Valley Axe Man

Thanks john, well when it comes to metal and playing with a welder i'm hardly a virgin but i know what you mean, the Ap cabbed tractors were a stockman special really, to be honest rest of cab is in good order, floor wants a clean off and a coat of red lead before the mat goes back but for a 32 year old cab its survived fairly well

Been on a "stop the rot" campaign on a mates Ap cabbed 7610, rot cut out of righthand inner wing and plated back in, top of step cut out, new piece bent up and welded back in and a new crossmember fabricated for the back of the cab under the lower back windows, that just needs a few holes drilling in it for the window clamps now and then it'll see a bit of primer, Step still wants straightening and a couple of cracked welds to repair on its mounting then theres a bit to cut out and plate up in the bottom of the righthand door before i get the wing and wheel back on. old cab crossmember shown...

Aye think it be the same one, over the back of Stanhope, he's just spraying up a 482 at present and making a real tidy job of it, he's sold a few off lately, 4/65, 272, and a cables 472 and bought a 262

10/60 4/65 and 384 4wd conversions, in real life the 10/60 and 4/65 versions were Cantatore conversions named 4/70 and 4/76 respectively, i dont think they ever did any conversions on the 384's but a few enthusiasts have converted both 4/65's and 384's to 4wd using the later scrap skid units of the 462/472 or 604/704, Joe Dobson done a few now as has Graham Hill although Graham liked using Climax Forklift Skids as they were more abundant in the scrap yards around him, but the best one i know of was built by two good friends Ian (Big Tam) and his lad Martin, They used an 804 skid and kept the turbo so its a 384/4t same time of build they also put a "H" set of gears into a 4/65...... i've driven that tractor and it isnt frightened to pick its feet up on the road... both legends in their own right, sadly Ian is no longer with us but his tractors live on with Martin

not 32nd but 43rd, little Steyr Marshall 944 by conrad, its believed there are two versions of this tractor, think the other version has grey wheels..... but interestingly there is a known 3rd version, @NIGEL FORD did a very small run of possibly 3 of the Marshall Exclusiv (Launch model painted purple) and used this tractor as a base model for his conversion. i'd love to own one of those but be rarer than hens teeth...... anyhows one can live in hope of one day finding one

A standard 4/60 and 10/60

Not really 16th but whilst going through the 32nds with the camera i snapped these, rumours circulate that there are other colour combinations (red with grey wheels, and possibly a blue with red wheels) besides these ones, maker unknown but slightly bigger than 16th, all plastic apart from the axles, and there is a matching 4 wheeled trailer and a set of discs apparently to match too, i have a trailer somewhere to match the Blue/grey Leyland pictured....

Back to a bit of poppy orange and a spade lugged Universal4

Back to a bit of Bathgate Blue, Dave Towse 472/482 Synchros

Thanks John over the years there been a few good men disappear, i'll have to look think there should be some better photo's of the Whitsted and some of Phil's Countys.... Stuart Borthwick has one of only 2 of Phil's 804's the other is in a cabinet at Robs with the Whitsted and a few of his builds that Rob and Sally knew were special to him. First photo was taken at Garstang, next to him (behind he camera) would be Roy, another top bloke and great model builder

A slight digress off my own thread but a couple of photo's of some of Phils work including his famous scratch built Whitsted Harvester

Cheers Mike , oh aye That was Phil, he'd come and do the Myrescough shows and have a couple of days in Blackpool before going back to work, Your Model is one of Martyns too, he did a second batch mid to end of last year, i'm missing a 2wd version in my collection as Phils one joined my own 100 as well as the 125 i'd also bought off Martyn down at Toytrac which could have been back in 2010 The trio i have

One of the more sentimental tractors in my collection, a Martyn's Farm Models Marshall 100, first owned by the late Phil Hairsine aka Starbrush, Phil was a good mate and inspiration back in the day, he'd phone up for an hour or two at a time disscussing various builds whilst he was sat on the tractor bed-forming, and one evening on his return from Spalding he was taunting me with this Marshall 100, just because i didnt have one....... When i lost my dad, Phil was one of the few that helped me out of the dark hole that i got myself in and not long after he lost his own life, Phil's brother Rob invited me over to the farm and there was a box with a few bits in it for me, Including the 100, along with a hand book for the 702 Marshall that Phil won his first ploughing trophy with and a few small bits and bobs of an unfinished prototype for a Leyland build he was on with.... One of life good guys and a proper character, one met never forgotten and to me he never will be Phil pictured at the show he had with Mike and Pete over at Hornsea which got given the name "The Show in the Snow" as the on the day it put about 4" of snow down, although its the only show i've ever been to there a bacon butty and a brew were a £1....and they still gave money to charity

Cheers Justin aye there's a few... some a little rough some rather polished but all will get a photo or two posted for the forum to see so here's another to add a bit of something different in the shape of a Leyland Tandem.... there was a one built in a farm workshop that featured in Classic Tractor quite a few year back, this one based on a pair of Dave Towse 272's just to have something a little bit different

Thanks Gavin theres a few more to come yet

"if you go down to the woods today".......The last of the Brays in the collection (for now) a 10/60 base with 14x30's built with a Cookes winch and put in its working clothes by @JCB BLOKE and she still looks like she'd put a good shift in

Cheers Martin think the problem with this route of collecting is that there isn't the scope the same as you Ford men have on the basis of other models to add to the collection, yes theres a good few gaps due to suitable donors or suitable run with a good scratch builder, the most notible other uses of the Nuffield/Leyland skid are the JCB's as well as the leyland engined early 520 loadalls, and the Leyland Skid unit based Coventry Climax forklifts. There's more to come with a few more gems (plus a few rough diamonds) and a couple of tractors that have a lot of sentiment attached

Thanks Kieran , but hey don't put your own collection down, what you have is the makings of a fine collection yourself theres still time for yours to grow yet, mines been on the go as it were for the last 12 years at least, maybe getting on towards 15....

Cheers Smithy like i say theres a few about that some folk know i have but i tended to stick to the 16ths as it seemed to be the direction my main model spending went, i do still get the odd 32nd model or two but not like i used to when i had no brand loyalty.... guess i've always had this underlaying affliction to Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall though maybe its an incurable virus like corona.......

Not the finest detailed but a special part of the collection, Dave Towse's Synchro set of 2wd Leylands as would have been launched in 1978/79 262, 272, 282, and 6 cylinder 285, (a handful of full sized 2100 Synchros exist but in very low production figures that were once due to go all for export) my aim one day to have a 272 Synchro from 78, to have a tractor from my birth year in the collection of full sized ones

Cheers Justin , some of the folk on here know ive a few 32nd ones besides the 16ths, thought happen it was time i shared them abit.... that be cracking, feel free to post when you get chance to grab a photo the 4/25's and 154' s and even laterly the 302's and 132's are under rated tractors, much of a muchness to a TE20 they compact nimble and light, handy for all the jobs something much bigger is too heavy for, i know where theres a 302 sat sitting but its too much coin for the amount of work it needs it spent most of its life on the Isle of Man and is a bit rusty to say the least, there is a better one local, thats a later Marshall model, but again the 302 appeared in a few guise's, the prototype started as 184 leyland in leyland blue, then the harvest gold of Leyland, then Marshall but was also available in white as the Nickerson TurfMaster, when it was dropped from Marshalls range under Charles Nickersons ownership, the replacement 132's are in essance an IMT badge engineered.

Nice job there Hugh

little BMC 4/25 and a pair of Leyland 154's based on the Siku grey fergy chassis

A Mk1 and Mk 2 465's

Cheers Smithy, appreciated