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1919 Garrett & Sons Steam Road Tractor


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Hi,

Up to the thirties steam trucks and steam road tractors were a common sight at least on European roads.

Today particularly in England there is still a very strong interest in all kinds of vintage steam vehicles.

Probably the most renowned English manufacturer of steam trucks and steam road tractors was Richard Garrett & Sons Ltd., Leiston, Suffolk. Their 1919 heavy road tractor, initially built for pulling trailers of a brickyard and later converted into a showman's tractor with additional current generator, was preserved by the English enthusiast Tom Varley and displayed at his steam museum. There it was nicknamed Pendle Princess. After Tom Varley's death the former kit manufacturer Bandai purchased the vehicle and made this beautiful kit.

I suppose I built this model 30 or even 35 years ago. My memories of the build are almost completely gone. Nevertheless I am sure that building it was a pleasure, because Bandai kits were really outstanding.

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Outstanding build, Man.....This thing is very realistic....The detail is amazing....When I see models of old steam engines, I always wonder what they would look like in real life....I can picture myself standing next to it at an old museum, somewhere.....You've captured it's nostalgia very well in this model....

Edited by kilrathy10
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Very nice model, Jurgen! Wonderful details!

There is a large antique machinery show here in central Pennsylvania each September, and they always have steam tractors running. They hook some of them up with flat belts to drive portable sawmills and other farm equipment. It's great!

Sam

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Thanks for the feedback.

I am sorry for my late reply.

That's really nice! Do you remember if the pinstriping on the wheels was a decal or did you do that by hand?

Harry, I keep all instruction sheets of my models, so I am sure that there was no decal for the pinstriping on the wheels. There are raised lines on the wheels that could be used as guiding edges for a pen.

BTW you look so young suddenly. Please tell us your secret. New shaver or botox?

That's a very impressive build. I agree with you about Bandai. I used to build armor and they had some great 1/48 kits.

... and not forgetting the outstanding car kits. I wonder why they were never re-released.

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I can answer for Jürgen, that's an Entex plastic kit.

Definitely a unique, super detailed, and very well executed build. Is it a mixture of plastic and die-cast(or brass)?

Harry is absolutely right, the instruction sheet says that there were only a few minor metal parts.

As far as I know this is a kit made by Bandai, because the 1:1 vehicle is/was part of the Bandai factory museum. Entex seems to have reboxed the kit for some countries.

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