Mini Toys Balzer box and liquid manure spreaders

In past KPC's we have looked back at the early 1/64 tractors going back to the 1970's.  1973 was the first year that modern 1/64 tractors like the John Deere Sound-Gard, International 1466 and Massey-Ferguson 1155 all appeared in the Ertl catalog.  In 1978 the Case Agri-King, Allis-Chalmers 7045, International 1086, Ford 9700 and John Deere "4440" joined the 1/64.   By the end of the 1970's each of the major tractor brands were represented in 1/64.  With all of the tractors on the market, there were no implements.

Mini-Toys changed the 1/64 implement out look in the 1980's.   Toy Farmer Magazine launched the 1/64 implement line with an anhydrous ammonia wagon.  From this anhydrous tank wagon a line of implements grew to include a tri-axle implement trailer, tandem axle grain cart, auger, pull type 30ft boom sprayer,  fertilizer spreader, box and liquid manure spreaders. The plastic implements were sold in red, orange, green and blue.

The manure spreaders offered the most choices in the Mini-Toys line.  Mini-Toys produced a generic box and liquid spreader.  In 1984 the toy line started to offer licensed brand names on the spreaders.   Names like Badger, Balzer, Honey Wagon, Clay, Husky, Calumet and others were decaled on the spreaders.   These spreaders offered the first brand name options in 1/64 implements.

The Ertl Replica Issue #18 December/January 1985 and #19 February/March 1986 announced Ertl's acquisition of Mini Toys Inc. of Guttenberg, Iowa in the early part of 1985. Ertl's 1/64 implement line was greatly enhanced with the addition of Mini Toys. For the first year under Ertl's ownership Mini Toys products remained unchanged. Ertl gained a Dry Fertilizer Spreader, Manure spreader, Machine Trailer, Liquid Manure Spreader, Grain Cart, Grain Auger, and Hay Wagon. Ertl also added several licensed brand names from the Mini Toy purchase. Hesston and Mitsubishi tractors were added along side the 1/64 John Deere, Case International, Ford and Deutz-Allis tractors. In issue #21 June/July 1986 The Replica announced that all Mini Toys would be manufactured under the Ertl name and that all blister cards would carry the Ertl logo in place of the Mini Toys. All implements except the auger and the machine trailer were produced with die-cast chassis and plastic tires after the name change.

During 1984 Ertl introduced its own manure spreader.  John Deere's tandem axle manure spreader was Ertl's first spreader.   The Hydra-push offered real life action with a moveable manure guard. After the Ertl take over of Mini-Toys in 1985 the manure spreader options continued to grow.  Ertl offered the  Mini-Toy spreaders to John Deere, Case-International, Deutz-Allis and Ford dealers.  By 1989 Ertl phased out the plastic Mini-Toys in favor of die-cast toys.  The only manure spreader that remained in the Ertl line was the John Deere Hydra-Push.  The John Deere spreader is still offered by Ertl in 2004 and is one of the longest running 1/64 implements. 

     Left:  Mini Toys Badger box spreader Right: Ertl 1/64 Katsen box manure spreader

Liquid Spreaders:  1983 Mini-Toys orange liquid spreader, 1984 Calumet decaled Mini-Toys Spreader, 1986 Ertl John Deere liquid spreader

1/64 manure spreaders fell of the map during the early 1990's.  In 1996 Ertl re-entered spreader market with the New Holland 308 V-spreader.   This big spreader was the first New Holland spreader in 1/64 and offered a free turning beater inside.  During the 1990's New Holland manufactured its 308 V-Spreader for John Deere.  The John Deere version was sold as model 876.  Ertl in turn offered a 1/64 John Deere 876 V-spreader.

In 1997 Ertl offered the second 1/64 New Holland manure spreader.  The New Holland 145 spreader offers an economy size box with manure guard.  Ertl re-issued the 145 casting in 2003 as a CaseIH spreader.  An orange AGCO version was also released in a farm set in 2003.

Ertl box spreaders:  1984 John Deere Hydra-Push spreader, 1997 New Holland box spreader, 2003 CaseIH box spreader

Ertl C&J System Liquid Spreaders with injector:  John Deere green single axle, CaseIH red tandem axle, Caterpillar yellow on CAT VFS tracks

New Holland 308 V-Spreader

Liquid manure spreaders are a big part of modern dairy farming.  1/64 collectors had been asking for a modern liquid spreader for many years and in 1998 Ertl introduced the C&J liquid spreader with a three shank injector.   The C&J name in a generic brand that was created to decal Ertl's interchangeable implement system.  The C&J system allowed for a three in one implement.   C&J implements included a liquid manure spreader, sprayer, fertilzer and grain cart.  The C&J system was offered with a single or tandem axle frame in John Deere green, CaseIH red and New Holland blue.  The C&J implements were first offered on individual blister cards and then boxed sets.  

In 1999 the C&J liquid spreader was offered on the Caterpillar VFS tracked cart.  The VFS cart was produced for a short time by Ertl.  In late 1999 Caterpillar switched its 1/64 toy line to Norscott.   Norscott continued to produce the liquid spreader with out the C&J decal.  Norscott also introduced a KnightCommercial ProTwin Slinger Manure Spreader on the CAT VFS tracks.  Knight's commercial sized spreaders are painted gray.  Norscott followed the tracked Knight spreader with a detailed 8018 ProTwin Slinger Manure Spreader.  The 8018 was detailed with a life like walking tandem axle, two moving augers inside the V-speader tank and a moveable hitch jack stand.

Ertl John Deere 876 V-Spreader and Norscott 8018 ProTwin  Slinger Spreader

Over the past twenty years a wide variety of manure  spreaders have been produced in 1/64 scale.   Mini-Toys produced a number of variations.  For example there are many color and decal variations.   Also the Mini-Toys liquid spreaders have a tooling variation with early models having vacuum piping.  In a future issue of TTT hopefully Dan Adamson can give us the full Mini-Toy story.  Ertl has had several 1/64 spreader variations, as well.  This article has reviewed the general history of the manure spreader and provided a check list of the types of spreaders that have been produced.  All of the spreaders are fairly easy to obtain.  New in the box Mini-Toys spreaders with generic colors bring around $8.00 and the brand name models bring $13.00.   The Ertl spreaders are still all in production and bring $2.99 on a blister card.   Norscott's tracked Knight spreader is out of production and will bring $5.99 or less.  The detailed 8018 Pro-Slinger is still available at Kuhn-Kinght dealers for $11.99.

Norscott Kinight Commercial ProTwin  Slinger Spreader on CAT VSF cart

We have Mini-Toys in stock.