david_scrivener

Perhaps not a model at all, but the real thing. A small (pony drawn?) cultivator or something for allotments, smallholdings, market gardens, etc?

Thanks for those photos. On the 2nd cow, I see the hole is towards the front, and not where the cylindrical bit sticks out in the centre. Incidentally, I have a rather nice Jersey coloured Hong Kong copy of this cow. If I had space for a layout, it would be very useful because Britains didn't make any lying Jersey cows in either the lead or plastic eras. ......At least not catalogued - I do have the standard lead feeding cow in a fawn colour, which would just about pass as a Jersey with the pre-war hand painted Jersey cows. I think it was painted like that for Britains short lived farm set 3/24 in the 'Rainbow Toys' box, circa 1951, believed to be a 'special' for a specific retailer or for export. There was at least one more 'odd' farm set, 3/27, in a 'Sunshine Toys' box. There were other sets of soldiers, cowboys/indians, etc in both types of box known, and who knows what as yet unknown. Are there fawn coloured lying cows out there as well? In addition to paint schemes actually planned, we all know Britains, and their competitors, turned out all sorts of weird paint jobs in the lead era.

According to James Opie, in 'The Great Book of Britains', it was only made 1969-73. A new model was given the number 9568, Howard rotary manure spreader, 1980-86. I imagine there are two different cows to go in it, differing from standard lying cows by having a hole underneath to fit it in position. The first one is the lying cow based on the previous lead lying cow, made 1969 only in the holed version (1958-69 generally). In 1970 the normal (no hole underneath) lying cow was replaced by a new one (has forward pointing horns, very graceful for a cow), but I don't know for sure if this was also made with a hole for the transporter 1970-73. It probably was, because the two examples I have don't have a hole. but do have a small cylindrical bit sticking out underneath, presumably a hole in the mould in which a peg could be fitted to make holed versions for the transporter.

Ah yes, Jonathan Stephens' site. If you think the site is informative, wait 'til you read his in depth studies of individual items. You can (or could anyway, I assume this offer is still going) download one (running sheepdog I think) for free, to get the iea of what they're like. Jonathan is the 'uber-geek' of these farm figures. Once you get a study, you will then get out all the examples of the figure in question, including those you had previously thought of a duplicates, and find your most powerful magnifying glass, and go through them all. This usually take some time, and afterwards you'll have discovered that many of your 'duplicates' aren't, well not by Jonathan's standards anyway. Apart from the obvious different versions, such as colour, and those with the Herald trumpeter logo underneath, later changed to 'Britains Ltd' (sometimes in several versions, Jonathan has noticed that there were two or more moulds of many of these figures, all on one sprue, for plastic moulding machines big enough to make 2/3/4 at a time, plus changes over time. The first Herald figures were smooth, with 'texturing' added to give an appearance of fur, a few years later.

A soldier firing a bazooka might be suitable for a similar conversion. As a bazooka looks like a metal tube, it might become, for model farm/garage workshop purposes, a section of exhaust pipe or something, with a vehicle up on a hoist. Also kneeling soldiers might be modified to be a mechanic or farm worker doing something. Many sets of soldiers include a falling wounded or lying dead figure, ideal for an industrial accident scenario if you want to add a bit of drama to your farm (or have a warped sense of humour).

I found two interesting lots there. Luckily for me, there are items which I doubt many other forum members will put on their 'Must have' lists.

Not only no poultry, but horses deleted too. Very few animals or people at all really, and those there are are very poor compared to the Britains/Herald plastic figure range in the 1950s/60s, never mind comparison with the old lead range.

I suppose we should also consider how many toy/model collectors are there in each of the sometimes overlapping sectors. Consider how many people attend a reasonably big toy fair. Then consider how many collecting sectors are represented: trains, cars, farm toys, trucks, lead/plastic/composition soldiers/farm/etc. and 'other toys' (sci-fi, board games, soft toys/dolls, dolls houses, etc) Then consider how many of these collectors only collect old toys/models in whichever of the above categories they collect - they're not buying modern limited editions. So, if a reasonably big toy fair attracts most of the toy/model collectors in a 50+ mile radius, and there are how many buyers? 200? 400? How many times can we replicate this imaginary toy fair to get an idea of total UK collector numbers? How many of these are even collectors of modern farm toys at all? To my mind, a reasonable number for a limited edition, be it a tractor, train engine, or whatever, to have a reasonable compromise between supplying a fair chunk of those who will really want one, and leave enough wanting one to keep the value up, is going to be somewhere between 100 and 500. But then, what do I know? I only collect 'old stuff'.

I think it's an egg separating cup. Break the egg into the top bit. The white will run through, leaving the yolk in the top.

These guys probably know: http://www.handlebarclub.co.uk/faqs.shtml

A man with a big moustache would have used it. The little shelf is to keep the moustache out of the tea. Nothing worse than a soggy, tea soaked moustache. I'd guess date at anytime between say 1880 & 1910.

Very true, it's hard to find one of those horses in good condition, or any of the other earlier 'skinny horses'. Even harder to find one of the horses for the Farmer's Gig. For the late versions of the milk cart, or spoked wheel or rubber tyred versions of the small cart, the plastic version of the trotting horse is a bit easier to find though. But whatever, most of us 'ancient Britains collectors' have more carts then horses to go with them. PS, I recently bought a super childhood collection from a lady in Devon which included a Barton & Co farmyard, a boxed *** lead version blacksmith set, some assorted pristine condition early Britains/Herald figures, including the brown (there was also a grey) version of the plastic from lead version of the shepherd (Britains cat #812, originally #594 in lead).

I'm ths same, although I do also collect early plastic figures (approx 1955-1965). My speciality is old wooden farm (& zoo) buildings, but I'm seriously running out of space to store them so will limit purchases to just the nicest ones (mostly made approx 1922 to 1962), and would like to sell some of my 'newer' and plainer buildings (say 1945 to 1975 - there is some overlap of dates in my priorities, according to style) to make room.

I'd say the last one is Willow Series. What number is it? (They're usually numbered)

Having just checked a few sites about various old vehicles (& I see no reason to classify tractors any differently to any other type of vehicle), the rough guide (there are sub-divisions & variations in classes) seems to be: Veteren: before World War One Vintage: between the Wars Classic: after World War Two until +/- end 1972

Exactly! The older they are, the harder they are to find, and more expensive they are if they come up at auction (eBay or live auction). Shop display items pre 1970 are virtually impossible to find (at affordable prices anyway). I'm a lifelong collector of 'ancient Britains' and don't have any, if that's any guide.

Well, it was nice before you got there!

I see Jeremy Clarkson is in the news again today for another comment (check it out, & read the comments on the UK version of the Huffington Post news website) regarding suicidal people who jump in front of trains being 'selfish'. Although other moaned about Clarkson being oafish etc, I think he's correct in this case. We can all sympathise with anyone who feels so bad about whatever is happening in their life that suicide seems like 'the only way out', but it is indeed a very selfish way of doing it. Train drivers can be traumatised, & off work, for months afterwards, & its not exactly a nice job for the policemen, rail staff & others who have to clean up the mess. Plus there is the issue of the effects a train delay (stopped in the middle of nowhere for hours while the forensics people do their initial study) might have for some of the passengers on the train. OK, for most it might just be 'an inconvenience' (a bit late home after work), but the delay might be serious for some who needed to get where they were going on time for some vital reason.

I live @ Shepton Mallet, Somerset. I should point out, having just checked your profile, that unlike most members here, I only collect really old farm (& other) toys, many made long before I was born (1952), never mind before when you were born (1997)! Something you should perhaps keep in mind when discussions in the forum include phrases like "old models". According to our various ages, we will probably have different perspectives regarding what qualifies as 'old'. Welcome to the forum. Enjoy and learn. With any luck, it will become a lifetime hobby (perhaps with breaks, when your collection is consigned to the attic - but don't sell it). For example, it was not until this year that I finally managed to buy a few items 'to complete the set' of Britains farm buildings that started with two I was given as Christmas presents in 1961!

Now clearly one for Deere-est, not me. All I can add, relating back to my comments about toy/model castles, is that you will probably have to make it to some kind of compromise between an accurate true to scale building and something which is small enough to reasonably fit in whatever space you have available in your diorama. It might be a good idea to make some very rough mock-ups first (cut up cardboard boxes?), and see how they look when Britains (or whatever) cattle and calves are placed inside, before you start making the final building.

Clearly my post, which dealt with commercially made toy/model buildings (& I only collect very old commercially manufactured toy farm buildings, many made in the 1930s), and Deere-est's post, which dealt with making your own buildings for dioramas, covered two entirely different sectors of the hobby covered by this site. Which is most relevent to you? Rather confirms the first line of my initial post, you should have been a bit more specific in the first place.

What kind of buildings? You'll have to be a lot more specific if anyone here is going to be able to help. Do you mean dimensions of real buildings or toy buildings? If toy buildings, any particular (toy/model) manufacturers in mind? Sizes/scales/level of reality may even vary in the range of toy/model buildings of a single manufacturer because they have to operate within the realities of what customers can afford to buy or space to store and/or display. To give two extreme examples of what I mean, consider pig stys and castles, both buildings which have been reproduced in toy/model form for many decades (over a century in the case of toy castles). A real traditional pig sty (the hut & run sort, as made in grey plastic by Britains for many years) is a small building, so can be represented quite realistically in toy/model form. Real castles are huge! An accurate scale model of any of the UK's real castles in Britains scale (1/32) would need a large room to house it, and no way would be affordable or practical as a nursery toy or even as a display backdrop for adult collectors of old toy/model soldiers etc. This is why toy manufacturers have had to be very, ahem, 'imaginative' in designing toy castles which gave 'an impression of castleyness' (almost certainly not a real word, but illustrates my point), while at the same time has certain key parts, such as doors, gates, and battlement walkways, for the toy soldiers/knights they were intended to accomodate.

I suspect that many collectors of just about any type of antique/collectable you can imagine, not just toys, have been there.......

Space is becoming a serious problem for me too. I can find places to store my lead/plastic/aluminium/composition farm/zoo/soldier/etc figures without too much of a problem, as I have the house to myself, but all my old wooden (+ a few tinplate) toy farm & zoo buildings, castles/forts/western town buildings take up loads of space, even when all packed away in boxes. I'm also having to be more picky. Anyone know anyone who might be interested in buying some 1960s & '70s toy farmyards/castles/etc., to give me more space for my older stuff?

The Debtoy Bull Pen is a bit smaller and simpler, but basically the same type of thing, so that's certainly what I had in mind.