By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Contestants in this year’s model contests at the Gateway Farm Toy Show had a variety of farm equipment from combines, to tractors to implements for visitors to view. There were even a few pulling tractors for the pulling enthusiasts.

People came from all over the Midwest, several Southern states and, in a few cases, from outside the United States to help celebrate this farm show’s 28th anniversary. One couple comes from England every year and another group of travelers from the Netherlands are regular visitors as well.

As for those in the contest, Hector Matthys, an engineer that works for Caterpillar in Peoria, Ill. was back this year with a new combine.
“This is a 9600 combine made RAHCO,” he shared. “They make the hillside version. John Deere made a combine similar to this until 1987. Now all of these combines are made by after-markets.”
He explained the reason this specialty type of combine is made by after market companies: “Companies can’t afford the time and energy.”

“The combine is self-leveling,” he added.  The amount of detail in this little model easily demonstrates why he won first place in the scratch built category for 1/64th-scale two years in a row.

John Biddle from McLean, Ill., was also at the show this year. When thinking about farm toys, pulling tractors don’t always come to mind; however at this year’s Gateway Mid-America Farm Toy Show there were a few that fit into the tractor-pulling category and, John’s 1/64th-scale pulling tractor that is a replica of a modified tractor called the Kentuckian fit into this category just right.

This pulling tractor came to life in John’s miniature version. But that isn’t the only muscle model he built, he also built a truck. “This is two Ertl Dodge trucks that I turned into a crew cab four-wheel drive.”
Fitting with the winter weather he also bought a snow plow and mounted it to the truck.

Dave Talon who was also a winner in last year’s scratch-built competition built a 1/64th Terra Gator model 1803 and a Big Bud 400.

“I have been customizing for about 10 years,” Talon said. “This is my third time entering the contest.”

While some toy builders build only for their own enjoyment, others will customize or build a toy for a collector looking for a specific creation. Two modelers put their heads together and created two pulling tractor dynamos that wowed the crowd.

Kevin Schrader and Todd Jackson brought a few pulling models to life. They built a 1/16th-scale version of the White Stallion, a 1066 International tractor and the Black Stallion which is also a 1066 model.

The White Stallion, of course, is white and the Black Stallion is black. These models were based on Dale Dengler’s real tractors.
“The real ones belong to Dale and we made these for him,” Schrader explained.

Dengler who hails north of Allentown, Penn. said, “I have been pulling since 1985, 24-25 years. I pull in Pennsylvania and New Jersey up on the east coast.”

Dengler’s idea of having his tractors made into models seemed to be paying off for Schrader and Jackson. These two young men entered the Gateway model contest and at interview time they already had orders piling up for more of the stallion pulling models.
These models though were not easily built and were time consuming. “It took about 50 man-hours per tractor,” Kevin said. “The biggest part was figuring out the torsion bars and the weights.”

Pulling whether with real black smoke or on the shelf is a popular hobby. This hobby can be found both indoors and outdoors in the big and small forms.

Visitors that come each year to the Mid-America Toy Show are always in for a treat. Whether viewing toy models built by company’s years ago, a one-of-a-kind toy built by a talented builder, or finding just the right toy at the toy auction, there is a model to suit everyone’s desires. Next year, the show will again be the first weekend in February so mark the calendar and plan ahead. Log on to http://gatewaytoyshow.com for details.