powerrabbit

I keep everything that comes in a box in the box to preserve the model. I already have around 600 models 'on display' and have no more room for display. You should see the rest I have piled up in two rooms and running out of space. Thats the trouble with having a small 2 down and 3 up house.

Certainly is. Best left alone, easier to stack away.

Britains boxed Volac bale wrapper with the green and black bale. 1995 on the box, instructions inside and the original till receipt from where it was purchased originally, don't think its ever been out the box.

Here are a couple of pics. First a close up and a second of the entire machine for scale comparison.

Have had a trawl around various model supply shop sites and none seem to have these listed so I would hazzard a guess that the chap on eBay is the only one selling them. He goes under the trade name of Miskin Models and his website is www.plankonframe.com and has a mobile phone number 07758 650754 if this information is of use to you all. This is on the label on the bags they come in. I would say that the 20mm ones are about right for 1:32 stuff, I have just finished building a linkage hitch on the UH Puma trimmer/vergecutter I bought from Nathan and they fit the top-link clevice on the machine perfectly. I'll take a pic of it later and post it up so all can see what it's like.

Six pairs available of the 20mm ones according to his listing, thats if we're talking about the same chap.

I've just bought a few from eBay and the seller has three different lengths. The longest ones seem like they would be ok for 1:16 models and the middle size ones for 1:32. The cross-hole is ideal to insert a short brass rod as would be on a real top-link for the turnbuckle adjustment. Will have to see what's what when they arrive. If they are as good as they look and do what we want them to do then we will be able to improve hitching of implements and actually level them even more like the real thing. Thanks to that man for finding them and bringing to our attention.

From a couple of stalls at Honiton Hill Rally today. Old stuff. 3 boxes (original) 'Britains loads', milk churns, 9 per box. Britains front linkage, as per the mule dozer type. Britains Herald plastic 'gentleman farmer' horse rider and young girl horse rider with the extended pigtails. (no horses). 3 Herald plastic shepheards, very unusual as one is unpainted apart from the base, the other 2 have only the base and the lamb he's holding painted. A mint Dinky garden roller. And some tractor models. Schuco Mercedes MB Trac 1800. Ros Fiat 180-90. UH Valtra Tag, yellow ltd ed. UH Massey Ferguson 8690 with front linkage and dual wheels. (New out, fantastic model). Siku 2009 year tractor, silver JCB Fastrac 8250 V-Tronic.

Been a cracking day here so been out in the garden and lifted 99 onion setts and put in the greenhouse on the staging to dry and picked up the shallotts, a wheelbarrow load to dry the same way. Also took up the first row of pea haulms and the support netting an stakes and tidy'd it all up. Easy when you use stakes and a roll of electric sheep netting.

Will have to nick your pic of the D.B. 995 Tellarian for the D.B. Club calendar.

A very good find there. Indeed the full set of the period and that particular box was a shop display peice to show the available range. You lucky devil!

Off out the road with two tractors to pull a couple of floats in a local carnival in an hour or so.

Try the authors email and if that turns up nothing I'll see if I can find any more info for you.

And reading it would seem that auction prices are far less than internet auction sites and toy fairs. A good reference to carry with you when going to toy fairs and shows so you can show to those dealers and sellers who you feel are asking too much. A good bargaining tool perhaps.

There is an email contact for the author in the back, barney_brown@sky.com or contact Jonathan Stephens at www.britainsheraldfarm.com There is another book that I have ordered from Amazon called 'Suspended Animation - An Unauthorised History of Herald and Britains Plastic Figures. by Peter Cole. Revised edition 2007. £19 with free postage from Amazon. £20 RRP + £5 p&p from most other sources.

New 1:16 Ford 7000. I may be being a little 'picky' here but the lift arms do not raise quite far enough to bring the pickup-hitch up to its locking position and the check-chains do not have turnbuckles. The exhaust is quite difficult to locate in its 'socket' on the manifold, is very tight although a printed diagram shows which way the 'D' goes, pretty obvious really if you observe that the rain-cap hinge faces rearward on the real one and it seems to be thinner in the middle section than the real one. Biggest fault, if you can call it a fault, is the fitting of the air pre-cleaner, the ''D peg' is very small and locates very shallow which makes it loose when fitted in place and could very easily be broken. Other than these quite minor 'faults', it is in my opinion the best model in the 1:16 range that UH have produced to date. I feel a 'report' coming on!

Honiton Hill Rally at Stockland Hill is on this coming Sunday and Monday off the A303 between Illminster and Honiton. Cancelled last year as it was like a bog so should be good this year. Lots of stuff there to see and lots of stalls. Tractor parts traders like Bertie Dunlop, T20 Parts Co, Agriline and others. Auto and tractor jumble stalls and on the Monday a large auction starting at 10am. Over 2000 lots normally with two auctioneers selling at the same time.

Ordered a copy whilst ordering my gun-metal on here. Looking forward to it.

Out in the garden at 6.30 this morning pulling and picking veg to take to a little fortnightly local market where I take a table to sell it. Well worth doing when you come home with just over 50 quid. Cost 4 quid for the table or 'pitch'. Good old fresh home grown, people just can't get enough of it!

Toy fair today at Westpiont, Exeter. 3 Franchau (Renault) UH loaders, Fraser and Marshall decal set and a UH hedgetrimmer (Renault) from Nathan. Britains Herald plastic figures, boy with rope, man carrying sack behind his head, farmer with shotgun and wavy walking stick, young girl (feeding horse) and woman with cap carrying basket of eggs. Corgi late Fordson Major and an original tractor driver (2 different stalls). UH 1:16 Ford 7000 (the new cabbed one). Fantastic model. Britains new Ford FW60. A lot better model than the FW30. Not a great amount of different farm stuff there but some new stuff that was all overpriced. One stallholder had the UH 1:16 Ford 5000 pre-force and the cabbed MF135 for £22 each, he said that he wanted to offload them as they were getting hard to sell. Seems like models from the last couple of years are getting cheaper, perhaps if you haven't got these earlier ones, now's the time to pick them up.

Tell him to have a table or two Naehan, I'll take it off his hands!

You'd better get out of bed pretty early then! I am a bit strapped for cash as well so will have to be selective. Got a few things ordered so those take priority. Plus I think that you have a little something put by for me Nathan. See you next Sunday.

I have the 3 furrow plough Nigel but not reversable type, this one has a yellow plastic land-wheel which is height adjustable by a cranked threaded bar handle, like a Ransomes plough. Unfortunately it's in 2 or 3 peices but I'll find a good one one day I hope. Crescent also made an orange and silver Fordson Major E27N with rubber wheels and steerable front axle with a 'land girl' driver. A range of tinplate implements were made for this tractor, all, including the tractor were available seperately or as one complete set. They were made in the late 1940's to early 50's and was a bit larger than 1:32. Here's the Dexta with bale trailer. Here's the E27N.

This model was based on the 1958 Fordson Dexta and is a very good representation of the tractor for quite a basic model. Came originally with a plastic driver positioned with one arm over the mudguard with his hand sort of holding the outer edge. There were no hydraulics but a hook for the trailer was positioned at the base of the back axle. Several 'sets' were available, one with a blue flatbed trailer with yellow plastic lades or raves, single axle with red plastic wheels and had a spring clip on the front that you pressed down which tipped the trailer body. Another was with a red 4-wheel turntable front axle trailer with a wire drawbar, the trailer sides slotted or dropped in on the corners and it had a removable front headboard and a yellow plastic rear lift out tailboard that slotted in, as did the headboard, a groove on the inside of the sideboards. You could 'double up' the sideboards to make a grain trailer. I believe that there were a small range of implements available as well but these are harder to find. Made by this British firm in Mold, Wales and I believe the company was bought out by another company who's name escapes me at present, in the late 1960's. There was no scale mentioned but roughly 1:18

Hitched up an old farm cart to my D,B, 780 to transport the bride and her father to a wedding this afternoon. People were more interested in the tractor than the wedding! Didn't take my camera, nowhere to carry it.