1/32Nd 2012 John Deere "s690" Prestige Combine- My Review

[Jason]

Well, I recently picked up the 1/32nd John Deere S690" Prestige combine from my Local Deere Dealership. The model I am reviewing is the 2012 John Deere "S690" Prestige in 1/32nd scale. I had to use "2012" in front of my post description as Deere Did offer the "S690I" in Europe before the new "S690" showed up in North America.

I will start with the Quality Control on the 1/32nd "2012" John Deere S690 combine, which was produced by Ertl/Britains and now owned by TOMY. When I removed my 32nd Deere S690 from the box, I noticed a few quality control flaws right away, In fact I had to return one of my S690's as it was missing warning lights, before I got a replacement S690 Prestige from the Same Dealer. Well, the 2nd S690 had a few flaws as well. The outside dual tire was pushed way to far into the rim, or the outside Dual was not installed properly on the outside rim, as its noticable not flush with the rim, I figured I would over look this flaw and not have to return for a 3rd S690. The other flaw, I found was that the unloading auger had a bunch of scratch marks from the factory near the spout. Has to do with the quality of the plastic I suspect, other then that, these were the only defects I noticed with my Prestige S690 Deere, although Ertl/Britains/ TOMY should keep a better eye on their quality control for future releases, If they keep slacking off in the quality control department, it will be a wonder if they can keep sales in the 32nd department.

With those small issues aside, I will focus on the combine itself. The New 32nd S690 Prestige comes with both the new 640D Draper head, and the new Deere 16 row corn head. I for one, will say that its a refreshing change to see a 32nd scale Draper head released with a 32nd scale combine, over the old Ridge 30F Grain head that was offered on the previous 1/32nd Deere S690I, 9880I STS, 9870STS, 9880STS, 9860STS Bullet Rotor, 9760STS Bullet Rotor, 9880STS, 9760STS, & 9860STS non bullet rotor models. The Draper head takes up quite the space on the shelf, but it really makes the model standout. The Biggest change with the draper head that impress's me is how the reel on the 640D Draper head is driven, it is all GEAR driven, and no cheap plastic belt to turn the REEL! -Yahooo!! The thing I hated most about the previous 630F Flexhead that was offered on the previous 32nd Deere models, was that silly cheap plastic belt used to turn the reel. I must have broke a few of them belts and was really glad when I picked up the new S690, to see those belts gone for good!

The Cab detail on the new S690 Prestige is pretty decent, while not like the Precision 9750STS was, it still offers some good detail. The model has all the handrails, and warning lights on the back of the combine, as well as foldable mirrors. They also included the standard Deere GPS Reciver on the cab roof, and the work lights on the cab were painted on. Another huge change I liked, was the actually window between the cab & the grain tank! From the front of the cab, you can look right into the grain bin, to reveal the Bubble up auger that fills the bin. A nice touch, and a detail we have not seen on an Ertl/Britains John Deere 32nd combine since the 9750STS Precision from 2000. What gets me, is that the 32nd Deere combine models following the 9750STS, had the window on the back of the cab, but from the grain tank, Ertl casted plastic over the otherside of the window, so that you can not see through into the bin or cab, Anyone owning the other 32nd Deeres, besides the 9750STS will notice this.

Another nice detail addition, on the S690, is the opening engine compartment pannel and drop down ladder to reach the engine compartment. Its a nice touch, and once again another detail carry over from the Precision 9750STS. What disapoints me a little, is that even though Ertl casted the new S690 with the powerfolding grain tank covers, they do not close, they are fixed in the open position. I was kind of hoping that Ertl might have offered the Tank lids to open and close, but they don't. Currently the only 32nd John Deere combine with opening and closing grain tank covers, is Siku's T670 John Deere. I am hoping that Ertl/Britains takes notice on this, and someday produce a combine with closing tank lids. Norscott, proved it could be done with their 32nd CAT 590R Lexion, and SIKU with several different models. Perhaps Ertl/Britains can take note of this.

I am pretty happy with the clearence of the unloading auger on the New S690. The auger swings out and up on a very noticable angle to clear tall grain carts, while it does not swing up as high as the Britains CIH 8010 model in 32nd, it is deffinately an improvement over the unloading auger on the 32nd Deere 9870STS & models before hand. I would compare, the S690's unloading auger clearence to about the same as Siku's T670 Deere model, which also had good unloading auger clearence.

While Ertl/Britains did a decent job on the New S690 Prestige, they forgot to add the side work lights on both the right & left sides of the combines. These lights on the real machine, were located on the top left corner, below the grain tank on the Left side, and on the Right side side, they were on the top right cornor below the grain tank. Interestingly, the significantly less detailed 1/32nd 9870STS had these lights included, but excluded on the new 32nd S690 Prestige! Another detail lacking, was the windows, on the Canvas covers of the folding grain tank lids. On the 32nd model, the "Canvas" covers in the cornors of the powerfolding tank. were represented by black plastic. All Ertl really needed to do, was add a window sticker to both corners on the front of the Grain tank extentions, other then that, they covered the new 32nd Deere S690 pretty well and is a step up in detail over the 1/32nd John Deere 9870STS.... I still can't figure out, why a Collectors Edition, higher detailed 32nd 9870STS was never produced, but thats a whole different story for another day.

If your a John Deere fan, or a collector of 32nd scale combines, I do recommend the new 32nd Deere S690 Prestige, and despite a few flaws, it really looks great with the 640 Flexdraper head and the 616C 16 row corn head on it. While, its not a Univeral Hobbies, or Wiking model, Ertl/Britains did a nice job on it.

My Rating of the 2012 1/32nd John Deere S690" Prestige Combine- North American Release

Quality Control: 3 out of 5

Cost to purchase: 3 out of 5

Attention to Detail: 3.5 out of 5

Overall impression of the model: 7 out of 10

Recommendation: YES, any JD fan or combine collector would be happy with the model.

Jason B

[Luke (DeWitt)]

Fantastic review, I may just have to look into buying one.

[Jason]

I will see what I can do about getting some pictures of the new 2012 Deere S690 in 32nd. Just took it out of the box this morning.

Jason B

[chris.watson]

great review jason. i have been thinking of getting one, but am waiting a while as schuco are doing one in smaller scale and i am hoping that they, in time, will release it in 1/32 scale. thanks for taking time to post review.

[Jason]

Chris, Do you have a link to the Schuco version of the S690? That would be awsome model from them. Didn't Schuco produce the MF 9895 in 1/32nd scale? If its them, I will be definately hoping they do the 32nd version.

[chris.watson]

Chris, Do you have a link to the Schuco version of the S690? That would be awsome model from them. Didn't Schuco produce the MF 9895 in 1/32nd scale? If its them, I will be definately hoping they do the 32nd version.

my mistake jason, schuco is 1/87 t670 combine. my point though is that they may just release a 1/32 deere. i have the massey fortia and it is far supperior than ertl, for the same money. what do you think of the case 9120 tt prestige?

[CX820Joe]

Now bear with me here...but do you think its possible to remove the grain tank flaps assembly? I have been able to do this on the New Holland CR, and fashion something to depict it with closed lids. There are some photos of this model on the Outback Toys site, and it looks like theres a seam around the open lids...so maybe it can be removed and interchanged with a flat piece of plastic for when its in the shed.

I wouldn't mind getting this version - I think I prefer it to the tracked version Britains will do. Keeping a close eye on G&M site hoping it will be there soon!

[Jason]

Now bear with me here...but do you think its possible to remove the grain tank flaps assembly? I have been able to do this on the New Holland CR, and fashion something to depict it with closed lids. There are some photos of this model on the Outback Toys site, and it looks like theres a seam around the open lids...so maybe it can be removed and interchanged with a flat piece of plastic for when its in the shed.

I wouldn't mind getting this version - I think I prefer it to the tracked version Britains will do. Keeping a close eye on G&M site hoping it will be there soon!

I Had a feeling that the European release of the S690 would have TRACKS on it, Really sets it apart from the Newly released North American S690 with duals. I am wondering if it will have the standard unloading auger, like the North American version has, or the folding unloading auger? Hope I can find a dealer that can get them here in Canada, as I just saw the Proto pictures of it on Britains Board.

Jason B

Edited February 10, 2012 by Jason

[ploughmaster]

Good review Jason, thanks for taking the time to post it up.

I've just bought one of these from G&M, and I would agree it is a very pleasing model. Mine doesnt appear to have any serious flaws - the only problem was that whoever packed it caught the rear right side light stalk on the polystyrene packaging and it was bent right round the back of the combine (a couple of minutes with a little light heat to make it easy to bend back into position and that was sorted). It has a good heavy solid feel to it - the main casting/panel work up to the bottom of the upper part of the grain tank is diecast (including the opening rear quarter access panel), so it feels similar to the Britains Massey 7200 or the new Holland CX880/8080. Steering angle is good, and even the outer dual wheels being firmly fixed to the axle don't impede the turning circle too much. Odd though, they haven't modelled the header knife; the header stops at the front of the draper belt (or is there a lump missing from mine???)

The only thing I have found that I don't like is that Ertl have retained the stupid spring system in the rams which hold the header down, and it can't be locked up. I could see the need on earlier Britains/Ertl combines to have the extra downward pressure to help the drive wheel for the header to grip the floor (as they were smooth), but this model has a gear driven reel and the drive wheels for it are slightly serrated so grip and drive quite well (although the middle cog does tend to catch the ends of the reel bars and jamming - a common problem on Britains early combines, and easily fettled with the light application with a file.

Now looking forward to the Britains European version on tracks in the Autumn.

Edited February 20, 2012 by ploughmaster

[Jason]

Good review Jason, thanks for taking the time to post it up.

I've just bought one of these from G&M, and I would agree it is a very pleasing model. Mine doesnt appear to have any serious flaws - the only problem was that whoever packed it caught the rear right side light stalk on the polystyrene packaging and it was bent right round the back of the combine (a couple of minutes with a little light heat to make it easy to bend back into position and that was sorted). It has a good heavy solid feel to it - the main casting/panel work up to the bottom of the upper part of the grain tank is diecast (including the opening rear quarter access panel), so it feels similar to the Britains Massey 7200 or the new Holland CX880/8080. Steering angle is good, and even the outer dual wheels being firmly fixed to the axle don't impede the turning circle too much. Odd though, they haven't modelled the header knife; the header stops at the front of the draper belt (or is there a lump missing from mine???)

The only thing I have found that I don't like is that Ertl have retained the stupid spring system in the rams which hold the header down, and it can't be locked up. I could see the need on earlier Britains/Ertl combines to have the extra downward pressure to help the drive wheel for the header to grip the floor (as they were smooth), but this model has a gear driven reel and the drive wheels for it are slightly serrated so grip and drive quite well (although the middle cog does tend to catch the ends of the reel bars and jamming - a common problem on Britains early combines, and easily fettled with the light application with a file.

Now looking forward to the Britains European version on tracks in the Autumn.

Yeah, I don't care much for that Spring system in the rams, would be nice to have the head raised with out falling down. The detail on the header bar would have been a nice detail, but I guess it got over looked. Does appear to be a lot heavier then the previous 32nd 9870STS model, and I will give then credit for that. Overall, I really like the Ertl/Britains S690 Deere - North American Release. Would be awsome to see Wikings do the S690 in 32nd as that would be incredible. For now though, I am happy with this new S690.

I am also looking forward to the 32nd S690I with TRACKS due out later this year. As soon as I found out about the 32nd S690I with tracks, I was on the phone with Bossen Implements in the US about getting one.

Jason B