1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose, "A". I created this model for a diorama I will be displaying at the National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville. This tractor features many hand made parts, rust, grime, worn tires and lots of character that tractors this old acquire over the years.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. This show shows the flat front tire, the logging chain and a buffalo skull leaning against a fence post.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. I scratch build the trees and weeds. The weeds in the foreground are models of Big Blue Stem ( Andropogon gerardii), a common grass found in Michigan. For the tree to the left, I modeled a Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum).
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. On this tractor, I machined out the grill and radiator castings and added screen and finning. I added the chain, with hand crafted, forged hooks, to show that the old girl has lost her power and had to be hauled to her final resting place.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. Details on the left side.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. I hauled this diorama to the back of the farm to shoot it in natural light. I made the fence post from Black Walnut (Juglans nigra) branches. I added more lichens where appropriate. The barbed wire is hand spun and rusted with powders and washes. The weeds in the foreground are Big Blue Stem ( Andropogon gerardii) and the weeds in the background are Red Root Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus).
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose parked in the fencerow.
1/16th scale John Deere in the fencerow surrounded by other discarded and used up iron. I also added a weathered and worn tire to the junk pile. Each piece of junk has been individually detailed and weathered.
1/16th scale John Deere General Purpose. In this shot you can see some of the details I have added to the operators platform: wire, rotted rope, a spare bolt of two.
1/16th scale, John Deere 720 complete. The weathering and paint on this tractor took over 40 hours and involves several dozen washes and applications of various pigments and paints. The fence wire, t-posts and weed are all hand built.
1/16th scale, Case 930. I shot this photo in front of an old barn just North of our place.
1/16th scale John Deere 720 complete and photographed on our farm.
1/16th scale, 1939 Allis-Chalmers Engine. This engine has over 24 coats of various paints, washes and weathering powders to achieve this look.
1/16th scale 1939 Allis-Chalmers. This custom required 36 different washes and layers of paints, inks and rusts. I custom blended the colors to match the faded, signature Prussian Orange from Allis.
1/16th scale, 1939 Allis-Chalmers. I milled out the factory issue solid radiator grill and installed an accurate mesh grill. The crank is hand-built from brass and the lichens are real lichens I peeled off an old cornbinder in our fencerow.
1/16th scale, 1939 Allis-Chalmers. If you look close, you can see the mouse nest in the tool box, behind the valve cover.
1/16th scale hood and radiator from 1939 Allis-Chalmbers. I milled out the radiator to add correct finning and then hand built the correct upper and lower water inlet and outlet to match the prototype.
1/16th scale, 1939 Allis-Chalmers with life size AC5050. I took this photo in front of our old Allis 5050, we bought new in the 1980's.
1/16th scale, Case 930 with custom front rock box, side frame tool box, custom muffler and stack, as well as exact weathering to match the client's prototype photographs.
1/16th scale, Case 930. For this client's custom tractor, i went so far as to obtain dirt from his family's farm in South Dakota, then blended my weathering powders to exactly match the farm dirt.
1/16th scale, Case 930. For this custom, I blanked out the fender lights and wore down the tires to match the wear on the original tractor.
Ford F-100, 1/64 Scale. I weathered this truck to reflect years of service as, "the farm truck." In the back are handbuilt, scale t-posts, worn fence boards, rusted rolls of barbed wire and a post pounder. Just for realism,, I tore off the passenger side mirror and added a blue door.
Ford F-100, 1/64 Scale. Mine had a 3 on the tree that you could drop from second to third without the clutch! There was no way to model that memory!
1/16th scale, Case 930. For this client, I modeled the Wix filters they used on their machinery. Their 930 also had white front wheels.
1/16th scale, Case 930. I always like modeling grease, oil and diesel.
1/32 scale fence row, with barbed wire, t-posts and post pounder. All scratch built.
1/16th scale, barn Interior, with hydraulic hose, modeled after the one that hung in our barn for years. It was one of the row marker lines from our Allis-Chalmbers corn planter.
1/16th scale, Fence row, with 3-D printed, white tail deer skull rotted gate, barbed wire and weeds. All scratch built.
1/16th scale, fence row with hand built tree, bent t-posts, barbed wire and location and seasonally correct weeds. All scratch built. The John Deere #80 back blade started as an Ertl Precision that I deeply weathered.
1/16th John Deere 720, in the process of prototype weathering and adding operational lights. This tractor started as an Ertl Precision.
1/16th scale tires and wheels for John Deere 720. The tires have been "worn down," on the belt sander, finished by hand and then weathered to match the prototype. The rims were hand brushed with several colors to achieve a well worn look.
1/16th scale, John Deere 720 weathered seat. I hand weathered the machine to show wear in the appropriate places, then made scale duct tape to "repair," the seat. The stuffing is fibers pulled from a gauze bandage.
1/16th scale John Deere H
1/16th scale John Deere H
1/16th scale farm shop junk
1/16th farm shop vice detail
1/16th scale Oliver plow farm weathering detail
1/16th scale Oliver plow tire and rim detail
1/16th scale scratch built and weathered standing seam barn roof
1/16th scale weathering roof panel
1/16th scale custom, commissioned Case 930 to match family photos
1/16th scale farm shop...a visitor!
1/16th scal farm shop and barn
1/16th scale John Deere H
1/16th scale, scratch build red oak tree (Quarcus rubra)
1/16th scale custom weathered steering wheel from 1939 Allis-Chalmbers.
1/16th scale weathered seat from 1939 Allis-Chalmers.
1/16th scale Oliver plow detail.
1/16th scale dilapidated barn. Scratch built.
1/16th scale dilapidated barn in process.
1/16th scale leaking air compressor.
1/16th scale, creating New England asters (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae) a native Michigan species found in many fence rows in the fall.
1/16th scale. In addition to the purple asters, I have added another well known, late summer wild flower Showy Golden Rod (Solidago speciosa). Both flowers are actually in the same family, Asteraceae.
1/16th scale John Deer #80 backblade in the fence row with our hen house in the backgroud.