Bill Walters

First off, we did produce this tractor for Microsoft. It is legitimate. We were approached by Microsoft. Apparently they have some software that is specialized for agricultural activities. They wanted to have something to give to their customers of this software. To make a long story short, it ended up being this NH tractor that was chosen. Less than 500 were produced, so if you have one, you're indeed lucky. Bill

The front grille changed from vertical to horizontal pleats (Or the other way around?). We had to change the grille when we did the new Buhler Versatile version, which also let us do the old NH 84 series. Bill

Honestly, MF does not have a big market share in North America, except maybe in their smaller horsepower range. It makes more sense to to a Britains 1/32nd than either a Ertl 1/16th or 1/64th. Bill

We make our product in China. There has been issues with shooting video in Chinese factories. I could show you pictures of the tooling models, but I doubt you would be impressed. Bill

I wish I could give you a better answer, but I can't talk about any projects or items that we have not officially announced. As soon as I would say something here, it would spread everywhere. Bill

There is so much out there to collect. If you look at your collection today, is there more vintage or modern? Bill

Thanks for all the suggestions. Bill

I don't believe we have any license that's totally exclusive. We produce a big majority of John Deere and Case IH product, but nothing is totally exclusive. Bill

Nothing that I know about, but again, I'm responsible for North America. I don't know of any Unimog in the States. Bill

We are always open to new suggestions. As stated, we obviously can do highly detailed models. We've been doing the Precision series in North America since 1990 (15 years ago). I believe our Precision 1/32 is even more detailed than UH (At least the UH models I've seen). Our regular line is tooled to pass the European 3+ safety standards as well as hopefully the North America child safety standards (which are stricter). What lessons do you want us to learn? Bill

The JD 6410 is an old Ertl design, the rest were Britains designs. I guess I can't help you much more. Bill

In North America, I am only responsible for Farm, Construction and some off-road vehicles like ATV's etc. We have an entirely different team that handles trucks/cars. In the UK this is a different story, and I believe our UK office handles Landrover. Bill

We don't use outside suppliers from a tooling standpoint. We do all of our own tooling, so we wouldn't be buying parts from Siku or anyone else. There are numerous companies that use our tooling as reference for their tooling. It's much easier to copy our tooling than to go out and actually measure a real tractor. I'm not saying that Siku is doing this, but I know several companies in the US that do this. Bill

Our listing is a few years old. I'll try to find the information on our Canadian office. As always, you can also check out your closest OEM dealer as well. (Which I'm sure you're already doing.) Bill

You will not find a separate Britains section. We are primarily cross branding all of our products. For 1/16th and 1/64th the primary brand is Ertl. For 1/32nd, the primary brand is Britains. For the ease of our website, we are using the Ertl brand for everything. Britains is not the best known brand here, so we have our work cut out for us to grow this. We do need to start promoting it more in the US. That's one of my goals. The rumors you are hearing are about the William Britains (figure) brand, not the Britains farm brand. Does this answer your questions? Bill

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll pass it on to our UK people. Bill

You're right, this is a Britains question. I do not have any information on this. Sorry, Bill

I'm sure you've all seen the 1/32nd Precisions we have done to date. Where would you like us to go next? Bill

Thanks for the comments. You know I can't talk about any new projects in the works that we haven't already announced to the OEM dealers. I'm not responsible for the marketing of models in the UK or Europe, just North America. Bill

I can't answer your question concerning Britains. For Ertl, at least in 1/16th scale, we have the OEM logo on the loader. In fact our modern tractors loaders are modeled after the real loader. In 1/64th it's hard to get enough detail to make it look exactly like the real thing. Bill

This might be pretty hard to do. The OEMs get touchy when you try to add a third party loader to their tractors. They primarily want their own loaders used. Bill

I've heard that Siku has already done a Potato harvester. I'm assuming you mean 1/32nd scale. Bill

This sounds pretty European in nature. I'll have to defer this to our UK office. I'm assuming you also want it in 1/32nd. bill

Thanks for the suggestion. I've been told we already have too many combines in our lineup, so it's interesting that you want more versions. Normally the smaller combines have an entirely different frame length, so it's not easy to just take an existing tool. You're essentially talking about an entirely new design. Bill

We did have a small range of 1/32 farm sets that were produced under the "Big Farm" name. Thanks for the suggestion, we'll have to see if the tooling still exists. Bill