Pola 1/24 Lanz Bulldog

[Junkman]

 

Pola, a German company known for their "weatherproof" building and trackside model kits in G scale, also did a handful of vehicle models.
Among them is the Lanz Bulldog, which first saw the light of day in the late Seventies and was available in several versions.
Pola is owned by Faller today and they just reissued the Bulldog kit.

People outside the German speaking area might not be familiar with Lanz, but especially within Germany, they are as popular as a Ferguson is in England.
Especially in southern Germany, "Bulldog", which Lanz chose as the model name for their tractors, is to this day used as a generic term for all field tractors.

Lanz Bulldogs were produced from 1921 by the Heinrich Lanz AG in Mannheim, Germany. In 1956 the company merged with John Deere using the name
John Deere-Lanz for the Lanz product line, which was finally discontinued in 1960. Altogether about 220,000 Bulldogs were produced in various versions.

Characteristic for the Bulldogs is their horizontal 1 cylinder two stroke hot bulb engine, which also gives them their peculiar sound.
To start the engine, one had to heat the cylinder head with a torch, a ceremony taking about half an hour. Then one removed the steering wheel,
inserted it into a corresponding provision in the centre of the right hand flywheel and "threw" the engine on.
Because of this starting procedure, Bulldogs were never switched off during the day and in late afternoons could often be seen puttering in the car park
of a pub, while their owner enjoyed his well deserved end of workday beer inside.

I did a bit of research and it turns out that the Pola kit depicts a Lanz Bulldog D 9506 (Pola themselves don't mention this), which had a single cylinder
medium pressure hot bulb engine with a capacity of 10.4 litres and a maximum power output of 45 bhp.
It could be fuelled with gasoil, diesel, paraffin, vegetable oil, or similar. The model I have here is of the so called "Ackerluft" (lit. "field air), which means
it is intended for agricultural use and has pneumatic tyres.

Having owned a 1938 D 9506 back in the Eighties, I consider myself quite knowledgeable about them, so should you have any questions regarding the
real thing, please feel free to ask.

 

 

Pola says the kit is G scale (1:22.5), but I took some measurements, compared them with the measurements of a real D 9506 and it does scale out to 1:24.

 

The kit comes in a drawer box:

 

This greets you inside the drawer:

 

This is the content spread out:

Note that the pieces are moulded in coloured pastic, which has been treated to a wash by the factory to simulate weathering.
There is also some detail painting.

 

 

 

[Junkman]

These are the main body components:

Note detail painting at the cooling elements and black wash.

 

The mechanical components, moulded in a sort of gunmetal colour:

 

Seat, baseplate and controls moulded in silver:

 

Parts of the mowing equipment, some silver:

some red:

 

The wheels are moulded in red and they simply threw in two of the same tree, which contains the script plate for the nose:

Note that one of the script plates is neatly detail painted yellow.

 

Headlight lenses:

 

A Pola plaque:

 

Rubber tyres:

The white stuff appears to be talcum powder.

 

A few metal parts:

 

Sorry, no decals, but stickers:

 

 

[Junkman]

And for the bureaucrats among you, here are the instructions:

[Longbox55]

Very interesting. If I recall correctly, Pola did several variants of this kit, including one in John Deere colors, plus some assorted implements and wagons/trailers that can hook up to it.

[Junkman]

That's correct, they also did it as a road tractor ("Eilbulldog") and as a tracked vehicle ("Raupe").
Among the trailers was a low loader, which you could 'pull' with a Bulldog to transport the tracked one.
There was a huge kit containing all this, a Bulldog, the low loader and the tracked one,
but they could also be purchased seperately

[Rob Hall]

Interesting....a tractor with license plates.  Looks like a neat kit. 

[bbowser]

Nice!  Where does one source one of these?

[Junkman]

I got mine off eBay. Just search for 'pola lanz'.

[Junkman]

Interesting....a tractor with license plates.  Looks like a neat kit. 

Anything that can exceed 6 kph needs a plate in Germany.
However, if it's used for "the common good", like agriculture, food distribution, civil protection, etc. it is tax exempt and thus has green on white plates,
instead of the usual black on white ones.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Junkman

[Art Anderson]

And  Revell Germany just announced, today, a Porsche 108 farm tractor.

[Dave Toups]

I've got an older issue of this kit. It's says 1/22.5 for the scale, but it was close enough for me. The box art model for the new release looks like they got the rear tires on backwards, or maybe that's how they do it in Germany.

 

[Junkman]

No, they put them on wrongly.

Germans aren't that different from all other peoples after all, who would have thought?

1/22.5 is just to please those railwayers. I measured the kit and it scales to 1/24.
Note that on this issue it doesn't really state a scale.

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by Junkman

[Dave Van]

Thanks.....I always wondered what was in that kit.

[1959scudetto]

Very interesting. If I recall correctly, Pola did several variants of this kit, including one in John Deere colors, plus some assorted implements and wagons/trailers that can hook up to it.

John Deere bought the Lanz company situated in Mannheim (Germany) in the '50s and manufactured from the early '60s onwards their New Generation tractors for the European market there, in the beginning under the name "John Deere-Lanz" (as was the name of the Matchbox Lesney tractor model back then), later the name LANZ disappeared completely.

[1959scudetto]

John Deere bought the Lanz company situated in Mannheim (Germany) in the '50s and manufactured from the early '60s onwards their New Generation tractors for the European market there, in the beginning under the name "John Deere-Lanz" (as was the name of the Matchbox Lesney tractor model back then), later the name LANZ disappeared completely.

sorry Christian, I should have read your introduction first, then I would have learned that my comment was really unnecessary

(you already have informed the audience/modeling community about the aquisition of Lanz by John Deere.)

[lapazleo]

Does it come with the 1/24 scale shotgun shell to start it like the real tractor? Look it up.

[Junkman]

These aren't started with shotgun shells.

Edited January 11, 2017 by Junkman

[Longbox55]

Does it come with the 1/24 scale shotgun shell to start it like the real tractor? Look it up.

You're thinking of the Field Marshal.

[lapazleo]

You're thinking of the Field Marshal.

Oops your right always confuse those two tractors for some reason.