LEGO City 60252 Construction Bulldozer [Review]

The LEGO City is expanding in 2020, and we’re happy to show you a preview of one of the new sets! Today we’ll be looking at 60252 Construction Bulldozer. Designed for younger builders, this 126 piece set features two minifigures, a bulldozer, wrecking ball, and an assortment of construction-zone extras. Set 60252 will be available beginning December 26th in the UK and January 1st in North America, and it will retail for $19.99 USD | $24.99 CAD | £17.99 UK.

LEGO City 60252 - Construction Bulldozer


The box and contents

The box for this set is what you’d expect from a standard LEGO City set – bright blue colors, the City logo, and a product shot of the contents in front of some non-LEGO background art. Of note is the big “4+” logo, indicating that this set is aimed at younger builders or those who are interested in easier construction. The back of the box further emphasizes this with a “learn to build” blurb over an inset that shows the level of complexity to expect.

Inside, there are two bags of parts, two instruction booklets, a loose vehicle chassis and a pair of rubber treads. Each instruction booklet corresponds with one of the bags of parts. This could come in handy if you want to outsource building one of the two models to a friend or loved one, or you could use it to occupy that nephew who just insists on “helping.”


The build

The first instruction booklet guides you through making the bulldozer. It uses bag one and all of the loose parts. There are a couple of ever-useful warning bars printed on 1×4 tiles, and a 2×4 tile with warning sign printed on it. As advertised, there are a lot of larger, easier to handle parts for the younger crowd. Even so, older builders should be okay with a mix of useful basic bricks and vehicle parts.

The first few pages have you making this bag’s minifigure, the warning sign, and a pair of orange safety cones.

City 60252 - Bag 1 extras

Next up is the bulldozer. For a simplified build, it still has some decent shaping thanks to the use of curved slopes and textured bricks. The front scoop and roll cage are single molds, but I doubt many brick-built variations would hold up to the expected levels of rougher play.

City 60252 - Dozer

Once the bulldozer is completed, it’s time to make the trailer. The trailer bed is another large part, but again it feels at home as a more durable element. Then, on page 36, we get a quick build of three crates. The simplicity of these makes it feel as if they would have made sense to build back on page 7 with the traffic cones, but whatever.

Bag 2 contains the parts for the wrecking ball/crane, a cement mixer, some bits of wall to smash up, and another construction worker. I found the assortment of parts to feel less “junior” than that of the first bag. Maybe it’s because of that pile of 1×1 round plates.

City 60252 -Bag 2 contents

The main focus of this bag is the wrecking ball/crane structure. This is another quick and easy build, but it still looks nice. The crane arm is built using a click-hinge, and you can swap out the wrecking ball with a cargo hook for alternative play. The crane mount spins on a central axis, allowing for a good range of motion when combined with the lift-arm. My only real complaint is that while the operator gets a couple of gauges to simulate a control panel, they have no way of actually operating the crane. I suppose the LEGO-standard control levers were seen to be a bit too fiddly for the 4+ crowd.

City 60252 - Crane

The last parts in the bag are the other worker (who we’ll look at in a moment), some bits of wall, and a cement mixer. The mixer is a fun little build, and the wall elements are good for use in future custom LEGO models.


The finished model

Putting all these builds into a single scene does a pretty good job of evoking the image of a construction site. The bulldozer’s trailer attachment allows for some interaction with the crane when you swap out the wrecking ball for the cargo hook. You can also drag the cement mixer around and knock stuff down with the crane. What’s not to like?


The minifigures

This set comes with two pretty standard-looking construction workers. All the parts have been seen before, but the torsos do feature printing on both the front and back. The crane worker’s face print features glasses and would be useful in minifigures outside of the construction zone.
City 60252 - Minfigures


Conclusion and recommendation

I like to think I’m not the target market for the 4+ sets. That said, I do buy LEGO for other people, and from that perspective I can say this set would be a pretty fun kit for children or novice builders. While there aren’t any complex techniques in play, there is still some solid building going on, and the play features are pretty good.

My main complaint is that, for $20 USD, this feels a little bit too expensive per-piece for a non-licensed set. If LEGO could have thrown in some more wall elements or another minifigure, I think I’d be more agreeable. It’s certainly not a good parts pack for adult fan builders – not at full retail, anyway. That said, I really enjoy the wrecking ball play feature.

City 60252 - Action

The Construction Bulldozer will be available via the Official LEGO Shop for $19.99 USD | $24.99 CAD | £17.99 UK beginning December 26th in the UK and January 1st in the US. It is also available via third-party sellers on Amazon and eBay.


The LEGO Group sent The Brothers Brick an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.


1 comment on “LEGO City 60252 Construction Bulldozer [Review]

  1. Purple Dave

    I’m trying to imagine the look on the one minifig’s face when he realizes that the only structure built within range of his decidedly non-mobile wrecking ball is the platform it sits on…

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