powerrabbit

You'll have to name this one 'smudge' bill looking at the number on the study. I wouldn't worry myself as to specific 'unlucky' number/s as I'm not supersticious, touch wood!

Yes, it should be on a wooden plinth with a brass label. Given to the customers who bought the real tractor only, quite rare although you do see them occasionally on eBay and at toy fairs. Can make silly money as they were a commissioned model and not meant for general sale. One sold on eBay a while back, complete apart from the exhaust was missing, didn't see what it went for.

Bit difficult to get at is the hydraulic ajustment, through that little hole on the top left and slightly forward of the PTO housing, there was a 'special' tool for the purpose to turn the nut on the spring. Selectamatic hydraulics are a bit easier to ajust but still fiddely to get at but still relativeley simple to sort out, normal problem with 'no lift' or 'slow lift' is a sticking lift valve or dirt in the bottom of the valve blocking the tiny nylon screen, a gnats whisker will block it. The Polish girl who speaks good English.

What you need to do Derrick is to drain it all again, a pain I know as it holds around 5 gallons of oil, same as engine oil you need to use. There are two more drain plugs besides the filter bowl plug, a large one under where the cross-bar on the front of the drawbar frame goes across and another under the PTO housing, drain from these as well and you'll get 90% ofthe oil out, these hydraulics like clean oil. If you have lift problems with new oil in then you need to clean the lift valve and bypass valve in the valve chest which is under the dump valve, long knob behind the hidraulic lift quadrant slightly to the right and you have to have the 3-way-valve, handle on the left front of axle, in the right position and also the dial pointer, on the D shaped housing on top the ramshaft right hand casting in the middle. Middle position of this one is 'height', to the right is 'external/TCU' (traction control unit for ploughing) and far left position is 'depth' for ground engaging implements like ploughs, you 'switch' to TCU when ploughing if the ground is soft and you get wheel spin, bit more to it than that but that's the basics. The 3-way-valve is an oil isolator for different 'services' such as trailer tipping from the exactor or operating a front loader. When in the gearbox filter housing make sure you clean out the washable wire gauze screen as well and make sure it pushes up and holds into the paper element which in turn pushes up into the hydraulic oil pickup pipe and being a 'livedrive' don't raise the hydraulic lever until the engine has run for a minute or so or you'll have to bleed the hydraulics to get the air out of the system.

Is it the earlier 4/47 engine or the later 4/49? Early one was the same engine as the Implematic 990. You'll probably find that the Imp will be easier to restore but a few parts for these are harder to find new. Have you done the brakes yet? If not, remember to lock down the diff-lock pedal before you remove the right-hand final drive unit! Check that the brake shoe carrier, the round shaft, is screwed in the casting of the axle tight as they can work loose and undo themselves and chew up the brake drum, pays to remove them and put some locktight on the first 3 threads, that's enough to hold them., What have you done to the hydraulics? Forgot to say, it was my late Father, one of his favourite answers to anyone who asked him what they should call him, Mr. or by his Christian name.

Strip it back to a bare skid unit, get it all mechanically sound and go from there. If the engine runs well you're 1/2 way there. If you need advice and tips on where to start just email me. All I'll say to start with is drain the engine oil and change it plus the filter, drop the sump pan and clean it all out shiny and remove the oil pump screen basket and clean as well, to get rid of any build-up of sludge which will make the engine breath heavy if there's a lot in the bottom, put on a new sump gasket and re-fill with Universal 15W30. Also clean out the air bath, re-fill to the line same oil as engine and remove and clean out the removable gauze on top the bowl and clean out the 'chimney'. Next change the fuel filters, bleed it through and start it up. Basically a full service. The next stage will be the gearbox oil and filters then you can move on to the hydraulics. Parts are relatively cheap and 99% all available. Well worth restoring.

I would say go find a few on eBay, put them in your watch and see what they make and have a look to see what the ones in 'buy it now' listing are up for. Take note of the post and packing charges as well as this can add conciderably to the price but if you're selling you can just use as a guide. Dont forget your listing and end fees which can be as much as 8% on items below around £500.

You've still got the drive cog so it wouldn't be too difficult to improvise a shaft. If you had something that would slide through the pin hole the other side to the cog, such as a cocktail stick cut off each end to length and then had something like the plastick stick/tube from a cotton bud, they are hollow, and cut it to length so it goes over the stick leaving enough the cog end to push the cog pin into and leave enough of the stick protruding from the other end for the hole in the body, it would not have any side to side movement then. The shaft is really only there to support and hold the drive cog in situ it performs no other purpose. Just an idea off the top of my head.

You say that yours should be white? My green spreader has all yellow plastic rear end parts and I've got a bag full of beaters and all the other plastic bits. I'll have another look in the bag to see what's there. Just had a look, lots of cogs, a few beaters and a couple of the augers but alas no rollers. All in yellow.

If it is the floor belt roller, there is or should be one at each end and are plain un-painted diecast which the belt runs around. Well, that's the theory!

I had a similar issue with the painting a few years ago with the David Brown study 'Getting ready for Smithfield', the Silver Jubilee tractor. It was not really an issue but the tractors fuel tank, that what was showing of it, should have been black but had been left the 'power red' and the vertical bar frames on sliding window pane sections on the rear panel of the cab were left out, all were the same, not just the example I had. I contacted BFA to 'alert' them to this and politeley pointed it out and the answer I got was, the fuel tank, 'you can paint it yourself' and the window frame bars, 'you can do that yourself'. I wasn't too pleased with the response and just reminded the person I was speaking to that before releasing any study that they should be more observant in detail as customers require a certain standard of detail in order to be happy enough with it to make a purchase. I think they must have, up to now, taken such comments on board but not forgetting the white wheels on the Leyland where they should have been silver.

Take your point but I was being more general than specific. With the bonnet issue, not being into MF, could the real tractor it was modelled on have had replacement bonnet panels sometime in its life and not as original?

Yes, took a gander at one of mine. must be one of the later ones as it has the metal rollers. Had a look through my Britains spares and found loads of the yellow plastic parts but alas no rollers. Would not be too difficult to make one from a bit of dowell and drill through and insert a length of brass rod. An original roller would be difficult to fit without seperating the spreader in half lengthways, as they were put together.

This I am assuming is the rear belt roller on the land-drive spreader with the rubber floor belt. These spreaders were green, red and in the set were a metalic blue.

Britains made several types of spreaders, could you be more specific as to which you require the bits for please?

If I may just elaborate a little more on scale detail, of models in general, it is now easier to mould detail into a model with the modern materials available but with certain ones there has to be an element of strength in process where heat is concerned in construction and a certain thickness of materials to enable it to retain its form. If you notice, especially on older diecast models from the likes of Dinky and Corgi, the cars, vans and busses and also lorries, have window bars that are proportionately out of scale, in essence, they are a lot thicker than the real thing. This is done for strength in the model as the roof of a vehicle model would not be sufficiently be supported and would distort and crush down the bars under very little pressure. When the perspex windows came in then these bars became slightly thinner as the perspex would give more support. I believe that nowadays we have become more collectors than players and in our collecting interest have become more educated in the difference between a toy and a model and having lived through the changes in and processes in model production methods and materials we tend to compare models through the ages from then till now so therefore tend to look at them with a more critical eye. Any model, as we perceive it, is basically made as a toy for the masses, it's just what you do with it that gives it a true definition, play with it, it's a toy, look at it and put it back in the box or display it, then it's a model. BFA and other such studies are really a completely different entity and should not be included in my opinion as models. This is going off the topic I know but still think pertinent.

With reference to inaccuracy's in these studies I think we have to understand that for certain detail it is very difficult to replicate parts such as the grass true to life due to the medium used to create it unless other materials like plastic and fibre were used which in my opinion would spoil the study. Yes, there will always be fault found but this is true in the majority of model replication. I know these studies are not cheap but Bill will agree with me when I say that if anyone has seen these being created they will appreciate just what goes into them in time, resources and everything between. They are after all as described, a study, which depicts rural and agricultural life. Personally I think they're pretty fantastic and am willing to look past certain things although I do notice them.

Most Company employers do not pay sickness benefit now for the first week so you'd be on a looser pulling a sicky!

Wasn't there one of these in CT a couple of issues ago? I'm not sure as I'm not a Ford person but could be one of the last County's to be produced.

Ploughmaster. I'm not saying you are wrong but read the last seperated line of your post 'insert'. I read in an article, Diecast & Collector Magazine I think it was, that the software was written for Ford New Holland and the tractors were commissioned by Mictosoft for the 'trade' but this software was in the end never taken on by FNH. You do see these turn up occasionally. I found the one I have on fleabay, as new in its box, the seller never mentioned in the description anything about the Microsoft script on the top of the bonnet so obviously didn't know anything about it. I bought it for £16 at the time and the reason I did was because of the article I read and transfering the picture in the listing to my photo programme and 'manipulating' it was able to see the script on the bonnet, if I had not seen the article in the mag I would probably never have given it a second thought. It would be interesting if we could find out the truth about this one.

1:76 scale plastic copy of the Matchbox Lesney Massey Harris 745 Diesel which was produced in the early 1960's. These were in the main supplied with Hornby Dublo train sets and also in the accessory packs for train layouts. Getting hard to find now.

Regarding the Microsoft version, it was a promotion model as stated but Ford New Holland never never took up the software so it is not known exactly how many of these models were actually produced of the stated 500, it is suspected not that many.

I wonder when the model Companies will cotton on to this one and produce a 'limited edition'. All a publicity stunt to bring awareness to the problem of farm machinery theft. One thing they missed, the beacon should be blue!

Over the last few days down here we have had really nice calm sunny but rather cold weather but I knew we were in for something as the anneroid barometers in the house (I have 4 of them) dropped to the lowest point I have ever seen down to 27.58 inches of mercury, that's low. Overnight we've had a lot of rain and very strong gale force winds. I intend to get myself a wind speed recorder in the near future.

Cellulose paint and thinners eats plastic.