Review: 30003 Steam Roller

[Rufus]

Hello City fans! I can't believe no-one's reviewed this yet.

Series: City

Number: 30003

Name: Steam Roller

Pieces: 31

Release year: 2009

Availability: Daily Mirror Promotion (UK)

Price: Free (Newspaper cost 45p)

The bag:

A standard size for these mini promotional sets.

The pieces:

Two 8 stud technic beams, four smooth round pieces that will be all too familiar to Star Wars fans; nothing particularly remarkable. The diminutive instruction book is included for size comparison.

The instructions:

Apologies for the slightly blurry pic. 7 steps will build the complete model, a few minutes work. We've seen that consturction scene before.

The minifig:

Nice dungarees! The face is quite common amongst this years 'figs, and is availiable on Factory and PaB. This is the first time I've noticed that he has pupils! Look closely and you can see small white dots in the top left corner of his eyes.

The build:

The two halves are symmetrical; as you can see the 'wheels' are not connected between the sides. The two sides are held together by the 2x4 grey connector brick and the 2x6 dk grey plate which will sit on top.

The finished article:

Construction-dude is obviously quite proud of his new Steam Roller! You can see that the 'wheels' don't automatically line up. I like the use of the double-inverted slope piece which sits comfortably above the rollers. The grey half-bush behind is the only leftover piece.

Overall, it's a nice little model, and a good addition to the construction range (though it gets swamped by the larger models, particularly the mega-oversized 7685 bulldozer). The technic beams tend to make it a little wide, and the rollers will slide on a smooth surface (a problem with which owners of the Sandcrawler will be all too familiar). Always useful to have another minifig, although I'm a little worried about the craze for ginger goatees in Studsville!

But, for 45p, who's complaining!

Hope you enjoyed this mini-review for a mini-set. Sorry if the pics aren't the best - it gets dark awfully early in England at this time of year. Thanks for reading!

Rufus

Edited October 24, 2011 by Rick
Indexed

[Milan]

This is so nice set!

One of the best promotional set!

I like how they made double sloped brick between rollers, too!

Worker is ok, too.

[Rick]

Always useful to have another minifig, although I'm a little worried about the craze for ginger goatees in Studsville!

Looks more brown than ginger/red on the pictures. Reminds me of the face that came on my recently purchased BBQ chef (8398), which was also brown instead. Bricklink doesn't seem to differentiate between the two, but my goatee was clearly different from the one in 7635, for example.

The inverted slope bit is also my favorite 'design' aspect on this set.

[squidman85]

The set is very good.I think many of 2009 promotionals are good too.

[Cardinal Brick]

Not to bad I got 4 of them in the end it's not the best of the promotionals on offer but one of the better ones. Above average in my opinion.

[lightningtiger]

Thanks for a great review. I wish these were comming down to Australia, I would buy a paper every day to get free lego !

This set (and the little green tractor too) has so much going for it and this one crys out pimp me ! There is room for an engine if you wish, mounting points for tools or other lights, maybe even mirrors to check behind you. This design is above average, as it's the first small road roller made by lego. A little brother to the single drum roller.

[Dunjohn]

This is the one I've wanted most too, and I got *quick count* six. Mainly because of the minifig; that face is probably my favourite in Lego, he's so happy! I was a tad disappointed by the slighty sloppz wheel design, such as the way the halves spin independently, and how the rollers themselves aren't perfectly smooth; perfectly level road surfaces may be traditional, but THIS construction company obviously prides itself on innovation. The basic Technic bricks do make it seem wide, but I can't see anz way to improve on that. The machine itself looks a little sparse. However, I'm not complaining as much as it looks I am. I love this thing!

[Piranha]

Thanks for the review

This set is very nice and would have made a decent impulse.

Also would work well with the other larger steam roller set.

Since when paving there a multiple size steam rollers.

Clever design for the rollers.

[Rufus]

I was a tad disappointed by the slighty sloppz wheel design, such as the way the halves spin independently, and how the rollers themselves aren't perfectly smooth; perfectly level road surfaces may be traditional, but THIS construction company obviously prides itself on innovation.

Good point, I hadn't even thought about that. There will also be little circles of uncompressed asphalt every so often...

[legotrainfan]

I'm sorry for adding something to a thread that is almost one year old. However, I'm eager to know if you can get set 30003 elsewhere. You were lucky to get it as a promotional with your Daily Mirror, but are there no toy stores that are selling it? Toys R Us? Or any other toy stores? I'd love to get this set, but I've seen it in no shop so far.

By the way, I'm from Austria, central Europe. So comments like "Yes, here in Seattle we have five stores selling it" won't help me much. I'm not going to fly to the US just because of one little set. If I cannot get it here, I'll have to buy it on bricklink.

[peterab]

I'm sorry for adding something to a thread that is almost one year old. However, I'm eager to know if you can get set 30003 elsewhere. You were lucky to get it as a promotional with your Daily Mirror, but are there no toy stores that are selling it? Toys R Us? Or any other toy stores? I'd love to get this set, but I've seen it in no shop so far.

Being a promotional set means they are offered to companies for promotions, so its a bit random where they are available. Bricklink is your most reliable way of getting them.

[escortmad79]

BL or eBay will be your best bet to get one