powerrabbit

I always go to this little fair. Only a 1/4 the size of Exeter one as the size of the venue indoors is quite small. The area seems more model train orientated being right by the station. It is growing and more stalls are appearing each time and there are a few farm related stalls. The asking prices are not as expensive as Exeter as the trader stallholders are more local and and know that prices down here have to be proportionate to the area and the buyers pocket so there are relative bargains to be found. Held 5 times a year in the betting hall at the racecourse with just as much parking as Exeter and there is often, especially in the summer, a giant car boot sale outside on the racecourse running at the same time. In the betting hall there is a very small counter and seating area where they serve tea coffee and cakes for refreshment and there are very good toilet facillities. Entry fee is just £1 and it is a very freindly event. Being only about 12 miles from me its nice and close. The venue is on the outskirts of the town in Newton Road Kingsteignton to be exact and is opposite the large Tesco. Anyone going from the A38 follow the Newton Abbot directions from Drumbridges roundabout and follow the signs to the racecourse, which from that end is on the right. Coming from Exeter or Torquay/Teignmouth, come off at the roundabout to Kingsteignton and follow the signs to Newton Abbot and from that end the racecource is on the left.

Brian Norman for one. Also look on eBay, chap by the username of Yeomar12 lists a lot at reasonable prices. Other members here will give you more advice and contacts.

LEAVE IT ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

If he has no permission from AGCO he could be in hot water being a current model in the real woeld although not in this livery. UH might have an axe to gring with him as well. Dicey.

28mm of rain yesterday and cold enough to light the fire. Heavy showers this morning clearing out this afternoon but still quite cold. 10 degrees lower temperature than last week. Winter is not yet quite over.

When everything in the greenhouse has grown up you'll wish you got one 3 times the size!

My garden is 1/8th of an acre and although I can get a small tractor in the soil is so soft after nearly 50 years of growing, the tractor will sink. I turn it all by hand with a Devon shovel (long handled sort of heart shaped spade) and then run over it until I get the desired tilth with my Wolsley Merry Tiller Major.

You're right Fred. Providing that the scratches are only very slight Tcut will remove them and clean the perspex or clear plastic if a little stained or dirty. It will not remove all types of glue but will remove solvent based ones. Use a kitchen paper towel or a material that has a very fine weave or fine cotton wool for cleaning or removing scratches as some materials will scratch even more. I find that it is best to thin down the Tcut to 50% with white spirit as if used neat it will melt into the surface of some plastics. Just out of interest, if you ever take a watch to a jeweler to have minor scratches and have the glass cleaned, they will charge you a fair bit but that is all they use, Tcut, so you can do it yourself.

When spraying my projects I spray with automotive aerosol can spray, that way any spray mist is driven off by the propellant and I hang the parts or whole item on a very thin wire hooked to a convenient part of it hold it in one hand and spray with the other and then hang it still on the wire above the AGA in the kitchen to dry for an hour or so. If the type of paint I'm using does create a dust mist then I do it outside where the natural air flow will carry it away from the item.

The box is a repro which was originally for the red 155 and the yellow 135 was never released on its own they all had the red loader. Notice the distance peice in the left side of the box, this was only issued with the red one to fit the muledozer attachment. Does look good like this though.

The brushed silver 135 is a UH model and will be available from other suppiers as well as those advertized and probably cheaper than presently quoted.

I think that that that blue 1:25 Ros Ford/Landini was the early one that came in a plastic bag on a 'hanging' card before the boxes were used. I have an example of this model and there is a choice of decals on a seperate sheet of backing paper loose in the bag so you can call it what you like.

The E27N driver was loose. This figure was used on several of Britain's implements as well from pre-war models up to around 1956. Horse and hay rake, horse and roller as well as the tractor. He came in various colour combinations for his clothing and hat and had a swinging right arm.

Replacement exhaust and air cleaner, black seat and bonnet decals to repair the Britain's double wheel MF595 I bought at a boot sale last Sunday. All done now for under a fiver.

I believe that this price guide deliberately omits internet auction prices because prices would be difficult to collate and are to a degree in a different parameter whereas specialist auction houses record prices on paper. We must also remember that the prices you see in this book are before the addition of sellers lot entry fees, buyers and sellers premium and commission and VAT on commission so you could add up to as much as 25% to each item which would bring it up to more or less internet prices and that the internet selling fees of around an average of 8.5% brings values back to those of auction houses. This is just my take on things. It does however disappoint me also that there are numerous items listed in this book that records NPA (no price available) but the only reason for this is either the item did not sell or did not reach reserve. It looks to me like this book may be just the first of what will be ongoing and updated at future times like many of the other toy and model guides available as the realisation and awareness of the growing popularity and collecting of Britain's toys becomes more and more apparent, just see how the tractor and farm equipment magazines have sprung into life over the past 10 or so years, some tractors and farm machinery are making more money than classic and vintage cars and trucks. But that's another subject.

Someones been buisy spending lots of money. Bought a set of bonet decals, exhaust/air cleaner and black seat to restore the double wheel Britain's MF595 I had from the boot sale yesterday. £4.50 for the bits inc p&p.

Local boot sale this morning. Britain's MF595 double wheel, missing cab and exhaust/air cleaner. Brown Fiat 880DT. Slightly stepped on cab but complete. New Holland TL80. Complete. Budget Ford 5000/660 brown with orange wheels. Complete. 2X Deutz DX110. One missing Cab, the other missing cab, floor pan, cab, exhaust, front tyres. Lastly, one of those non-descript JCB 4CX Powershift Super Sitemaster diggers. Mint. Probably use most for spares.

Give us all more details on the book Andrew like where it is available and price etc. We will be able to say more about it then.

Just received my copy of this book and I must say that it is very enlightening. Covers all the Britain's stuff, listed by type, year, catalogue number and gives description and auction prices for boxed and unboxed items. Prices listed for the majority of items listed are a lot lower than toy fair prices so I would recommend anyone to have a copy of this book to carry with them when attending toyfairs and the shows to compare prices and to use as a negotiating tool when purchasing items. I hope that others will post their comments.

This white metal Duncan cab is not the easiest of things to fit. They are meant for the Britain's original Ford 5000 and 6600 but in order to get the front of it to fit it has to be sort of slid on the tractor from the rear before re-fitting the original mudguards and the wheels. There is another problem in this and that is the steering wheel, you have to go up and over the steering wheel and its not easy. The square bridge peice of metal is supposed to be a floor pan but how you incorporate this is beyond my comprehension and has no practical use unless you are building a tractor from scratch to fit the cab. In my opinion, not a very well thought out cab to fit and I would rate it as 3 out of 10. It is ok to use as a pattern.

I've never tried it, never had the need but they say that you can grow huge marrows and pumpkins by placing a jar of sugar and water solution with a lid on, bore a hole in the lid of the jar and a small hole in the neck stem of the marrow or pumpkin when its big enough and insert a length of string, one end in the jar and the other in the stem to act as a wick, the shorter the better, to give it extra feed. I say you can't really beat growing them on a mound of dung with soil on the top to hold it and keep well watered.

You can make brown eggs a little browner by staining with coffee. Manure. Well, depends what you're putting it on or feeding it to. Tomatoes don't like very much nitrogen as it makes them put on more green growth and less fruit. Sheep 'dags' are good all-round manure mixed with water and soaked in a butt or large container for 6 months. Pig dung is high in phosphates. If you want very long rooted carrotts and parsnips you have to dig the soil very deep and sift it very fine, an old oil drum or silage additive barrel is a good thing to grow these in. The art of producing good large exhibition garden produce is not to till things too tight together or to thickly. As for compost, most of it is rubbish really as now less and less peat based compost is available a lot of it is now composted wood bark and chips and you need to mix it with about a 1/3rd fine soil and coarse sand to give it a bit of 'weight' and better drainage as used 'neat will water-log and your plants will rot off. I think that's covered a bit more. I used to do a lot of veg showing at local shows, started when we used to do it for the Young Farmers section, Very often went away with several 1st prizes. It was the actual competing that gives the buzz.

You're almost there with straightening runners for showing. Just wet a tea towell and wring it out and lay flat. Lay the first bean about an inch from one end, fold the end over it and then roll over the bean and the towel keeping both tight holding the bean straight from both ends, lay in the next bean and roll over again and so on and just lay on the fridge shelf over night and hey presto. If your showing tomatoes, keep the tops on. To show potatoes, wash and smear them when dry with milk on a pastry brush and leave to dry, it gives them a natural 'varnish'. Onion setts and shallotts, don't skin them, leave an inch of dry top and fold the top down and tie around the neck with either thin sisal type string or raffia, trim the folded over end square below the string. Display shallotts in a wooden bowl on a bed of play sand symetrically and a little apart. I could go on for hours.

If you want to grow long or large garden produce you have to have the right sort or varieties. For long runner beans you need a variety called Scarlet Runner. For a big potato grow Aaron Banner or Majestic, the only problem is that these varieties that grow large tend to be hollow in the middle if they grow too fast. And of course, it depends on your soil fertility as well.

Speaking of fruit, I have a loganberry thats gone a bit wild and last year it bore a good lot of fruit. Being a rather wet season I made it all into jam, 21 pounds of it and sold it through a local shop, it went so well it ran out in a week. Lesson there for anyone who can produce more than their own need, sell the surplus, you will make some serious money, believe me.