take ages to download which is frustrating.

Cheers

Rog

Edited November 30, 2008 by rriggs

[Patriot720]

Wow! Thanks for another great review of the Power Miners sets! I'm looking forward to the release in the USA!

[Algernon]

Nice review, but what's the price?

[The Rancor]

Can you compress/resize the pictures so we can either see them easier or you can use them in your post?

I'm gonna check my local TRU this Thursday or Friday for any Uk releases unless I hear otherwise to look earlier

[Pencoin]

Can you compress/resize the pictures so we can either see them easier or you can use them in your post?

I'm gonna check my local TRU this Thursday or Friday for any Uk releases unless I hear otherwise to look earlier

Well I went yesterday and I had no luck! The guy as well said they woudln't get them early like the other years..

[The Rancor]

Well I went yesterday and I had no luck! The guy as well said they woudln't get them early like the other years..

CRAP! Why does the Uk suck?

Oh well, I'm still looking, just in case. I've gotta have 'something' for Christmas!

[Tim Bit]

How much did it cost?

[Tinn-man]

It's an ok set, but this strikes me as kind of odd

Edited November 30, 2008 by Tinn-man

[dj2005]

It's an ok set, but this strikes me as kind of odd

Once I saw that picture I laughed.

Thanks for the two reviews. I see these sets are not for me.

Edited November 30, 2008 by dj2005

[Svelte]

Once I saw that picture I laughed.

Looks like he's had expensive dental work done!

I like this set, it was my favourite from the initial pics we saw as well. I like both the figs, and the new drill and wheel pieces are interesting. It looks like a fun little build as well.

As a theme Power Miners seems to be the bastard love-child of Exo-Force and Mars Mission as viewed through psychedelic lime-and-orange tinted glasses from the 70s

[Algernon]

As a theme Power Miners seems to be the bastard love-child of Exo-Force and Mars Mission as viewed through psychedelic lime-and-orange tinted glasses from the 70s

Well done sir.

Edited November 30, 2008 by Algernon

[LEGOMAN132]

Looks like a very nice set hope to get my hands on one soon.

[LuxorV]

Looks like a very nice set hope to get my hands on one soon.

Thanks for the neat review, Alldarker

It looks very good; can't wait to find some of them in shops

LuxorV

[Alldarker]

...

As a theme Power Miners seems to be the bastard love-child of Exo-Force and Mars Mission as viewed through psychedelic lime-and-orange tinted glasses from the 70s

Indeed!

Actually, last night I suddenly realized Lego probably stole the color scheme from Zam Wessel's speeder. And to be honest, the colors are ugly, but they *might* grow on me. Both colors are used in normal construction equipment, after all...

FOR all those complaining about the deeplinks: I'm sorry! I've changed all the links to the regular Brickshelf gallery links, which are somewhat smaller. For those asking about the pirce of this set: all prices in this theme were originally mentioned in the review of the 8957 Mining Mech, but the price of the Thunder Drill is €29,95.

I did consider buying the rest of the sets, especially the 8961 Crystal Sweeper, but eventually I decided against it. It's nice and big, but it doesn't really fit in my (mainly SW Lego) collection. The rest of these sets don't take my fancy much either, although I am interested to see what the future (three) sets will look like!