Friday 26 April 2013

Eastern Counties Vintage Tractor & Heritage Spectacular 2013

Now in it's second year the Eastern Counties Vintage Tractor & Heritage Spectacular is certainly living up to it's name. I enjoyed myself so much last year that there was no question as to whether or not I was going to make the 500 odd mile round trip again. My main reason for liking this event so much is the sheer concentration of veteran (pre 1930s) tractors on display, I haven't seen this sort of display any where else in the country and this year certainly didn't disappoint.

Twin City 40

(ink & watercolour)

Last year I had a few conversations with people about this monster tractor and I was extremely happy to see it in attendance this year. The Twin City 40 is powered by a 27 litre straight 6 engine making each pot over 6 litres!

1960  Mk3 Vickers Vigor

(ink & watercolour)

Vickers started making crawlers after the war using the tank running gear they used for their tanks. The Vigor was intended as a cheaper alternative to the expensive Caterpillars from the states. This example is the later Mk3 model which was the most refined but unfortunately Vickers couldn't compete with the likes of the well established Caterpillar.

1922 Holt t35

(ink)

This early crawler by Holt bears the Caterpillar branding which Holt patented before they merged with Best to become Caterpillar

John Deere Model BN Rowcrop

(ink & watercolour)

Here is the Twin City 40 alongside a more average size machine

Front View of the Vigor, it certainly has a great face.

Closeup of the Model B twin pot engine.

Here's the main lineup of John Deere Tractors

This years theme was Crawler Tractors, with a whole shed full of crawlers there certainly was a huge turnout of these unique machines:


Allis Chalmers Crawler

 International Harvester Crawler

1930 Caterpillar Ten
Owned by the West family who also own the Holt I sketched.

A new section of vintage cars was added this year. There was a great turnout of early fords and other machinery.


Two Model T Pickups

 1927 Model T Coupe

1897 Leon Bollie


Here are some more highlights of the event

1951 Lanz Bulldog D8156

 1943 - 1944 Fordson with Rotary Hoes Drainer

Two Fordson Rowcrops I sketched the Orange one last year and ran out of time to sketch the 1936 N Water Washer on the left...
 
Here it is leaving the shed.

1941 Minneapolis Moline GT

Allis Chalmers line up

 Fordson atop a Bedford


Next sketching outing is this coming weekend at Stafford Bike Show with Vintage and Veteran, more info here:


www.classicbikeshows.com





Wednesday 10 April 2013

Classic Bike Guide Illustrations

Mortons magazine Classic Bike Guide has just received a revamp with a new look and roster of writers. To jazz the inside up I was commissioned to produce 6 portraits to be used as headers for each writers column. I had great fun producing these and it has given me inspiration for some of my upcoming painting work. Here are the full illustrations:

Gary Pinchin
(ink & watercolour)
(ink & watercolour)
(ink & watercolour)
George Cohen
(ink & watercolour) 
Frank Westworth
(ink & watercolour)
(ink & watercolour)

For more information on Classic Bike Guide please go to their website: 

www.classicbikeguide.com









Wheels Day 2013

Well at least one event kept up their spirits for the Easter weekend, wheels day turned out to be a great day with tons of cars, bikes, vans and trucks turning up to enjoy Good Friday at Rushmore Arena near Aldershot. 

If you haven't been before I'd highly recommend it as a perfect first run out of the year as there is always guaranteed to be loads of machines to see and it's always on Good Friday so it's easy to remember. I of course went with sketchbook in hand and had a ball sketching the wide variety on display.

1935 Ford Pickup
(ink sketch)

Lambretta TV 175
(ink sketch)

1966 Morris London Ambulance
(ink sketch)

1933 Ford Coupe
(ink sketch)

Here are the ones that got away....


Cars

 
 





 Vans & Trucks
 
 

 Bikes