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TTS
Farm Toy Report: October
2003 Issue
#18
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TTS-Times
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Corn
and bean harvest is underway in many places across North America.
I hope that your harvest big or small is going well.
October will be a busy month in the fields and next month is the biggest
month of the year for farm toys. The National Toy Show will take
place November 7, 8, and 9. TTS will be set up at the show in the
National Farm Toy Museum at the Toy Tractor Times table. Please
stop by the table and say hello. You can learn more about the National
Farm Toy Museum at http://www.nftmonline.com/
. TTS will also have its 3rd annual collectors get together
dinner at the Country Junction Restaurant during the
National. The dinner will be a 6:30 p.m. Saturday November
8th, one half hour after the show closes for the day. This is a
great way TTS members to get together and put faces to names. If
you would like to attend the dinner please rsvp to toytractorshow@hotmail.com
with an e-mail entiled TTS Dinner.
This
month there are several interesting new toys to report on. John
Deere has a great new set of toys out in 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64. CNH
and AGCO has a few interesting items as well. We are still waiting
to report on a few more farm toy surprises in store for collectors
in 2003. TTS and The Toy Tractor Times will be highlighting the best
toys of 2003 in the December issues. Start thinking about your
favorite toys so that you can nominate them in our next issue.
In November
the TTS Farm Toy Report and The Toy Tractor Times will
feature the National
Farm Toy Show. If you have articles or
project pictures for the Farm Toy Report or all new ToyTractorTimes.com
e-mail Jason Hasert at
In November
the TTS Farm Toy Report and The Toy Tractor Times will
feature the National
Farm Toy Show. If you have articles or
project pictures for the Farm Toy Report or all new ToyTractorTimes.com
e-mail Jason Hasert at Webmaster@toytractorshow.com.
Jason Hasert
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Corn Harvest
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New Toy News
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Looking to purchase many of the new toys listed in the Farm Toy Report?
Visit the TTS Links page at http://www.toytractorshow.com/links.htm
and look on the toy dealers listing. |
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AGCO
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| The
Toy Tractor Times Magazine has released its 2003 and 20th Anniversary
Tractor. This years TTT Anniversary Tractor is the 1973
Allis-Chalmers 7030. This Ertl model replicates the 130 hp 1973
AC-7030 with black mask cab and maroon belly. This die-cast model
also has 36 inch row crop duals. This model is also the first in a
series of five 1970's tractors from The Toy Tractor Times that will be
completed in 2007. To learn more about the 7030 and for an order
form click
here. |
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Collectors were surprised at the Husker Harvest Days Fall Farm Show with a
special Challenger MT765. Only 200 MT765's were offered as a show
edition model in 1/64. Scale Model's added a foil decal stating 1 of
200 on the blister card and the tractors roof has Fall Farm Show Edition
2003 printed on it. |
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AGCO has a new 40 piece
farm set out. This farm play set includes a shed with an orange roof,
Ford pick up truck, animals, an exclusive AGCO DT-180 tractor and orange
disk. This is the second AGCO farm set in 1/64. TTS first
reported a 40 piece set this past May. The first set included an AGCO
tractor, orange disk, orange manure spreader, orange gravity wagon ,
Allis-Chalmers D-19 and the other items found in the new set just
released. |
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CaseIH
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latest 1/64 CaseIH AFX 8010 is out. This collectors model is the 2003 Fall
Farm Show Edition. Like the collectors edition it has all the bells
and whistles. The key addition is duals on the Fall Farm Show
Edition. This AFX 8010 is packaged in a closed silver box with
CaseIH graphics. |
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| Schermann's
Implement a CaseIH dealer located in Dyersville, IA is celebrating its 75th
Anniversary with a special 1/64 100K MX 285 toy by Ertl. This model
was made in a special run with a 7th Anniversary decal on the block
box. This model should prove to be a harder to find
variation. |
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| Spec-Cast
will offer a 1/16 plastic resin International HT-340 soon. On July
20, 1961 Harvester's HT 340 tractor was displayed at the 10th Annual
Tractor Day held by the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. This
unusual design coupled a gas turbine engine with a hydrostatic
transmission. The 80 horsepower turbine was a product of Solar
Aircraft Company, an IH subsidiary. Only 21 inches long, and 13
inches in diameter, the turbine with its reduction gearing weighed but 90
pounds. Although this tractor showed great promise it remained as an
experimental style, and was placed in the Smithsonian Institution on Sept.
1, 1967 |
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Toy
Farmer's latest 1/32 Steiger is at participating CaseIH and toy
dealers. The CO-OP Steiger was built by Steiger and painted orange for
distribution at CO-OP dealers in Canada in the mid-1970's. CO-OP
offered a full range of orange implements for the CO-OP
Steiger. |
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John
Deere
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| Ertl
has announced a new 1/32 scale John Deere 9860 STS combine. This model
like the two CNH combine announced earlier in the year will offer a 12 row
corn head and 30ft grain head. One exciting new feature is a grain
head with fingers on the reel. This should make many corn belt and
east coast toy collectors happy. The 9860 STS has a new grain bin and
unloading auger that will be reflected on the toy. The real combine
offers 345 hp and a 300 bu bin. |
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In August Ertl announced on TTS Toy Talk that a 1/16 John Deere 7920 would
be offered a John Deere employee Waterloo Edition would be offered. Many collectors
were impressed by the collectors and piece and asked if it would be
available as a collectors edition. The answer is here. In
December a 7920 collectors edition will be released by Ertl. This tractor
like the Waterloo Edition offers an opening hood, windowed cab, mirrors, gps
and a working 3pt hitch. This working 3pt hitch sets a new standard in
collectors toys from Ertl and will appear on future collectors pieces. |
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| Its
the biggest news in 1/64 is the Fall Farm Show John Deere 7920. The
7920 offers the nest step in increasing 1/64 detail from Ertl with a 3pt
hitch, flood lights, gps and a windowed cab. The 7920 was packaged in
the traditional John Deere Fall Farm Show box and follows the 1999 8410,
2000 9300T, 2001 9750 STS and 2002 8420T. |
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| The
John Deere 155 hp 7820 replaces the 7810 this fall. Ertl has just
released a 1st Edition 1/64 7820. This model is an impressive replica.
It has the same gps beacon and flood lights that the FFS 7920 had, although
they are unpainted. This new 1/64 tractor is perfect for farm
displays. This is the first 1st Edition 1/64 toy to appear on the new
"spark plug" packaging released by Ertl this past spring.
Another first collectors will find is the Britains name printed on the 7820
box. Britains is a well known brand in Europe that is a division of
Racing Champions Ertl.
This dual branding may indicate a new
global out look by Ertl toward the farm toy hobby. |
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New
Holland
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Ertl continues to roll out 1/32 farm toys. The
New Holland TS135A is a highly detailed 1/32 tractor. This
model offers the detail collectors like with authentic design and a windowed
cab. A CaseIH and Steyer version of this blue CNH tractor are also
available to collectors. Ertl has a major roll of 1/32 farm toys
planned for 2004. This TS-A is just the tip of the ice berg and a good
sign of things to combine. |
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| New
Holland entered the construction market in the late 1990's. Ertl has
just released a 1/50th scale resin New Holland wheel loader. You can see
the loader has impressible detail with hand rails, mirrors and a
windowed cab. |
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Ertl has released a second New Holland construction toy. This tough
looking 1/50th scale resin bull dozer is a complete package with a front blade and
rear ripper. |
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| Ertl's
latest 1/64 New Holland TG tractor is the TG 255. This is the second
TG toy to offer duals all around and a windowed cab. In
November 2002 a collectors edition TG 285 was offered with the same
detailed features. |
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Attention
Members of The Toy Tractor Times
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| Recently
several new members have had difficulty logging on to The Toy Tractor
Times. Every new member of The Toy Tractor Times receives an e-mail
titled Welcome to The toy Tractor Times sent to the e-mail address filled
out on their subscription form. In that welcome e-mail each new
member receives a user id and pass word that must be entered to access the
monthly issues. Recently several people have had issues with their
pass word. Every pass word is checked before being issued so they
all work. The problem has been that some have confused the #1 for a
lower case L which also looks like a l in times roman :
1.
Your pass word is your includes your subscriber number which looks like this
example su100.
If you are typing an L instead of 1 you will have a problem. Please
use our member services page for additional questions and help: http://toytractortimes.com/member_services.htm |
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October
Question
And Answer by Bill Walters RC/Ertl Farm Toy Manager |
| In
March 2001 Bill Walters the Farm Toy Product Manager began taking
part in question and answer forums on Toy Tractor Show.com with toy
tractor collectors. Over the past two plus years we the collector
have asked Bill the questions. Starting with the June 2003 TTS Farm
Toy Report, Bill will ask us the questions. This new format will allow
collectors to see what Ertl is thinking about for future farm toy products
and participate in that future by giving their opinion. This new
format will operate on a polling system where you the collector read
Bill's question and then respond by voting in a poll. |
| Question
#1: How many people at Ertl work on Farm toys? What are their
roles?
Answer #1: The
business group that is responsible for AG toys consists of 6
people. We have 3 product manager and 2 graphics people.
We currently 3 more people from our UK office working ag and construction
issues. In addition there are salespeople assigned to the OEMs as well
as the Farm Retail chains. There is also a group of people in the RC2 Hong
Kong and China offices that work on AG.
Question #2:
Since Ertl owns Britains,
how do you coordinate and decide what 1/32nd items to produce?
Answer
#2: When
we look at doing a CNH or JD product , we see if there are global
applications. We then work with our UK office to determine if there is
a demand for these units to justify the additional tooling required.
These products then have to be presented to the OEMs in both the U.S. and
Europe for approval. Our UK office handles product
that is being built specifically built for the European market.
Question #3:
What license agreements do you currently have with Ag manufactures?
Answer #3:
John Deere, Case IH, NH, AGCO, Polaris , Cub Cadet, Linkbelt, ATI, Hiniker .
Still working on Buhler, and a few others.
Question #4:
Will you be showing off new items at the November show?
Answer #4:
Most of the new items that have been
announced to the OEMS dealers will be on display.
Question #5:
In one of your
responses you mentioned that you have to produce a minimum of 2,500 to 5000
pieces of an item to make it worthwhile. Is that all that is needed to
produce an item?
Answer #5:
As long as there are not tool
dollars required to produce the item. This requirement is mainly for
existing tooled product. For newly tooled product the quantity needs to be
large to pay off the tooling.
Question #6: Why
are most construction toys made in 1/50 scale and not 1/64. Farm Toy
collectors can use items like a Case back hoe, Case/New Holland bull dozer
or Case/New Holland wheel loader on 1/64 farm displays.
Answer #6:
This started years ago.
Collectors felt that 1/50 scale provided a nice size for the larger sized
construction equipment. This also corresponds to the train scales
which are 1/43rd to 1/48th. Ertl did produce 1/64 equipment but
the main direction was to 1/50 at least for collectors.
Question #7: What
is Ertl's out look for classic tractors in the future? John Deere and
CaseIH collectors set like the JD 40/70 and IH 806/706 collectors set were
great models for 2003. Will we see more anniversary models of the great
American classics?
Answer #7:
There will be more
anniversary models where it makes sense to do the tractors. Not all the
offerings will be sets there could be individual tractors.
Question #8:
What is Ertl's out look
for 1/32? You have mentioned more products are on the way in 1/32 and the
new CaseIH, New Holland and John Deere combines in 1/32 looks like there is
strong potential for the scale.
Answer #8: Nothing
that can be announced as of yet. We have many new items
planned for 2004 that can't be disclosed.
Question #9:
How does Ertl and the OEM's decide what to produce and what not produce? It
seems that the toy line is slanted toward grain crops and haying. Does
Ertl ever look at vegtable and cotton equipment?
How does Ertl and the OEM's decide what to produce and what not produce? It
seems that the toy line is slanted toward grain crops and haying. Does
Ertl ever look at vegetable and cotton equipment? Question #9:
How does Ertl and the OEM's decide what to produce and what not produce? It
seems that the toy line is slanted toward grain crops and haying. Does
Ertl ever look at vegetable and cotton equipment?
Answer #9: Yes, we look at cotton
equipment and other types of equipment. It still boils down to how many can
you sell to pay off the tooling investment required, where can the item be
distributed, what kind of niche market is the product. How many people would
want a beet harvester, or a potato harvester ?. While there are people who
are passionate about the equipment they use, it still comes back to
volume.
Question #10:
Pick up trucks are
a big part of farming and it has been a few years since Ertl has offered new
1/16 or 1/64 pick ups. Any thing in the works?
Answer #10:
We
are now trying to get approval to tool some new 1/64 pickups.
Nothing is finalized yet.
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Feature New
Product of the Month
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The series includes a
1/8 scale 1953 John Deere 70, a special wide front 1963 Farmall 706 pedal tractor, a 1/16 model of the big power house
1973 Oliver 2255, a 1/32 model of the legendary Steiger Panther
CP-1400 from 1983 , the 1993 AGCO-Allis 9650 in 1/64 with front duals a first from
Scale Models and the ultra modern Challenger MT 765 in 1/16 and 1/64
scales. This set of tractors marks the major tractors and innovations
that have been produced and debuted at the Farm Progress show. |
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TTS-Times
Notes
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This month the Toy Tractor Times "Down on the Model Farm" will
look at 1/64 grain bins and systems. Many collectors enjoy
displaying Ertl's big modern combines like the John Deere 9750
STS, CAT 485, CaseIH AFX 8010 and NH CR 970. These are
great toys and look nice on a model farm. If you want to make a
realistic model farm you need to think about a support team for your
combine. Lets take 2002's hit combine: the class 8 NH
CR 970. At 330 bu and 30ft harvesting heads the CR 970 can keep
harvest timely and efficient. A farmer would want the CR 970 to be
harvesting at every possible moment. Grain carts will help shuttle
grain away from the combine to waiting trucks. A CR 970 can
harvest 120 acres of corn or beans in a day if its support team can keep
up. Once the truck has the grain it has to get the farm and back
so that the combine does not have to stop and wait because the grain
cart is full. It is the grain bin system back on the farm that
keeps the combine, cart and truck at full speed. It is important
to have a big dryer that can keep up with the size of the combine you
are running. You want enough bins to match the size of your crop
and speed of your combine. We will look at all of these topics in
depth in the October Toy Tractor Times with pictures of different size
1/64 grain systems and an informative article with lots of detail.
The Toy Tractor Times
Magazine can be found at www.toytractortimes.com
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