Stabliofarmer

2 hours ago, Valley Axe Man said:

Bit of a surprise at work today, it's 20 years since Crossland took over Massey Tankers, there's only a handful of us ex Massey men left now, I started as an apprentice back in 1995 the Monday morning after my last GCSE exam and been there ever since, Crosslands took over in September 2003 so as a thank you for our 20 years service to Crosslands we got gifted some flowers and a card that was signed by the management and included a voucher for a meal out..... have to say job has its ups and downs but keeps the cash coming in. Maybes I'll stick at it for another couple of years 🤣🤣

Congratulations Paul! We had some 20/30 year men at Wheelbase and they knew more than any of the engineers, a very valuable asset but highly underrated. I was chatting to Conor at the Road Transport Expo about job opportunities at Crossland but I've gone to Thompsons Tippers instead.

It's just a phrase to describe the little triangles of grass at road junctions. We don't really have them up here but they were rife where I worked in Staffordshire 

10 hours ago, Anderson Agri said:

Is godcake some Northern term I don't understand? 🤣 

Must be, but I'm sure they use it on that there wurrzle gumidge and he speaks dead funny like you Southern lot!

That's great detail with the godcake Zach, looking forward to seeing the finished piece!

On 9/23/2023 at 8:05 AM, Paul Palmer said:

Ok thanks John

Here you go Paul, I'm sure the guide started on here but it's all neatly formatted on my blog post https://modelfarming132.blogspot.com/2018/02/making-square-bales-making-straw-and.html?m=1

11 hours ago, James Joe Dewar said:

That is very nice, fantastic detail, I could only dream of such intricate detail on my FDM printer, i've never really thought much about getting a resin print as even you mentioned the hassle of washing cureing and the inevitable resin on the LCD screen and haveing to buy Isopropyl alcohol, But there is a tiny resin printer still in crowdfunding that just might interest me 'specially if it remains under $100  It would be real handy on the project I'm working on right now.

https://www.lite3dp.com/

Regards

Joe.

Worth noting that I'm now using water washable resin, used the Elegoo and Jayo branded stuff both to great effect. No more faffing with alcohol and wash stations. I just rinse under the hot water tap, even the most delicate parts will then fall off their sprues and chuck them straight under the UV light. Real game changer!

Whilst still a staunch advocate of craft knife modelling (not that I seem to do any these days) I'm still blown away at just what printers can do every now and then!

You've certainly got the formula cracked for this scratch building business John, I wouldn't know where to start with these complex chassis! Always amazed at how tidy the glazing is too, most jealous!

Looks brilliant Paul, Ian's done a really nice job on the design of these

That's some of the best muck I've seen made Jack, really nice effect and looks the business

That looks spot on Ian, the paint really brings it to life

On 8/26/2023 at 9:24 PM, CallumC said:

It also comes down to preference doesn't it.   For example you could go out and buy a perfectly good table that was made in a factory / by someone using power tools or you could buy the same table made by somebody from scratch with hand tools.  Sometimes it's nice to have something that's been produced using someone's raw skills. 

I think that sums it up very well. We buy and sell miniature steam engines and there's a few CNC machined engines cropping up that just lack the sole, or feel of an engine that's been built over the course of many years by an individual's hand. The same absolutely applies to a scratch built model over one of my kits or a 3d print where a machines done most of the work.

I would possibly look at buying a couple of A1 sheets of double wall cardboard and fabricating your own box. That's a really unusual size being so thin, I imagine most things around those dimensions are 30cm+ deep? 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/264639075592?hash=item3d9db7d508:g:xkcAAOSwdE1kheHK&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA8LUgmhuT%2B7O48gwC7vWRXPIIwuUyOXkvvjHMVn7mYmuavSA1%2BmmVyJU5BohbCHW2fENWFqK7O%2Bnvh7fKCEAt93RniUHcxtTBOusICrJo%2Ftm32MGHz4Z9jNOsg7VqCFDnFbnXIe%2FIfORipyEbxhRxeGFSj%2FlpbE8xG6ft3jiC66AQR9vPFPUFtOa3Dk2TkoV%2F7TrxGJwJkQU3iS4cuMhXeV2YcvxxBUGgXTDi%2BTr29FgAUDb5es4ozqPSEqXzhAkrvlZ3Di6C15g4njImyXl%2FgPSvX6c9lFh%2FyNjK%2FdYGOYx3vwn64fzzpgOX575%2FM8sORA%3D%3D|tkp%3ABFBM-KiPnsZi

The other alternative is wrap heavily in bubble wrap 10-15 layers and then wrap in single sided corrugated card?

That's coming together really nicely Jack, great work with the static grass!

15 hours ago, Cornish-model-farm said:

Back in the early 1970s (when my brother and I were boys!) we wrote to Britains suggesting they should make a combine harvester. We enclosed pictures of the Lely Victory Mk 2 - which had a folding header, was British and was, believe it or not, the biggest combine in the world at that time. We got a polite letter back and a complimentary Britains catalogue but no combine! Years later they made the Massey 760. 3D printing has changed everything. Rather than sit around hoping the big manufacturers will make a model you actually want, you can now make your own!

3D printing, a discussion in it's own right Ian! I'm not sure I'd agree its let anyone make their own. It still requires learning CAD, and even then you need some core physical modelling skills to take a printed part and turn it into a finished model. I do think it will become more and more accessible though, the volume and quality of Youtube guides for learning CAD already far outweight weight those for physical modelling. I would though say the set up costs for printing are dearer, a reasonable computer to run the software, the printer itself and the resin add up to alot more than a craft knife and £20 quid of styrene stock.

16 hours ago, justy 46 said:

Well. I can think off plenty classics that have not been done yet by the main players... 😁  But things have changed so much over the last 10+ years.  What pulled me into the hobbie was the Britains Heritage range and it just spawned from there. But there is still quiet alot to cover.. 

 

I was pleased to see in the original topic the 'Justy's campaign for a 3cyl Ford' was already up and running 😄 As you've said there's plenty of gaps to be filled, I expect unless someone was brave enough to set up an English version of Replicagri most of those gaps will remain unfilled. Replicagri impress me the most out of any of the bands, the level of French obscurity they manage to cover, and the price they manage to do it at is admirable.

19 hours ago, CallumC said:

I'd say the 'conversion' standard has changed the most     2006 sorta era when i first joined the forum   people selling 'conversions' were selling models with loaders added, wheels changed, 2wd models, full cut and shunt models  just a vast selection of styles.  Now it's more common to see a repaint job (nothing wrong with this either) or like you've said a more specific customisation (certain stickers lights aerial horns etc to replicate a personal tractor)     the 3d printer has certainly changed the market  but its also made getting some more unique models a tad more obtainable. And also the model kits have been an excellent addition to the hobby. Especially for people who haven't commented to buying all the stocks of  plastic and brass etc needed to do a scratch build.

I don't think we will ever run out of models to make. Likely will see more variations of older casts coming back into production.  Hopefully the hobby doesn't get much more expensive. 

 

I'd agree with this, the increase in availability leads to greater pickyness. A tractor from the same stable and loose hp bracket no longer suffices, it has to be the exact model being used by the individual buying.

I'm not sure where the hobby will head price wise, that old topic has people discussing £40 models as being expensive, £40 is £60 in todays money so their only matching inflation, and drop to 2008 pre banking crash and that £40 model needs to be £70 to match, which I suppose it is.

On 8/24/2023 at 9:50 PM, SirTainly said:

The pattern of reduced releases mirrors some of my other hobbies and interests, and I suspect it's in part due to how manufacturing in China has evolved too. A few years ago a major player in outsourced model making went bust, leading to most of the US outline model train manufacturers consolidating on the remaining companies, which were few in number. This lead to production pipeline delays, and couple this with less favourable exchange rates, Covid related shipping problems, and you can see why that might be slowing down.

The model railway stuff was very interesting to read about. I did a university assignment centred around Hornby's business practices and with Kader group buying Sanda Kan it shows just how much of a monopoly Bachmann/Kader have leading to a pricing system that goes up and up till it reaches the limit a customer will pay, rather than competition between firms giving a detail to price balance.

On 8/24/2023 at 9:25 PM, Jack390 said:

Very interesting topic, I wasn’t collecting 10+ years ago so wouldn’t know the amount of scratch building being done , but I still think there is a large market for it now. Specifically for implements/ trailers which are made in the uk. Most large model making companies don’t make teagle equipment for example, or Richard western. 
on the tractor side of things it seems that some companies are making tractors of an older era, like UH , Replicagri, weise and replicagri , but the likes of Marge , wiking and UH tend to focus on the more modern tractors. Being that there are new tractors coming  out per year in 1/1 scale, there will always be a market for them. But some older tractors haven’t been done yet , which is where the scratch builder comes in handy, people like John Gibson are able to build  these tractors.  To summarise, large model companies do provide a range of models to choose from, but some closer to home pieces of kit or tractors may not be produced by them, creating a market for scratch builders

I was just getting into the hobby around this time, I joined the old Moira forum in 2011 and then FTF the end of 2012. Reading through old topics back then it felt that everyone was happy to have a go at converting or improving a model, maybe not a full scratch build but certainly wheel swaps etc. I guess that if UH were in their infancy then most of these conversions were on old Britiains and Siku which would be cheap and robust, I know I certainly feel uneasy at the prospect of prying a £70-80 model part which I think is part of the decline. It's very difficult to take a Replicagri etc and make it more detailed, you can change what the tractor is but you can't necessarily improve it, whereas with a Britians or Siku you can.

I recently came across this forum topic from just over 10 years ago and think it makes for some interesting reading at this point in the future. It should also make for some interesting current discussion.

The key themes were:

• The sheer volume of new models coming out each year means there'd be nothing left to make, both as scratch builders and to some extent big manufacturers
• That it would be companies like DBP that suffered most as it becomes riskier to invest in new patterns and moulds
• The speed a scratch builder can develop a model means they can reap the rewards in the year or two before a major manufacturer starts building.

The topic gave a 5 years in the future look so where are we now, 10 years on? If the figures for new models coming out each year weren't over inflated then there's definitely fewer models released each year, interesting that Wiking weren't even in contention back then, I guess they jumped from model railway scales around this time?

I think builders like John Gibson and RJN show there is still plenty of room for scratch built tractors. DBP have produced less but I think this is more due to age, someone else will surely know more about this and Marge have gone from strength to strength, few would describe them as a small player in the game now.

There definitely seems to be fewer scratch builders, or even converters out there these days, particularly those working commercially. I can't particularly pin point why though? There's a range of possibilities, lots and lots has now been made to satisfy those that just want a 'similar' model to something they use in the real world, the rise of the 3D printer has certainly made some obscure items alot cheaper to acquire, many scratch builders, myself included, may have had a reality check on wether it's worth doing for others, if you say typical collectors wage can be £12-15/hr as a very rough outlook then for them to scratch build an item taking 15-20 hrs of work the labour on the model alone is £180-300 so how could you make money when £150-200 is the top end of many peoples budget for farm models.

I'm not sure I've made any real points or asked proper questions to give answers to but hopefully its some food for thought and fuel for an interesting discussion!

I think there's maybe a key link being overlooked here. Any modern machinery coming from a model maker will be approved by the OEM before final production, they'll look over the prototypes shipped from China and state any alterations required. They will have also provided alot of the spec in the first place, what type of wheels they want it on, what decals are expected to be on the final machine etc, don't forgot often these models are in development before the real machine is announced and last minute changes can happen to a real machine, not just a model one.

So what's being overlooked? From the small number of people I know working for big OEM manufactures it won't be someone at CNH group who is giving sign off on each new model, Case, New Holland and Steyr will all have different people, quite possibly in different departments (and different countries), giving this sign off. I would like to suggest that the person working at Case is alot more passionate, has a greater product knowledge or simply has a greater eye for detail than their counterparts at the sister firms, leading to a more regularly correct Case model.

When I was on placement at Mecalac I did abit of digging as Conrad had just released a model of the new Mecalac 6MDX Dump Truck. I wanted to know what the process had been, unfortunately most of the communication was with the French side of the business, the only communication with the UK was a marketing manager. Given that the machine was developed in the UK it means Conrad probably received vague information from the manufacturer, in their case not a big problem, there's no real variation to a 6 ton dumper, but you can imagine this lack of information causes problems with an item like a tractor that has so many options. 

I'll also add that in my conversations with manufactures out in China they have a tendency to simply say 'yes we can make it' to a series of photos and measurements. So unless they get photos of one single machine they're likely to pick and choose aspects from each machine they receive photos of. I'd be interested to know who is in more control when it comes to what gets made, the OEM's or the model makers like UH?

I've just ordered the NH T6.175 and Case 165 models, the NH because I've used one briefly on hire, the Case simply because it's a good looking tractor and UH have made a good looking model of it! I expect the 260 will also join my collection for the same reasons.

Awesome work so far with that Will, some really clean scratch building!

9 hours ago, trigger82 said:

Very good what you going to be selling ?? New or old stuff ?. 

Kits, kits and more kits! Possibly have some slurry equipment ready in time