Heller Ferguson TE-20 with scratch-built blade
This is the latest edition to my small-but-growing tractor family, Heller's excellent "Little Gray Fergie". This little tractor was an enjoyable kit, lots of detail and no problems in assembly. You can position the front wheels and the hydraulic arms however you wish, and you could build it with wheels off (in a diorama, for instance) as it has detailed hubs and brake drums. It comes molded in the blueish gray of the original tractor. I painted mine using US Navy light gray with a couple drops of intermediate blue. The resulting color was nearly indistinguishable from the original plastic. I chose not do do the heavy weathering, as that is not a skill I've worked on - besides, there are a couple of examples here on iModeler of heavily-weathered Fergies that far outshine anything I would even attempt.
The real interesting part of this article is the scratch-built 3-point blade. I grew up on a farm back in the '70's, and we had a scratch-built blade we used on our Case 300 tractor. It consisted of an old blade off of a horse-drawn road grader, an old steel-lugged tractor wheel, and odd bits of angle iron. I replicated all those elements from sheet styrene, and came up with what I think is a pretty good replica of the blade owned (and still own, actually!). I painted it with Testor's rubber and rust colors, and some Tester's steel for areas of wear. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I hope you enjoy my little Fergie!
Nice work!
Good job, Robert, there are still quite a few of them rattling around.
Tractors are really cool, and you done a great job on this one, Robert (@robgenev665). My wife's stepfather used to restore old tractors, so your build brings back some memories.
@gblair Thanks, George. I'm pleased the model reminded you of good times!
This is a great model, Robert.
Very nice scratchbuilt blade!
I love the color shade too!
@fiveten Thanks, Spiros!
Very nice build - and pictures! I really like the scratchbuilt blade, and from what I see, you may want to re-consider your weathering abilities - the rust on the blade (and exhaust) is looking good.
I own a Ferguson 35 (that was from before they became Massey Ferguson) that my uncle bought the year I was born, and I really would like to see a 35 kit one day!
Cool. Ours was also grey but had a blade up front
Nice comments above, and the same from me! But for me it bring back memories when I drove one during our winter's of 1958 to 1971 when I lived in Ohio. I use to go out to my brother's farm and help him keep the mile long road open as we had a septic tank business. Our 2 tractor's were never clean like yours!
Excellent model!
@f2g1d Thanks for your compliment, Rodney!
Hey BOB: I also had a horse, and road her bareback for over 10 years. Once she took a short-cut to get back to the farm and road under some trees, which knocked me off the horse. So build me a horse when you have time!