LEGO City Yellow Construction Excavator (60420) Review

Next up is a set that would compliment any LEGO Cityscape, not only can it fill the skyline with something different to look at but it also serves a purpose for us City builders, I am of course talking about the new LEGO City Yellow Construction Excavator (60420) set!

When in the process of building a new set, say a new Modular, the Excavator can be placed in the space where that set will eventually go and not only act as a place holder but also several photo scenes. I personally can’t wait to take some cracking shots of this construction vehicle in action.

I started to build this live on Instagram, so if you would like to watch that back please click here. I stream once a week every Thursday, it’s a fun and relaxed environment perfect for older fans to chat with like minded people and ask questions as I build.

The Box & Contents:

The boxart is bright and colourful as you’d expect a LEGO City set to be, filled with lots of details and things going on, from the Minifigures busy working and the Excavator doing it’s thing. Flip the box around and you’ll see more of what this set has to offer in the form of playability. The base swivels, the arm moves and the bucket swings, all the things you’d expect to move, do.

There are 6 numbered bags, an instruction manual, 2 rubber pieces and a small sticker sheet. Each bag feels full, apart from bag 6, that is just chockablock with track elements that will need connecting together later in the build process. Oh I nearly forgot to scan the booklets QR code, don’t want to miss out on my free 20 Insiders points.

The Build:

The first bag is full of parts, more so than I’ve never noticed in a bag. It builds quite a substantial block of bricks that makes up a large portion of the Cab. Using a lot of SNOT (studs not on top) parts, also added here is a small control panel, seating area, engine bay and a walkway to climb up onto when entering/exiting the vehicle.

In the console there is a 2×1 printed tile, thankfully stickers don’t usually come in that size so a print was used, again it is basically a calculator type design but still it’s nice to get at least one printed element in a rather pricey set. Coming in at £49.99 with 633 pieces, the price is somewhat high, yes you get 3 Minifigures but for me personally it feels like a £35 or at a push £40 set.

Bag 2 adds to the Cab and rear section, polishing off the curves on the sides and back. It also adds a small engine which is placed under the flap on the back, hidden away bit easily accessible. This bag isn’t as full as the first but it does still add a substantial amount to the set before moving onto the next bag.

Bags 3 and 4 finally make the Excavator vehicle recognisable, with the arm and bucket additions. The entire arm is held in place with very chunky LEGO Technic pieces and a couple of long bars/pins. I particularly like the piston style elemtents as they not only function like you’d expect but they look good too, lifting and extending the arm and bucket makes the pistons go in & out.

Bag 5 is the construction of the wheel base and the final part to the main Excavator vehicle. Again this section is a substantial hunk ok bricks and bits, including wheels and other LEGO Technic parts, as those are considered the strongest. In the picture you can see a green part that is connected to a red part, this is the turning mechanism, to be precise the ball and socket joint that allows the whole top section to swivel. Simple but very effect!

There we have it, the finished vehicle, complete with 82 individual track pieces joined to make two wheel coverings. That was a long process but not too tedious that it puts you off. Wrapping the tracks around the wheels is very satisfying though which makes up for it.

As constructions vehicles go, and being my first, I must say this was very enjoyable to build, having only built several LEGO Speed Champions sets in the past and smaller vehicles, it was well over due that an Excavator was on the list. I wonder what will be next, perhaps a look on LEGO.com for others or eBay for some older models. As I said earlier in the review this will sit nicely in Gregsville (my LEGO City), as both a way to show building progress for sets and appearing in Scenes/photographs.

The only thing missing here are the Minifigures, which got given names during our Instagram live stream build. Keep reading to which Minifigures you get in the set and their made up names.

The Minifigures:

All 3 Minifigures fit the set well and represent two different roles, an Site Supervisor and construction workers. All have different outfits too, making for some great photos and scenes. Each one has been given a made up name, during the live stream as mentioned above. Our viewers often give roughly the same names such as Steve or Larry, but that day was different, each name given was a derivative of Jeff, so I’m happy to introduce Jeff the builder, Geoff the Site Supervisor and Georgina (not quite Jeff/Geoff) the operator.

The Site Supervisor character is your stereotypical businessman, with his hair slicked back, waistcoat, tie and hard hat. This particular Minifigure is exclusive to the set even though the parts have appeared in other set, the arrangement is unique. His comes with both a hard hat and a hair piece, this is one thing LEGO has been doing right for the last couple of years. It’s a fun character and one I’m glad is included, every construction site needs a supervisor, he also comes with a cool 2×4 blueprint tile of the Ice Cream Parlour set.

Next up is the male Construction Worker, sporting a brand new for 2024 outfit. The hi-vis looks great and I am happy its been included in a slightly cheaper set, as it isn’t exclusive and appears in the other construction set released at the same time, LEGO Mobile Construction Crane Set (60409).

He also has a separate hair piece along with a red hard hat and ear defenders. Thosnis definitely a torso & leg combo I need to get multiple of, to flesh out the workforce.

Last but not least we have the female construction worker, who is also an exclusive Minifigure, but again just in this arrangement of pieces. Again the torso and leg combo is available in the aforementioned set, which is good as they should be readily available on Bricklink/Brickowl soon.

Overall the set is well worth it, although shaving a few quid off the price wouldn’t hurt. The Excavator itself is fun to build with a mixture of standard LEGO techniques and Technic elements. Chuck in the 3 Minifigures and you have a well rounded set that will fit nicely into a City, sit on display or be played with, it truly is a toy with many purposes.

We hope you enjoyed our review of the LEGO City Yellow Construction Excavator (60420) set. Thank you for taking the time to read what we have to say about it. Please do let us know your thoughts via the comments section below, we love hearing from you!