Issued 1963-66    Length 163mm    OO/HO scale (1:76)

During the 1960's many miles of Motorway were constructed in Britain and heavy construction vehicles were a frequent sight. Budgie picked up on this road building era with the second of their Euclid models, the 21 Yard Scraper. The real vehicle was very large and so even in OO/HO scale the model of it made a substantial toy.

The Euclid Yard Scraper was basically made in two parts, the front being the cab and engine unit and behind that, connected by a simple 'pole and socket' coupling, was the large scraper which had well designed working parts. As a result, the toy really did scrape and level sand or dry earth just as the real vehicle did.

The front engine unit was all one large casting. It had no base and the axle for the black plastic wheels slotted directly through the casting. On the front, silver trim was applied to the grille and the headlights whilst on the top, in front of the driver's seat in a special slot, there was a clear plastic window inserted. 

To make the Euclid Yard Scraper operational, a few moving parts were needed but the main construction of the rear section was neatly solved by being cast in two horizontal halves slotted together at the front and clamped tight with a small rear rivet. This system enabled the back axle and black plastic wheels to be held in place and it also provided sockets for the free-moving front towing unit to be anchored at each side. Finally, a manually controlled front access hatch was fitted which could be set in the open position when loading the Scraper and lowered to retain the load when being transported.

The Euclid Yard Scraper first appeared in bright yellow livery with the 'Euclid' name and logo decals on each side near the coupling. Underneath the scraper was cast 'A Budgie Model No.282 Euclid Scraper' and 'Made in England'. 

Towards the end of its life, Budgie changed the colour to lime-green but all other aspects of the model remained the same.

As with most of the 1963 issues, the Scraper appeared in the standard 'Budgie Models' box (B2) with descriptive panel on the reverse face. The lime-green variation was also issued in blue & white open-sided window packs (C2).

Being a model with good play value, finding a mint Euclid Yard Scraper is not easy  and often the little windscreen is missing. Also, friction wear between moving parts is not uncommon. The lime-green variation is the more scarce of the two colours..