Upcoming Events

I hope to see some of you at the upcoming National Farm Toy Show, Nov 4-6 in Dyersville. We will have our display room setup and ready for visitors starting at noon on Friday. Please stop by and see our new product and say "Hi!".
We are also doing the finishing touches on the 2012 John Deere catalog. It should be posted on our website around November 11th.
Most of you may of heard that we are now part of Tomy International. You won't see much change in the Ertl product line because of this change, although you will notice the Tomy name starting to show up on our packaging.
That's it for now.
Bill

Summer Farm Toy Show

It's finally June, the weather is warming up, and I finally have to mow my grass every week. That must mean it's time for the Summer Farm Toy Show.

I've been releasing images of some of our new items out on the toytractortimes website. There is one item I've been saving for my blog.

Ertl is happy to announce a special collector edition of a 1/16th IH 1466 with front wheel assist to help commemorate the 40th Anniv. of the "66" series tractors. We've tooled a new FWA front axle to make this a unique model. I've attached some pictures of this new unit.

If you are close to Dyersville, come by our showroom and say HI!

Bill

New 1/32nd JD 8850 4WD

I wanted to post a few photos of the new 1/32nd John Deere 8550 4WD we are producing for the Plow City Show this year. This is all new tooling. We still have some work to do, but I think you can see the detail we've included on this model.

Powered by a 955 cubic inch V-8 engine, the 8850 was John Deere's first tractor with 300 horsepower. The 8850 was produced from 1982 to 1989. The new 8960 tractor that replaced the 8850 went back to a 14L in-line, six-cylinder engine that was turbocharged and aftercooled.

This V-8 engine made the 8850 unique in the John Deere line, and to the other models in the "50" series. (Models 8450 & 8650).

Until next time.......

New Steiger Pedal Tractors

We just arrived back from the Case IH and New Holland Trade Fairs in Nashville. It was great talking to the dealers about our new toys and collectibles coming out in 2011. Two items that caught the attention of many Case IH dealers were our new 4WD pedal tractors.

First is the new Case IH Steiger 600 pedal tractor. This replicates the new 600HP Steiger tractor that Case just introduced last Fall. This tractor was featured in our 2011 Case IH catalog and should start shipping later this month.

Second is a new vintage Steiger PTA297 pedal tractor. I believe this is the first mass produced Steiger pedal tractor ever built. If you love the vintage green Steigers, then this is one item you need to look at. This item is scheduled to ship later this Summer.

New 1/64th Case IH Authentics Tractor

I'm happy to announce that our next Case IH Authentic will be the new Case IH 450 Steiger tractor. The new Steiger tractors from Case IH have two different frame sizes. The large frame units consist of the 500, 550 and 600 models. The "smaller" of the two frames include the 350, 400 and 450 models.

We're already shipping several versions of the larger frame models. The 600 Quadtrac with the air seeder, a dual wheeled 500 model, and also a 600 Wheeled as a special "Spring" show tractor.

We hope you enjoy the 450 model, with the added detail you've come to expect from our Authentics line.

Bill

Welcome to the new Ertl Website

It's been almost 4 months since my last update. As you can see, we've been working on a new website layout for our Ertl website. Hopefully you like our new look. We'll be able to highlight some of our new items, and give you a little more information about them. Now that the website is up and running, look for more frequent updates and blogs from me.

I did want to let everyone know that our 2011 John Deere catalog will be released on Nov. 19. The only place you will be able to find it is right here on our Ertl website.

Thanks for your interest in Ertl. Come back often and check out our new items.

Bill

New Pedal Tractors

We were able to introduce several new pedal tractors at the Summer Farm Toy Show. First is the Case IH Magnum 180 Stars and Stripes model. I love the graphics on this model!! I don't recall ever seeing a pedal tractor that has such a unique look. I'm seriously thinking of buying one for myself!!

Next is the JD 7020 4WD pedal tractor. This is another first for Ertl to have an articulating pedal tractor. This is a design that is patent pending and finally allows us to replicate 4WD tractors. This pedals on this unit actually drive the two front wheels vs. the rear tires on our other models. Yes, the unit is actually steered from the steering wheel. Once you see this in action I'm sure you'll agree that this is truly innovative.

Last but not least, we're also introduced a Farmall 1466 pedal tractor. Note the great looking graphics and paint scheme on this model.

If you are into pedal tractors, you should definitely be thinking about Ertl.