Purchase Price:

£8.07

Box:

The image on the front and two sides of the box shows a Fire-Truck, Flaming Tree and 1 Minifig (fireman in breathing apperatus carrying an axe).

The top image shows 1 Minifig carrying an axe and a storage unit for his breathing apperatus. Also shown is a yellow mug. The 1:1 scale image is of the Fireman.

On the back of the box it is split into seven sections. The first image is the same as the front of the box, with an open version of the box showing two bags complete this build. Below this image are two related sets (4209 - Fire Plane and 4427 - Fire ATV).

The next four images show the set in various uses. Firstly the Minifig taking his breathing apperatus out of the truck. Next the Minifig is wearing his breathing apperatus and using his axe to tackle a flaming tree. Below these two images you can see where the Minifig can sit within the truck - in a control room and in a the truck cab (which also shows that the fire has been put out).

The final image is the standard Hey! image that Lego place on most sets now. This one is of a standard Lego City Fireman, which is a shame as the Forest Fireman would have been a nice inclusion.

The box contains two numbered bags, an 84-page Instruction Booklet and a sticker sheet with 6 stickers.

Build:

You are told to first open Bag 1. This contains 79 parts and a smaller bag which contains 53 parts.

The Minifig Forest Fireman is built first. He is in a Orange-Yellow fire suit, with grey gloves and a Dark-red Fire Hat.

Next you build the Flaming Tree. This is a solid tree with five flames leaping from one side.

The remaining parts from Bag 1 construct the Truck's cab and base.

Bag 1 build time is between 10 and 15 minutes. When finished you have 3 smaller parts remaining (1x 4260942, 1x 4210848 and 1x 3005743).

Page 44 of the Instruction Booklet tells you to now open the remaining bag, Bag 2. This contains 64 parts and a smaller bag which contains 51 parts.

Starting with the truck element you have already built from Bag 1, you now complete the truck build.

Bag 2 build time is also between 10 and 15 minutes. When finished you have 2 smaller parts remaining (1x 4163306 and another 1x 3005743).

Instruction Booklet Extras:

At the back of the Instruction Booklet you are shown the set within the Lego City interacting with 4209 (Fire Plane) and 4427 (Fire ATV). Also shown in the background is the Fire Station (7208). There is the standard information regarding the Lego Website and the Lego Club. Additionally the parts list shows 92 different parts are used to construct this set with 3005743 being used 10 times (you also get two extra ones in the bags).

Conclusion:

For me there is one (well two) major flaw in this set. The "Gull-Wing" doors have two gaps either side of the hinge on both sides of the truck. This could have been quite easily rectified, and Lego have been very clever with their photography on the box as the door is not quite fully open which disguses this flaw. The lack of a second Minifig is a shame, but not a real issue. The set is solid and the Flaming Tree is as good as the image show! Also, the control board could have included another computer screen rather than simple having two blank slopes - a phone piece would have been better than nothing.

One build change I found beneficial was to flip the robot arm (4626927) around 180 degrees so the water cannon will acually be held in place if you lower it down under the front "Roof-Rack".

This set is easily worth the RRP, and if Lego had put another Minifig in this set would have been an essential for all. If you can get a good price like I did then do not hesitate and buy!

Lego has produced a half dozen of these mid sized vehicles this year, ambulance, garbage truck, police 4x4, etc. This one caught my eye because of the amount of little details, and I think it is nearly the epitome of what I like in lego. Almost completely perfect, with just a couple of niggles.

Box/Instructions

There are stickers :( but not many. Numbered bags make this a relatively quick set to build.

Parts

Lots of small parts with lots of repetition, which I tend to like. A couple of notables, I haven't seen the long one piece wheel arches before and there are two 4x1 bricks that have a C-shape. The equipment rack slides in and out of these, and I can see them being quite useful for storing and securing things, as they are used here. The tree is also pretty good, with three colours of foliage and quite a lot of leaves, and 5 flames.

Minifigures

Part one of the niggles, there's only one fireman here and there really feels like there should be two, one to drive and one in the computer centre. Still, if you've got any of the other fireman sets you've probably got some extras. He is fully equipped with breathing equipment and an axe.

The build

It's a fun and straight forward build, starting with the very simple flaming tree and moving on to the truck chassis and cab. This is completed with the first bag, and the second bag ads the rest of the fire engine. The front and back bumpers have some 90 degree work but everything else is pretty straight forward.

The completed model and playability

Firstly, it looks good. The tree is simple although the fire makes it far more interesting and the truck itself really looks the part. The lights, bumpers, lines of colours, small details, it just looks right. It also looks solid, which is probably because it is. My toddler played with it for half an hour and at the end I didn't have to reattach anything. But what I really like about this model is the amount of playability involved. Apart from driving the truck, there's the command centre to play with, the equipment to load and unload and dress the fireman in, the water cannon to put the flaming tree out. Another minifig would help, but even without that, for sheer stuff to do this is one of the best small/mid sized models I can remember.

Value for Money

With no license fees you normally get more for your money, and I'm actually surprised at just how much was in this set for the money. I think it's pretty good value.

Some quality issues

The only other niggle I have is a bit of a quality concern. While building this, a couple of things caught my eye. The first is the oxygen tan seems to be made of the same type of cheaper plastic that the six-tool wheels are made from. Once the model was finished, I started looking at the bricks themselves. The fire engine is, mostly red. However, it's not uniform, there are about 3 different shades in there on different parts. Even the tree trunk has a couple of pieces significantly lighter than the rest. This might sound incredibly pedantic, but I'm so used to Lego being flawless that it seemed a bit strange. I hope Lego isn't having to cut corners to stay competitive.

Summary

If my niggles sound pretty minor, that's because they are. Overall, I think this is an excellent set and heartily recommend it.

The 4208 Fire Truck was supposed to be one of the best sets in the history of Lego but something really let it down. So here are the pro's and con's of this Forest Fire set.

Pros

• Truck is very detailed with 3 parts - the place where he drive's, the communication area and the storage compartment.
• Probably the best valued set in Lego at 8 cents per piece.
• You get alot of fireman tools.
• The tree is very detailed with every leaf having a different green color.

Cons

• There is only 1 minifigure included. What a letdown!
• This is not really a con for this set but there are only 3 of these Forest Fire sets. Lego, please release more.

Could have been one of the best sets in 2012, but the lack of minifigures is really a letdown.

As much as I love LEGO firefighters, I have to admit that this off-road truck is a bit of a disappointment. It’s not a terrible set by any means, but it lacks the attention to detail needed and that extra something special to make it memorable.

Let’s start with the good things. This is one robust truck, built like a tank. If you were to play demolition derby with LEGO vehicles, this would be a good choice. I also love the way it looks, it’s big (bigger than I expected) but also quite compact. Maybe chunky would be a good word to describe it, and I mean chunky in a good way. It also features a really nicely done pair of gullwing doors that hold a control room for the water cannon. In the rear storage compartment there’s room for an equipment rack that slides in and out. This is a huge improvement over the simply storage boxes used in many past sets (like the 7239 Fire Truck) since it stays put and won’t rattle around, plus it just looks nicer.

Where the set falls short are in the details. The white rearview mirrors stick out like Dumbo ears and it would’ve probably looked better in a subtler red or preferably using other pieces that don’t stick out so much. The control room also feels a bit sparse, there’s just one sloped control panel piece but room for two, and the monitors are just gray pieces. Again, a lack of detail. The water cannon on top is probably the most annoying aspect of this truck as there’s no way to lock it in place. Put the truck going uphill and the cannon rotates around and faces backward. A flimsy design that could’ve been done so much better. Last but not least, it’s really sparsely accessorized. You get a mug, an axe and the breathing apparatus and that’s it! Compare that with the much cheaper 4427 Fire ATV that also comes with an extinguisher and a chainsaw, but for a quarter of the price.

I also can’t shake the feeling that this set should’ve had two firefighters included. The truck seats two people (driver + control room), and just from a logical point of view it feels like it was designed to have one firefighter in the truck operating the water cannon and one outside wearing the accessories.

Bottom line: While this truck is a bit underwhelming straight out of the box, if you’re willing and able to do a bit of modification this could definitely be the great truck it has the promise to be. It's got a nice look to it, plenty of nice pieces and even if it could've used another minifigure and more accessories, you could always buy the inexpensive 4427 Fire ATV to beef it up.