4045 - Road Sweeper

[flatcat]

Hello Playmofriends

The second of my three 'construction theme' reviews (yes sorry, you will have to sit through another one!) is of set 4045 Road sweeper.

To start of with, of course, a few box images

Front box image:




Rear of box, beautifully displaying that vast range of accessories




Side of box showing emptying feature, and the tilting cab feature:




Another great action shot, showing how the front sweepers work:

[flatcat]

Upon opening the box, we come across a whole host of bags and parts!




First for the Klicky - Reflective stripes, not very different from what we have seen in the past, although the collar looks slightly new:

[flatcat]

Now for the road sweeper!

I was pleasantly suprised at the amount of parts for the sweeper, turning out that it was more mechanical than I first thought:




The built machine! Intitially, I found thought that the machine seemed too big for it's purpurse, and that more attension to the mechanical side had been thought about than the end result.

The stickers were probably the worst I have ever had to stick, as they were small and fiddly, and I had to make sure I got the right ones!




The cab tilts forward for easy access:




The rear flaps up for easy emptying:




Underneath, we can see how it works. The two front brushes have rubber bottoms, to grip the surface, and thus making them turn when the toy is pushed along. These brushes then sweep the bits in towards the large collecting brush which is attached to the two front wheels. This then hoiks the bits up through a grid and into the collecting hopper at the rear:




The grid is designed to stop the bits from falling back out, although the gaps are so small that often the bits don't make it through the gaps, and some get stuck at it is near impossible to get them out:

[flatcat]

I am pressuming that Playmobil based it on a sweeper like this one:




Or it could have been an attempt at one like this, but due to them trying to make it pick up etc, it wasn't possible to put the bendy feature in (either that or they wern't allowed) but is still bears resemblance to both. And anyway it is a massive leap from the 3790 sweeper, which was more of a pedestrian one.




Apart from scaling issues, I also think that it should have been a different colour, as it is more council than construction.






Lastly for some action shots. As regards to picking up I found it didn't really work well on flat shiny surfaces, the carpet was better, but best was the Playmobil road sections found in the other construction sets, which makes good sense.



Emptying the bits is not very easy as the machine has to be lifted when trying to open the flap, and again to tip out the bits. These bits appear in the 4046 road maintenance Unimog as salt granules, but as grit or litter here.




This set retails at around £14.99 which I think is a good price, considering what it does, although the bits are very very small and easily lost, and there is a clear lack of accessories, a common occurance with construction themed sets. Again with the road roller set, I got mine for £10 which was a good price, and it pays to shop around.

Thanks for looking,
Damo

[playmofire]

Another excellent review, Damo; I think I shall commission you to do reviews on my behalf in future!    Thank you for the pictures of the real thing.  Dickie (a German toy company part of the Schuco group) do some great plastic vehicles including one of the "bendy" sweepers which is about 1:35 and wouldn't look too much out of scale with Playmobil.

When you say that you think the sweeper is more council than construction, you've hit the nail on the head.  The colour is what is called Kommunal Orange in Germany and is a standard colour for local authority equipment such as snowploughs and gritters and refuse/recycling vehicles such as:

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-GB-Site/en_GB/Product-Show?pid=4046&cgid=Bau

and

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-GB-Site/en_GB/Product-Show?pid=4418&cgid=Stadtleben

I think at one time it would have gone into the City Service theme:

http://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/catalogue.html

but this is now more general as Life in the City and so it's gone into construction.

I've wondered whether to buy one of these, but your review has made up my mind for me and one will be added to my collection soon.

Thanks again for the review.   

[flatcat]

Another excellent review, Damo; I think I shall commission you to do reviews on my behalf in future!    Thank you for the pictures of the real thing.  Dickie (a German toy company part of the Schuco group) do some great plastic vehicles including one of the "bendy" sweepers which is about 1:35 and wouldn't look too much out of scale with Playmobil.

When you say that you think the sweeper is more council than construction, you've hit the nail on the head.  The colour is what is called Kommunal Orange in Germany and is a standard colour for local authority equipment such as snowploughs and gritters and refuse/recycling vehicles such as:

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-GB-Site/en_GB/Product-Show?pid=4046&cgid=Bau

and

http://www.playmobil.de/on/demandware.store/Sites-GB-Site/en_GB/Product-Show?pid=4418&cgid=Stadtleben

I think at one time it would have gone into the City Service theme:

http://www.collectobil.com/catalogue/catalogue.html

but this is now more general as Life in the City and so it's gone into construction.

I've wondered whether to buy one of these, but your review has made up my mind for me and one will be added to my collection soon.

Thanks again for the review.   

Thanks for the positive comments Gordon

I'm glad you have decided to buy one as it really is a great item

Now you mention the colour scheme, they are all orange too!

Come to think of it, I have only ever seen those Hako bendy sweepers in red - is this the only colour they come in? Although it is probably like John deere green and JCB yellow, althought I know that 'A Plant' paints their JCB's green to match their corporate colours so this could be the case?

[Wolf Knight]

Congratulation on yet another brilliant review Damo!!! I really like you comparisons to the real think!!! and the details are as always great!! Well done!! Kepp up the good work!!!

[playmofire]

Thanks for the positive comments Gordon

I'm glad you have decided to buy one as it really is a great item

Now you mention the colour scheme, they are all orange too!

Come to think of it, I have only ever seen those Hako bendy sweepers in red - is this the only colour they come in? Although it is probably like John deere green and JCB yellow, althought I know that 'A Plant' paints their JCB's green to match their corporate colours so this could be the case?

The Dickie "bendy" sweeper is in red, too.  Maybe this is Hako red, just as there are, as you point out, other manufacturers' colours or company colours.  Near us is a small business called Parlour which markets combines and such like and has them all painted in purple.  When Diane used to work in the paint trade she remembers making up batches of paint in "Parlour purple".

[Gis]

Great detailed review Damo. I havent seen it in shops around here yet, might pick it up if I do.

[flatcat]

Great detailed review Damo. I havent seen it in shops around here yet, might pick it up if I do.

Thanks, Gis!

I'm suprised you haven't seen it in the shops yet, as it has been out for a couple of years now, and is slowly on it's way out already