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Toy Farmer
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"Sir, Do You Know How Slow You Were Driving?" by Richard Marmo Page 1
You're driving along, minding your own business and obeying the speed limits. Suddenly, you hear a siren. Look behind you and a Texas State Trooper is waving you over. "Hun?" you wonder. "I wasn't speeding, so what's he want with me?" Since you knew you hadn't done anything wrong, you pull your tractor to the side of the road and shut it down, waiting for the Trooper to walk up so you can give him a piece of your mind. Problem is that the first thing the Trooper says is "Sir, do you know how slow you were driving?" Oops! You forgot that little Porsche Junior 108 Diesel you're driving can only make 15 mph and the speed limit's 70 mph despite...or maybe because...you're on one of Texas' back roads.
Scale models of farm equipment in general and tractors in particular tend to be rare as hen's teeth. Especially in the form of injected styrene kits. It's even rarer to find them in 1/24 scale, which is why the model kit aisle of Hobby Lobby got my attention. I really wasn't expecting to find anything of interest when serendipity happened. Staring me in the face was a 1/24 scale kit of a Porsche Junior 108 tractor from Revell of Germany. Price? $22.99 on the boxtop price tag, but a paltry fourteen bucks or so...after using their 40% off coupon...making it downright irresistible. I called Toy Farmer, they said go for it and the result is this article. The kit itself is relatively simple and while not identified that way, it is also designed as a snap fit kit. However, the smaller parts are very fragile, which makes slightly opening some of the mounting holes and treating the kit as a standard glue kit the better approach. You'll see what I'm talking about shortly.
But the small size of the finished model...it sits comfortably in the palm of your hand... left me wanting to do something more. I also didn't want a pristine display model. It happens that when you drive the back roads of Texas...or most agricultural states...you'll occasionally pass a farm tractor on its way to the next field. None of'em can match the posted speed limits and some are really slow. Sorta the mechanical version of the tortoise ...the tractor...and the hare...your car. The Porsche Junior is a definite tortoise since its maximum speed is 15 miles per hour. Anyhoo, one thing led to another, culminating in an idea for a vignette that would have the tractor on the side of the road, with a Texas State Trooper standing beside the tractor. While preparing to hand out a traffic citation, the Trooper is asking the confused farmer "Sir, do you know how slow you were driving?" With the concept in mind, it was time to start building. Since the model was designed as a snap kit, it can actually be assembled in short order with no painting...assuming you don't break any of the more delicate parts. But ignore the snap aspect and you can do more...much more.
You actually get 76 parts, along with instructions and a decal sheet, but you'll have parts left over, depending on your choice of options. And you won't use all the decals either. All parts are also molded in their appropriate colors...more or less...if all you want to do is snap it together and sit it on a shelf. Otherwise, paint is a necessity since plastic reflects light from just below the surface and is the reason why plastic looks like plastic. |
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