With over 2,793 pieces of Lego in the box, the replica Mercedes-Benz AROCS 3245 (£169.99) made from Lego Technics isn't a build that you should approach lightly.

Even blitzing your way through the 482 pages of the instruction manual is going to take you some time. It certainly did us, and supposedly the Mercedes-Benz team too who built there model in just under 9 hours.

We weren't keeping track, we didn't want to show them up, but it did take an entire family a good chunk of holiday to get get it to a point where we only needed a couple of hours to finish it off when we got home.

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Not that you'll be keen to pack it in your suitcase either. When completed the Lego truck measures 31 cm in height, 14 cm in width and 54cm in length, and that's before you think about opting for the secondary build, a Mercedes-Benz articulated construction truck which is 77cm long.

So it's going to take you a while, but then as you can see as you work your way through the pages, there is plenty of detail to this grabber truck.

There's good reason for all those pieces. It doesn't just look pretty, it does loads of stuff too.

At the crux of the Lego AROCS 3245 is a pneumatic motor system that is powered by a new Lego Power Functions large motor and dozens and dozens of gears.

The system, with the aid of six AA batteries, lets you operate the crane arm mechanism, open and close the grabber, extend the outriggers for stability or raise and lower the tipper body to dump your load.

When you aren't doing that there is twin axle steering, a beautifully designed double differential drive and fully independent suspension for all of the 12 wheels.

Once you've built the underbelly of the machine you get to approach the rather easier driver’s cab which tilts to reveal a detailed 6-cylinder engine with moving pistons. The engine is actually one of the first things you'll build.

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For the most part the building instructions are straight forward and it is nice the manual is broken down into a number of bags to make it easier in finding the right part (there are six sections in total). We would also recommend going the extra step of separating the coloured pieces into separate trays to make finding the right piece easier. It really helps because there are just so many pieces.

The only gripe? That the instruction manual isn't broken down into corresponding parts too so multiple members of the family could build together rather than it being a solo event. We would even go as far as suggesting a ring binder. That's not normally a huge problem with many smaller Lego sets, but the sheer size of this build, it is the largest LEGO Technic model ever produced, made this more of a necessity than normal in our opinion.

As it is, you'll have to decide whether you want to rip apart the manual or not if there are more than one of you setting out on this building project.

Still, there is no denying this is an epic build of epic proportions and one that if you're a fan of Lego will be gracing your shelf for years to come.