CMB Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 I was poised to buy a Britains bale wrapper thinking there were several versions of the same model, until I discovered the other day that there are two makes (Volac and Kverneland) that look similar. Can a Britains expert tell me a little about these releases and which they think is the superior of the two? (craftsmanship, sale value etc) Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robl12 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 I thought that they were both the same model just badged different. Also think on had white wrap bales and the other black wrap bales Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FB Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 they are the same model, just different decals from memory, there is no real difference in build as the same casting/parts are used, as for cost, i think they both sell for around the same price?, KV may be a little more expensive, but to be honest i dont look at them on eBay etc. as i have no need for one ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMB Posted August 30, 2008 Author Share Posted August 30, 2008 I thought that they were both the same model just badged different. Also think on had white wrap bales and the other black wrap bales they are the same model, just different decals from memory, there is no real difference in build as the same casting/parts are used, as for cost, i think they both sell for around the same price?, KV may be a little more expensive, but to be honest i dont look at them on eBay etc. as i have no need for one ;) So Britains saving money again then? . Does anyone know either release dates/ production periods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted September 2, 2008 Share Posted September 2, 2008 So Britains saving money again then? . Does anyone know either release dates/ production periods? CMB I have both and agree with what Rob and Ben are saying basically the same castings but badging different. No 00213 is the Kverneland UN 7515 balewrapper and from my records was issued in 1999 to 2003. I picked one of these up from Brian and Anne Holmes last year at Lanark for £ 5. No 9592 is the Volac 820 bale wrapper and was in issue from 1997 to 2001 and I bought this one from G&M again at Lanark last year for £ 15. I'm not too sure if either of these suppliers have them but worth a call to them if you still are after one or other I see Townson tractors are also selling No 00213 on their website as per the attached link http://www.townsonseshop.co.uk/acatalog/Britains_Implements.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMB Posted September 2, 2008 Author Share Posted September 2, 2008 Hi thanks BC that's very useful. I'm aware Brian has a shop on his farm in Yorkshire, but can you order through the post/via email (if he has it)? G&M seem to have sold out all their vintage models. Townson's Kverneland comes to £14.23 (including postage) and Farmtoysuk may have more in soon, but it looks like Ebay or a toy fair will be my best bet for this model. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 Hi thanks BC that's very useful. I'm aware Brian has a shop on his farm in Yorkshire, but can you order through the post/via email (if he has it)? G&M seem to have sold out all their vintage models. Townson's Kverneland comes to £14.23 (including postage) and Farmtoysuk may have more in soon, but it looks like Ebay or a toy fair will be my best bet for this model. CMB ...the last time I spoke to Brian he was up at a Toy fair in Aberdeen and he said he didn't use computers so he won't have e-mail. I sure you could order by mail from him if he has any.... do yo need his telephone number ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gromittigger Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 Not really, Volac were taken over by Kverneland, hence the change of decal 9592 Dowdeswell Volac 820 1997 to 2001 00213 Kverneland UN7515 1999 to 2003 Not to confuse things but Kverneland didn't buy Volac/dowdeswell, a company called astwell augers purchased them on the A14 near Huntingdon. They then complemented the range with a tandem axle twin sat wrapper. Unfortunatly they wern't that suscessful with wrappers and seem to have died off. Kv wrappers at that time were built in demark but now are built in the Vicon baler factory in Holland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 One of those tandem axled thingy jobs came up at a machinery sale I went to a month or so ago. Can't remember much about it which is a pain as we had a lengthly chat about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughmaster Posted December 9, 2008 Share Posted December 9, 2008 If memory serves correctly, the wrapper in question was built by Taarup and imported and sold by Dowdeswell in association with feed specialists Volac (who still exist near Royston in Hertfordshire). Taarup were part of the Greenland Group (as were Vicon), and were taken over by Kverneland in 1998. Kverneland then took over the marketing of Greenland products in the UK, and so the marketing tie up between Dowdeswell and Volac ended and the machine was subsequently sold as a Kverneland. The change of decal on the Britains model simply reflected this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gromittigger Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 If memory serves correctly, the wrapper in question was built by Taarup and imported and sold by Dowdeswell in association with feed specialists Volac (who still exist near Royston in Hertfordshire). Taarup were part of the Greenland Group (as were Vicon), and were taken over by Kverneland in 1998. Kverneland then took over the marketing of Greenland products in the UK, and so the marketing tie up between Dowdeswell and Volac ended and the machine was subsequently sold as a Kverneland. The change of decal on the Britains model simply reflected this. Sorry to disagree but Taarup weren't part of the Greeland group, Greenland was made up of PZ, Vicon, Deutz Fahr (Machinery) and Rivierre Casalis. Your right that Greenland were purchased in '98 but Kverneland purchased underhaug in '86, Taarup in '93 who were a sole owned company at this point, Accord in '96, Silo wolff in '97, Rau in '98 and three main vinyard companies in 2000/01 the Volac machine was built in Norfolk at Dowdeswell for Volac - the only tie up Dowdeswell had with Vicon/KV is they used to build a lot of the SKH products and MF/vicon drills but this was stopped when KV came along The Dowdeswell Norfolk site was opened up to a lot of companies to assemble machines there such as the pearson harvesters. Dowdeswell then bought the Volac rights and manufactured themselves until Norfolk site was closed for development and the wrapper range sold to Astwell augers and the tandem axle machine was then imported by Astwell to give them a twin sat machine as the demand in the UK was increasing. The only reason I beleive Britains changed the model to a KV machine is there not true to the original so changing a sticker was a cheap way of making more money as all turntable wrappers looked the same at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughmaster Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Your post has prompted a bit more research, and you are correct about the (non)Taarup link and the Kverneland history. I came across this link to a patent for a stand for an Underhaug wrapper though : http://www.freepatentsonline.com/EP0426308.html. About three quarters of the way down (if you can wade through it that far!) it has this: the Silawrap bale wrapper machine made by Kverneland Underhaug AS and sold in Great Britain by Volac Limited. The machine in question was undoubtedly an Underhaug design (they were one of the first, if not the first wrapper maker) - Volac were (and still are) feed/diet specialists not machinery manufacturers so perhaps Dowdeswell built it on their behalf under licence from Underhaug. I remain convinced that the Britains model was redecalled after the Underhaug brand name was abandoned, and they were sold as Kverneland. What was manufactured in Norfolk after that I don't know, but the Underhaug machine was marketed and sold as a Kverneland in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gromittigger Posted December 18, 2008 Share Posted December 18, 2008 Now I think you might be getting nearer with the Underhaug brand - I can probably resolve this further now, as you probably guessed I work for Kv group and also the Greenland group before. I can speak to a colleague of mine who worked with Underhaug and find out the tie up with this brand. Ironically the wrappers have been moved to the old PZ factory in Holland now and built with the Vicon branded machines and the Vicon Balers. Vicon and Kv do hold many Patents in the industry as they feel they need to lead rather than follow - this can cause problems at the beginning as development time is a lot longer for us than a company that copies a design once established. What we could find is that Volac were and still are very big suppliers of the plastic film and the best way for Underhaug to establish a wrapper would be to introduce it through a film supplier first. Volac would promote it to improve forage quality and diet against the use of bags which were used at this time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gromittigger Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Think we have cracked it now Underhaug when it was a separate company didn't have a distribution for their newly designed wrapper in the UK so they sold it through Volac as a distribution agent. When KV came along they gave them a couple of years to continue whilst they took over then Volac made their own with Dowdeswell. Hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 So it should be right as both a KV and a Volac but it couldn't be resprayed as a Dowdeswell as that was a different machine, built later and to a different [uK] design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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