powerrabbit

Thanks Scamp, and for the wiper!

Don't know if you can see it that well but the windscreen wiper turned up and is now fitted. Also put the engine oil filter on, that's the little blob of white you can see in front the cab front bottom window. Don't think there is much more I can do to it now.

I put an old tax disc on the scanner part of the copier/printer and scanned it, sent it to my picture file and then opened it in my photo programme and reduced to the required size then printed it off on the 'best quality' setting of the printer side. The printer/copier I have is a HP Officejet all-in-one and will print anything as original from A4 down to a dot, good bit of kit for doing decals etc, the thing is, if your scanner/printer is of a decent quality, it will scan and reproduce 'in focus' regardless of the physical size of the original.

Down here they have cancelled the Ten Tors on Dartmoor due to the heavy rain and you can't see 10 yards in front of you in the fog. Stopped raining now and the sun is out but between Midnight and 12.00 midday today we have had 1 1/2 inches of rain, that's 38mm to you youngsters. Lovely rain, needed badly, proper job. The weeks forcast according to Countryfile, wet Monday and Tuesday, high pressure returning during Wednesday warmer from then on, will need to be or the Devon County Show will be a washout for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, it won't worry me as I won't be going I think it's ?17 to get in on the first two days, greedy beggers!.

I agree with you on the lack of glazing on the Ertl ones. Look at the difference between the Lone Star and Ertl ones side by side and although they are both supposedly the same scale the wheels on the Lone Star are larger making it higher, putting the wider type Britain's wheels and tyres on it lowers it slightly making it more proportional. You will also find that most of the Lone Star tractors in this series used the same basic casting for the 1690, both David Brown and Case and the Case IH version in red and black, the red and blue Internationals, these Internationals were just the basic casting with a floor pan and Duncan type cab and a white plastic grille pinned on the front, Marshalls, Ford 7610 and the Massey Ferguson 3070 Autotronic. I have examples of all the above and after doing this 1690 conversion have even surprised myself how they have the potential to be dramatically changed and improved.

Thanks Marky. I was not being too serious about the warning decals as the majority of them would have to be inside the cab. Heres a pic of the tax disc.

Thanks. A mate of mine says he's got a winscreen wiper in 1:32 so that will be a good addition. I've even put a tax disc on the screen, a bit ott probably but Corgi used to do tax discs for their models, so why not? I could even copy and reduce to size the proper 'warning' decals for it as I've got all the real ones. How far do you go though?

Have you got any of the G&M 1/16 Fergy models Marky? I've only got the one, the red and grey 35, the only one that I could afford at the time. How about the UH 35x, the red and grey one and the yellow and grey one, the yellow one was a limited edition, then there's the TE20 as well I agree that the 1/32 Brian Norman 1200 was/is one of the best Ferguson models made to date I had mine when it was first released, don't know what number it is, it's buried amongst the rest, I'll have to dig it out sometime.

I did'nt much like the first exhaust, a bit too fat and a bit too high, so I found another amongst my bits that I adapted a little to make it more proportionate.

Are you sure you want to ruin a Lone Star Marshall? Personally I would look out for a D.B or Case one that needs a little repar to do as the Marshalls are rather rare now and don't come to light that often.

Well, since my last posting on this one, I have pondered, cut, painted and glued and managed to do a rear cab window, it fits where it touches.

Yes, I have 3/4 glazed the cab, used some 0.25 clear and cut to fit. Thinking of doing a back window as the back of the cab is still open but may be rather difficult as there is very little room at the top of the cab under the line of the roof to 'hinge' a window as I would like to have this rear window opening. I will ponder this for a while.

Made a silght addition this morning as I was thinking something was missing and the back end was looking a little bare so I've added a ploughing lamp and the number plate on the mudguards, have to try and find some tiny black letters and numbers for the number plate, electroset or something.

Here is my latest tractor. A David Brown 1690 4WD converted from one of those Lone Star Case toy tractors. This one is my first real serious conversion, I say serious because it has taken me a week between times and a lot of parts have been made from scratch to make it into what is hopefully a reasonable representation. The most difficult parts I found doing was fitting the front axle and the Siku linkage, the rest was reasonably straight forward but making the mirrors, steps, sidelights and cab interior was hellish fiddely requiring a lot of cutting of piddly little bits of plastic and trying to glue them all together without sticking my fingers together. Anyway, I hope that this attempt comes up to 'scratch' and meets with your approval.

You are one hell of a lucky bunny, just had a look at mine to compare and yours has NO damage that I can detect. Nice one.

Reminds me years ago we used to have an old D.B. 30D, the only tractor we had and a Wren decided to build a nest in the recess between the brake pedal and clutch housing. Hard to believe I know but we were using the tractor every day and the Wren would not give up and the nest was just left where it was. My father went to jump up on the tractor one day and 17 baby Wrens decided it was time to leave home.

Pain 'aint it when birds nest in your equipment. If you see Mr. & Mrs Wagtail again you will have to tell them that if they want to nest in your machinery they will have to apply for planning. ;)

Rory is perfectly correct in his comments on this subject and as being 'the man' as it were is in the best position to guage the readerships requirement of content and interest. Other members on the magazines staff have their roles in researching, photographing and constructing articles that have to be, to an extent, sure bets as to what the majority of readers require and expect bearing in mind at the same time that there are other publications running similar content. A poll as it were could be done in the magazine asking the question "what would you like to see more of" but I believe that the majority of 'replys' would only come from those who subscribe to the mag as the ones that 'pick it off the shelf' and would not be an accurate enough guage. I may be totally wrong but that's how I see things.

Point gracefully taken. No disrespect ment to particular individuals and I appologise if offence has been caused, but it is going on.

Thanks Rory, from myself anyway, for the comprehensive reply. If I may be so bold, would it be possible to produce a supplement on a 'mail order' basis, for example, announce in the mag that a suppliment will be available to those who wish to order one, say 3 months ahead and give a deadline date for orders. This way you could guage the interest and produce a limited amount and this way would be the best to be able to manage the costings and I am sure that if you had any over they could be offered at the various tractor and toy events that you attend. I for one would order my copy now, (through the Forum?) wonder what the rest think? Just a suggestion. I know that this would mean extra work for an already buisy chap and would have to be worked into 'the sceme of things' but the material would already be there. Keep up the good work mate, like I've said before, were all right behind you!

No, only got the one, would'nt mind the Fendt though. I think the Fendt is a better looking model.

Would be worth a decent amount of money now, especially with that tricycle front wheel arrangement.

Sold a 'County All Tracks MK111' hand-book of 1957 on that E watsit back in the winter, just the instructions for the track kit as fitted to a Major, some nice b&w pics and line drawings in it. Some chap in Wales bought it for ?74. biggest postal order I'd ever seen!

Definitely not! Seen them in a local shop for ?12. 98. Old stock now but still available. Probably bidding was 'run' by one of his mates. \

Yes, you're right about the Lanz, I forgot about that one, mine is in a dark corner of the cabinet. The figure of old man Lanz stood seperately on the plinth, Iv'e never come across another one.