Post by Jason B on Jan 23, 2016 20:46:26 GMT
ERTL was the first company to start offering a 1/64th Gleaner combine, which began with the R50 Gleaner in the late 1980's. It was offered with a 6 row corn head, 22 foot grain head and had the Green strip decals on the combine, with two wheel drive tires. The R50 Gleaner was offered in 2 different box styles, with one being the Blue Farm Country box, while the other was Green & White and had the combine packaged differently. Interestingly ERTL never did the Orange strip version of the R50 Gleaner, but had plenty of opportunity to had done so if given the chance.
ERTL then took on the R52 Gleaner in 1/64th. Modifying the R50 tooling, they changed the cab to the new series II design and used the same heads from the R50 Gleaner. ERTL did 3 versions of the R52, which all featured the early style R2 series decals. The first version of the R52 in 1/64th was obviously modeled after the 92 Gleaner R52 as it featured the Duetz-Allis name on the back of the engine compartment, plus both the Grain and corn heads had the Duetz Allis name as well. Gleaner celebrated its 70th anniversary in 1993, and ERTL followed suite with a special 70th anniversary Gleaner R52 which was sold in a special enclosed black box. The combine also had a 70th anniversary LOGO on the engine compartment, and it did not have the Duetz Allis name on the back of the combine or on the sides of both heads. The 70th anniversary Gleaner R52 in 1/64th can be hard to find but some still pop up from time to time. An updated 1/64th R52 Gleaner shelf model followed in late 93/ 94 and had no Duetz -Allis name on the heads or the back on the combine as well. With the exception of the 70th anniversary Gleaner R52, the other two versions of the R52 were sold in the Farm Country Blue Box.
ERTL next attempt to keep the AGCO guys happy with a 1/64th Gleaner was the C62 conventional combines. There has been plenty of discussions in the past as to if the C62 was a good choice for a 1/64th Gleaner. The real machine was never that popular as AGCO released it way too late, but in order to keep current with the combines at the time, they went with the C62. I was a little disappointed to learn a few years ago, that an R72 in 1/64th was a consideration.. If only that had gone through.
In any case, the C62 Gleaner was offered with an 8 row corn head, and 22 foot grain head, with black cab interior. The combine also had RWA, and I do like the tires that ERTL picked out to be used on the C62. ERTL offered the C62 Gleaner initially in 1998 for sale in the Farm Country Blue Box. Later production of the C62 Gleaners in 1/64th came in a Silver Box with AGCO on it to be sold through dealers. ERTL recently re-released the C62 Gleaner in 2015 as part of a harvesting set that came with an Orange J&M Cart, and AGCO DT series tractor. I myself passed on the set, and ERTL completely missed the boat with re-releasing the C62, as they could have offered it with a Clear cab interior. ERTL has been known for re-releasing certain past released 64th combines, such as the JD Maximizer and New Holland TR combines with clear cab interiors. They could have done it with the Gleaner C62 re-release.
Then came several year Hiatus of no 1/64th Gleaner combines, and until 2010 the future looked bleak for no new 64th Gleaners from ERTL. Then Helle Farm Equipment based out of Dyersville Iowa, got in touch with ERTL and paid to have the A86 Gleaner and the Massey Ferguson 9895 combine made in 1/64th. The A86 Gleaner was in reality just the MF combine repainted Silver, but it was AGCO's attempt to sell the Axle Rotary to the Silver guys. Anyway, the 1/64th Gleaner A86 was very nice as it featured high detail such as a cab interior finally, handrails and mirrors, plus the combine had bigger heads with a 12 row corn head, and 30 Foot Flex head. It was a great addition to the collection and a real upgrade from the older less detailed 64th Gleaners.
HELLE Farm Equipment also had 12 Gold plated 1/64th Gleaner A86's and 12 MF 9895 Gold sets made for the employees of the business. Any of the Gold sets that do come up for sale, are well out of price range for the majority of collectors including myself.
In 2014, ERTL released the A76 Gleaner in 1/64th using the A86 tooling. The 1/64th A76 Gleaner had the same heads from the A86 Gleaner, and other then a decal change, the A76 had different style front dual tires.
Binkley & Hurst also celebrated their 75th anniversary in recent years and had two special 1/64th Gleaner A76 combines made up. One was a Black Gun metal version of the A76 limited to 500 pieces produced, while the other 1/64th Gleaner A76 combine had a special "Dusty" paint scheme that made it look like it came out of the soybean field. Both can be obtained for a reasonable price compared to the Gold units.
Binkley & Hurst also had 12 GOLD 1/64th Gleaner A76 combines made up, but like most GOLD items are way out of price range for a lot of collectors including myself. Not sure why everyone is hung up on GOLD pieces.
These are the 1/64th ERTL Gleaners that have been made. In the next thread Il talk about Spec Cast's contributions to the 1/64th Gleaner collector.
