ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Each year the model contest and layout display contest at the Gateway Farm Toy Show brings a crowd to see the talented individuals who enter it. This year, experienced builder Steve Schulz entered a Ford tractor and picker in the 1/16th-scale scratch-built contest – and won first place.<br>
Schulz’s winning model already had a new home after the show; after it won first place, the new owner took a closer look at his winning toy. “This model is a 961 Ford tractor with a Ford picker,” Schulz said, proudly.<br>
While the Monroe, Wis., resident may have had the first-place winner with Ford, Allis Chalmers is the brand he loves.
“I grew up on AC on the farm,” he said, “and I still like to help out sometimes.”<br>
Recreating the models he grew up with is his passion, but this custom-builder said, “Although it is my favorite brand, I will build anything.”<br>
AC is not necessarily a household name for the Schulz household. While he is an AC collector, his wife, Nancy, is not. She hankers for a different brand – “She is a JD fan; that is because she grew up on JD,” he explained.<br>
Schulz, though, sticks to his orange roots.<br>
“I started collecting AC toys about 24 years ago,” Schulz said, and he has been customizing for the past 20.<br>
He actually got started collecting through a present he purchased for his niece. When he bought her one, he bought one for himself, and he has been collecting ever since. “I just kept on collecting from there,” he said.<br>
These days, Schulz has about 30-40 ACs he has bought, as well as 15-20 he has either customized or scratch-built for himself.<br>
“I have created an AC round baler, an AC 303 square baler, an AC mounted 33 or 36 picker and both the 72 and 90 model combines, with both a grain and a corn head,” he explained. “I have made a long and short hopper blower and 720 and 780 choppers, with both a hay head and a two-row corn head.”<br>
Schulz has also built an AC forage box wagon, an AC barge wagon, an AC manure spreader and an AC chisel plow and a variety of bottom plows. While these are completed, the busy builder says he has several more in progress.<br>
“I like to build what I had on the farm,” he said. “I have around 30 pieces about half-built.”<br>
Having the time to finish projects while working and building for others can be challenging. He did start and finish one special piece.<br>
“My pride and joy, though, is my 620 garden tractor model,” he said. “I have over 200 hours in it. I have the real tractor at home.”
In his day job, Schulz works at a truck equipment shop. He believes his experience as a former farmer has helped equip him for his work and his hobby of custom-building toys, as well.<br>
“For this job, I need multiple skills: electrical, welding, et cetera – it runs the gamut of everything,” he said. “They like to hire ex-farmers because they know they can do everything.”