by Jason Hasert

         2003 was a great year for 1/64 farm toys.  Which means model farm displays benefit.  I was impressed by the detail that Ertl, Spec-Cast and Die-Cast promotions put into there 2003 toys.  I grew up in the late 70's and 1980's on 1/64 toys dreaming of making a nice display like the ones in The Toy Tractor Times and at toy shows.  Back then 1/64 toys were toys. They represented a real model but did not show much detail.  Today we are seeing handrails, steps,  windows, lights and more.   Implements are also getting the same attention.   Look back at the Ertl John Deere 12 row corn planter from 1986 and now look at all of these 16 row corn planters out and their detail.  1/64 gets an A+ for 2003 and 2004 looks to have even better models in store.  

          This month I would like to highlight the new 2003 1/64 farm toys I enjoyed using on my display the most. 

Tractors

           Tractors really grew in detail this year.   For the first time we saw features such as precision like detail on the Big Bud 16V-747, flood lights on the John Deere 7820, steps on the John Deere 4450, extreme tracks on the CAT MT765 and a new brand with the Challenger tractors from AGCO.  The Euro tire John Deere 8220 and Massey-Ferguson 8270 were also handy tractors to have on the model farm.

Big Bud 16V-747 Factory Version

John Deere 7820

John Deere 4450

CAT MT765

Challenger MT665

European wide tire tractors

Tillage

      For many years collectors have wanted more tillage items.  Especially for 4wds.  2003 was a good year for big tillage.  The CaseIH MRX690 ripper was a great surprise this fall.   C&D Models introduced a 72 ft 5 section field cultivator for the great plains displayer.  John Deere's 2700 ripper was also a nice match for big 4wds. 

CaseIH MRX690

C&D Models 72 Field Cultivator

John Deere 2700

Planting

        Collectors interested in corn planters had a banner year.  Kinze, CaseIH, New Holland and John Deere all brought out 1/64 16 row planters.  All we need now is a White planter from AGCO.  The detail on the 4 new planters was great.  Read our TTT April issue to look at these models up close.  The toughest problem for my display was choosing which planter to use as the main unit. 

16/31 Kinze 3600 Planter

16 row CaseIH ASM 1200 Planter

16 row New Holland Corn Planter

16/32 1790 John Deere Planter

Harvesting

        What a great year for harvesting equipment.  In July Ertl surprised us with a new self-propelled forage harvester.  The 7500 is a great model for harvesting corn on the model farm with the 10 row kemper head. The CaseIH AFX 8010  is by far the best 1/64 combine to date.  No matter your favorite brand it is hard to over look the AFX as your next model farm combine.  If you want to keep up with your new high detail AFX 8010 you can not go wrong with the new Kinze 1050 grain cart. You can read more about the 1050 in this month "What is Hot in 1/64.

John Deere 7500

CaseIH AFX 8010

Kinze 1050 Grain Cart

TTT December 2003 Page 9

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