ploughmaster

I would think the full 500 were produced - I would expect they would have all been produced in one batch. 

Certainly there were a fair number appeared on eBay over the months following its first appearance, and Bill Walters actually stated on this site that 500 had been produced: http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/index.php/topic,2201.msg20903.html#msg20903 

I don't think it was aimed specifically at New Holland as it was a promo for Microsoft:

First off' date=' we did produce this tractor for Microsoft.  It is legitimate.

We were approached by Microsoft.  Apparently they have some software that is specialized for agricultural activities.  They wanted to have something to give to their customers of this software.  To make a long story short, it ended up being this NH tractor that was chosen.

Less than 500 were produced, so if you have one, you're indeed lucky.

... but i do hope if they use the magnum base  i hope they the update the hitch thats what im trying to say

I understand what you are saying, but I seem to think Craig told Andy that the new hitch would not be retro fitted to previously existing castings. 

Even the crappy hitch is better than a couple I have seen recently on tractors from other manufacturers, which were too close together to fit anything onto at all (without trying to bend them apart and risk breakage).

At least you have taken the trouble to ensure your equipment is suitable, but the majority don't I'm afraid. 

The only reason that farmers want to run tractors for hauling produce at high speed and weight at present is because it is cheaper than running a lorry.  The reason for this is that currently tractors are not charged for VED, run on rebated fuel and don't have to have a maintenance inspection/service every 6 weeks or an annual MOT (or be used under an expensive operators licence), and drivers are not limited to restricted driving hours.  All that would change if the law were to allow tractors to operate as lorries and I would suggest at this point that you will almost certainly find that a tractor/trailer combination would be vastly more expensive on fuel and tyres and general wear and tear than a truck.  If you want to haul big loads at high speed on the highway - get a lorry 

Why do some (particularly the younger ones) seem to think laws are optional and you can pick and choose which ones you wish to obey???

The law is the law, end of.  If you break it, you will suffer the conquences (and increasingly traffic police, and more particularly, VOSA are making themselves more aware of the laws regarding agriculture, so the chances of being caught are increasing).

You may think you are safe, but I can assure you that tractors are inadequate for heavy loads at high speed.  Continually flouting the law makes it increasingly likely that the existing rules will be further tightened - it is very very unlikely that either maximum speeds or weight limits will be increased if farmers won't stay within existing rules (and if they were increased, a lot of those who flout the current laws would also flout any future ones too no doubt).

As for your utter claptrap about your working hours and pressure of work on arable farms, it comes down to what archbarch has already said: Get Organised!!!  I've spent 30 years working on large arable farms (some of them very large) and I have watched the general standard of farm management go down hill steadily over that time, but I have only ever worked on one farm that needed to work massive hours (and yes, it was down to bad management IMO).  I'm afraid most of the excessively (and dangerously) long working hours invariably come back to bad managers.  In no circumstances is pressure of work a valid excuse for breaking any law.

... as often they'll never do larger distance's as longer then 40 miles (round-trip) from base and your not making any money full stop and having used properly specced safe kit as in dual line air brakes, abs, exhaust brakes, suspended axle + cab, front axle brakes at 50k and yes up to a all up weight of 35tons (off road) I could stop a hell of a lot faster then similar weighted artic.  I cant see why law cant be changed with tractor and trailer MOT's to say 32+ton and 50K,d plus the law is out of date full stop, if lorry's where still running by laws from 60years ago there'd be uproar!

I very much doubt you could stop 35 tonnes from 50kph any faster than a lorry could, regardless of the brakes/tyres etc you may fit - it's down to the laws of physics.

Whilst it is possible to equip a tractor for higher speeds legally, unfortunately for your argument there is currently no way to allow an agricultural tractor to draw a gross train weight of more than 24 390kg legally.  The problem is that they would effectively be an LGV at higher weights, and whilst lorries and the laws governing them have indeed advanced massively (particularly in the last 20 years), the design of tractors has not advanced by nearly as much. 

The simple fact is that to carry greater weight, a tractor would have to comply with all the same regulations regarding construction and use as lorries currently do - not simply brakes and suspension, tachographs and fuel, but would also have to have an annual MOT which for lorries means complying with Euro Five emissions rules.  At present agricultural tractors only comply with Tier Three (shortly rising to Tier Four), which is about equivalent to Euro One.  Currently the only agricultural 'tractor' that can comply is the Unimog. 

Even to use a Fastrac at train weights greater than 24 390kg, it would have to be registered as a 'locomotive' (ie. as a 'Heavy Haulage' unit) and would thus be limited to 30mph legal max speed, which is 10mph slower than it can legally go as a purely agricultural tractor.

Getting off the simple subject of speed limits a bit now, but the laws regarding haulage are very complex, and very few people in farming appreciate just how easy a time they have with the comparatively simple rules regarding tractors and trailers or implements on the road (and often don't seem to have the ability/intelligence/common sense to even cope with them).  Trying to get higher speed or weight limits for agricultural tractors is a massive can of worms - you really do not want to go there!  If the agricultural industry has any sense at all, it will keep its head down and keep within the existing regulations  http://www.farmtoysforum.com/forum/uploads/emoticons/default_wink.png' alt=';)'> .

Paulali - I will repeat: there is no contradiction.  A standard agricultural tractor is not adequately equipped (even with suspended front axles) to travel at high speed safely, and standard tractor/trailer braking systems are often barely adequate to stop even the maximum permissable gross trailer weight of 18 290kg (another weight limit most in farming are blissfully ignorant of!) safely at 20mph, let alone any faster. 

If the tractor trailer is suitably equipped to make it safe (brakes, tyres and suspension), then it can go faster.

Tyres - there's another one.  How many of you who regard it as OK to travel at 40kph plus have tyres on your tractor which are rated for such speeds - I would guess at 'not many' as high speed rated traction tyres are pretty crap gripwise in wet fields.  Safety again; non-high speed tyre failing at 40kph with 20 tonnes plus of trailer behind (ever seen a tractor leap a hedge??).

Any employer can be held up at a tribunal for trying to insist an employee breaks the law (or indeed for penalising an employee for refusing to do so).  At the end of the day it's your driving licence (and perhaps your life).

51MON - great suggestion, some people are daring to post rules and regulations that you want to pretend don't exist, so lets lock the thread to stop them!

i dont drive a tractor anymore' date='all this RUBBISH about pressure at harvest? farmers being bankrupt?  GET BLOODY ORGANISED

Absolutely, couldn't have put it better myself.

Seen one website sayiny they would take pre-orders for the New Holland T9.670

http://www.shop-014.de/shop2/index.php?user=Modelltoys&clang=uk&hkat=3&proid=2121&skat=28

That's a bit previous; since it isn't due for 7 - 8 months, and judging how things have gone this year (for most toy/model makers), it could be the end of next year before it actually arrives (or later!!!)

someone put up a link for the new john deere ertl catalogue' date='[/quote']

It is here: http://www.ertl.com/

..although only the JD 2011 catalogue is available (and a bit difficult to see as they have gone to a crappy e-book style rather than the downloadable pdfs they used to use).  The new Steiger 600 and Magnum are on the Case-IH 2010 fall flyer, but you can't see whether they are all new, or just new top parts on the old castings.

It is perhaps also worth taking note that when someone put a list of coming items up at around this time last year, it turned out to be inaccurate 

Youn really are an old miseryguts f/nh fan.  Do you seriously expect them to make a complete new model from scratch every time they do a what actually amounts to a minor update?  The prices would likely jump to a similar level as UH (and then some of us could no longer afford them!).  We know that as the years go on and completely new castings replace the existing ones, the new linkage will extend to all.

Having said that; until we see the actual model (or decent pics of it), we don't know for certain whether it will be an update of the old Magnum or a new casting (although I personally expect the former - it is only a toy after all).

I don't really see how you can accuse Britains of a 'poor show' when we have just had the excellent MF7480 (which you should note is in the 'toy' section of the catalogue, not the 'Heritage & Collectables' section), and we are shortly to get the International and Case-IH 1056 and 2+2 which, as those of us who have seen the pre-production versions will know,  are exceptional.

Thanks for that link.  One or two interesting items, though not much in 32nd - I see the RC JD has gone; is it being updated, or has the 32nd RC been deleted altogether (I know they haven't sold as well over here as some of us thought they might).

i see you say the limit is 20 mph,then you say if you want to exceed 20 mph you give all the details of what you need to do,bit of a contradiction there,yes the law is 20 mph but at harvest time there is a lot of pressure on,the fendts i drive have exhaust brakes and that helps tremendously,but even at 50 kph they throttle down automaticly

There is no contradiction whatsoever - 20mph is the limit for a standard agricultural tractor, no ifs or buts.  Addition of suspension, uprated brakes etc is not standard, but is what would be necessary to legally travel faster.

Using the excuse of 'there is a lot of pressure on' is frankly, just not good enough, and exhaust brakes don't make it permissable to travel at an illegal speed.  If you travel on the road with a tractor at 50kph, you are a pillock in my opinion.

years ago i saw a FIAT crawler on metal tracks with a mounted sprayer, i used to roll with a Track Marshall.

I worked on a farm in the '90s which had an MF (Landini) metal tracked crawler which they used to use as a lgp sprayer - it had wood blocks fitted to the plates so it could go down the road easily.  They only used it for a few years - with the weight of the front and rear tanks, it rocked back on forth like a ship on a heavy swell.  When I knew it, they had retired it to powering the Opico batch dryer, and ferti spreading on the steepest grass banks.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending how you look at it  \ ), whilst left unattended on the drier one day, it caught fire and burnt out.

Another farm I worked on had a Fiat-Allis 90 which was used on irrigation pump duties in the summer when it had no land work to do.

Unbelievable (insert shake head smiley if we had one!)....

And then some people wonder why there is a move to have tractors and trailers subject to an annual MOT.

And wonder why there have been calls for tractor drivers to be subject to a full LGV test.

And wonder why many of the public at large perceive farmers and their equipment as being a danger on the road.

....Unbelievable!

The UK speed limit for agricultural tractors on the highway is 20 miles per hour - this limit exists for a reason; it is not outdated as the braking systems on even the most modern tractors and trailers are generally not up to the job of stopping at higher speed.  Above this you may be liable to a FPN and points on your driving licence (I know of one specific instance in Lincs this summer where two tractor drivers were cautioned by traffic police for travelling at 24mph)

If you want to exceed 20mph you must fit full independent suspension to both tractor and trailer/trailed implement, dual line braking (with suitably efficient brakes) and the axles (and tyres) on both must be rated to cope with the higher speeds.

Or just get a suitable tractor/trailer in the first place, but even the Fastrac is only legal up to 40mph.

There have been four 32nd scale versions of this model.

The original one was issued in 1997 as a 9682 (#3021), and had solid black plastic cab windows (as was the norm for most of the shelf version 32nd Ertl artics at the time).

There was a second version, issued as a 9882 collector edition in a special box (#3017) with triple wheels, some extra details such as cab hand rails, and clear cab glazing/detailed cab interior (well....detailed for those days!).

The same model was then re-issued in 2004 as a 9880 (#13654) on dual wheels and having clear glazing/cab interior.  Ertl also produced 500 special editions with the 'Microsoft' logo on the top of the bonnet, for Microsoft to use in a US promotion of agriculture related software (these were issued under the same catalogue number).

From 2005 to 2006, the same clear glazed model was re-issued on triple wheels and this time badged as a 9884 (#13680).

All of these were only officially released in North America, and only came to Europe via a small number of specialist dealers.

The two later models were issued in the black, white and blue Ertl New Holland boxes with both an Ertl and a (smaller) Britains logo, and so may be seen in The Pocket Guide to Britains Farm Model Tractors 1998 - 2008 by David Pullen.

Forgive me as it has been awhile' date=' is there a website for Britains that carries the current line up. Last time I remember it being down as it was supposed to be revamped. Did that ever happen?[/quote']  It did: http://www.learningcurve.com/britains?icid=ddmenu&locale=en_GB, but so far it hasn't caught up with any of this years releases, so don't get too excited. 

Some of us would say that would make it an accurate representation of the real thing   

The new linkage will be used where there is a new base casting.  Where the new item uses an existing base, it will have the same linkage as it had before 

The yellow one was originally produced to go with the budget version of the Ford 6600 (in green with yellow mudguards and red wheels) in set number 9432, available from 1983 to 1985.

A few seem to have been individually boxed (probably the usual thing of using them up when the budget Fords were replaced with new sets with a budget MF 595 in 1986).  I suspect a few mint/unboxed examples may have been subsequently swapped with a boxed brown one more recently 

I wouldn't describe any of them as 'rare' as such, although the standard release brown one is quite common (as you would expect), as is the more recent re-release in green.  Yellow ones are less numerous, but I see them offered for sale fairly often (they are rare to find in the original set though).  The red one is the least common, but again, they do come up regularly.

was the county there?

You make I laugh 

and they were made by GEM right?

No, the Patriot is a US design. You are thinking of the Sapphire which was originally made by Gem, who were bought out by Case-IH who promptly made a complete and utter lash up of what had been a well respected maker of decent quality sprayers.

Any news on price??

I have seen an official Britians retail price list which gives the recommended selling price as £15.99.

Thanks for the pics TM190 - mostly looks good, but what you say about the new linkage is worrying (what exactly did Ertl think was wrong with the original Britains linkage with the lever operated cam anyway  ).  I don't think there is anything missing from the cab rear - it looks the same as the mock up we saw at Spalding in April.

No, but probably best not to hold your breath whilst waiting 

.....I would pay more if they were made like the elite range JD model

...with non-moveable header and fixed steering 

I'm sure I've seen a green chassis with yellow wheels

I have seen one also (recently on eBay).

There are early yellow wheeled versions (with the wheels/tyres as shown in the pic posted by BC, and I have also seen several later yellow wheeled versions (with wheels/tyres as on the 8 wheeled trailer).

David Pullens' researches led him to believe the elastic band was deleted only a couple of years into the life of the model (the reason being that the particular size of elastic band that it used went out of production and an alternative source could not be found).

The Bamfords BL58 was an imported design, built under licence (as indeed was most of the Bamfords range of equipment), but I can't recall who the original manufacturer was  .

I have a few of the Milky Way booklets, but only as an EBay purchase. Looking at them makes me wonder if they sent out standard Britains bubble sets or loose items in their own packaging. Perhaps Ploughmaster knows?

I'm afraid ploughmaster can't help this time - I've not seen these before  .  Something else to keep an eye out for.

£1000 + premium/vat is a reasonable price for that I think.  The individual E27Ns go for around the £300 mark for very good/near mint examples (but the boxes usually have some signs of wear). 

As Super 6 says, if you don't open it, you may as well have a box of scrap,  but a trade pack which is still unopened is probably unique, and of course, once opened loses much of its unique value.  From a collectors point of view, I hope it remains intact - if you want an individual one to look at, there are quite a few around, but you are highly unlikely to find another trade pack. 

It is no different from those wine collectors who pay vast sums of money for extremely old and rare vintages which are almost certainly undrinkable!

I don't think that is 'orange' enough for the rare version - they are quite a distinct orange rather than yellow.

I only know one person who has an orange one (and it's not me  :'( )