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Just realised that I haven't updated this project in a while. With Tractorworld only a week away, heres where it stands at present. Just a bit of touching up todo with a few minor adjustments.

Bit of an update. Top given a coat of red oxide, one of primer and one of IH red agricultural enamel. All hand painted. When all is assembled, it will be given a spray job. Collected all the bits from being blasted and primed.

Not many photo's of work on the hood. A slightly larger than required alloy sheet was cut and a shallow fold made on the center line. A board with a curved edge was clamped over the sheet, after carefully guesstimating where the side fold should start. Hope that makes sense. The sheet was then bent around the board forming one side of the hood. This was repeated for the other side resulting in a shape which was not far off the required result. What luck. A little tweaking with a rubber mallet and a length of round bar persuaded the front and rear of the curved folds to line up with the headlamp surround and dash. A lot of time was then spent trimming the oversize edges to get the best fit I could manage, followed by clamping to the headlamp surround and drilling for the pivot bolts.

Homelite tools from the 60's. These were all based using the same 2 stroke engine from the XL-12 chainsaw. XL-12 Chainsaw, XL-100 Circular saw, XL-A115 Generator, Drill Attachment, XL-SG1 Water pump, XLMB Military Blower. ( I have the XLBC Brush Cutter, but can't find the pics) Still searching for the earth auger, the Harvester, a better example of the water pump and any other applications

The next stage in Mole evolution Chris,they dig the tunnels, carry away the spoil, and hide it. They just haven't learned yet to put a cover over the entrance so you can't see where they've been!

Kubota Z series is twin i.e. Z482 - Z602. Triples - D722 and so on.

Come out with your hands up !!!

What a bargain , nice looking tractor & in good shape , do you think it would have made that much on EBay?

I just started collecting the old Homelites a few months ago. Do you have anything for sale? I just picked up another blue Super XL Auto and a Super XL-12. I didn't even know they made a Super XL-12

Yep, Kubota A750 three cylinder engine, I think the twin cylinder is a D750

Applied green machines used a twin cylinder version, Nigel's is a triple

From memory in 99% sure the same engine is used in the applied 414 pedestrian sweepers (Green machine), which can often be picked up for no money at ex council sales. May be easier to get a head from one of those?

Glad it made that sort of money also glad I didn't see it.

I missed this today, anyone know how much it went for? Just found out... £1700

The footrests were another item I had a few attempts at before finishing up with something that looked right in comparison with the rest of the build. One pair looked too long and narrow, another try ended up with the fold overs not being deep enough. Fairly quick to mark out and make so not too much hair pulled out. Again, made from the scrap 1mm alloy panels. The first attempts found a use elsewhere after being cut up. How to make the fenders. ? Simply bending up on the brake press wasn't thought viable due to the curves at each end, although I now think it could have been done with a bit of NON press work included. Also the corners would need alloy welding etc. Another possibility was making a plug and moulding in fiber glass. I decided to make these using built up layers of plasticard sheet reinforced with alloy. I already had a good stock of this plasticard. This resulted in very strong fenders. The plastic, welded together with liquid polystyrene cement, was thick enough to sand the curves on ends and sides. The alloy inserts were a very tight fit after making a few short trial sections to get the bends in the correct place. Also bolted at the corners although they wouldn't come out easily. The top of each footrest slides into the slot at the front of the fenders and will be bolted in place when finished.

Gave the underneath a couple of coats of agricultural enamel a few days ago. Yes! I know it's black. Using up a tin of it. Yesterday got this cleaned and red oxided. This morning got the shell top cleaned. All the other bits are at a friends being blasted.

They don't make quality anything any more because there's not enough money in it. It's easier and more profitable to build things cheap and sell as many as they can, then sell you another one every time the cheapo POS breaks down. I'm not sure how many variations were made with these engines and no one really seems to know. I saw an ad for the XL-HAV Harvester a while back before I was really collecting them and wish I bought it. The harvester used a long remote handle for engine control with a long belt connected. Used to shake nut trees, I believe. Since that application is so specialized, there could be almost anything out there. There are also a few military generator applications and I stumbled across this blower which I had no idea existed until I saw it so I'm sure there are others as well. The hunt is half the fun of collecting!