This week once again a special piece from LEGO® fell into my hands. On a well-known German small ad exchange I came across the LEGO® Technic Set 8851 from 1984 for really fair money – one of the sets for which I would have done a lot in my childhood – Hashtag: #ChildhoodDreamFulfilled

The set is in pretty good condition. The box has no major damage except where the seals were stuck and almost looks as fresh from the store. The inlay is in perfect condition (those were really great presentation packages, right???) and below it it goes on just as perfectly.

Besides the building instructions without kinks, the information sheet about the Pneumatic and even the Technic-Flyer from 1984 are in perfect, almost new condition!

Note the “Service” page – the predecessor of “Bricks & Pieces” or “Pick A Brick”.

The assembly of the excavator is relatively quick. However, thinking back two or three decades, the box would have been a small challenge. I always find it amazing how complex the building instructions are when I build one of the old darlings. The parts are not highlighted and you have to think symmetrically or understand the developer. Here are two examples that would be inconceivable in a building instruction today:

But even after only 19 steps (!) the model is already ready.

The construction of the excavator was a lot of fun and despite the low number of parts was quite demanding in some places. The parts themselves were in good optical condition, unfortunately with a few tooth marks. Not much was missing, but some extra parts were given, which probably did not belong in the original box. The Pneumatic is still working perfectly. It was nice to play with the old system again.

All in all a great purchase, which has completed my collection of “Must haves from childhood” a little more.