Ferguson TEA 20 tractor and LNER Lowfit wagon
Purchased and reviewed by Robin McHugh from Gazette vol. 21 No. 4 August 2020
Tractor: Langley Miniature Models HTTP://www.langley-models.co.uk
For the Connoisseur Lowfit wagon see conn-lowfit
The Tractor
My modelling projects tend to be longish affairs that often take shape
over a considerable period of time and, no doubt like many other Guild
members, the corona virus lockdown has provided me with an
opportunity to make progress with some of them. Things were going
reasonably well until a relative had a stroke and ended up in hospital
adding to the day to day problems many of us are experiencing.
Frustrated, I decided I needed something that could be assembled,
finished and painted without throwing up any problems and
remembered I had been meaning to put together a kit for a tractor that
was to be a load for a wagon that was finished but not lettered.
Over the course of two and a bit evenings, this Langley kit for a little Ferguson TEA20 tractor was cleaned up, built and painted. It's all whitemetal, and there's a fair number of very small parts. It comes in a small clear plastic container that's not big enough to hold the finished model. The instructions are adequate but betray the age of the kit in that they have been composed on a typewriter. A small sketch is included to help with the positioning of the various parts and there is a numbered list of all the parts too. Some of the parts would be stronger if produced as brass castings but this would no doubt add appreciably to the price of the kit. There was very little flash on the castings; what was there was
easily scraped off with a newish scalpel blade. Many of the parts
incorporate a small peg/spigot to help with location to a mating part and a matching hole needs to be drilled. Sometimes the hole exists, but on some parts the hole position is marked by a tiny dimple. Drill sizes of 0.8, 0.9 and 1.0mm were need for this.
Completed tractor model
I soldered together three or four of the larger castings using 70 degree solder. The rest went together with quick set epoxy or superglue, using some accelerator to help speed things up. I assembled all the parts except for the four wheels, preferring to leave these until everything was painted.
Restored FEA20 Ferguson tractor photographed in Norway.
These tractors were introduced in the late 1940s and were well known
in Scotland as 'wee grey fergies'. The last one I saw was a few years ago,
beautifully restored and working daily, parked outside Olden's Co-op
store in Vestland, Norway. I took some pictures of it knowing they would
be useful at some point.
I gave the model a light spray of Halfords grey
primer and then mixed up some glossy grey paint to match the pictures.
The Humbrol greys I had were either too light or too dark and there was
no way I wanted to wait until model shops opened again. Two coats were
brush painted then one or two details touched in with a sooty black. I
mixed what I hoped would be a rubbery looking brownish matt black for
the tyres and these also had a couple of coats. I am pleased with the
contrast between the appearance of the tyres and the glossy remainder
of the rest of the model.
I can recommend the kit, it is showing its age a little and initially I
thought it a little expensive, that was until I saw a recently introduced O
scale Fordson (1917) tractor, priced at 99 Euros.
