Funny looking crane. It has a kind of cartoonish feel to it, since I've never seen a crane in real life that has this design. (The closest thing to it might be the current Liebherr compact city crane). Yet, as a kid, I loved this set. Blends in perfectly with every cargo related trainset/port or construction site you can think of. Why does it look so weird?

- In comparison to every 90's truck or car: it's pretty wide. 6 knobs instead of 4 as a base, with the wheels sticking out of the side.

- Considering the width, it's quite short in length. Makes it look fat and bulky (a good thing for lifting equipment).

- The 'spider' support legs. Never seen anything like it on such a crane, but it fits in great with the overall look. And they work great. Kudo's for the red details. Safety first!

- The cab is on the wrong side of the vehicle :) Where I live, we drive on the right side of the road so the cab should be on the left.

- The standard truck tires are a bit small. The bigger size technic wheels (like the 1489 mobile crane) would be more realistic. It makes up for it by having 6 in stead of 4 wheels.

All in all: great playability. As a kid, I loved sets that allowed me to move stuff. Cranes, trailers, forklifts, that kind of stuff. So this one is awesome. Only (minor) downside I might have: the weight of the stuff you lift is limited. The crane can tip (hold it down with your hand), the winch doesn't stay in position (keep your hand on it) or the telescopic boom slides in, especially after some time and wear (block the boom with a technic stud or something). Needless to say it's not a real design flaw, it's me using the crane for things it shouldn't be able to lift in the first place. But that never stopped me :) Another minor downside: the crane isn't really drivable, to be honest. When you go around a corner, there isn't a good way to hold/steer the undercarriage. But that's probably Lego saying: this thing isn't made for driving, it's made for lifting :)

My mom and Dad bought this for me, and i love it.. The working crane, the Metal hook, The Tractor in the shipping crate. This set was great, i loved the balancing arms that came out to support it.

Pros

• Metal Hook
• Sweet Balance arm.

Cons

• The Construction of the cab is a little lame,
• Nothing else

Built this set again the other day, Its great reminds me of the day i got it and built it with my mom.

I got this set when it came out when I was a kid. I couldn't afford larger sets that had cranes included, but I actually ended up liking this model more because it can be paired with other construction sets and easily fits right in, even with today's newer sets. The thing I like the most about this set is that it has a metal hook, which haven't been included in sets for a long time.

In short, this is a great set to include in your city construction crew, and the crate style being identical to other crates in sets makes it easily compatible with other sets/train sets.

another of those perfectly harmonious sets, well designed and providing many ways to play with it. the adjustable supports work perfectly, although for young kids they might demand too much of fine motor skills.
also there's an interesting part selection: many hinges, and a nice canopy. plus one more container for the old ships and trains :-).

A Classic town set that still isn't showing its age right up with the more modern city sets.

the set comes with a 'standard' 4x8 cargo container crate, this one containing the standard model 'tractor' so often found in these containers (launch & load seaport had one, and i'm guessing a few other sets did too).

The crane has a nice solid rotating brick at its centrepoint, and the large arm extends up to a good height. the fold out supports work well in keeping it stable.

my only complaint is that there is nothing to 'lock' the rotation of the crane when the arm is stowed for transport. it would have taken little to no effort to put in another small hinge arm between the base and the crane body to hold it still when driving around. still, its an easy enough modification to make for yourself, using two more of the red 'support strut & hinge' pieces attached somewhere along the body of the crane that will fold up/down to stop the crane rotating when being driven.

the minifig is a nice, classic construction worker with blue dungarees and red hardhat. safety first, after all!

Pros:
still looks great today
standard cargo pallet to add to your lego container yard
an imppresive sized crane for a set this size
construction not over-simplified, an entertaining build
very minor mods would make the set even better (extra hazard tiles, tiles instead of plates for front lights, an extra lighting rig on the top of the cab and on the end of the crane arm)

cons:
crane body still turns when being driven around.
most 'port' sets (train, nautica, etc) usually come with their own cranes or forklifts, so you might think you can do without, however good this set is.