Review: John Deere 7930

Ertl / Britains John Deere 7930 Tractor 1/32nd scale

For reference, the real thing, in general and specific.

I picked this up to add to my half of the collection of John Deere tractor toys I inherited from my dad. While thinking about it - after running down cellar to verify I didn't get a repeat customer - I thought how Rich at the JD shop acknowledged what I said: "Yep, you got to keep adding to it!" and, while it might be better for them if I was procuring a new one on every visit, that's not the ideal way to do it. From now on, I will pick one up at the end of May every year, to celebrate my dad's birthday.

The 7930 is very much a modern tractor - it is easily the most modern addition to a collection that ranges back before rubber tires were invented. Considering that the original was given a 2007 model year (even though the scale model came out in 2006), there's really not much that can be newer than that.

Funny enough, on the way home from work the other day, I saw a couple of these - or its close siblings - working some of the fields along Rt. 248. They're pretty impressive in person, even when seen at a distance.

As far as a toy goes, I'm quite sure this works well. I haven't quite decided if I want it to come out of its box just yet. It will probably wait around until I get an area set up to display the older ones from my dad's collection. At least one in that collection is still boxed - the reproduction of the earliest tractor - although some of the rest were well played with before I was born. Nothing a little green paint won't fix! =)

One of the things I did realize when checking up on the collection, I had misjudged the scale. There are essentially three scales used: 1/16th, 1/32nd, and 1/64th. I bought Mr. B a couple of the 1/64th scale tractors to play with, and decided on 1/32nd as I thought that's what my dad's collection was in. With the exception of a small boxed set of 1/64th tractors and accessories (too small to pass on to Mr. B for a couple of years), all of the existing collection is 1/16th scale. Since I've already jumped scale to 1/32nd, I think I'll stay there - big enough to have lots of details, small enough that I don't have to take out a loan to buy them! =) The modern tractors are larger than their predecessors - even the 1/16th skid steer looks bigger than the 1/16th early tractors! - so I'd need a lot more space to display a 1/16th scale collection.