set Name: Backhoe Loader

Theme: Technic

Set Number: 8069

Year of Release: 2011

Number of Pieces: 609

Recommended Age: 10-16

Amount of Models: 2 (instructions on the Lego website for the second model)

Lego.com Price: 59,99EUR / 59,99USD / 49,99GBP

Price at cheaper stores: ~45EUR

I got this model yesterday and I thought, why not make a building video AND a review for it? Instead of just a video?

So I did both, and here is the review :)

Note: This is my first review ever on here, so if you have some tips or see things that definitely should be different, feel free to mention it.

The Box

First of all the box, which has all the good stuff in it :)

Frontside

The box is not very interesting, it displays the usual information like the recommended ages, the model number and of course it shows a picture of the main model itself and at the bottom right corner it shows its functions.

Backside

The back of the box displays a picture of the B-model together with its functions. (Instructions will be available for download at Lego.com in the future)

Top of the box

The usual picture to get an idea how big the model is, this time the interesting new mLA is used for the scale.

Inside the box

This model comes with 7 bags of Lego, and the 4 wheels + Bucket are loose in the box.

There are 2 instruction manuals, the first one is 76 pages and the second one is 60 pages.

There is also a small sticker sheet.

10 stickers in total.

The Pieces

The most interesting parts in the largest bag are probably the two panel pieces, the four mLA's and two small Lego bags.

The other large bag comes with the four wheel rims, frame piece and bucket among with liftarms and axles.

Not much to say about this bag.

This bag has all the black 12T gears and the 2 worm gears in it, among the U-joints and other pieces.

This bag has mainly blue pins and 3L axles in it.

More 12T gears, an 8T gear and many small 2L axles and pins

The smallest pieces of the model.

All the pieces on one pile.

Sorted Pieces

The most interesting pieces of this model if you ask me.

The perpendicular axle joiner isn't very special but this is only my third in blue even though I own 25k+ Lego pieces.

The yellow technic bush 1/2 isnt very special either, but I haven't seem too many of them in yellow, the only other two lego model I own which have them in yellow are the 8421 Mobile Crane and the 8259 mini-bulldozer.

The black 2x2 bent perpendicular pin connector has not appeared in many sets before, the last time was 3 years ago in the 8297 Off-Roader.

The 4 mLA's are brand new pieces, same with the four perpendicular split axle and pin connectors.

The model has a total of 74 liftarms, most of them in yellow.

36 thin liftarms

3x 9L, 6x 8L, 7x 7L, 4x 6L, 13x 5L, 12x 4L, 25x 3L.

2x 4L with stop, 5x 3L with stud, 6x 5,5L with stop.

18 gears in total, including two of the new pin-hole gears.

All the non-technic pieces in this model, note that there is 3 of every transparent stud, 1 extra.

Many connector pieces.

23 blue pins, 50 black pins and 26 red 2L axles + a lot other small parts.

the buckets, wheels and several other parts like 2 flex axles.

The Build

This is at the beginning of book one, the steering mechanism has just been placed.

The mechanism that tilts the front bucket has been placed, plus the steering wheel for the driver.

The mechanism for the bucket at the back has been placed, together with the rear axle, which was built in a way that i had not seen before :)

The first 2 mLA's have been placed for lowering and rising the front bucket.

Book 2, the rear arm + bucket have been placed together with the first stabilizer and the driver seat

The model is now nearly done, the roof has been placed and so has the second stabilizer.

All wheels and the front bucket have been placed, the model is now done.

View of the back of the model.

Functions

This model is packed with functions, which makes it such a great set!

first of all the stabilizers on both sides:

By pulling down the small black lever, they go down, pushing it up makes them go up.

The arm at the rear of the backhoe can be turned aprox. 100 degrees from the left to the right and back.

It can reach quite far.

The bucket can be moved up, down and it can be tilted.

And obviously, it can steer.

Spare parts

Like every other lego model, there are always a few spare pieces, 11 in this case.

4 pins, a 1/2 yellow bush and a grey bush, 2 cheese slopes and 3 studs.

Rating

The 8069 Backhoe Loader is simply a great model! It has a very nice assortment of parts and the building process was pure pleasure as they used some very interesting techniques to stack all those functions in the model.

I'd recommend you to get this model if you can spare 60 euro / dollars as the model is a must have for anyone into Lego Technic :)

Parts: 10/10 : as said above, a great assortment of pieces, 26 gears, 4 mLA's, quite a few liftarms + more.

Playability 9/10 : with so many functions there is plenty to do! The arm at the rear might move around a bit while driving since they used a wormgear in the turning mechanism of the arm.

Design 9/10 : I think they did a great job designing the model and hiding all the mechanisms.

Pricing 7/10 : at 10 cents a piece, the price is good.

Overall 9/10 : I just cant give this nice model a lower rating as its simply brilliant.

Thanks for reading :)

Edited February 6, 201114 yr by M4X1994

On the top of the post board you have buttons. The last one is ''insert media''. You just click it, insert the link of Youtube video, and the video will be placed directly on the board.

By the way, nice review of the set.

Edited February 5, 201114 yr by Povratnik

On the top of the post board you have buttons. The last one is ''insert media''. You just click it, insert the link of Youtube video, and the video will be placed directly on the board.

By the way, nice review of the set.

Thanks a lot!

Very nice review with clear and comprehensive pics to boot..felt like I opened and unpacked the box myself! Your vids are very entertaining too, I also watched your 8043's vid often before I decided to buy my own 8043.

This set is definitely on my wanted list along with the upcoming Unimog!

Thanks for the good detailed review.

Good review

I have this set too, and I think it's a good "medium"set. But for some reason I had 1 more spare part .

Edited February 6, 201114 yr by legolijntje

Being the biggest Technic set I own currently own, I love this model. I feel it is worth the $60 for the mLA's and all the functions included. However, I do feel the mechanism for tilting the bucket is overly complicated.

On the mLAs- I love them. They perform smoothly and well for their size, and are cheap too! I can definately see a Mini Garbage Truck or Mini Dump Truck that tips using a mLA.

Great review. I was thinking to buy it via Amazon (price is lower than the official one), now I'll do it.

Awesome review and a very good idea to show the mechanisms with gifs!

If I had not bought the 8069 already I would do so NOW

Thank you all for the positive feedback :)

I also bought the 5892 Sonic Boom and wanted to make a review of that too, but i discovered that one had already been made by someone else :)

Thank you all for the positive feedback :)

I also bought the 5892 Sonic Boom and wanted to make a review of that too, but i discovered that one had already been made by someone else :)

You can write another review, of course .

I think i have a technic addiction as i always have to be building or buying new sets :) since november 2010 iv 7 sets bought and built and all are large expensive sets :)anyway this set might be my last hope untill the 2h2011 sets come out,im more into large pf sets but this set is growing on me,is it worth buying???

Thanks for this good review! Kudos on making those GIFs too

I might get a Technic set around this size if I can make space.

Thanks for the review. Very good for a first one.

Nice set.

Prateek, there is always room for more Lego.

Thanks for the review. Very good for a first one.

Nice set.

You already commented on this

You already commented on this

Egads, I'm losing my mind.

Like the review

The well laid out parts also makes it easy to decide if its worth buying for parts, I know I have two many parts already but I will probably get a couple for parts as well as one for my sealed collection. The mini Las are very handy I have been able to use the ones I got from Bricklink already.

I noticed an error in your superb review:

All the non-technic pieces in this model, note that there is 3 of every transparent stud, 1 extra.

The two bricks with 2 holes ARE genuine Technic parts !

Has many bought this set,the question is,is it a must buy set?

Yes, I guess .

I bought this set a week ago and built it tonight,normaly I buy large sets but as I have them all I said I'd buy this :) I just want to say for it's size it's a great set and a really nice build too, recommend it to any fan out there ;) it has nice functions packed into it and will look nice beside my other construction models.build time was about 3 hours taking my time.

Of all the sets that have come out in the past few years I have to say this is probably my favorite in terms of looks and playability. I like it even better than my 8043, too bad it really can't be easily RC'ed.

@davidmull - Indeed sir, this is a must have set. I do believe it will go in Lego Technic's 'hall of fame' at some point, and I'll bet once retired will MISB's will fetch a tidy sum after a bit of time. It is a lot larger than I thought it would be too, nearly on the scale of its pneumatic cousin, the coveted 8455 Backhoe Loader.

Has many bought this set,the question is,is it a must buy set?

I purchased 8069 on the weekend, built it in an afternoon. Seems like a good model but some of the functions don't seem to work as well as I was expecting.

Paul

I just bought this set, and so far I am happy with it. A lot of functions for the money, but i feel that the made some short cuts on many of the functions. And the backhoe cant really be folded together, it looks a bit stupid. Still grat value for your money, much better that the new buckettruck, wich i think is a bit boring.