Greetings from Dyersville!

November weather is really unpredictable. We’ve went from 70 degrees to 24 degrees almost overnight. Most of the crops are out now. At least in my area the yields were pretty good. Now we need the commodity prices to stay high, and some of the input costs to go down. I guess we can always hope!! Now that the leaves are gone I put out a suet feeder. It didn’t take long for the woodpeckers to find it. I also cut off the heads of the sunflowers we planted this year and put them on a table by our fire pit. I’m hopeful the birds find those as well. I’m sure it won’t take long for the squirrels to find them!!

It was great seeing so many of you at the National Farm Toy Show. The attendance was amazing! I don’t think I’ve seen Dyersville this busy for a long time. Thank you to everyone who came to our outlet store and into our showroom. It was great talking to everyone and showing off our latest offerings. If you watched my Facebook live video you got a sneak peek of our showroom and the many new items we introduced. There were a few items that definitely caught the eye of the collectors.

The first was our new 1:16^th IH 1460 Prestige Select Combine. (Stock # 44291OTP) This will feature an all die cast body, feeder housing and rear axle. It also will include a 810 grain head with diecast grain platform and a 6 row 863 corn head with a die cast frame and rotating auger. This unit is very nicely detailed including the railings on the ladder and the rear engine deck. The steps on the back pivot down and up. The real IH 1460 was introduced in 1977 along with the 1440 as the first two Axial Flow combines. The 1480 and 1420 came along later to round out the line. 45 years later we’re really excited to launch this special one-time offering of this item. Case IH dealers should be able to start ordering this item in early 2023. If we get enough orders to proceed you should see this item available in early 2024.

We’ve also recently announced a newly tooled 1:32^nd IH 1486 tractor. (Stock # 44287) This tractor features the later “Tri-Stripe” graphics, single rear tires and front weights. It will attach to most of our 1:32^nd implements and should be available at Case IH dealerships in December 2022.

Since my last blog we’ve also introduced our new 2023 John Deere catalog. One of the surprises in the catalog is a one-time production of a 1:16^th John Deere 7520 Precision tractor. (Stock # 45893OTP) The 7520 tractor was introduced in 1972, so we felt it was important to celebrate this historic anniversary. Because of the anniversary we are also including 50 randomly inserted gold chrome units into the production run. This tractor is not part of our new Precision Heritage series. This special unit will be out in April/May of 2023. Check with your local John Deere dealership to get one on order.

Another special unit we announced at the show was the 2023 Two Cylinder Club tractor. Our model replicates a row crop John Deere 5020 with factory Crenlo cab. (Stock # 45848OTP) The John Deere 5020 was introduced in 1965 as part of the “Powertrain 66” introductions. In 1966 they introduced a “row crop” version of the 5020, making it the largest row crop tractor in John Deere’s lineup at 133 PTO horsepower. Our model features an opening split cab door, row crop front axle and rear 3-point hitch. You can order this tractor now through the Two Cylinder Club or later in the year through your local John Deere dealership. It should be available this summer.

Additional new releases in 1:16^th scale include a newly tooled Prestige 7R 330 tractor that features an opening hood and cab door. (Stock # 45781) This Waterloo built tractor has all the detail you expect in our modern 1:16^th models. If you’re interested in vintage tractors we have several new ones including a 1:16^th 4430 tractor with rear duals and wide front axle. (Stock # 45832) It also has a detailed engine block, front weights and rear 3-point hitch.

Switching over to 1:64^th scale I have a couple of items I want to discuss. First is a Prestige vintage 8760 tractor. (Stock # 45869) This tractor is the smaller brother to the 8960, but still boasts 300 engine horsepower. Our replica has lots of detail with railings, duals and a detailed interior. We’ve done something special with this model including randomly inserted “muddy” chase units into the production run. This unit will be at your John Deere dealerships in February of 2023. I’m also excited to talk about our new 1:64^th Hagie SP sprayers that are coming out next year. 2023 marks the 75^th anniversary of Hagie, and we have a special unit of their new STS12 sprayer coming out to celebrate. Stock # 45840OTP is a one-time production run featuring a chrome plated tank and wheel covers highlighting the 75^th anniversary logo. We’ve also included a hinged ladder and railings as well as boom arms that raise and lower. This special unit will arrive at your John Deere dealership in February 2023. In addition to the 75^th anniversary model we also have a “Prestige” model STS 12 model coming out in March 2023.

If you’re an Allis Chalmers fan, we also introduced a new 1:16^th Allis Chalmers D-19 tractor with disk that will coming later in 2023. (Stock # 16441) If you really want a D-19 right now, we’ve just starting shipping our 1:64^th AC D-19 with Ford pickup and 5^th wheel trailer. (Stock # 16443) You can order this direct through our “Ertl Collector Club” on our TOMY website or through our TOMY outlet store at (563) 875-5613. We have several Allis Chalmers available to order including our new 1:16^th AC D-17 and our 1:64^th pink AC 7060 tractor.

We have some additional surprises planned. Stay tuned for my next blog, and keep checking our social media on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok. You can also see all of our catalogs and flyers on our website, as well as my unboxing videos.

Until next time,

Bill