40 years ago, LEGO introduced “Technic”, a range of sets aimed at older children. The red tractor (set 851, introduced 1977) was one of the first sets in the new Technic range. Most of the bricks are standard LEGO pieces, but the Technic range also introduced axles, gears, and bricks with holes to mount the axles. The tractor featured working steering, and the implement at the back rotates when the tractor is pushed along.

There have been about 10 tractors in the Technic range over the years, of various sizes and qualities. In 2016, LEGO released a new model (set 42054), based closely on a real tractor, the Claas Xerion, with a logging crane attachment at the back. This model includes an electric motor to power lift and rotation of the logging attachment, and the rotation of the cab.

The two models embody two separate developments over the last 40 years. Tractors themselves have changed dramatically, in terms of size, power, driver comfort, controls and many other aspects. And LEGO Technic has also changed over that time. The Claas model contains hardly any “traditional” bricks, and instead uses stud-less beams connected with pins and axles for its structure, as seen in most of the current Technic range. This leads to a very solid robust model (unlike early Technic models, which relied a lot on clutch power between the bricks, and were often flimsy).

The instructions for both models are distributed in paper form. The instruction book for the red tractor also includes instructions for four or five alternative attachments for the back. The book for the Claas only includes the instructions for the tractor and the logging attachment: plans for an alternative attachment are available on the Internet. The World Wide Web didn’t exist when LEGO introduced the Technic range.

I enjoyed rebuilding 851 for nostalgia. The build is somewhat frustrating in places because it is flimsy. The instructions are also less detailed : kids had to do more thinking and counting on their own back then. I enjoyed building 42054 for different reasons: it is quite challenging to assemble, like a 3D jigsaw puzzle, and quite robust from the start. It felt like half the instructions concerned the construction of one sort of frame or another from smaller elements. Then it all comes together at the end, and there are a number of “aha” moments when one realises what certain features are for. Especially that rising rotating cab. The guy who designed that is a genius.