ploughmaster

.... in my opinion French and German trailers are so far ahead in design and construction.

The only experience I have had with French trailers was a Rolland.  An experience I have no wish to repeat. 

The biggest problem with European trailers is that many of them have been designed to be towed from the more usual continental towing pintle, and are wrongly balanced to tow easily from a UK PUH, and are too heavy when empty.

We make perfectly good trailers here in the UK and I see no need to import them from anywhere else.  UK farmers are continually bleating that the rest of us must buy UK produced food - the same argument applies to farmers and their equipment purchases.  British farmers have already destroyed the bulk of the UK ag engineering industry, too frequently guided by the mistaken and usually erroneous "foreign is better" sheep mentality.

Welcome to the forum Robploughing (I think I recognise your name from eBay )  Thanks for the information.

Although it was used to show the PowerFarm tractor in use' date=' it actually used a standard TW-35 tractor [/quote']

It did in fact use a PowerFarm TW35, but with no motor (its wheels being driven by the belt and the spreader being driven by the belt via its wheel driveline.  It had all the external features of the powered tractor: the engine casting on/off switch, pto shaft and pto switch lever.

There was no 'standard' TW35 as the non powered one was a TW25 (and any unpowered TW35s you may see will most probably have had a bonnet swap).

My power harrow which I have had from new has the hollow plastic PTO.

That's another to add to the list then  . 

I think given its age Marky's Griffiths is from the pre MAS Group days of the business

Must be pretty old then as Griffiths have been part of MAS since the eighties.

Marston... big (14t) and most recently small... (4t)... both good trailers but paint crap.... brakes weak too

Griffiths.... pile of junk... horrible and weak. never again willl I buy one of these...

Interesting to see you make that comment as both makes are basically the same trailer -  the Marston, Griffiths, ECE, Gull and Ken Wooton brands are all built by Marston Agricultural Services and are pretty much the same basic trailer. 

Like a few others here, I've never seen an agricultural half-pipe round here (Lincolnshire), and have never heard of Kane trailers.  Cemex run a few 44 tonne artics with half pipe bodies out of local quarries, but I don't think I've seen any others at all. 

Apart from being more straightforward to make (once you have the rolling equipment), I would think they are more stable due to having the greatest part of the total weight in the middle, particularly important for high density material such as aggregate, or even tarmac which may tend to 'hang' to the floor and not tip out evenly (anyone who has seen an artic fully tipped with part of its load stuck up one side will know what I mean!!)

As others have said, most brands are very regional in their popularity, although both Bailey and Marston of our local Lincs brands are marketed over a substantial part of the UK.  Another very good local manufacturer is Armstrong and Holmes (on a par with Bailey for strength), but you don't see many A & H further afield.

As to whether one make is better  than another,  you often get what you pay for - if you want a strong trailer, you can't expect it to be the cheapest.

The full list I think is:

9321  Ford TW35 (1987 to 1990)

9321  Ford 8830 (1991 only)

9322  New Holland Power TR96 Combine (1988 to 1989)

9323  Claas Jaguar Forage Harvester (1988 only)

9324  County 1884 (1989 to 1991)

9341  Vicon Multi-Spreader (1987 to 1991)

9342  Howard Rotaspreader 155 (1987 to 1991)

9343  Maschio Power Harrow (1988 to 1991)

9381  Ford TW35 & Vicon Multi-Spreader (1987 to 1990)

9381  Ford 8830 & Vicon Multi-Spreader (1991 only)

9382  Ford TW35 & Howard Rotaspreader (1987 to 1990)

9382  Ford 8830 & Howard Rotaspreader (1991 only)

9383  Ford TW35 & Vicon KM321 Mower (1987 to 1988)

9384  Ford TW35 & Maschio Power Harrow (1988 to 1990)

9384  Ford 8830 & Maschio Power Harrow (1991 only)

9385  County 1884 & Salop MT50 Animal Trailer (1989 to 1991)

9386  County 1884 & New Holland 940 Baler (1989 to 1991)

9390  Ford TW35, Vicon Multi-Spreder, Howard Rotaspreader & Vicon KM321 Mower (1987 to 1988)

9391  Ford TW35, Vicon Multi-Spreader, Howard Rotaspreader & Maschio Power Harrow (1989 only)

Plus the Powerfarm Rolling Road Display with the TW35 and Howard Rotaspreader (the tractor differed in that it had no motor in it, and was held in place on the belt by a piece of velcro under the front weights.

The Ford changed to the 8830 by use of a new bonnet side decal and use of the darker black/grey grille decal from the County (although some 8830s do exist with the grey/white TW35 grille decal).

As FNHIR says, the PowerFarm County was white.  The unpowered one was yellow, and genuine powered yellow ones (or unpowered white ones) are not known to my knowledge (I mention this as there seems to have been a tendency in recent years for some folk to swap various Britains parts around and then try to claim them as factory variations).

The forage harvester was only ever badged as 'Claas Jaguar' whilst in the PowerFarm range.  The '690' designation was only added to the decal when it became the unpowered version (9573) in 1992.

Not all of the Howard Rotaspreaders had the lid decal fitted, and there are two types of power shaft for both this and the Multi-Spreader; one is a simple yellow hollow plastic tube (similar to the pipe used on the Wright Rain Irrigator), and later models had a yellow solid but flexible moulded shaft with a wider hollow section at each end to fit onto tractor and machine.  As far as I am aware, the Maschio Power Harrow only had the later type.

I would say DSA/Robin Hood (Finningley) is probably half to three quarters of an hour away (most of it on the A1).

There is also Humberside (Kirmington) between Brigg and Grimsby (A180/A15/A46) and East Midlands (Castle Donington) south of Nottingham (A453/A46) which are a similar distance from Newark, but may by a slightly longer journey timewise.

I think your 'authority' has got it wrong then, because I don't think he did.

They might have been better if he had - the Ferguson would have been vastly better than the one produced, and I don't think Ged would have copied the Scaledown one for the E27N.

can i ask what is the difference between the siku radio controlled and the siku infrared controlled machine's. and will one work with the other? ie can you mix them

I think the name pretty much answers that one - Radio control works by a radio signal, infra-red works via a beam of infra-red light.  The infra red remote control box won't work with a radio controlled model and vice versa. Radio control gives a much longer range, and gives continuous control out of sight behind furniture etc, whereas if there is an obstruction of the infra red beam between the control unit and the sensor on the toy, control is lost.

I have had a brief play with both the Scania artic and the JD 8430T (both radio control), and both are very impressive. They are expensive, but worth every penny if you can afford them. 

The traction of the 8430T is incredible - if the cleats on the tracks were any deeper, I doubt if it would be able to turn. The battery gives a run time in hours rather than minutes, and the radio will give a control range of some metres.

If I remember right, the figures and animals were made for Britians by H & M, who had previously marketed many of them under their own brand (a lot of them through Brian Holmes).  I can't remember the name of the firm that made the E27N and Ferguson, but I think they were the same people who made the military vehicles for the William Britain 'Premier' series.

Well I reckon its the lady with bucket as introduced with the shepherd in 1957 and still available today in a small boxed set (40954) with the farmer and his wife, 52 years and still going strong 

I thought it might be the tumbrel cart, as first introduced in 1922 as 4F up to 1941 (20 years) then from 1946 to 1973 (28 years) becoming 9505 in 1962 and 9567 in 1970 until its deletion at the end of 1973. Reintroduced in 1983 deleted end of 1984 (2 years). I make this 50 years in total so longer than the shepherd.

That is certainly the greatest total number of years production.  When posting the above, I had assumed the longest unbroken production run.

I did look at the Land Girl, but whilst the Shepherd had only a minor facelift in 1971 (the base and crook were altered, but the actual figure was virtually unchanged), the Land Girl, whilst similar to the previous one,  was a completely new sculpting from 1971 onward, so I felt she didn't count. 

thought the plough in presentation box should have green mouldboards and break back springs?

Oddly, all the ones in the Kverneland boxes had the unpainted mouldboards.  It appeared at the time that only the first batch to come into the shops had the painted mouldboards, which suggests that the promotional ones may not have been produced right at the start of production of the model. 

It is quite possible that the painted mouldboard version was produced to go in the promo boxes, but got incorrectly boxed in the factory (the painted version was never shown in the catalogue).  It is another of those things we just don't know.

I wonder if any other old models are on the cards for a Resurrection, Vaderstad rolls, Accord seed drill for example would be good and probably still valid for today.

I don't think Ertl/Britains still have the moulds for most of the models deleted before Ertl took over.

The laid down freisian cow was introduced in 1970 and is still being made today.

As was the Bull, but at 39 years, they still have a few years to go to catch up with the Shepherd or Scarecrow. Perhaps they will do, we will have to wait and see.

Since that proposal was first announced, Corgi Classics has been bought by Hornby, and they have made some fairly substantial changes to the ranges (with the number of models in several ranges being drastically reduced) and the direction in which their future modelling ideas lie. 

As we have heard nothing further, I imagine the plan has either been put on hold, or that Hornby have taken a long hard look at the vastly increased level of competition in the farm toy market over the last couple of years and have abandoned the idea altogether (which is more likely), and concentrate on the markets where Corgi are already successful.. 

It is probably just rumour.  There is much, much more to RC2 than just Ertl/Britains, although there have been rumours that the Ertl/Britains part is for sale for several years now. 

RC2; we must get used to their new name.  From 2010 they will drop the RC2 trading name, and trade as Learning Curve(they have effectively been using the Learning Curve brand name in North America for some time now, and if you look under any Britains box you will see "Learning Curve Brands Inc", "Marketed in Europe by RC2".  Henceforth, it will just be Learning Curve).

UH have indeed opened a facility in the US and are obviously eyeing the US model market, although I think they will have a few regulatory, packaging and licensing issues to sort out.

It will be interesting to see how well the US takes to UH, bearing in mind they are used to the very solid, robust 16th scale products of Ertl, Scale Models, Diecast Promotions and Norscot.  They might possibly feel UH are a bit flimsy?

The longest running model in the whole farm range is in fact the Shepherd.  It was introduced in 1957 under the number H1556, renumbered H2045 in 1959 (the H prefix was dropped in 1962), and then remoulded in 1971 (it was really only the base and crook that changed noticeably). It was deleted in 2005 after 48 years (which would seem correct if he started work at 17, and retired at 65    ).

The longest running implement was the Three Furrow Mounted Plough, which first appeared in 1959 (as 173F) to go on the new working two point hitch on the newly introduced Fordson Major.  It was renumbered 9530 in 1962, and then became part of the Plough Set (9555) with the Four Furrow Trailed Plough from 1970 until 1974 when the trailed plough was replaced by the Three Furrow Reversible and the set renamed 9546.  In its 53 year run until deletion at the end of 2002, the only change to the casting was the remodelling of the mouldboards and their joining to the disc in about 1976 (presumably to stop them catching the threads in the carpet fields.

Whilst the Two Wheeled Tipping Trailer (130F/9550) originally came out in 1949, it was deleted in 1978 and replaced by a new version (9565) which was so substantially remodelled as to make it a completely new model, rather than a simply a slight casting change (only the raves and jockey wheel were carried over).  This version was deleted at the end of 2003, so if you do want to call it the same thing, their total life was 54 years.

The longest running tractor was, unsurprisingly, the Ford 5610, introduced in 1987 and deleted at the end of 2001 after 14 years with the only major moulding changes being the addition of glazing (1989) and the fitting of the larger wheels and tyres and deletion of the Ford name from 1996. Bearing in mind that it was the same model as the previous Ford 7710 and TW20, with just a change of headlight/grille moulding and cab roof, it could be argued that it goes back to 1981 which would make a 21 year run.

The casting used for the Ford Super Major 5000 in 1965 (9527) was remodelled a number of times as Force 5000 & 6600, ending up as the budget range tractor and Ford 6600 with Yardscraper and Roll Bar in 1985, so this too effectively had a 21 year run.

My 6600 brochure has the bubble Q cab on the cover 

There is a 4100 I've found on tractorpool which is fitted with what appears to be an updated version of the 60s type Fritzmeier: http://www.tracteurpool.fr/details/Tracteurs-agricoles-standard/Ford-4100/1242156

I am not sure what the Fritzmeier cab would have been like at the time of the Ford *600 series.  You will probably need to search the web outside the UK as by the time the 600 series were launched in 1975, most the tractors sold in the UK would have been fitted with the FIECo safety cab (or the 'bubble' Q-cab from mid 1976), although I know some were fitted with a Duncan safety cab instead of the Q-cab. 

edit: some of the smaller Ford 600 series used a Lambourn low profile cab I recall, but I don't recall a Fritzmeier.

There was this Fritzmeier cab used by International in the 70's and 80's:

[img height=300 width=400]http://www.ihace.de/01_schlepper/1455/bild-3.jpg

Ford used a similar looking cab on the '10 series in the 80s as a low profile option to the bubble, but I'm sure the plate on the 7610 AP I used to drive said it was made by Sekura:

Should have asked this as well    does it cover all aspects of Britains models?

It does pretty much.  James Opie is mainly an expert on the soldiers, but he has included pretty much everything from the start of Britains as we know it in 1893. 

After a short introduction, the book is divided up with a year to each chapter.  There is a short intro to each years models/developments, and then all the new issues are listed and detailed, and quite a few of them pictured also.  Note is also made of changes to existing lines. He did not go into variations (either colour or casting) except where they are particularly noteworthy. 

His treatment of the civilian models is a little more basic than the military, but they are still covered fully nonetheless, and all the later plastic issues are covered too, and all the farm figures and equipment issued up to 1993, again without going into detail about colour or casting changes. 

There are indices at the back of the book listing every catalogued issue, together with issue and deletion dates.  He stuck closely to the main catalogues, so there are the odd items that he has missed out because they never appeared in the main catalogue (the plastic versions of the lead mould Shepherd and Land Girl spring to mind - they were only ever shown on a New Lines leaflet)

Most of the photographs lean toward the military as one would expect, but there are a good number of pictures of farming models and other civilian lines (including the Herald items), together with a few 'archive' photos of the factory, people and even a few of the factory floor. There are pictures of a few rare and unusual items, including sets, point of sale items and catalogues.

There is even a picture of Dennis Britain admiring the newly produced 'State Open Road Landau' (just to bring the thread back on topic )

...has really surprised me that siku havnt done a rc combine ....

Probably down to eventual cost.  Bearing in mind that the new Siku JD combine is over £60 on its own, and looking at the price of the new Radio Controlled JD on tracks (about £250 list price), you could expect a combine to be £300+, it would be a bit of a risk for them to take. 

If the tracked JD sells OK at £200+, Siku might feel it's worth trying a combine, but it's only just come out, so we don't know how well it will sell after the initial interest. 

Incidentally, a general point.  The the Scania and MAN lorries, the JD on tracks  and the Deutz-Fahr are the only Siku Control models that use Radio Control.  The others are all infra-red control.

Is this the book that comes with metal soldiers?

There were two versions of the Great Book of Britains.  One was just the book itself, with no external packaging (other than the standard dust cover (which is what I have).  The other (much more expensive version) had an identical book, together with a special limited set of metal soldiers packed in a cardboard outer (of the same colour and design as the dust cover), but slightly taller than the book to accomodate the soldiers.

I count 10 new 32nd farm items for 2010.

This time last year, there were 9 new 32nd farm items announced in the catalogue for 2009.

I don't really see where anyone is getting the impression from that Siku are not going to produce as many new 32nd items next year

I agree with Leakyvale here.  Reproduction boxes are fine if they are clearly marked as such, and can provide an economic way of either filling gaps in your box type collection, or providing a mint condition, unboxed model with the protection it deserves.

However, original boxes now add a significant amount to the value of many models, and if the repro boxes are good and not marked, collectors will unwittingly be conned by them in the future, and the genuine ones may become devalued as a result.  Anyone selling good quality repro boxes, which are very close to the originals in card thickness and quality and print quality and which are not marked as repro, should be regarded as potentially fraudulent, and those selling them should be actively discouraged. 

Any reproduction box that is not marked as such somewhere on the box is a Fake, simple as.