New Model Timeline?

As an addendum to my previous posts I wanted to give the dates that I'm aware of for some of the model releases:

1/64 6388: Available now!

1/64 Case IH Baler and New Holland Baler: April 2010

1/64 Case IH Magnums regular and red chrome. Sometime next summer before the 2010 NFTS.

1/32 9120 With Tracks: Late November/ Early December? (hopefully)

Also available soon is a new 1/64th authentic. The 6088 will be a variation of the 7088 that was released last year. The biggest differences will be the decals, and the 6088 will come with an 8 row corn head. Below is a picture of the actual 6088.

I also mentioned in my post about the national farm toy show that there will be a Woods and Copeland 600C released soon, I was told that tractor will come out in the first quarter of 2010. Below is a picture of the prototype 600C.

A few other new items that I haven't reported yet are the Kuhn Knight Slinger 8118 and the Kuhn Knight Reel Auggie 3130. These items are made by Norscott and will be sold through Kuhn dealers. Otherwise I have no other information. Below are the prototypes.

2009 National Farm Toy Show Tractor

The 2009 National Farm Toy Show (NFTS) tractor this year is the Steiger Panther KM325. This is another variation of the Steiger castings that were produced a few years ago. One big difference and nice addition is the new tires with Goodyear written on the sidewalls in white. This adds a nice touch to an already nice model. Missing from this model is the 3pt hitch that we have seen in previous NFTS models over the past several months.

Excellent engine detail and silver stripe.

Triples? TRIPLES!

Part of the allure of buying 1/64 scale farm toys is to own a piece of equipment that weighs several tons in the field, yet you can set the model on your shelf. Its also interesting that these models cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in real life but you can buy the miniature for $9. So when buying a model if what you are after is the biggest and best then a model with triples is probably the largest tire/wheel combinations that you will find except in rare occasions. This John Deere 9430 is an excellent model to start with, but the addition of row crop triples makes it very interesting. It is also nice that we now have a 1/64th scale row crop model that fits perfectly with the huge 32 row DB90 planter.

New Models Coming Soon

First displayed at the 2009 National Farm Toy Show the following models will soon be available for purchase. The first model featured is a 1/32 9120 combine with tracks. This is an excellent model and as far as I'm aware the first 1/32 Case IH combine with tracks. This model will be in the "Prestige" Series and has excellent detail. Ertl is claiming late November to early December shipping.
Below is the 6388 which is a casting variation of the 3388 that came out about 5 years ago. The 2+2 is a very popular IH model, and until now we have had to custom make models beyond the 3388 and the 3588. This model has a red cab top with the black and silver stripe. Anyone who now wants a 7488 can have one with a simple decal swap. That gives me a great idea for a future article, stay tuned.
Below is something 1/64 fans have anticipated for years. A 1/64th scale big baler has been a very popular request at shows, and until now the quality of the models you could buy was questionable. As you can see this is a very nice model, and as soon as they are released ill have a full review.
Below is the Case IH variation of the Big Baler. Just as big, but for most people when they think balers New Holland is a more popular choice.
Below is the 2010 Farm Show Edition. I was surprised to see this considering it wont be out until next summer, but I was pleasantly surprised to see Ertl producing another tractor with triples.
Below is the red-chrome "chase" edition of this tractor. As usual this will be limited in production, and as usual toy dealers will open the boxes and put them on eBay so that the average collector cant afford one (Don't get me started).

Pictures From The 2009 National Farm Toy Show

The 2009 National Farm Toy Show has officially concluded, and for many farm toy collectors tomorrow will be like December 26th and we all have to wait 363 more days until next years show. I took some pictures at this years show, so when you have that midnight Dyersville craving you can visit my webpage.

Above is one of the winning 1/64 small scale displays from this years show. I thought this was interesting because I have never seen an auction depicted on a farm toy display. The picture below shows the crowd gathering around the tractors and implements being auctioned off. On a side note I think its interesting that the trophy is being displayed in the sludge pit.
Below is the National Farm Toy Museum. During the show admission is free, and you can see them different displays showing toy tractors from many different eras, and displays showing the manufacturing process and the people that have created the hobby. You can also see that the weather for the show was amazing.
Below is one of the newer displays from the national farm toy museum displaying all of the anniversary tractors that have been produced for the Toy Tractor Times. In the bottom left corner you can see the Big Bud HN 320 which was on my top 10 list of best toys produced last year.
Below is a tractor from Long Creek toy company that is slated for production early next year. The 600C is the 4th tractor in their line of Woods and Copeland 4wds. A you can see this tractor has excellent detail and nice duals. I will review this tractor in detail when its released in the spring.

eBay auctions up

I have listed a few new eBay auctions including a couple of customs and some elite nascar replicas. If you want to get your christmas shopping done early check them out. Below are some pictures of some of the auctions. Link to my auctions.

2007 Case National Farm Toy Show Edition
1/64 John Deere/Bauer Built DB90 Planter
1/64 2008 Case IH 8120 Fall Farm Show Edition
1/64 Case IH "Black Knight" Custom Combine

Farming With A Lamborghini

Honestly I’m not really sure what the fastest tractor on earth would be, but if you were to guess woudln’t you put your money on the silver tractor with the lamborghini badge on it. For most people when they heart the brand lamborghini they think of one of these.

For farmers in Europe they hear lamborghini and they see images of a very beautiful and functional tractor. I really had only heard of the lamborghini brand before I saw it first hand in europe and was able to stumble upon a silver model in a Paris hobby shop.

This model is a 1/32 scale, which is very popular in Europe. It doesn't have cab glass but it is all die cast and has steerable front wheels, and tire rubber that is very realistic. This model is made by Siku and is very well detailed.

The corporate Lamborghini website is very nicely done and reviews all of their current lineup. You can read about all of their new tractors here: Lamborghini Tractor Site

History of Lamborghini Tractors
Although as I said before most well known for his cars Mr. Feruccio Lamborghini actually had a very interesting history in the agricultural industry:

“While his passion lay with cars, it was the tractor that Lamborghini assembled for his father out of spare parts that set him on the path that would make him a wealthy man.[3] The machine had a six-cylinder Morris engine, a General Motors transmission, and a Ford differential. The contraption worked so well that his father's friends, also farmers in the midst of Italy's postwar agricultural reconstruction, soon clamored for their own examples of Ferruccio's design. To meet the demand, in 1949 he opened Lamborghini Trattori S.p.A., building tractors in his Pieve di Cento garage. By the mid-1950s, his factory was churning out 1000 tractors per year; over the course of the decade, Lamborghini became one of the largest agricultural equipment manufacturers in the country, turning Ferruccio into a wealthy industrialist.[3] In 1959, he opened an oil heater factory, Lamborghini Calor S.p.A., and a year later, an air conditioner factory, both of which met with success.”

If you are interested in purchasing a Toy Lamborghini tractors eBay has several models on sale for various prices, although you may have to have them shipped from the UK. Another option is Bossen Implement which has several variations for sale.

Soundgards' a plenty

As promised earlier this year here are the new soundgard tractors with front wheel assist. Besides having more realistic FWA than earlier models that had regular sized flotation tires with shallow treads, these tractors have a few extra details. Most notably all three of these tractors have cab glass. My only real criticism of these models is that all of them have real singles, and many of the real machines you see on the farm day to day have duals. Also I think the front wheels would look better if the hubs were painted yellow to match the rest of the wheel.
Above is the 4955. Notice the single step and brand new front and rear wheel casting. THis is the first time these wheels have been used to my knowledge.
The 4850 is the model I have been especially excited about since there were many of these around my house when I was growing up, and I customized a few 2 wheel drive soundgards to have FWA and 4850 graphics. Look for a future article that shows how to put duals on.
Above is the 4960 also featuring new front and rear wheels and a 3 step ladder.
All three models ready for the fall harvest.

Remember to submit your CONTEST entries for a chance to win a 1/64th John Deere 9630T!

Interesting Finds at the Frankenmuth Toy Show

This past saturday was the 23rd annual Frankenmuth farm toy show in Frankenmth, MI. This was the first time I was able to attend the show, and I really enjoyed it. I would say there were around 25-30 dealers with 3-4 big displays.Some antiques for you fans of the 80's include 2 Big Buds from 1987, and a gleaner R50 from the late 80's/early 90's. I have wanted to grab one of the earlier RoGators because they were used extensively around where I lived so I picked up one relatively cheap. The forage harvester set with the Case tractor and dual axle forage wagon is the newest release I picked up. This is an interesting set with one side of the tractor having duals and the other a single tire. The forage harvester is a unique piece because it comes with a hay head. So for 2/3 of the price of the hay head alone I bought the whole harvester. Finally in the lower right you can see the Byron grain cart I found. It is made of styrene and painted Byron Orange. It is fully functional as it lifts and dumps. This was hand made and the builder was present at the show.

Here you can see the side of the Case with singe rear tire and the cart in dump position.

The Contest

To commemorate the 25,000th visit I am going to give away a free 1/64th scale John Deere 9630T Tractor. In order to be eligible to win the tractor you must submit your entry via email to zacstractors@gmail.com. The deadline for entries is August 31st, 2009. At that point a winner will be selected from all qualifying entries.

Simply submit an answer to the following questions in an email, and put "9630T Contest" in the subject line of the email and send it to: zacstractors@gmail.com

1. How old are you?

2. What scale of toy tractors do you collect?

3. What is your favorite brand of tractor (real or toy)?

4. Do you customize toy tractors?

5. What could be done to improve the content of this blog?

6. What is your favorite toy tractor of all time?

7. What is your favorite real tractor of all time?

8. Why do you collect toy tractors?

9. How many tractors are in your collection?

10. Are you a farmer in real life?


The information from the entries will not be shared with anyone or posted on this website without written permission by the person submitting the entry. The tractor will be shipped free of charge to the winner within 4 weeks of the contest end date. This contest is open to international participants.

New Look & Show Schedule

After almost 2 years I decided that it was time for a new look to the blog. Since it has been green its entire life I thought Id go for a more red look to allow the "Force" to be balanced. Also sometime thic summer the blog passed 25,000 visits, which I find amazing. Thanks to all the people who keep visiting, and thanks to those of you that post comments. If I could ask anything of this blog's readers, please comment on the content and what you would like to see in the future.

Also I would like to give a heads up to a few of the upcoming farm toy shows. I was recently at the Frankenmuth farm toy show in Frankenmuth, MI and I found some fliers. I will have to double check to see if these are in the Toy farmer index or not, but in the meantime here are some of the shows I have found. Also it's time to start counting down to the National Farm Toy show once again so here is the timer. I'm not sure if I'll be there this year, but try to make it if you can.

Little Deere

For a while toy collectors have been asking for smaller tractors in 1/64 scale. Smaller utility tractors are very common on many farms, and in many cases are more common than the big four wheel drives that we love so much. I know in Florida for every giant 9420 that I saw I would see at least fifteen 5000 series john deere tractors. Ertl did a nice job with two smaller utility tractors. They have the now common cab glass, and the detail is good for about $6.

The first tractor is a 6140D. It is a 140 horsepower tractor (Hence the 6140 moniker). If you would like to read more about the 6140 check out http://www.deere.com/servlet/ProdCatProduct?tM=FR&pNbr=6140DP




Next is the 5105M. As you could have guessed it has a 105 horsepower engine. Here is its homepage http://www.deere.com/servlet/ProdCatProduct?tM=FR&pNbr=5105MLV

4 Months Ago

Apparently people are still visiting my site, which I appreciate and thank you for. I feel bad that I have had no new content in 4 months, but hopefully I can get back to posting semi-regularly. There have been some new releases since the last time I posted, and I will review the ones that I think warrant our attention.

One of the most recent releases is the Case IH Steiger “Pink Panther.” I dont have allot of information about the real pink panther tractor but Toy Tractor Times has a full blog dedicated to the 1/32nd version. (http://pinkpanther.toytractortimes.com) This tractor is basically identical to the green steigers that we have been seeing for the past 3 years with a coat of bright pink paint. Here are some pictures of the new(ish) 1/64th version.

Of course don't get the tractor confused with this Pink Panther....

The International Harvester - Steiger?

Ok so this tractor never really existed (to my knowledge) but I thought it would be interesting to paint one of my custom 7488's steiger green. I especially like this model because the green wheels match the color pattern of the original steiger tractors while maintaining the look of a 7488. I painted the cab top gloss black to break up the green paint a bit. I think this model has a really unique look and is one of my favorite customs.

eBay Auctions

The Auctions for the Modern and Classic lawn tractors are ending tomorrow, and a few new auctions will be put up tomorrow night.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZzfriess_umich

The New John Deere Soundgards - 4850, 4955, 4960

Pretty soon (April 27 according to http://www.vankleyfarmtoys.com/) Ertl will be releasing models of the 4850, 4955, and 4960 based on the soundgard tractors that they have been producing for about the past 5 years. The castings are different, and they have added cab glass and more realistic FWA, but these are basically the same level of casting detail as the others. When Ertl released this set it was a VAST improvement over the original soundgards that I remember from my childhood. When this new set is released I will be buying it, but I just wanted to post and show everyone a 4850 that I made from a 4450 casting. These are fun because the castings are relatively thin and I was able to morph FWA into these so that they were more accurate than the weak attempt by ertl of just using treadded front tires (Note: The new tractors look like they have really nice FWA wheels and tires). I also made some custom 4850 graphics, painted the wheels, added front hubs, and a hand railing.

Here is the original picture from the Ertl catalog that shows what the models are based on. Its always fun when the manufacturer doesn't have pictures of the prototype to put in the catalog or doesn't want to release a picture of the toy because it leaves us collectors to speculate as to what the configuration will be. I have seen people in heated arguments debating whether the 4850 will have duals or not.

Here is an updated picture from VanKley's website (below) that shows what the toys may look like. As you can see the FWA looks better, but using history as a guide about 50% of the time on a new model something will be different from the original publication photo. Usually its a model number, wheels or tires, cab glass, or in the case of the recent 9870 combine what header it is packaged with. Nevertheless these models look great and I will be reviewing them fully when they are released.