This year’s North East Model Farm and Construction Show drew a bigger crowd as it filled two halls of Newmachar’s splendid Axis Centre.
Organised by Andy Ingram, Mike Neville and Brian Gray, the show is now settled in its new venue and saw nearly 40 traders and exhibitors attend from Yorkshire and Northumberland in the south, Caithness in the north and all points in between.
Tables were brimming with exhibits and stock in equal measure as enthusiasts and public alike marvelled at the skills and dedication of collectors, restorers, scratch builders, convertors and diorama builders alike.
Traders had many of the latest releases on sale from numerous manufacturers offering many makes of tractors, machinery, trucks and construction machinery to cater for the region’s many collectors who were seen leaving with bulging carrier bags.
However also being offered for sale were many spare parts for the convertors of tractors and implements such as weight blocks, cabs, wheels and body work. New decals for many machines were available thanks to the cottage industry that has spring up to produce and supply parts.
Computerisation and 3D printing are all helping in this area while miniature LED lighting is also adding to the realism of tractors and trucks.
Also on offer were numerous items to add realism to farm and forestry dioramas which are becoming more popular.
Just as railway enthusiasts have added realism to their layouts, farm model collectors are adding realism to miniature farmyards with stone walls, mock silage, big bales, potato boxes and troughs being just some of the products on sale to help achieve realism.
While the traders touted for trade the enthusiasts were just as happy to display and talk about their collections and layouts and how they achieved some of the exceptional scratch building and conversion work.
A whole range of period forage harvesters and balers were joined by a multitude of scratch-built vehicles on layouts that had been weathered. This is another popular aspect which allows modellers to turn out machinery in a muddied form to mirror the real thing. It requires real skill with a paint brush or air spray gun but the effects are quite remarkable.
Another painting skill was to recreate some native breeds of cattle such as Highland and Belted Galloway cattle from the standard more modern breeds available on toy shop shelves.
This event saw people of all ages attend and while the kids stared goggle-eyed the men, and yes many ladies, too, who are actively involved marvelled at the skills and products on show and took more than a passing glance at a more serious element when several items were auctioned to raise money for the Brain Injury Grampian Group. In total more than £2,000 will be donated to the charity.