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Kent Vintage diggers

newjcb123uk

Active Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
28
Location
Northern Ireland
Look what I bought off kent vintage diggers - 1:25th scale model - fantastic quality and detail:notworthy
 

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newjcb123uk

Active Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
28
Location
Northern Ireland
Kent vintage digger models - WOW!

Look what i just bought from Kent vintage diggers 1:25th scale diecast JCB 3C- The quality, weight and craftsmanship is amazing.:notworthy
 

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Phil

Senior Member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
1,067
Location
Southeastern Ontario
Occupation
retired operator and mechanic
I saw one of those early JCB's . A fellow was shipping it to Poland or some country near there. He took the steering cylinder off it so it could be shipped as parts only. Getting into the cab was like getting into an airplane cockpit, you had to climb down in. It had to be one of the ugliest backhoes I have ever seen. I think the sideshift had small hydraulic cylinders that locked it in place. Phil:)
 

newjcb123uk

Active Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2007
Messages
28
Location
Northern Ireland
JCB design

Thats a crafty idea taking the steering cylinder off to ship as parts only. True you did have to climb into the cab as apposed to walk in and it was basic once you were in there. The rear window was a pain to open as it fixed on a single rail right above your head. It then ossilated to be mounted on the side window - most drivers just kept the back window out. The front bucket was very hard to see and the machine weighed more than the queen Mary (always getting stuck)

A lot of people either love or hate the design of these 1970s JCBs. Is it the bright colours I wonder? Still Joe Bamford sold enough of them (16th richest family in Britain - nice earner:) )
 

egnsean

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
11
Location
uk
Used to drive 3Cs and 3Ds in the 1980s they were a pain always getting stuck.
on the road the steering was rubbish they wondered all over the place and the brakes needed standing on for them to work at all, also even though they
were heavy you could'nt get enough grip to fill the front bucket but apart from that they were great :notworthy
 

modelmaker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
51
Location
kent. england
Occupation
Director
jcb

True they were brutes but they was the only decent digger you could get until Case introduced the 580F to the UK, then JCB sat up and took notice and brought out the 3CX, here is a pic of the last of the beasties.. the 3C mk3 powertrain, forerunner of the 3CX, i remember using the 580F for the first time .. and it was like stepping forward into the future, compact, 4 wheel drive, a decent extradig, plenty power, i was so impressed i gave up my day job and worked for Case UK as a demostrator ...

Seasons greetings people. Martyn :drinkup
 

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egnsean

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
11
Location
uk
Jcb 3c

true the 3CX was a vast improvement lighter/good steering/better visability/
i think they really improved with introduction of the 4x4 turbo sitemaster now
that could push like a small dozer decent cab to, i agree the 3C/3D was the
best at that time but you were ready to get off at the end of a shift

Seasons greetings to all:drinkup
 

modelmaker

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
51
Location
kent. england
Occupation
Director
There was one machine that could push even better than 4x4 turbo and that was the MF 50HX, but it had a tiny front bucket and a very fragile backhoe, but a great cab.
It was hard work in the old mk2's and when you did a shift you knew you worked hard, even harder before they brought out the hydra slide to shift kingpost over, i had a year on a 2Dmk2, that was not bad machine, not so heavy as the others and more compact, still hard work though when loading lorries up with front bucket with manual gear change.Them were the days though.

Martyn
 

yeyo88

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2019
Messages
5
Location
italia
jcb

True they were brutes but they was the only decent digger you could get until Case introduced the 580F to the UK, then JCB sat up and took notice and brought out the 3CX, here is a pic of the last of the beasties.. the 3C mk3 powertrain, forerunner of the 3CX, i remember using the 580F for the first time .. and it was like stepping forward into the future, compact, 4 wheel drive, a decent extradig, plenty power, i was so impressed i gave up my day job and worked for Case UK as a demostrator ...

Seasons greetings people. Martyn :drinkup
guys can give me a kent contact I tried to send lots of emails but I never received any reply can you help me?
 

Nige

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
29,375
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
guys can give me a kent contact I tried to send lots of emails but I never received any reply can you help me?
I am in UK. I tried calling the phone numbers on the Kent Vintage Models web site. Both of them no longer exist so it would appear that either the company has gone out of business or maybe even that the owner has passed away. From the web site it appears to have been a "one man band" operation.
 

yeyo88

Member
Joined
Aug 17, 2019
Messages
5
Location
italia
I am in UK. I tried calling the phone numbers on the Kent Vintage Models web site. Both of them no longer exist so it would appear that either the company has gone out of business or maybe even that the owner has passed away. From the web site it appears to have been a "one man band" operation.
pity I really wanted to buy his models, do you know any producers like him? thanks anyway for your help
 
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