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Junkman

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Everything posted by Junkman

  1. I am the last one who has anything against reissues! But how many reissues of the same kits do I need?
  2. In this case I could hardly be happier if proven wrong.
  3. Well, let's wait for February then. Then March. April. May...
  4. Maybe Rosberg wants to get all the way to the top now and race stock cars?
  5. That's a bit like combing a sparrow.
  6. The crossover ram induction was strangely enough included as a custom option in the Jo-Han '68 Chrysler. I need to check to confirm, but I should have a few spare ones. I should also have quite a few leftover Jo-Han RBs with the A488. Which exhaust manifilds did the 300C have? I should have those too. Mind you, Jo-Han engines have a huge hole for the front axle, because Jo-Han. But fixing that shouldn't be a problem.
  7. Which A. would hardly matter with these and B. they also say the tractor is G scale, but were smart enough to make it actually 1/24. In fact all their so called G scale vehicle models appear to be 1/24 in reality.
  8. It would also be a nice curio in any Porsche collection.
  9. Could the JB Aston Martin be a captive import of the Doyusha? 30 days until Nürnberg - I shall deploy my local spies...
  10. OK, I don't own this kit (yet) and I don't even know whether it's currently in production. It is obviously intended to complement their Lanz Bulldog and appears to be well made. It's easy enough to come by though and I thought it might be interesting for all of you who want to equip your tractor models. These items should also work with the Heller Ferguson. Search for Pola 331606 Landwirtschaftliche Geräte
  11. Porsche tractors were deliberately small.The whole thing was started by - you guessed it - Adolf Hitler, who in 1937 asked for a "Volkstraktor".While big farms were well served with the Lanz Bulldogs and steam ploughing engines, the ten thousands ofsmall agricultural holdings were still overwhelmingly relegated to using draught animals in the 1930s. The parameters were: - small enough to be suitable for small companies- simple design for easy maintenance and repairs- suitable for mass production to keep the price low- about 10 hp Porsche built a few prototypes with two and three cylinder air cooled diesel engines from 11 hp to about 20 hp.For obvious reasons, no serial production commenced. It took until 1950 for Porsche to dust off the Volkstraktor. The design was modernised and a new company,the Porsche-Diesel Motorenbau GmbH was founded.Production facilities were built in Manzell on Lake Constance in cooperation with the company Allgaier of Uhingen.About 16,000 Porsche tractors where built there between 1950 and 1963.In 1962 the company was integrated with the tractor department of MAN.In 1963 MAN sold the Porsche tractor production tooling to Renault, who used components of the biggerthree cylinder Porsche 329 for their Super 4. Germany was still awash with small tractors on small farms when I was a child.Often the farmers let us children drive the tractors in the fields, imagine that today!Then Germany rolled out a massive sweep of agricultural land consolidation in the 1970s to meet EU regulations,rendering small tractors obsolete. Due to their size and simplicity, they became popular collectors' items there,with particularly the Porsches having acquired cult status.
  12. I really hope Heller and Revell will expand their tractor portfolios.
  13. 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.
  14. I got mine off eBay. Just search for 'pola lanz'.
  15. 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
  16. And for the bureaucrats among you, here are the instructions:
  17. 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:
  18. 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.
  19. Prices for remaining '30s are sure skyrocketing.
  20. Everyone is his minority. But hey, you invented the best compromise!
  21. What else than to move the model around and make engine noises and screeching tire sounds is there to do once it's finished? Hence mine must roll flawlessly.
  22. It would be terminally cool. Oh, and thanks! I love doing "phantom" box art.
  23. OK, I got mine today and contrary to anyone else on here, actually read the instructions. The kit contains parts for two versions: A. 1946 - 1956 Ferguson TE 20 - the TE stands for Tractor England. These were painted completely grey by the factory. B. 1957 - 1958 Ferguson FF 30 - built by Hotchkiss in France for Massey-Harris-Ferguson France. These differed in several details from the TE 20 and only the bonnet, mudguards and wheels were painted grey, the rest red. They were built from 100% French components, no parts were imported from England. Hence the differences. Both versions can be built with the following options: 1. Either the low horizontal exhaust, or the vertical one, this option could also be specified on the real ones. 2. "Early" or "late" front tyres. Sadly the instructions don't say when the switch exactly was, but I assume the TE 20 would have the early ones, the FF30 the late ones.
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