LEGO City 60012: Coast Guard 4x4 & Diving Boat Review

This weekend my lovely Wife and Daughter went out for a tea party at a friends. On the way home she stopped by our local K-Mart and found the LEGO City 60012: Coast Guard 4x4 & Diving Boat.

That night I started building said set. So lets have a look shall we.

  LEGO City 60012: Coast Guard 4x4 & Diving Boat. Yet again, the boat floats in water.

 The set contains 128 pieces and retails for $19.99.

 Comes with 2 Minifigures: Coast Guard 4x4 & Diving Boat and Trailer.

 Note: All photo's can be clicked on for a larger view.

 

 On the back they show us all the fun action that can be had in this set. Looks like you could have some swooshing around fun in the tub. If only the water would stay in the bath tub when I get in it. :-/

 When you open the box you will notice a lot of empty space. We get 2 numbered bags, a dingy, instructions and a sticker sheet. I feel that this set should have fitted into a box like the size of last years Endor battle pack.

 Here is the sticker sheet. 10 stickers in total to apply.

 The contents of bag 1. Not a lot to look at in terms of parts. I did notice that the flippers are not on a sprue, like they used to be in the past. Also we get the new mold life jacket, which I'm not a fan of.

The crew member Minifig has a nice new print on both front and back of the torso. He also comes with a standard single printed smiley face and a blue cap. He also gets the life jacket... It's just a shame that LEGO haven't worked out the neck issue yet.

A step by step shot of how the 4x4 is constructed. It's great to see a vehicle with doors again.

  A look at the front and back of the 4x4.

Side view with the equipment out. The use of a 2x2 jumper plate helps for easy removal. We get a scuba tank, mask and flippers

 Bag 2 really should have been in bag 1. A waste of space and plastic. This would have also reduced the size of the box too, like I already mentioned above. But I guess it more for the kids to do :)

Coast Guard Rescuer gas the same print as LEGO City 60015: Coast Guard Plane Rescuer. Only he has a 5 O'clock shadow stubble, single faced printing and a blue cap.

Simple looking, yet effective trailer.

Same with the boat. Not a lot to it but it really looks nice, maybe a seat would have added a little something to it?

Attached to the trailer.

All connected up ready for a rescue.

All Complete!

The spares that are left over. Interestingly we get a spare 2x3 blue plate. I had to go back through the instructions to see if I had missed a step. But then looked at the back page to see the part count to show 4. We get 5, so a thumbs up for something other then 1x1 pieces.

Overall this a cute little set with the possibility of some great playability when added to another set, such as the LEGO City 60015: Coast Guard Plane to act as a support crew. I really like the compact size of this 4x4 instead of the larger ones from the past that look too big on a City road.
The diver will have to suit up before leaving the shore due to not having a lot of room to fit any equipment on it.

I find it frustrating when TLG promote boats that float and then put stickers on them. Yes I can hear you say... "well don't put them on then". But for a child to see and want this set, like my son. They are going to want to do all these things. By putting it in water the end result will be that the stickers will fall off and it will loose the intended look that they like so much.
An extra Minifig and a surf board would have given this set a straight out of the box story line that kids would have loved to play out.
Nevertheless its a great companion set for one of the larger sets that will be out there soon if not already.

I recommend picking this set up and I look forward to picking up the rest of the series

Thanks for reading!

Let us know in the comments below, what you think of the set. I would love to hear others opinions on it.

Until next time this is Tan Tile... diving in for the next review.