Model: Siku Lanz Bulldog
Line: Siku mainline (no.0836)
Ebay link: Siku Lanz Bulldog
We’re straying off the road and into the fields with today’s Lamley Daily, quite literally as well. Is this the first time a tractor has been featured on the hallowed pages of Lamley? I’m not sure. But I think this is a pretty nifty little thing and definitely deserves it’s place here. Say hello to the Siku Lanz Bulldog.
I recently picked this up (for €5) in a small toy shop in Rhodes, Greece at the same time I purchased the Siku KTM X-Bow I featured last month. I’m a sucker for vintage vehicles of any sort, and the Bulldog caught my eye enough for me to release it off the pegs.
The Lanz Bulldog was produced in various forms between 1921 and 1960, and was one of the most popular tractors in Germany with over 220,000 produced. The Bulldog name became so associated with tractors in general that it’s still widely used as a synonym to this day.
The Bulldog used a relatively crude single cylinder, 2 stroke hot bulb engine which meant it could run on pretty much anything, even low grade and waste fuels.
Siku do a good service to scale farm vehicles, and this is in my opinion one of their better tractors from the basic range. The overall appearance is spot on, and it’s about as detailed as it needs to be, especially when the models are primarily aimed at children. There’s a removable canopy and the wheels are spot on. I love the paint quality too, this can really make and break a model and I’m happy to report no troubles here.
Despite this there are some slight issues, namely the plastic construction that is utilised on the exhaust, lights and intake as well as the removable canopy. It’s rather soft, which means that these items are prone to bending. Packaged with the canopy fitted, the part clearly cannot fit in the blister pack correctly, meaning it gets crushed causing the legs to bend. It took a few minutes of gentle persuasion to get it to finally sit straight.
Regardless, I’m still happy I picked it up. And I’m keen to get hold of Schuco’s version of the Bulldog for a comparison. As it is, I’m happy to have shared a more niche side of diecast collecting, and countryside and green fields of Northern England give it a fitting backdrop. Dare I say it actually looks quite pretty for a working vehicle?! I’ll let you make your minds up, but needless to say for fans of the agricultural and all things mechanical, this is a must have purchase.
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