A model tractor enthusiast from Co Down is getting up to 800,000 hits online a month from as far as Russia and Japan for his “farming” photographs that are so convincing, it can be hard to tell whether they are the real deal or not.

Harry Bell, who lives in Newtownards, Co Down, is a graphic designer by profession, but has always had a passion for machinery and model collecting.

“I first learned to drive on a grey Fergie 35 with a copper belly and I used to collect all the models of the day,” he explains. “I’m 63, so I go way back to Corgis and Dinkies. I have about 700 tractors and combines, that I customise myself; at one stage, I had about 1,000, but I narrowed it down.

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“Massey Ferguson would be my favourite, but I have every brand from John Deere, New Holland, Case, Deutz, everything, and I try to buy the implements that are used in farming around Northern Ireland.

“But rather than just keep them in a cabinet, I decided to introduce one of my other hobbies, photography, and make them look realistic.”

Harry’s website features a large collection of photographs showing the model tractors in farming settings, which he regularly updates depending on the season, be it ploughing, silage cutting or his favourite, harvesting, without any use of artificial light or Photoshop except to size shots. Working with model machinery requires exceptional attention to detail: he painstakingly “weathers” the models with soil, dust and mud, and often goes to great measures for the most realistic results.

“For example, some people use sawdust for grain in a trailer, but it doesn’t sit right, so I sieve fine sand from Portrush strand,” he says. “Or for potato harvesters, some people use rice krispies for the potatoes, but if you imagine a rice krispie is about a quarter of an inch wide, when you scale that up, it will be the size of a sofa in the photograph! But my partner found a delicatessen that sells fine seeds, and when I put soil on them, they are the exact scale for potatoes.”

Harry’s website now attracts between 700,000- 800,000 hits a month, 51% from Ireland, the rest overseas. His also supplies the cover photos for Model Farmer magazine and has also been commissioned by other model collectors for “weathering” jobs.

Needless to say, his own collection- which includes several customised combines- is also much admired.

“I bought a John Deere Hillmaster combine for £12 and by the time I was finished, I was offered €425 for it, but I’m more a collector than a seller,” he says. “But the best thing is that I’ve made so many friends from all over the world. It’s a worldwide phenonomeon, with people from as far as Latvia, Finland, Russia and Japan visiting the website. It’s incredible.” CL