Ask anyone who goes to farm toy shows and they can tell you Wes Anderson from Welcome, Minn., is a John Deere enthusiast. Everyone knows Wes makes precision scratch-built John Deere farm toys.

This year, though, he brought something a little different to the Gateway Farm Toy Show. Wes created a tandem truck that resembles the real one he and wife, Maggi, use on their farms. Her name is the one that appears on the driver’s side of the truck below the window because Wes said, “Maggi drives both of our tandems during the harvest season hauling corn and soybeans.”

Wes so likes the truck that when he could not find one to buy, he decided to make his own. From tractor-building to truck-building, this was a four-year journey.

“It took four years to find the time to work on this project,” Wes shared. “But it was done and made its debut in St. Louis.”
While he can claim the work on the truck and Maggi the inspiration, Wes said the lettering on the truck was done by their good friend Jim Williams, who does a lot of graphics, for small models to huge signs. He did a bit more, as well.

“He was responsible for the graphics. He made our license plates exactly like it is on our real truck,” Wes said.

The idea for the farm toy came after Diecast Promotions released the single-axle 1/16-scale C65 series truck. Wes contacted Peggy Haverland and Pat Valent to see if they would build a tandem. But they said no, as the packaging gets too large for that size model.
“So, I decided I would just have to build my own,” he added.

Wes said Diecast did use a color code he provided, but didn’t make the truck. They did send him two models so he could make his own. “I took the two trucks, cut both frames apart so that I could lengthen and add on enough to the frame to add the second set of drive wheels,” he explained.

“This meant that the main truck frame was in four pieces to put back together again to build this tandem with a 20-foot box. The box floor and box sides had to be cut and put back together for extra length also.”

He added, “I had to make the drive shaft longer and made my own tarp as well,” a Syntex tarp which is built in Humboldt, Iowa.
A grain farmer building a grain truck model, farming is in Wes Anderson’s daily life whether he is working or creating, and Maggi is always an integral part of it all.

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication.