ERTL's Big Bud 525/84 is the tractor for this week.








For 1980 Big Bud released an industrial orange model built from their 525 main frame platform. Mainly aimed at road construction and mining fields they featured a Cummins six cylinder 1150 cubic inch (19 liter) KTA 1150 C 525 diesel good for 525 hp. A Clark transmission with 8 forward gears and 4 reverses offered speeds between 3 and 22.7 mph. 450 gallons could be topped off and it needed all the diesel it could manage with a hefty wet weight of 72,000 pounds. It was capable of pulling a 32,000 pound scraper. Massive massive Massive!




ERTL produced this model in 1/64 scale in 1987. Earlier in the 80s they had bought out fellow Iowa toy maker Mini Toys. Mini toys had made Heston and Mitisubishi tractors in 1/64 as well as implements. ERTL for a short period continued to make this line in the Mini Toys factory in Guttenberg, Iowa. The Big Bud 525/84 was made at the Mini Toys factory and would be among the last 1/64 tractors made in the USA by ERTL. Some of their semi trucks and International flatbeds/fertilizer trucks would be made in the USA up till the early 1990s. All other small scale models were made in the Asian pacific countries.

This model features a 'working' articulating steering action, rubber tires and semi decent engine detail. It's all metal minus the engine block and cab.




Sources used include:



Encyclopedia of Small-Scale Diecast Motor Vehicle Manufacturers by Kimmo Sahakangas, Dave Weber and Mark Foster. Published by Icongraphix and printed 2006.

The Big Bud Tractor Story by Peter Sampson. Published by P & G Media in 2016.