Stabliofarmer

Good to see a quad back in the range, I guess Polaris want too much licensing fee and by painting it blue with no stickers they won't have to give Honda anything for this one.

It shows, the paint chipping weathering on the edges of the box section is very effective

That's a cracking build Mike, great to see all the machinery modelled too!

Really nice work Simon, I assume you have abit of a background in model making/painting?

Pit looks very good darkened up Jack, just the job

I had always been of the understanding Spalding was mainly a sellers show. Being the first show back after lockdown gave it a nice effect of being a gathering of dioramas but in normal years the focus has always been on items for sale, not dioramas on display? Shows require organizing and I don't see why a show shouldn't be for profit, at the end of the day if someone needs to see a return from the event they are more likely to work harder for it to be a success. While I can understand the view that exhibitors shouldn't be charged as they give something to the show there is also the argument the show also provides a platform or a space for like minded people to come together, chat and discuss. This is something that you rarely find for free, just look at the amount of people that pay to be in Twitch and Discord streams to be able to chat with likeminded people, and all that is is a server, no room rental, heating, insurance to cover! There's no doubting its a tricky topic, I only have a small diorama so it wouldn't cost much for me to display so maybe my view is skewed. I'm not exhibiting this year but because I've doubled booked the weekend already!

First of the Chinese defenders also arrived, this is the other version to what Chris/Sipher has. Nice model, smidge under scaled, will do a proper comparison when the other arrives.

Wiling snow plow and gritter from Cyril, and a JD 6250R. Just in time for some snow this evening. Completes the wiking snow collection, on the look out for the Schuco Unimog Gritter now if anyone has any leads!

That is excellent Ted, a serious bit of patience must have gone into it, and as ever the weathering is spot on

Cheers Ted, should have a few bits in stock next month

Cheers Joe, got alittle more done this evening. No I never saw them, we always travelled up through Glasgow-Stirling-Perth so Lix Till was abit out of the way. I've had a good root around the example on display at the Gaydon motor museum though, there was one restored abit up the road from home in Huddersfield but I've never seen it in the flesh. Forestry rover is also on the build list though! (Both the Lix Toll vehicles are in Brazil now I think)

Sounds like an interesting project Joe, you'll have to keep us updated on here!

It's been all Land Rover here this week as I've finally got a start playing around with a Cuthbertson conversion for the Britains LWB.

That looks very smart Sean, getting some great detail through now

Been tinkering with a Britains Series land rover. I'd seen alot of weathered and resprayed examples and started to see what sort of potential these have. I then dug into the archive to see that Damien (JCB bloke noticed this potential years ago). Anyway, so far pick up canopy, 3d grille, 6.50 (Near side) and 9.00 (Off Side) tyres with rims. Pretty happy with how it's going so far.

Many thanks for the kind words. That's a great idea with the tracks Joe, much faster and neater than all the wire pins. These undercarriage have a tensioner built in that will get glued 'tense' once painted.

A few general shots to give a better view. Turning into a fair old bit of kit!

And then the last big piece of the puzzle, the trencher arm itself. I have managed to get this so that it in theory 'works'. One paint is one etc it will all be abit to tight and stiff to actually move though. Individual chain links all 3D printed. Blank chain, inner chain and then handed spade/bucket links. These are all then held together with 1mm wire bent at either end. Will tidy those up with snips when I get a minute so they're all the same length. Then a frame work built up with printed sprockets at either end. The augers that move spoil away are currently plasticard but I think I will change these for printed versions. And then mounted into the main assembly. This will need abit more fettling as there's lots of pins meet in the area that all clash. And that's where we're up to, pipe reel holders are the next big job and then it's just final details before paint, which I'm dreading and will procrastinate until at least the summer before attempting.

Next couple of challenges addressed with the Mastenbroek. I wasn't sure whether to have the door shut or open so went with having it work. Also filled the cab interior and built the roof, this is removable to aid painting. Next up I managed to get a few clear photos of the big hydraulic trench drive motor to CAD up and then print, much easier than trying to do lots of circles in plastic sheet.

That one most definitely isn't Joe, no. But there looks to be three versions. The first version, the one I have and the one on your photo is vastly out of scale and very toy like, bulky, lacking painted details. The second version that Sipher has just bought which looks alot better scaled, far nicer in detail and comes with a figurine and roof rack luggage. And finally a third version which may just be the second version with a slightly different roof rack. Again looks better detail and more in scale. I have order the second and third versions from Ali Express and will update my Chinese Diecast thread with more detail when they arrive.

Thanks for that Chris, looks alot closer to the real thing! And as you say a far crisper higher quality model. Got myself a couple on order.

I had seen what looked like a, different to the first release, 1:32 new defender on some of the Chinese sites, is this version abit better scaled to 1:32? The first one must be getting on for 1:28th its huge. Details also look abit nicer on the version you have.

Cults etc are good as long as you have something exact in mind. I normally start at google with '... stl' as a search and go from there. The majority is drawn by myself though as CAD is the day job.

Coming together nicely Jack

They look tidy Hugh