But now I had a chance to learn it much better. I was in a second hand toy fair when I found it for a bit more than 10 USD. I have quickly realized that it has most important parts and all of them are in a good shape, despite coming from the most fragile era of Technic history with toothed connectors and toothed Technic plates. So I decided to grab it.
Datasheet:
- Number: 8853
- Theme: Technic, construction
- Year introduced: 1988
- Parts: 332 (Peeron)
- Price: from 30 USD (Bricklink)
Let's take a look at the set. There are no pistons and there is no engine. (Maybe this is why I did not really pay attention around that time). But there is lots of mechanics that can be operated in various ways. The light on the top can steer the rear wheels, like on any normal excavator.
But the really big thing is the bucket operation mechanism that can be moved using the two large steering wheels on the rear. The rearmost wheel lifts the whole bucket mechanism and the bucket while the other one dumps the content of the bucket. It operates with a fairly complicated mechanism with gears and all sorts of arms. The interesting thing is that the two wheels move the bucket independently: the bucket will stay at the same angle unless we operate the dumping wheel.
You have to as really careful with the operation though. The mechanism contains many fragile parts and it clearly feels that if there is any tension in will break very easily (like my own similar aged other sets).
All in all, I think it is a fairly good set. It contains interesting functions and can be played well. For this amount of money I certainly think it was a good buy.
More images in the gallery as usual. If you would like to understand how the mechanisms work the Technicopedia article is very detailed.
