The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Model ranges to toy with every fancy of collectors
THE CHOICE of farm-related toys for youngsters today is fantastic.
Manufactures include many German concerns such as Siku, Bruder and Schuco, while Spanish and Italian makers Joal and ROS have all played a part.
Universal Hobbies are big suppliers of very accurate collectors’ models at affordable prices.
However, one of the most popular makes for the younger farmer is Britains — everpresent in carpet farming circles since the 1920s.
It is certainly much different to the scene even 25 years ago, and the cheap manufacturing costs offered by China and other Far Eastern countries has a lot to do with it.
In the 1980s Britains reigned supreme with a fantastic range of 1/32nd scale models of tractors and other farming equipment. Bringing farm scenes to life was Britains range of farm staff, animals, buildings, trees, hedges, walls and gates plus all the little parts such as troughs, bales, sacks and milk cans.
Britains chose 1/32nd because it fitted with the size of their model soldiers, which William Britain started to make in 1893.
It is thought the company began making toys in the 1850s. They pioneered hollowcasting, which saved on materials and helped them compete on price.
In 1921 they launched the Home Farm series featuring figures, animals, hay stacks, hedges and a horse and cart.
It was not until 1948 that they released their first model tractor, a Fordson E27N — a popular model on real farms at the time.
Some 11 years later they introduced their second tractor model with the new style Major, then in 1965 the Ford 5000 and in 1968 the MF 135.
From then on there has been a steady stream. The company was bought in 1997 by American firm Errol, whose larger scale but slightly cruder metal models were often sold in tractor dealerships of manufacturers with American parentage — hence the popularity of Errol John Deere, International and MF models.
Britains and Errol were bought by Racing Champions International in 1999, but today Britains are owned by Japanese toy manufacturer Tomy.
Skip back 50 years and it was a different scene again, with an all-British line-up of model manufacturers.
Britains were beginning to cement themselves as the company for farm toys with an accurate tractor model that had an excellent working two-point linkage design to hitch implements in a realistic way.
This style of design has been accepted as the standard with European manufacturers, although the modern designs seem clumsier than the Britains original.
The 1/32nd scale has also been accepted as the most popular with European children and collectors alike.
Not using 1/32nd but basing model size on an overall dimensions to fit packaging were the Dinky models. Roughly equating to 1/43rd, Dinky were the establishment of die-cast vehicle models dating from 1932.
They were one part of that triple alliance of creator Frank Hornby, who had launched Meccano and Hornby Railway sets before introducing Dinky toys to complement railway layouts. This was another reason for their smaller size.
All these toys were produced at their Binns Road Factory in Liverpool, which closed in 1979.
Farm animals and figures and a basic tractor based on a Fordson F were Dinky’s first foray into farm miniatures.
Compared to Britains, Dinky models were much cruder, with less detail, but their simple design made them more robust.
Fifty years ago they were a bit behind the times compared to Britains and their Major, which was still in production at this stage.
Dinky offered a dated Massey Harris based on the 44 model from the late 1940s, and a Field Marshall.
They also did a nice Series One Land Rover, but farm implements were limited to a trailer, discs, rake and dung spreader.
Later in the decade they upped their game with the launch of two cracking David Brown 990 models in the guise of a red Implematic then a white Selectamatic.
A fairly new kid on the block at this time was Corgi, with a much more modern approach to their models.
Fifty years ago Corgi offered a standard Fordson Power Major, a highly unusual Roadless based half-track version, and a Massey Ferguson 65.
Later in the 1960s they offered Ford 5000s with chromed plastic detailing and jewelled headlamps, and the MF 165 model with a built-in clicking when pushed along the floor to represent engine noise.
Another manufacture from this period was Lesney, which produced both the Matchbox models and the King Size range similar to both Dinky and Corgi sizes. They too produced a Fordson Major, as well as an International B250.
Lesney and Corgi offered combines in the 1960s, the f irst harvesting machines available since smaller British manufacturer Charbins produced a crude tractor and binder in the 1930s.
Lesney would offer a Claas Matador, while Corgi had launched the magnificent Massey Ferguson 780 in 1959 giving them the edge over Britains in this department for many years.
However, if the combine was a star in its own right, it was only joined by trailers and a plough as farm machines.
Many of the industrial and construction machines from all firms were imaginatively included on layouts by junior agriculturists starved of the tools to do the job.
In its original guise Corgi began in 1956 as part of the Mettoy Company.
No doubt Corgi was chosen as a name as manufacturing was based in Swansea.
Mettoy had to call in the receivers in 1983 as sales dropped and costs rose.
Nevertheless the Corgi name continues today with a range of collectors’ lorry and bus models
Prior to this late baby-boom period tractor models were thin on the ground, although Airfix’s first-ever plastic kit was a Ferguson TE 20 produced initially for Ferguson representatives to give to customers of the real thing.
Later it was sold in shops on general release.
There had been models of tractors since virtually the first full-sized tractors appeared in the early 20th century but they were often expensive and less than accurate.
Germany especially produced good tinplate toys, but two world wars dented their popularity.
Indeed, in the less affluent periods home-made toys were often the only way to recreate the real thing. Necessity is the mother of invention, and fathers sometimes had to craft a wooden tractor in their spare time as a basic gift for boys at Christmas.
Even until very recently many farm laddies got frustrated by model and toy manufacturers’ lack of suitable machinery ranges for certain crops and processes, meaning that home-made was still often the best method.
This has all changed today, with at least one brand of machine available for all the different crops and jobs.