Collectors Corner

ON-FARM MODEL FAIR

The Spalding Model Tractor Show, temporarily relocated from its usual venue at the Springfields Event Centre to organiser Colin Boor’s farm at nearby Crowland, Lincs, took place on 4 July. David Pullen picks out some of the highlights among the many new miniatures and dioramas on display at what was the first farm model event to be held since the lockdowns began in March 2020.

THE CHANGE OF VENUE for the Spalding Model Tractor Show proved popular and within an hour of opening there were 150 cars in the car park. The show, held on Sunday 4 July, had a great atmosphere, with organiser and host Colin Boor managing to provide 48 pitches, spread out across several of his farm buildings and a large hired tent, for traders and diorama owners.

There was a good selection of new and obsolete farm models available for those wanting to add to their collections. Old Barn Conversions (www. oldbarnconversions.co.uk) had several scratch-built 1/32-scale buildings costing £100-£130 for sale alongside its weathered models. New from RJN Classic Tractors (www.rjnclassictractors.co.uk) were a pre-production Roadless Ford 5000, a Roadless Ploughmaster 65 and a three-cylinder Nuffield 3/45. Runs of these 1/16-scale tractors will be limited to 250 of each, priced at £250 apiece. RJN Classic Tractors now also offers its Leyland 384 with a safety cab for £350 and it was also showing the prototype of its forthcoming Matbro Mastiff. Only 150 Mastiffs will be made, each priced at £350, and they will be available soon.

Conversion specialist Steven Frater (www. sdfraterfarmmodels.co.uk) was showing several of his latest conversions. He was selling a dual-wheeled version of Britains’ silver JCB Fastrac 4220 for £48 and a Britains’ New Holland T6 Series on row-crop wheels for £50. He also had a Wiking IH tractor, badged as a 1255XL, for £80 and a John Deere 9RX with new 9570RX decals for £90. Steven has also converted one of Siku’s old Claas trailers into a black-painted Marshall tandem-axle trailer (£40).

Highlights on the stand of 1/32 Farming Models (www.132farmingmodels.co.uk) included Fendt 938 Vario and 940 Vario tractors with bespoke black paintwork at £150 each, and some Universal Hobbies’ County 1474s, rebadged as 1884s and available in a choice of different colours, for £130.

Barry Burrell, whose collection of scratchbuilt Grimme scale models appeared in the November 2020 issue of CLASSIC TRACTOR, has been keeping himself busy in lockdown, scratch building miniatures of a Track Marshall

Above: RJN Classic Tractors’ new 1/16scale models for 2021 include, from left, a Roadless Ford 5000 (pre-production version), a Roadless Ploughmaster 65 and a Leyland 384 with a safety cab. Production is limited to 250 of each tractor, with prices ranging from £250-£350.

Below left: Back in the late 1960s, Barry Burrell spent four seasons operating an MF 175 with an FMC pea viner. He spent the recent lockdown scratch-building this 1/32scale replica of the FMC machine. In the absence of a model of an MF 175, a Universal Hobbies MF 1080 is acting as a stand-in. Below: Reg Gray’s weathering of a Britains Ford 6600 and 7600, and a UH Taarup singlechop harvester has added to the realism of this diorama of a forage harvesting scene of the mid-1970s.

Above: Dominik Drabich and his 10-year old son Anthony were very busy the night before the show, putting together their impressive two-stage onion harvesting diorama. Right: This County 1884 started life as a Universal Hobbies County 1474, before being repainted and rebadged by 1/32 Farming Models. It was available for £130. Other colours are available.

Above: This 1/32-scale Track Marshall 200 is another of Barry Burrell’s lockdown scratch builds. He made the crawler’s rubber tracks from pond liner material.

200 rubber-track crawler, a FMC pea viner and an ASA-Lift carrot harvester. He was also displaying a diorama based on his wife’s family farm.

Father and son Walter and Michel Cann, who had travelled up from Devon for the show, were both exhibiting large farming dioramas. Walter’s display had a livestock theme, while Michel’s layout was populated by an abundance of New Holland machines. Other exhibitors from the south-west of England included Reg Gray and Craig Pitman. Craig was displaying several excellent small dioramas and Reg was showing part of a new diorama he is building of a real dairy farm in Somerset.

The Drabich family, first-time exhibitors at the Spalding Model Tractor Show, were displaying a large diorama of a two-stage onion harvesting operation. The family spent the Saturday evening before the show piecing together their impressive layout.

Event organiser Colin Boor is hoping the Spalding Model Tractor Show will be able to make a return to its customary Springfields Event Centre home at Spalding in April 2022. He says it will not be possible to hold another show on his farm this year.

News on other farm model shows is not so good. Neither the Lakeland Model Farm Show nor the LCN at Zwolle in Holland will take place this year. The future of Toytrac has to be finalised, but it is hoped it will return next year. Keeping watching the Toytrac Facebook page for updates.

Below and inset: This cattle shed and yard, complete with a wealth of realistic detail, is part of a much larger 1/32-scale diorama that Reg Gray is currently building, based on a real farm in Somerset. Above: This is the prototype of RJN Classic Tractors’ impressive new 1/16-scale Matbro Mastiff. Production versions will be in blue. Only 150 will be made, each costing £350. Above: If you want a Britains New Holland T6.180 fitted with row-crop wheels, Steven Frater is your man to do the conversion. His row-crop wheel-equipped New Holland is priced at a reasonable £50.

Below: Craig Pitman is a very skilled farming diorama builder. This small hedgecutting scene, complete with a New Holland TM155 and trimmer, is a typical example of his realistic work.