Stabliofarmer

Rams have always been a big set back. To cut the twenty required for the original models in this thread took over a days work and involves getting your fingers covered in paper cuts. The process has now been sped up using a diamond cutting tool in a dremel and diamond debur tool for drilling new holes. These give much cleaner cuts and are faster than hand pipe cutters and conventional drill bits. Now a batch if twenty rams can be cut down in just over an hour.

Some more Bailey behind the scenes, starting with the casting station. Moulds on the go in this shot include all the Bailey parts, rims, tyres, mudguards, grain chutes and casting alongside are some truck and small implement wheels which use any excess resin or rubber from a pour. I run 8 tyre moulds allowing for two trailers worth of tyres to be made per pour keeping up with the laser cutters cutting rate. On the subject of lasers, these are the shadow boards for picking out cut parts from a sheet, my little sister helps out from time to time and these sheets let her identify what to put in the parts boxes and what to bin. Not everything is cut by laser though, plasticard sides, rubber mudguards and scrim mesh are all cut by hand. Everything for the kits start to come together in bundles, here wheels, axles, pins, rams and grain chutes are bagged together. Mudguards are prepped by removing flash and then packing into boxes.

Its always impressive how much a set of wheels change a Siku model, the rest of your details then really make it pop Phil

Very impressive work Chris, particularly with the booms some serious patience with the plasticweld involved!

They look very clean tidy and uniform, some lovely work. If this standard sets the precedent then I look forward to seeing what's to come

Shed looks interesting Alex, are they 3D printed frames?

Your guess is as good as mine, technical error somewhere along the lines!

I'd heard after the fame of a Classic Tractor feature he had to upgrade security to a padlock on the workshop, after joining Facebook I believe the fame has forced an investment in full CCTV! pan widget

The Same car looks like a lovely addition, certainly one I've ummed and ahhed about

That loader tractor is just equisit!

A little topic to keep people occupied in the dead spot between Christmas and New Year. Despite a continuation of the pandemic its felt like a good year for releases and scratch building, so what's been your highlights and why? The more photos the better. For me the year started off with a bang finishing the Heath Bale Chasers, a build I'm still very proud of. They marked the culmination of the last 5/6 years building models and learning new skills. And has been closed off in style with Marge releasing the Scania R Series models. A brilliant heavy model that demonstrates Marge continued efforts to provide high detail truck models in 1:32, I really thought the first Volvos would be a one-off so this was a pleasure to see.

A few more behind the scenes photos at Bailey HQ! Shadow boards for the 2mm and 3mm acrylic parts being cut Tyres, tyres and more tyres The casting station with rims, mudguards, grain chutes and tyres in production Hand cutting rubber sheet for mudguards Mesh applied to spare backing sheet that is removed from the acrylic before cutting All the side and floor sheets. As the laser cutter doesn't do 0.5mm plasticard this is all still cut by hand with a ruler and knife. Processed wheels packed ready for additional parts to be packed such as rams and pins. The wheels take some time as each rim must be cast, the flash cut off and cleaned up then the rim drilled to take an axle before being placed in a tyre and sorted into lefts and rights before packing.

Lovely stuff John, the back scene really blends in to give a sense of depth!

It does seem to have been quiet all winter so far! Personally between a 10hr shift, 2hrs of commuting and the rest of the time producing model kits to sell I haven't really had time for personal projects. I'd share more about building kits but to be honest, it's very boring most of the time! Hopefully house buying is on the horizon for early next year and then I can get on with some of my own stuff!

Lovely builds on the go Chris, looking forward to seeing the forward control, a Knight I assume? I've seen a couple of half-hearted efforts but I'm sure you can make something truly befitting of the real vehicle!

Merry Christmas to all, thank you for making this community what it is.

I like that alot John, very much something different! Where they an MF build or are they badge engineered by another company?

Cheers Phil, I'll drop you a message

Yes there are a few different Dutch operations, we like to think ours look more purposeful, and that the Prinoth provides a better base vehicle than the Mooroka or the Dutch Dumper

I think that's a very much 'watch this space' sort of thing after the chat I've had with my boss 😄 Will Hunter of Hunterpac is big into his models I believe.

Yes, the economies of scale break down if I was making a separate kit for grain and silage as you can't predict what people want more of. Therefore it works out cheaper to offer the parts to make both and be left with a few unused bits as I can just make the same kit in larger volumes. The instructions just guide how to build one or the other but it's certainly possible to modify it so the silage extensions are removable for anyone feeling adventurous!

The purchase of a laser cutter meant that a Model Kit version of the Baileys became possible again, which is what I'm on with at the moment. A few photos of whats happening Kit contents Kits under construction Finished kits A huge pile of plastic that I've now got to sort into kits!

Thought some of you may be interested in what I've been up to in my job. I work as a design/production engineer for Bradleys Group in Wigan who are the UK's sole dealer of Prinoth Tracked Dumpers and Snow Groomers. Amongst a few other builds the main project I have been working on is for Huntapac Produce. Huntapac, like alot of root crop growers have major issues in keeping rented land due to damage, as you can imagine if you harvest carrots 365 days of the year there's going to be a couple of wet days harvest in amongst them! This leads to huge amounts of land damage and forces landlords to be reluctant to rent the land again. Huntapac have worked with us to develop a 'self propelled tracked trailer'. The machine is based on Prinoths T12 straight dumper which is usual found serving land around oil fields in Alaska. We have taken the basic dumper and stretched the chassis, moving the cab forward by 2ft and the body pivot point back by 2ft. We have then built a custom bulk body that fits on the back to give a much higher volume than the original dumb body. The first machine landed with Huntapac last week and has proven very successful floating over very wet ground and even flattening out tractor rut damage. The second machine is in build now with more orders anticipated. We hope to see the Maize growers order some machines next as they also struggle with ground rent, there is a dutch contractor already using two of his own dumpers for maize on incredibly wet land. Has the future of carting arrive d?

Looking well with the decals on Hugh

Two Marge Scanias to close off the year. Very nicely detailed models as you'd expect by now from Marge but it feels like they've been rushed through the factory. The white one is grubby and covered in release agent, its also missing a right hand door card but I've seen good things about marge's customer service so hopefully they'll send one out. Both seem to share issues with warping off plastic parts as if the factory's tried to get away with a shorter cooling time on the injection moulding machines. Still, a lovely model!