Let's Build a Display

      This month "Down on the Model Farm"  launches a series on  building a 1/64 scale farm display.  Creating a display is a fun way to use your favorite 1/64 models and toys.  The best tip I can share is that you should enjoy building a display.  Use your imagination and talents any way you want to build a model farm that you like.  It does not have to be 100% realistic, it should look the way you want it to look.  My goal with this series is to help TTT readers  look at ways  to build a working farm. We will look at building a modern mega farm, creating a farm from the past, using materials to build farm scenes and what farm toy show judges are looking for in a first place model farm.  

      I have wanted to build a display since I started collecting in 1985 when I was in 3rd grade. My dad helped me build a small display back then with a board covered in train grass, a wooden barn we built and silos made from Pringles Potato Chip containers.  This was a fun father son project and great way to use my 1/64 toys.  As I grew older I wanted build one of the realistic displays you see a toy shows.

      Where do you start? I decided that I wanted to replicate a farm in my home town as it looked in the late 1980's.  My first objective was too collect the equipment the farm used during that time period.  This endeavor started in 1999 and I have had to purchase  several custom pieces and modify a few existing tractors to acquire the right line up. This months "Down on the Model Farm" lead picture with the talking farmers is a snap shot of some of the equipment used on the farm I want to build. I will save my project for a future issue.

       One of the most popular topics I see on Toy Tractor Show.com's Toy Talk is building a mega farm.  You know the post my dream display includes these 8 combines, 5 4wds, 6 tractors etc....., Is this a good display?  . Then comes the follow up posts critiquing the selections saying you have too many combines, where are your trucks, do you know what it takes to run a farm that big?  Hopefully this article will help those interested in a mega farm get off to a good start. 

          If you are going to have a mega farm you are going to need quite an assortment of equipment.  One of the key items on a big farm is the 4wd tractor. A 4wd allows a farmer cover ground quickly with large implements during key seasons. 

        The 4wd gives the larger farmer away to plant in the optimum time frame.  Lets say a farmer in the 1970's is plowing with two Oliver 1955 tractors pulling two 4 bottom plows.  With these two tractors he can plow 40 acres a day.  In the 1980's he looks at his operation and decides with the amount of acreage he is plowing he needs to speed things up.  He trades the two Olivers and two plows in for a new White 4-270 articulated 4wd and White 8 bottom plow. With a 270 hp engine he can plow 80 acres or more in a day. This is accomplished from increased ground speed from the extra horse power. Not only is he covering the ground of two tractors but he has doubled it. Now the farm can grow and raise more crops on more acres. 

        So you want a 4wd on your farm.  What do you want to use? Do you want tires, tracks, triples, high horse power?  Lets look at the 4wd options. 

        The most common 4wd is the articulated tractor.   The basic design is relatively simple and cheap.  Two fixed axles being driven giving 4wd and eliminate the need for a steerable front axle.   The tractor pivots in the middle by means of two rams that on average give the tractor a 40 degree turning radius.  The back wheels follow the path of the front tires as an articulated 4wd turns.  The design allows high horse power engines optimally put engine power to the ground.  

        Another type of 4wd is the rigid frame models.  International Harvester and J.I. Case pioneered these models in the 1960's.  Case stuck with this design through the 1990's. The rigid frame tractors have steerable front and rear axles.  This design is called crab steer.  It is a great option for farms that work hillsides such as in Washington State wheat country.  Crab steer models are also popular on dairy farms for pto work such as chopping forage and spreading manure in addition to tillage work.  Ertl has offered a Case TK 1470 crab steerr model and CaseIH 9260. The 4wd pictured above is a J&J kit built 4890.

        Because 4wds are so big soil compaction is often a concern.  Dual wheels are the most common choice on 4wds.  Since the mid-1990's triple tires and tracks have become a common choice in reducing compaction.  Both options have their advantages and disadvantages.  Triples and tracks reduce soil compaction and allow farmers to work ground earlier and later in the year.  The disadvantage of tracks is road travel because they ride rougher than a tire model on pavement.  In the field they ride like a snowmobile with ease over the soil.  Triples big set back is also road travel due to there large width.  Cars and narrow lanes are not good matches for triples.

         Now that we have looked at 4wds. The  next question is how many do I want on a display on my display.  The key to this decision is looking at how many acres the display represents and what types of crops are raised on the farm.   Planting season is often a two to three week window and getting the crop in at the right time leads to bigger yields.  One of the most active 4wd drive areas is the Corn Belt.  As few as 300 acres in this region can justify the use of a 4wd.  If you are a no-till to min-till farm one 4wd on 5,000 acres may be enough. For example a model like the Ford-Versatile 876 may be a perfect choice on a low tillage farm because it is a good basic 4wd that can apply NH3 in the spring ahead of the planter. 

       Maybe you need two 4wds. They do not have to be the same size. Maybe you are creating a 2,500 acre farm that has tillage.  Two big 4wds may not pencil out.  Here we see an Allis-Chalmers 7580 with a subsoiler working up ground ahead of the farm king pin Allis-Chalmers 8550 pulling a 30ft chisel-plow.

      If you want to go with a 10,000 acre or larger farm you will want multiple 4wds.  Here we see three Caterpillar 85D tractors working up wheat stubble.  When you farm large acreage you want to cross the field as fast as possible.  A big farmer has the same planting time frame as a smaller farmer.  All of those acres must be covered and multiple 4wds can do it in record time

       So you are running big 4wds on your display. Many ask what brand do I use. There is no right answer. One person may want a CaseIH  STX Steiger for its modern cab and power. Another may want a John Deere for its smooth shifting power-shift .  One tip I would give is keep the brand the same. Above we see a 9420 and two 9400's plowing away.  This farmer wants to know his tractors well and if they break he knows his dealer and has parts on hand to fix any of the three quickly.  If this farmer had three different brands he may have three dealers to deal with in different areas that have to travel different distances to service the tractor.

        Another tip I can offer in selecting a 4wd is to look around your area? What is your neighbor using?  On my road a local farmer runs an International 4786 4wd.  I went out to the field and photographed his equipment in action. He was planting corn and running an IH 4786 and Steiger Panther ST-310 on field cultivators ahead of an IH 1066 pulling a 12 row John Deere corn planter.  I set my display field up to mirror this operation for the article. 

       Now we know what 4wd we want and how many. A 4wd works best running big implements.  A mega farm wants to cover hundreds of acres a day. Where do you go for big implements?

        For a number of years big implements from toy makers have been underrepresented. In 2002 C&D Models (www.cdmodels.com) answered the call from 1/64 collectors.  If you have a big display you want big implements. In the wheat belt the fields almost seem endless. C&D Model's 72ft field cultivator can help make short work of a few thousand acres of wheat stubble.  This type of model is built with displayers in mind. It is not a toy. 

       Custom built implements can also be a good choice. I am a Steiger fan and was looking for a big implement for my Steiger CP-1400.  Jason Jeffers built a Trail-R-Disk for me that represents a 46ft model. You can get quite a bit of tillage done with this disk.

      Custom toy makers like Gordy Schultz can also help you out.  In Kentucky where I live one of the larger farms plants 8,500 acres of corn. The race is on when spring planting starts.  In order to apply NH3 and till all that ground they use 5 42ft Wil-Rich Quad-5 field cultivators.  I thought this type of implement would look nice on my display.  Gordy Schultz built a 5 section field cultivator for me from plastic resin. I asked for a 58ft model because I would need allot of space to display 5 42ft implements.  Gordy did a nice job adding life like details including a rear hitch to hook on a NH3 cart.

          Big implements are not the only area 4wds can serve well on in a display.  In many cases on the mega farm, 4wds are used rather than 2wds.

       Seeding and planting can be done much quicker with a 4wd.  The advantage of a 4wd in planting is the power and speed it offers  plus a command of the field from a cab that is high off the ground.  Above we see a Baker kit John Deere 8630 4wd on a custom grain drill built by Moore's Farm Toys. 

       You see more and more big farms and custom cutters turning to 4wds to pull grain carts.  Farmers like using 4wds with a grain cart because the tractor driver can see into the cart and sit on the same level with the combine operator.  

        Industrial type work is also a place to use 4wd tractors. If you live in the Delta region where rice is grown,  land leveling with scrapper pans is common.  Gordy Schultz is custom building laser guided pans for 4wds like the set pictured above. 

      Hopefully this article has helped you look at one aspect of mega farming.  Shop around for some 4wds and implements.  Half the fun is looking and dreaming. Next month "Down on the Model Farm" will look at the combines used to harvest wheat on big farms. 

To equip your 4wd or purchase a new one visit www.cdmodels.com

TTT June 2003 Page 8

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