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REVIEW: 60012 - 4x4 & Diving Boat Coast guard review index: 60011 - Surfer Rescue 60012 - 4x4 & Diving Boat 60013 - Coast Guard Helicopter 60014 - Coast Guard Patrol 60015 - Coast Guard Plane In the summer wave of 2013 Lego has release a number of sets related to the coast guard. The last time Lego used this theme was in 2008, which was when I was still in the dark ages so for me, someone who loves the sea and boats, this was quite an exciting announcement. As soon as the sets hit the stores, I bought them, and build them, and boy did they deliver. After reviewing the smallest set in the wave it is time to move up a step and take a look at the next set in this wave. 60012 - 4x4 & Diving Boat Set Nr: 60012 Theme: City Year released: 2013 Nr of parts: 128 Minifigs: 2 Price: US$19.99 / €12.99 / £9.99 The Box On the front of the box we see the 4x4 parked on a small beach, while the two coast guards unload the motorboat from the trailer. In the bottom right corner we can see that the "boat really floats", though I would not recommend putting it in the water after applying the stickers, which are not exactly waterproof. On the back of the box the first thing you will notice is the diver in the top right corner yelling and waving at you, desperate to get some attention. The rest of the back is adorned with images which illustrate the play features of this set. On the side of the box the coast guard and the diver have just come ashore with their little boat and are staring in amazement at the floating frame with a sideways 1:1 scale coast guard in it. The coast guard is using his radio to let the base know about this weird anomaly. The instructions The front of the instruction booklet has the same scene as the front of the box. Inside we are first presented with the builds we will be getting out of each of the bags. Followed by instructions on how to build this set. the color differentiation is good and not once did I get colors confused (I'm looking at you, black and dark grey!). Also, part callouts are available at each step. In the back, the first advertisement is the same coast guard theme advertisement as in the smaller set, so for my opinions I will have to redirect you there. (yes, I'm too lazy to copy paste my own text.) The second advertisement is for the latest fire fighters sets. With these two adds side by side I think I can safely assume that life in LEGO City is never safe. Be it on sea or on land, your life is always in peril. The next spread has the LEGO City started set advertisement again, and a part list. The back is screaming at us yet again to fill in some survey. As I don't like being told what to do by screaming kids, I'll just NOT fill out the survey. Ha! The parts Just as a reminder. Just like the last set, I was too impatient and build the whole thing before taking it apart again to take the review pics. Which means that all stickers have already been applied to the various parts. The first things to fall out of the box are a sheet of stickers and this boat. No, I have no idea why the sticker in the front looks so dirty in the bottom right corner. It does not look like that in real life. The parts for bag 1 make the 4x4 and the Coast Guard. There is a nice selection of colors, with the orange sticking out the most. The second bag has considerably less parts, and consists of the trailer, the boat buildup and the diver. Both bags contain no printed parts except for the minifigs. The minifigs The coast guard has a greatly detailed uniform printed on the torso, which unfortunately is mostly covered up by the life jacket. The head is printed on only one side, and is a very basic smiley face, which I really like, a great neutral exp<b></b>ression. The diver has a one sided face with some stubble, and a very well printer torso with a lot of belts. I asume the printed on life vest is not buoyant, seeing as that would severely limit his ability to do his job, he is, after all, a diver, not a floater. The build The build starts with the underside of the 4x4. The axles are put at a reasonable distance from the frame, to simulate off road suspension. Next we start with the building of the car body. I must wonder about the use of the 1x2 grille bricks, which seem to serve no purpose other than part diversity. On a side note, I later discovered I forgot to put a blue 2x3 plate in the driver's pit. This mistake was rectified later on. All the orange parts are added to the car, and the body is starting to take shape. The back end of the car is finished off first. The single stud has a purpose we will get onto later. Finale the driver's cabin is put into it's place and finishes off the car. On the sides of the cabin are connection points for the handheld transceiver and the megaphone. On the rook is a small search light, for those after dark missions. From the back angle you can see the hitching point for the trailer, as well as a third break light near the roof of the car. Next up is a mini build for a stand to put the diving gear on. The gear fits on the stand quite well, and at no time did I have the feeling any of the parts where about to fall off. When driving around the stand can be attached to the single stud on the rear of the car. It's very well secured, though still easy to remove. Moving on to the second bag, we start with building the trailer. I have to give special mention to the way the suspension is made. The addition of the sloped surfaces makes it look more organic than just a single axle plate sticking out of the bottom. The trailer is completed quite quickly. One big drawback i have to point out here is the lack of any kind of stand. The trailer just can't stand up straight without being attached to the car. The last build of this set is the boat. It's simple but effective, though I have to wonder about the interior space. there's only really room for one fig inside, so either the coast guard or the diver can take the boat out to sea, not both at the same time, which would be more logical, as the coast guard can drop off the diver at the diving point, and then use the boat to cruise around searching for signs of people in need. But then again, that's just me nitpicking. From the back you can see the elegant engine, which really looks the part. Everything attached. The trailer hitches to the car very easily, and the boat sits very well on top of the trailer, with just enough connections to keep it in place, but not so much as to make it difficult to remove the boat from the trailer. Another small annoyance, however, can be found at this time, which is that to transport both minifigs, one has to sit in the boat while driving around, which hardly seems safe. Conclusions (Disclaimer: I don't believe in giving numerical scores. It is up to the reader to decide what they think of any given model, and I believe mandatory scores detract from this notion.) minifigs: The torso and head printing is of good quality and detail, overall I quite like these figs. build/design: The car is nice and sturdy, and even though they're quite simple in design, the trailer and boat still look the part. I still would've liked to see more seats in the car and boat. Playability: You can drive around and do some diving, but with no body to rescue, the play features are somewhat underwhelming. Overall the set looks nice enough, but is somewhat underwhelming in it's features. It really has to be combined with other coastguard sets for the best experience.
