JEP

Old claas

looking great John, That 171 is looking a bit of a beast!! Ps the 8070 is coming along very nicely.

If it's any consolation Smithy, some of the wheat round here not good, unfortunately weather dictates to a large degree, conditions when drilling were awful, followed by 2/3 months of drought..... Hopefully, fingers crossed the spring barley will be better. The TX is still looking good as ever, and loving the photos of the TX and 40 parked up together!

I certainly do Smithy, frightening that it is 2 years ago (just checked photos, very similar time - 3rd August), great couple of days spent with you and Julie. Need a good catch-up asap!

As all of the above, absolutely top quality trailers you have produced, and a fascinating insight into the whole procedure. Many thanks for posting up and sharing all the photos, and details, a really informative topic. Keep up the great work!

Liking that a lot John, likewise we had one when l was younger, spent hours with Dad in the late 70's on a Ford 6600, Bamford baler and meijer, as you say - happy days. There was a trader at Zwolle 3-4 years ago selling decent scratch built versions, l had a wander round the show with the intention of picking it up later on, but they had sold out when I went back. Kicking myself for not buying when I had the opportunity .

Really coming along John, looks very imposing when alongside the 121, another fantastic build in the making, will make a very impressive line up of M.H's when finished.

That looks great, l've steered away from some of the 3D printed kits that I've seen in the past, but the quality of that one looks excellent. Lovely paint job also

My thoughts exactly Alastair! Just don't know how you do it John.... Again another classic that will be a great addition to your fleet. Love your choice of builds, some real iconic 70's and 80's tractors you are producing. Ps lt would be great if you were the universal hobbies product manager!!

That's looking great Alastair, really brought it to life!

Liking that very much! Which will it be - 66?

Given how they keep records, would of thought they would have plenty of old photos - would love to spend an afternoon browsing through the 70's and 80's photo albums of thriplow! Indeed 1978 would have been a good year to have a look around. If you look on YouTube - farming diary part 1, (about 22 mins in total) it is the 1980 harvest, with footage of the two dominator 85's, and the 105, plus a demo/evaluation IH 1460. Also a Schulter 7800 pulling a big set of discs. Great era for farming/machinery.

Must admit, I find it interesting looking back at old tractor/combine fleets on big estates - to see what type of fleets they ran. Used to get some good overviews/articles in magazines now long gone - like crops and arable farmer magazines. Looking at the Walston reports - (and looking at previous buys/sells) it appears the 1987 tractor fleet consisted of all John Deere (x12) - 2140 (x4) 2850 (x2) 3140 (x1), 4040 (x1), 4240S (x1) 4650 (x2) 4850 (x1), with 3 Class combines - 106 (x2) 116 (x1) By 1992 - this had morphed into 8 John Deere tractors and 2 Claas combines. JD 2850 (x2) JD 3140 (x1) 4250 (x1) 4650 (x2) JD 7800 (x1) and a flagship JD 4955 (x1) Combines had become Claas Maxi 108's. (x2) Another point - harvest 1984 - was a Claas 116, two Claas 106's and an IH 1480, which on around approx. 2200 acres of combinable crops - seems well over capacity?. Think I need to get more...............

Oh dear, doesn't sound to good Smithy, If it's any consolation it's a right s&%t hole here, trying to get the trailers off the potato ground......

Be good to see it for real at Smithy towers, hopefully sooner rather than later! Know what you mean about the rain...... But believe it or not we've had 2 dry days this week

What a lovely purchase Smithy, very nice indeed!

Laverda M150 - Found this locally a few weeks ago, tinwork and guards absolutely mint, (apart from slight dent on one of header guards) pretty good for a 45 year old combine. Today was its first day out of the 2019 season, lovely sounding straight 6 fiat engine.

Can relate to that, mates farm ran 2 tx36's, and replaced one of the TX's with a MF38, then a couple of years later replaced the other tx with a MF40, as you say - cabs on the massey was a big jump, and while the masseys would perform well when going, they did seem to become unreliable after 2 or 3 seasons. The 2 masseys eventually got replaced with with a lexion 480 which at the time seemed a quantum leap forward (with a monster 30ft header!!)

Nice pictures there Mr Smith. TX looking good as ever! The Massey looks clean, how did you find tv screen? Could you get it tuned in?

Another gem you are making there John.

Think you need to get your ar$e into gear Mr Smith, instead of lazing around!! On a serious note Smithy, see what you mean about having a lot on at the moment! Wheats looking good

That looks exellent Martin, another classic piece of 70's plant.

Looks a smart little farm trailer there Sean, are they UH vanto trailer tyres you have fitted?

Brilliant again, another unique addition to your excellent growing collection of classics

Excellent photos Martin, could be right out of a late 1970's County demonstration day Keep them coming!