ploughmaster

I don't really understand what you are saying here - I doubt very much that the level of sales justifies Britains having more than a couple of Land Rover models in their range (particularly considering the competition with the number of Defender toys and models from other manufacturers). The current Defender 90 pickup is an excellent, well detailed model (although the fixed axles are a small disappointment, I agree) and was issued in a new colour (red) last year, having previously been available for 4 years in blue. The current Series 1 (another cracking model apart from the wheels) is undergoing a re-colour this year. If by "Defender 90 Hard Top" you are referring to catalogue number 40547, then that was deleted some time ago; at the end of 2005. It was originally released as cat number 9507 in 1992 and was very outdated - it was rather basic; not accurate enough/well enough detailed for the standards we expect nowadays. Whilst it would be good if Britains produced other variants based on the 90 (or even make a 110), I think it perhaps asking too much to expect them to do so because it would be at the cost of diverting development funds away from designing other models. They are also limited by the cost of a licence to produce other variants, and by which licences for which vehicles Land Rover will grant to them.

They have (although the new catalogue items are not on it yet - but then the new catalogue is only just printed and not in the hands of most retailers yet). I would not expect it to be updated until after the Toy Show. Learning Curve/Britains website: http://www.learningcurve.com/britains?icid=ddmenu&locale=en_GB Contact Learning Curve: http://www.learningcurve.com/wps/portal/global/customercare/emailus?locale=en_GB

Thanks for taking the time to post all that - a few nice things to look forward to this year , but looks like another expensive year \ I make it 25 new introductions and 29 deletions I think? Deletions (assuming Britains haven't left something out of the catalogue in error) 40639 JCB 3CX (old version) 42014 John Deere 3400 Telehandler 42142 JCB Fastrac 8250 42112 New Holland T8040 42303 Case-IH Puma 210 42330 Case-IH Steiger 535 Quadtrac 42436 John Deere S690i Combine 42343 Case-IH Maxxum 125 42370 John Deere 9530 42458 John Deere 9530T 42460A John Deere 7930 Radio Control (not surprising as the Ertl/USA version was deleted at the start of last year) 42471 John Deere 8440 42587 John Deere 7520 42588 John Deere 8295R 42607 Steiger Panther 42608 Case-IH Magnum 335 42610 Case-IH Steiger 535 40999 Red Twin Axled Trailed Livestock Transporter 42015 Green Flatbed Trailer 42016 Green Marston Silage Trailer 40609 Green Marston Bulk Trailer 42532 Combine Header Trailer (Ertl dropped this a year ago in the US) 42101 Land Rover Defender 90 (Blue) with Ifor Williams Canopy 00174 Land Rover Series 1 (Dark Green) 40953 Round Bales (old Vermeer type) 40973 Farm Buildings Set 42263 Green Large Square Bales 40957 Thoroughbred Horses 40959 Heavy Horses One Dutch seller has it as due in October (http://www.agrispeelgoed.nl/website/index.php?TreeItem=118767&NewsItem=14870), but I spoke to the parts man at a JD dealer near me when I went to get the new Britains 7260R and he was expecting dealers to have the 6210R early in the year. As the picture in the catalogue is of the real machine, and not even a prototype, I would think its release may be later rather than sooner.

Thanks for the link texas - I recall when that footage was shown and felt it was a fairly well balanced report (for the BBC!! ). It's all a bit old news now though, and the plans for the dairy at Nocton were withdrawn (for the time being); note it was withdrawn by the applicants, it wasn't turned down by the planning authority - at the time of withdrawal, I think pending prosecution of one of the farmers involved concerning three pollution incidents on one of his dairies in Devon probably had a significant bearing on that decision. The only major objection (and it was rather a biggie!) came from the Environment Agency, and was a concern over the plans for the avoidance/containment of effluent leakage or major spills and the fact that the land is over a major aquifer which supplies drinking water in the region. The vast majority of all other objections recieved centred on animal welfare grounds (consideration of which do not come into the remit of the planning commitee), and locals frightened of potential smells. As the two dairy farmers concerned still own the land (about 2800 acres), and have I believe committed to farming it for the next 5 years, I would not be at all surprised if the plan is resubmitted in the future (or perhaps a revised plan, possibly even on a different site further from Nocton and Dunston villages?). I have no doubt that sizeable livestock units will happen in the future, but it may be a more gradual increase in size, rather than a sudden multi-thousand animal unit straight away (we have already seen dairy herd sizes increase from 50-100 cows up to 500-600 in some cases over the last few years without any serious objections being raised, but had anyone proposed a 600 cow dairy in the 1960's, it would have probably attracted a similar negative reaction to the Nocton proposal).

Be aware that eBay do not allow you to set a reserve on auction type listings of below £50 For items that are not worth as much as that, using a fixed price Buy It Now would probably be the best option if you are worried that they may go too cheaply on a normal auction style listing.

You might get a better response if you post this in the Siku section

...which is irrelevant to Nigels original question

Of all the tractors that have been around and in mainstream use whilst I have been in farming, the only one I regret not having had a chance to use was a Muir Hill (when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, Muir Hills were all around my area of Lincolnshire, so it was only natural to dream of driving one!). I did once work on a farm which had run a Muir Hill 121 until a couple of months before I started working there, but it had been replaced by a V reg County 1474 (registration PFE 831V if memory serves), so I wasn't too sad to miss out on the Muir Hill at the time .

It was only in the catalogue in 1990, so was short lived and probably not easy to find nowadays. The 9630 catalogue number was also used for several other boxed sets over the years; most notably the yellow Fordson Super Major & Shawnee Poole Dumper set from 1963 to 1965. 1963 - 1965..Fordson Super Major & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump (Yellow) 1965 only......Ford Super Major 5000 (Yellow) & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump (Yellow) 1965 - 1967..Ford Super Major 5000 (Blue) & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump (Red/Blue) 1968 - 1972..Ford Force 5000 & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump 1973 - 1975..Ford Force 5000 (Safety Cab) & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump 1975 - 1981..Ford 6600 & Shawnee Poole Rear Dump 1986 - 1987..Harvest Time Boxed Set (New Holland TR85 combine, Renault 145.14TX, New Holland 940 baler & accessories) 1990 only......Deutz-Fahr DX6.50, Massey Ferguson 130 drill & Front Mounted Cultivator

They only did the TS135A for Europe (which was marketed in a different box and under a different catalogue number in the USA), and a short lived Ertl version badged as a TS125A. Brian Norman did a conversion of the Britains 8560/TM165 which he badged as a TS115 and I seem to think I may have seen another conversion specialist producing one?

The first Hy-Mac was imported from America where it was called the 'Hy-Hoe'. Hy-Mac subsequently bought the manufacturing rights when Hy-Hoe went bust. The Ford TWs were not common in 2WD form in the UK (the TW30 was not even available in 2WD for the UK market), but they were very rare in FWA form in the US, and there are still plenty of 2WD TWs around in Europe (very often bought as a high hp tractors mainly for pto work, rather than the draft work most were used for in the UK where the FWA was of greater benefit).

I haven't come across one with white wheels either, but there may be one with off-white (or cream) coloured wheels ?? (same colour as is also found on some versions of the Vicon Multi-Spreader and Howard Rotaspreader). Maybe these are being referred to as white by some people - we all have slightly different conceptions of colour, and having myself taken part in a research project that involved a colour blindness test many years ago, I was surprised at how large a percentage of people do actually suffer from some degree of colour blindness, but do not realise it! I also have the red MF200 with red wheels, and also the one in red with yellow wheels. I am pretty sure that the Land Rover type wheels and tyres on the early silage trailers were superceded by the narrower 'generic' type wheels and tyres around 1978 (when the 8-wheeled trailer was introduced). The Land Rovers were also fitted with the narrower tyres from the same time. The early blue ones have a blue tailgate, but from about the time the MF200 version was introduced, they had a silver tailgate, like the MF200 and Claas versions - and the late Macau manufactured versions of the MF and Claas trailers had tampo printed decals instead of the paper stickers used on the UK made ones (both MF and Claas trailers were made in Macau after 1996/7, but production of some of the range was subsequently transferred to China around 1999/2000 - does anyone have one of these trailers made in China??) The only other one I have is a late version of the blue/orange trailer with the 'bull decal' (the same as used on the cab doors of the Magirus Deutz livestock lorry) - I imagine they had used up the last of the 'Tipping Trailer' decals and used those instead?? Mine is 99%mint, but is unboxed and has no silage top - I haven't seen a boxed one to know whether it came in the normal box with a silage top or in the MF200 box without the top. I believe it to be genuine as I have seen two others (and I seem to think someone may have posted a picture of one on FTF several years ago? - can't find that one now).

I sincerely hope the model won't be released with the front wheels splayed out like that one in the OP!!!!!

I agree, but, I don't regard UH as being affordable - to me, they seem very expensive (particularly considering some of the inaccuracies on some models, and the general and increasingly poor quality of fit and finish).

It seems that the idea of aiming for a complete collection on a particular theme is a concept too complicated for some people to grasp \ But, that is the basis that most of us who started collecting 20 or more years ago set out with. Until the turn of the millenium, new releases in 32nd were actually small in number - probably one or maybe two new tractors from each of Britains and Siku (together with a couple of new implements from each), and an odd 32nd toy from the likes of ROS or from elsewhere. A steady stream there quite definately was not - even UH were only issueing at a low rate for their first few years, and even aiming for a complete collection of every 32nd tractor ever issued was still a realistically attainable eventual goal. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether we like the new models or not; more that many of us are no longer able to feel there is any possibility of achieving completeness of the theme, which rather spoils our intended aim, and therefore largely destroys our original reason for starting the collection.

You are another one who is completely missing the point as well

Much more likely that their competitors will simply not bother trying to compete at all I think perhaps you have missed the point. The majority of serious toy/model tractor collectors, many of them having started 20 - 30 years ago, collect to a theme - whether it be a particular scale, OEM, model manufacturer or whatever. Most of started out ou with the eventual aim (in those days, realistically achievable) of a 'complete' collection. The rate at which some manufacturers (UH and Ertl in particular) are churning out new items/variations has made the aim of completeness quite impossible, and has dulled the interest in continuing for many of us. It seems to me that many more recent collectors are very random in their purchases, and are amassing what I can best describe as a 'hotch-potch' collection, so will just pick and choose a few from the vast array of new items appearing, and are not becoming disheartened in the way that long standing themed collectors are, by seeing a their chosen theme expending exponentially beyond their financial and spatial resources. I welcome the appearance of a 32nd scale TW, and County, but do we really need to be overpowered by a rash of variations of the same thing all in the space of a couple of months - we know there will be the two wheel drive , twin rear TW30, the 8830 and County 1474 in January/February, and we have seen definate indications that there will also be at least two versions of TW25 (and from past performance, I fully expect to see 8730, and County 1884 versions as well). Whilst some of you will be perfectly happy to only buy just one version of this series, a dedicated Ford themed collector would need to fork out for all of them - £100+ for a model from DBP doesn't look overly costly by comparison to be honest.

Likewise When the original TW30 went on sale, it was huge compared with almost every other conventional tractor available at the time - I seem to think only John Deere had a tractor in the same league (4840; and in the UK at least, Deeres were still pretty uncommon at that time). We were really only used to seeing up to 150hp in conventional form at the time - bigger tractors were almost always artic steer or similar; at 184 DIN hp, the TW30 was a massive step up for 'normal' tractors. When the TW30 launched in 1979, the biggest conventional Massey was the 1155, which had been discontinued the previous year, and its replacement (2720) wasn't avilable until 1982 (and that still left MF 40hp short of Ford!), and the largest conventional International in the UK was the 1455 (although we did get the 5288 in 1981). By the time the TW range were facelifted to fit in with the smaller 'Series 10' styling, the TW35 was no longer at the top of the tree, and by the time the TW35 'Force II" came along, Ford was already starting to be left behind by the likes of JD and International. By the time they evolved into the 8*30 series, JD and International were way in front powerwise. TW - iconic - certainly. TW30 - definitive - definately.

That won't work Powerrabbit - once a seller has taken money for the supply of goods (whether he be a private seller or a trader), he is legally responsible for ensuring that the goods are recieved by the buyer. You enter into a contract with Royal Mail (or any other carrier) for the safe carriage, but if the item fails to arrive at its destination, or arrives damaged, it is down you to re-imburse the buyer. The idea that some eBay sellers have that they can wriggle out of their legal responsibilities by claiming that they are not responsible for the package once it is in the carriers hands is entirely false. When a package fails to reach the seller, eBay/PayPal will always support a full refund if there is no proof of delivery (and not all forms of proof offered by some carriers qualify under PayPals terms!). They will refund the buyer and will then reclaim the money from the sellers account. You should be covered by a Certificate of Posting up to a value of 100x the cost of basic first class letter post (currently £46; not the erroneous amounts quoted in previous posts!!). However it is for the seller to submit the claim to Royal Mail, having refunded the buyer.

I think you will probably find that David Purdue, Brian Norman and the rest might disagree with you all on that point!

It looks like a LoneStar toy which was loosely based on the American Ford NAA.

Very old news, but as usual everyone on FTF was too busy bickering about other things to notice (I mentioned it a couple of times, but it drew no comments, so assumed that nobody else cared ). Bill Walters mentioned it on the Ertl blog a while ago too, and suggested it wouldn't make a big difference to the way Ertl is run or what it produces, but we will have to wait and see. I was told some time ago that Craig Varley had departed from Britains, but nobody has mentioned that on here either. I would say the future development of Britains is somewhat uncertain at present.

Read my post again - that is what I have said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The early ones were based on the short skid unit of the 9700 and then the TW20. When the TW20 was replaced by the longer skid unit of the TW25, from then on the 1474 was also longer as a consequence. In other words, the short one was replaced by the long one from February 1983. I think you're right, I should have checked before posting that, sorry