Diecast Collector Article (Part 2)

OCTOBER 2005

www.diecastcollector.com

OCTOBER 2005

H A S T I N G S P L A N T S H O W . J U L Y 0 5

powered agricultural machinery and construction

plant (tractors and diggers to you!) is packed with

some amazing ‘real life stories’ and technical

innovations. There are dozens of different brands,

each with a whole range of models and unlike the

situation in say the car world, real tractors and

diggers got exported far more widely, from much

earlier on.

Capturing Our Past

And another thing – if we collect models because

we like the whole notion of capturing a piece of

the past – or even the present – in scale form,

chew on this; in any real life situation, model

buses didn’t just exist in a vacuum, did they?

Even those of us who might only like London

buses, or lorries made by AEC between 1949

and 1962, or whatever, will surely have to admit

that their favourites had to mix it in real life with

other road traffic? So only being interested in one

thing is surely to deny yourself the opportunity to

see your favourite models in their true operational

context, right?

Pretty impressive argument, eh? I wish I could

claim all the credit for thinking that one through,

but in fact, much of it comes from Bruce Rolston

and his sidekick Brian Blackman. This laid

back, live-and-let-live style is very much part

of the antipodean persona of course, but New

Zealander Bruce really does go out of his way to

make all interests welcome. True, if model buses

or cars were your only interest and you refuse to

accept that any kind of model tractor or excavator

is worth a look, a trip to Hastings might not have

come out on top as a way to spend your Sunday.

But for anyone keen to soak up wider aspects

of ‘The Model and the Real Thing’ philosophy,

Bruce’s event had plenty to offer – from classic

tinplate ‘toys’ right down to new manufacturer’s

promotional items from John Deere, Bobcat, CAT

and several others. In between, was a healthy mix

of more recent diecast models from the likes of

Corgi, Dinky, Matchbox, Joal, Conrad, Britains et

al, as well as more specialised collector-grade

models, archive material and replacement parts.

Remember what we were saying earlier about

‘diversity’? Well, in a parallel to the model railway

collecting hobby, construction plant enthusiasts

have their own line in ‘super detailing’ – taking

mass produced promotional models and adding

specialist buckets, attachments and even entire

booms. And where many lorry enthusiasts might

write off some recent models for not capturing

enough ‘reality’, the model plant enthusiasts

have similar sentiments over the design of scale

tracks. Where once what could be described

as a ‘rubber band’ was seen as good enough,

only working metal linked working tracks are

now considered good enough. That’s not easy

to do in a small scale, but specialist suppliers

are onto the idea and the whole idea of ‘added

realism’ accessories sounds like something that

would be welcomed by model lorry enthusiasts

as well. The most interesting example I could find

came from Jurgen Muller from CMM Schwerlast

of Germany, who also offers his own composite

heavy haulage tractors using commercial model

diecast cabs, mixed with a load of specialist

components in resin and other materials. They

are excellent.

There were plenty of other specialists with

some great models for sale as well as private

collectors thinning out their collections. Just as

I was trying to decide whether I could get away

with beating down a stallholder into taking an

offer of Ł35 for a lovely Gamma tinplate dumper

truck, a German visitor swooped in and paid him

Ł50 for it! At the other end of the scale, I picked

up the lovely 1930s copy of Meccano Magazine,

featured here, for just Ł2 from Graham Newell

(01233 631519) as an ideal ‘Model & Real

Thing’ reference to Bruce’s wonderful post-war

electrically powered Rapier mobile crane of the

same basic design. Then in between spending

far too long chatting to Bruce’s girlfriend, I

eventually managed to check out his fabulous

stock of large scale David Brown and Vickers

Vigor tractors, period bulldozers and dragline

excavators, but that was as nothing compared

with the amazing devotion to detail to be found

on David Wooton’s (01543 425511) stand. Aside

from building the biggest ‘walking’ dragline

excavator you’ve ever seen, David had time to

super detail (and work stain) the well known

Dinky Euclid dumper to pose with one of his 100

RB machines – as well as converting a couple

of the equally well known Dinky Foden dumpers

into the far more common 4x2 versions.

Interesting Mix

To me, that was the best bit of the whole event

– the mix between traders in construction

equipment, cranes and agricultural equipment

models, between ‘off the peg’ collector’s grade

models and specialised ‘built to order’ kit like the

machines made by David Wooton. And people

like Cenfyn Davies who always seems to have

far more variations of classic toy model tractor

than I ever thought existed! And let’s not forget

the ‘crossover’ opportunities here, too. Model

excavators and tractors can provide endless ‘load’

capabilities for model lorries – even though scale

might be an issue. But that was certainly not an

issue to Andy Sewell of ‘Classic Combines’ – keen

to make a highly detailed large scale JCB backhoe

loader, he set out to make a suitable low loading

trailer from scratch. That alone was nearly as long

as his stand – he’s now contemplating what type

of motive power unit he should model to pull the

rig. If he goes for a Scammell Highwayman – as

I hope he does – start saving up for a handmade

model that will out-do the Sunstar Routemaster for

‘must have’ status! (Andy is on 01748 850905).

In Conclusion

You could say internal combustion-engined

agricultural machinery and construction plant has

done more to change the face of our modern

world than any other single factor – field sizes, the

number of people earning a living off the land, the

size and spread of our towns and cities, you name

it, chances are a digger dug it, a crane lifted it and

a tractor with a mower or some other attachment

is probably tending to the few green bits that are

left in between.

On that basis alone, I’d say the whole

construction plant and agricultural machines

model sector was worth another look, but the

fact that it’s vibrant, packed with cracking models

and is just so diverse all suggests that Bruce

Rolston’s event is worth adding to your calendar of

interesting events to visit next year. It’ll be a good

‘un. For more details of next year’s event, contact

Bruce Rolston on 01424 420169.

The massive Vickers ‘Vigor’ crawler tractor was a

commercial disaster in real life, but made a great

model, none the less.

Argue with David Wooton and he’ll send his models round to excavate your village! This Bucyrus Erie ‘walking’

dragline worked for the national Coal Board – and was disassembled and moved three times in real life , according

to David. But how?

If only? If only Dinky had done this one to go with the Euclid dumptruck, eh? David

Wooton’s 100RB gives an idea of just how wrong Corgi got things in the scale department...

If only – again! David Wooton has modelled both an earlier DG cabbed Foden 6x4

dumper and the far more common 4x2 model.

Have you noticed how ‘large scale’ is making a

comeback? Wouldn’t you just love a modern version of

this model David Brown Implematic tractor? Of course

it would be a ‘must have’ for every Aston Martin car

enthusiast too – to remind us all how David Brown

originally made his money.

An early morning shot of the new JCB 3C excavator

model from Classic Combines. Note the period low

loader trailer, too!

A lucky find - a Lovely Gama dumper with clockwork

tipping mechanism which still worked.

Rosencombe Replicas (01837 53302) specialise in

highly detailed 1/76 or 00 scale model kits of examples

of British construction equipment including drag line

excavators and the Jones ‘Iron Fairy’ crane. Latest kit

is the Terex 82.300 B tracked dozer.