Five Favorite Farm Show Finds

With the National Farm Toy Show only 17 days away I'd like to talk a little about what makes it exciting for me to attend. I really enjoy hunting through the hundreds of tables for either that one tractor that I have been searching for for years or surprised by something I have never seen before. Despite going to many shows and looking on line constantly I still find interesting models that I have never seen. It seems like there is a whole segment of the farm toy industry that has not integrated the Internet into their business.

So for the the excitement is the anticipation of the next big find. Here are five "Big" finds that I have come across in the last 3 National Farm Toy Shows:

5. The John Deere 12A Pull Type combine: Last year I was making my final sweep of the high school hallway and I saw a table that was selling nothing but pull type combines. The dealer had orange, red and green combines that were modeled in resin after common implements. With a rotating beater and what looked like accurate to scale detail I bought it in a hurry. Even though it is resin cast I am extremely happy with this purchase, and I hope to buy another color soon.

4. Grain Augers: I have been looking for some simple high detail grain augers for a while. Ertl made a low detail version in the 80s which is currently overpriced and standi makes a version that also has poor detail in plastic. These augers are from scratch cast and if you have seen their products you know scratch cast is high quality stuff. They have allot of accessory type products that are not cheap, but you can see the man hours involved in making them.

3. Big Bud HN320 4wd: Last year I was bummed because Long Creek didn't have the 600c ready for the farm show which was going to be my big 4wd purchase. I walked by this big bud 4 times thinking it was going to be $100 because of its condition. When I saw the price was considerable less and that it was in great shape I bought it quickly. I thought I would regret it, but it turned out to be my find of the Show.

2. Woods and copeland 300C: This guy is a beast of a 4wd, and when I saw it know that I would like it but that I didn't want to go over budget. I talked to the dealer about the tractor and she informed me that it was 1 of 17 in the world that they had made for the toy show. That was all I needed to hear and I bought it. Again, I thought I would regret it and it ended up being the best find of the day.

1. My second trip to the National farm toy show needed to succeed where the first failed. I needed to find a Wagner. The local shows in Michigan just weren't turning up the prospects I wanted, and this was the place I was going to find my Wagner. It wasn't green or yellow, but finally I landed my Wagner. It remains the #1 most expensive 1/64th scale Item I have bought, but is also one of my favorites. Since then I have bought 2 more Wagner kits for less than half the price, so it feels like it all evens out. Sort of.

Other notable finds include:

The Muddy Rite tractors (1/250) - and these muddy tractors sell for the SAME price as the non-muddy versions which gives the collectors (US) a chance to buy one instead of the dealers making huge money on the markup (Ertl please take a note)