It's my second Dacta set (the first was 9247), but I had to buy it because of the special parts and minifigs. Well, I have different feelings about it...

Box/Instructions

The box is not as big as I expected. It shows the minifigs in different situations several times. What about the instructions? Nothing. Because there are no instructions. It's an 'Education' set, as seen on the box, so you have to build it by yourself.

Parts

We get 256 parts, including the 22 minifigs and their accessories. More props and less minifigures than in 9247. There are some special parts what I have to mention, for example the rare food parts. Banana, apple, pizza, baguettes, ice cream and several cherries - yummy! The blank yellow head (for the scarecrow), the green bicycle, the tan bag, the laptop, the silver cup and the brown cat are pretty rare too! And in addition, we get a dozen of spare parts.

Minifigures

22 minifigs are pretty much. 11 male, 11 female-it's OK. But what kind of females? A female fireman (let's call her firewoman), a female Olympic minifig (strange in baseball cap) and a female construction worker? Very strange! And the heads aren't the 'classic' smiling female heads, but the double-sided ones with beauty spot on it. The little girl looks whimsical with it. And because of the double side, some ladies' second face can be seen if you look at her backs! Big fail! But we get a large assortment of minifigs: pilot, farmer, policewoman, chef, waitress, janitor and so on.

The build

Without instructions, it's a bit harder to build the props, but it isn't impossible at all. It takes 15-30 minutes to build (well, I build LEGO sets slowly). And if you finish, the assortment of the small props looks great!

The completed model

We can divide the set to small groups:

-winter scene with snowmen (skeleton heads?) and ski

-pilot and stewardess

-skater guy with skateboard, ramp and checked flag

-countryside scene with a male and a female farmer, painted dog and brown cat (yay!), scarecrow (very good point) and radish (?)

-little roundabout with a boy (with blue backpack or whatever) and a girl

-restaurant scene with chef, table with dough and waitress

-bearded street sweeper with garbage and rubbish bin

-female (why?) construction worker with buoys

-female doctor and male paramedic with stretcher

-postman with red bike and mailbox

-chasing scene with policewoman and robber

-saleswoman/receptionist with laptop

-repairman with his tools

-diver champion with her equipment, cup and podium

-fireman and firewoman with fire

-biker girl with table and a lot of lovely food (hmmm...)

Summary

Well, it's not cheap, it's overpriced. But you get 22 minifigs and lots of useful props to your town. I'm very happy about the rare elements, the almost perfectly assorted themes and the very useful minifigs and parts. But I'm sad about its price and the female heads (+the baffling female community workers). So it's a good buy if you're collecting City sets or you want to start it.

Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English grammar :D.