Plowing

I'll post one more topic on model farm type equipment and then I'll get back to more engines and stuff. This model plow very closely resembles the one that my dad used in the 1940s. In fact I even used it a lot. There were no such things as child labor laws on the farm, so as soon as I was old enough to operate the tractor by myself, at about 7 or 8 years old, I was put to work. I certainly did not consider it labor, it was a chance to drive the tractor! All us farm boys took great pride in driving our dad's tractor. Whenever we would get together at school or other places we were always boasting that our dad's tractor, no matter what the make or model, was the best.


The plow is pretty well complete and functional. It has about all the parts of a real plow, except tiny. The beams were made from 1/4" keystock, and then I ran a ball mill down the length to shape them like originals. Of course the wheels are fabricated to look like real ones.
The tractor is just a generic dummy built to display with the plow. The wheels turn and the steering works, but thats it. I picked the rear tires up at a swap meet. They are solid rubber, and have the tractor tread and the Firestone trademark molded in the sides. They had real heavy duty bearings in them so I suspect that they might have once been used on a hand truck or something. The front tires are exhaust pipe hangers. The engine parts was built of square tubing, the grill was cut out of the side of a one pound propane tank, and the fenders were cut out of a pot lid from a second hand store. Tractor parts can come from lots of places.
Birk