powerrabbit

Ertl did a few precision Ford based models in 1:16, I have the pale grey and bright red 9N with that slatted-bar guard on the front, that's a good model. Also got the 2 furrow Deerborn plough and grader blade set for it that came out seperately. Going back to the UH 5000, if they are going to do one I will hear about it from my freindly dealer, he's got his finger on the pulse. If I hear anything I will keep all informed.

If there is to be a U.S version, my guess that it would be similar to the Ertl precision one that came out a few years back, wider rear tyres on 28 wheels with weights, headlamps on the top, each side of the nose-cone, warning triangle on the back of the seat, glass bowl air pre-cleaner.

For anyone interested in Claas equipment Hambly's are having an 'agricultural showcase' at their Honiton branch, Devon, on Wednesday March 27th from 2.00pm and at the Wadebridge Royal Cornwall showground on Wednesday March 19th from 11.00am. Refreshments served and prize draw. I've been to these before and it's well worth going.

Has anyone heard that Siku has dropped it's Tim Toys products? Aparently, according to my local model supplier, this range was dropped some time ago.

Must have been the juice from the pot noodle Mandy, knocked you out for the night! Still blowing here but eased off a bit now.

Here on Dartmoor it's been 3 steps forward and 6 miles back today. Wind started getting up around 10.00pm last night and by 3 this morning was around 75mph and has come up again this afternoon and storm-force now in the heavy squally showers, blew one end of one of my greenhouses out this afternoon. If I go anywhere over the next few days I will be carrying the chainsaw with me.

To keep the mouldboards from rusting, instead of greasing them, which is rather messy, you can get what they call mouldboard varnish which is like a laquer that you either paint or spray on, available from your agric stores. Covering them with plastic bags for long periods will allow 'sweat' or condensation to collect and the boards will rust just as much as if you left them bare. I remember that we used to grease our plough and it was left out, trouble was, we had to keep greasing it because cows love the taste of grease and used to lick it off if they could.

If the cellophane is intact, I would leave it but in my opinion there's no problem in replacing it. To do it you have to open up the box carefully running a sharp knife along the glued joint and flattening the box out and removing the old cellophane. With the box flat, the best replacement I have found is laminating sheet (not pouch) place it over the box and mark it out to the size of the original cellophane and cut it out, mark it where it bends as well as you may have to fold it in order to retain the original shape of the box as it's thicker, you also may just have to nick each side where it bends over. On the line of the old glue, and to stick the box joint back again, run a very thin line of glue on the box and place the new 'cellophane' in place, clear UHU glue I find is best, and put weight on it on a flat surface for 1/2 an hour to allow the glue to dry and then stick the box on the joint back together again. I have done this many times and find especially if the box before was a bit 'weak', the thicker 'cellophane' will strengthen it. Helpfull?

The first process in producing good healthy heavy crops is the ploughing. This is why the 'old school' of farmers always took great pride in their ploughing skills and ability, a well ploughed field will grow twice or three times the crop than a poorly ploughed one will, that is where the emphasis on crop growing starts and unfortunately this no longer seems to be taught. Slightly off topic, but talking of an art and pride, how many grass fields do you now see in early spring that have been 'striped' with chain-harrows. Remember driving on the road and seeing a grass field with light and dark stripes up and down it? I always chain my fields this way as that was how I was taught, for one thing you can see what you're doing, secondly you're not running over the same ground all the time and third, looks good.

To avoid curves, drive in a straight line! Easy enough to say but if you are ploughing a plot, take your three marker poles with you. When you go to your ploughing event, my advice, watch some of the others and what they do, this way you will learn heaps, and never be afraid to ask anyone questions. Proper ploughing is a dying art and the 'professionals' are always more than willing to help newcomers to it.

Fergie parts always do make fair money, it's no different down here. At rallies and auction sales people go stupid in my opinion considering the amount of grey Fergy equipment there is around, I would say the most common make of parts around, even Sparex supplies most parts new, if you have the main castings of a T20, from the parts that Sparex supply, you can build a brand new one.

For anyone that is looking to order the Ford Anglia Fordson tractor service van. http://www.vintagetractormag.co.uk/site1/ShopPages/FoundProducts.asp?cat=Limited%20Edition%20Model%20Van

I seem to remember that I read in one of the magazines that Britain's are, from the beginning of 2008 dropping 'dealer' boxes in the U.K and just 'badging' boxes but the RC2 side is still doing them for the U.S market. The only source for the dealer boxed Ford 5000 that I have come across is from G&M but I may stand to be corrected on this. When Britain's release a new model, the first batch will carry the 'badging' and supplied to dealers before the general release ones.

I used to milk 44 cows in a 4 abreast Gascoign parlour up to 1997. took around 45 minutes to put the cows through. We started milking when Father bought the farm in 1961 with 13 cows and milked in a 4 abreast open bail at the bottom of the field 75 yards from the house. I remember well the winter of 1962/3 when we were under 20 foot drifts for 9 weeks and the roads were filled up to the insulators on the telephone poles and had to house the cows overnight through that winter in the only building we had at the time which was an old ex army nissen hut. The cows would come out in the morning and when they rose from their bedding, the iceicles hanging from the roof were as big around as your leg and they would break them off as they got up. Going down across the field, the nissen hut was buried under the snow and the cows made a tunnel in the snow from the hut and surfaced halfway down the field, remarkably, the water never froze up and the electricity never failed, we carried hot water for milking down from the house, could'nt find the tractor, that was buried, all bales of hay and straw was carried on our back. Fortunately, the milk lorry got to us by driving across the fields. It was the next year that we built an all-singing all-dancing state of the art covered yard for 25 cows and an adjoined milking parlour. Happy days!

As per the title of topic. A cow. A bucket. A 3 legged seat or stool. A rope to tie up said cow. Warm hands. Transfer milk into lidded container. Stand in cold water for 1 hour to cool. Store in refrigerator.

I've seen the wooden peg 'shear away' system used, can't remember exactly how it worked but I think there were a couple of like flat stays connected between the tractor drawbar and plough drawbar and if you hit an obstacle, the pegs would break and release the plough without it actually being disconnected from the tractor, avery effective break-away system. Another safetey measure that was used was the shares attached to the frog by a wooden peg instead of a bolt, again, if you hit a large stone the share would just come off instead of breaking, problem was that you did'nt discover that a share was missing untill you got to the end of your run and lifted the plough out the ground and chances were that you'd never find it again untill next time you ploughed the field and then it would only be by chance. I remember my Father came in from a bit of ploughing on day with a large rusty adjustable spanner in his hand and said "I've been looking out for that spanner for 34 years, lost it ploughing!"

If the plough boards are pretty rusty you can take the surface rust of with a sanding disc or zip wheel but you will find that you will have to turn over a fair bit of ground in order to shine them up so the soil will not stick. Obviously, the better the plough is set-up, the quicker it will clean, also depending on soil type. Best bet it do what I do, carry a wide blade paint scraper with you so you can clean off any earth at the end of your runs, you may have to do it mid-run as well depending on how far you're going.

Regarding raising and lowering the plough, the wheels are on a cranked axle and inside either wheel there should be a sort of cam or dog on the axle that contacts the underside of the frame that in effect lowers the wheels/raises the plough when you pull on the appropriate handle. The dog or cam may be just rotating around the axle and needs pinning or tightening in position. As regards actual ploughing, it's just a matter of practice, hithching the plough to the tractor and positioning the drawbar to bring the plough inline to give you the correct front furrow width in relation to the rear wheel of the tractor that runs in the furrow, if your plough is 8, 10 or 12 inch furrows, lay a straight length of wood inside the rear wheel of the tractor rearwards to the front furrow of the plough and measure the distance of width from the inside wall to the outer edge of the share to get the correct width, this measurement needs to be done with the cross-shaft in the central position, one end-link up, the other down to get the plough pulling straight in the first instance. Hope this makes sense and is of some help.

Great pics and some quality kit. Wonder if any of it actually does any work? James, I think you'l find that the loader on the Cropmaster is an early Horndraulic as David Brown did'nt make a loader themselves until around 1961 after they aquired the Albion factory at Leigh. Loaders fitted to D.B. tractors up to that time were Horndraulic, Sky High, Grays and Farmhand.

I agree with FB. any picture of an accident that caused serious or fatal injuries should not be posted as this may cause distress to those with a sensitive disposition and for anyone who has lost someone in these circumstances definitely will not wish to be reminded of such an incident. Having said that, some pictures would, on the other hand, serve to remind others, especially younger veiwers, of the dangers of farm tractors and machinery and make people think twice before putting themselves in what is very often an avoidable situation with a little forethought. When posting any picture or pictures, the poster will have to be totally honest in their text with the picture in stating that no-one was seriously injured or killed as no-one ever actually knows who may be veiwing it and knows different. Statistics show that the most common tractor accident is still overturning and this type of accident has always been top of the list. In conclusion I would advise all, when posting pictures on the topic subject, to think carefully to consider wheather a picture is apropriate for veiwing or not. I don't want to sound like I am trying to take the part of a Mod or wish to sound like an old fart But think that these points should be thought about.

Soak the whole bonnet in warm clean water for 10 minutes and they will peel off not leaving any stick residue on the plastic. If you're carefull you can remove them in one peice but I guess that you just want to remove the original ones to change to your own.

I might be looking for 3 Ricky at the right price!

Extracted mine from the box and as said, very nice in the silver, it has a certain edge on the blue one and being silver all the detail of the parts seem sharper, stands out more. Yes, 2,500 were made and they are individually numbered, you have to look very carefully to spot it but it is in very small black print on the underside of the front axle beam, mine is number 1333. A very nice addition to the 'limited' stable for a very reasonable price of ?45. Am now looking out for the silver T20, harder to find as these are not generally available, only from Massey dealers, or so I'm told.

In a word Ricky, yes. There will be hundreds (or perhaps 100) eagerly awaiting an answer to this!

Perforated metal instead of just 'patterned' plastic.