Issued 1950-1960    Length 40mm    'OO/HO'scale (1:76)

 

Britains made their first large-scale Fordson Tractor in 1948 (No.128F) and the Lilliput model, which followed in 1950, was a scaled down version of it.

​

Cast in one piece except for the wheels, driver and wire steering wheel and rear hook, the Tractor was a fine representation of the real vehicle for such a small scale. The model was always painted in the Fordson colour of dark-blue.

 

There were two types of wheels on the Tractor, unpainted metal at the rear and grey plastic at the front. Both had orange painted centres and on the rear ones 'Britains Ltd England' was included in the casting of the 'tyre'. The axles fitted directly onto the main casting.

​

The little driver (who appeared not to be steering the Tractor!) was painted with brown trousers, white shirt and a coloured waistcoat in either yellow, red or green.

​

LV/604 was the first Lilliput model to have a box with colour illustrations. Details of the manufacturer, W.Horton (Toys & Games) Ltd., and the Britains trade mark were on the sides of the box, and model details printed on the end-flaps where the number was displayed.

​

Later in 1956 when Britains upgraded the Lilliput Vehicle Series, the Tractor had an open fronted box with a pictorial internal packing piece to which the model was secured. The driver was also included but how he was secured is hard to know.

​

Being one of the few 'OO/HO' scale tractor models, the Fordson was popular with a long production life and examples in the end-flap boxes are not hard to find. It was also included in LV/SA Vehicle Set and the L/7 Farm Display Set but the open fronted boxes are rare.