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Working Models
Pint-sized steam engine, thresher were handmade
By Bill Vossler
Richard Fischer and his brothers made their own toy models when they were growing up on the family farm in central Wisconsin. Now 75 and a resident of Waterford, Wis., Richard is still making models - 1/2- to 1/6-scale reproductions of old-time farm machinery that actually work.
"There were six boys in my family, born and raised on a farm, and we built a lot of models by hand," he said. "We didn't have any power saws or power tools. But we did have a keg of square nails. By the time we grew up, we had them all used up."
One of his earliest working farm models, made in 1956, is a 1/6-scale 1922 Case 65 hp steam engine, just like his father owned. "My dad bought that steam engine and a Case threshing machine in 1922," Richard said, "and we threshed with that up until 1940."
With that equipment in place, Richard settled on a 2-inches-to-1-foot ratio for the steam engine and started building. "I went to a brass shop and got all the parts for the boiler, and then made the parts, which took a while." He riveted them all together and then silver-soldered the rivets.
Next, he worked on the wheels and gear box, using rolled steel for the wheel spokes, which he screwed together. "You get them on the axle, and then you tighten the spokes just like you do on a bicycle to get the rims straight," he explained. "I made the differential, but scrounged junkyards until I found the right sizes."
Richard said he learned to do just a little at a time. "I kept machining at it, and machining at it. The drawing told me how much had to be machined out of different parts."
The finished Case is cast iron, with steel axles, brass bushings and a brass water pump. It weighs 145 pounds, is 40 inches long and 16 inches high, with 12-inch diameter rear wheels and 8-inch diameter front wheels.
When he finished the steam engine, Richard filled it with water and pumped it up to 150 pounds of pressure - one and a half times its normal running pressure. "That's how to test all boilers," he said, noting he periodically retests the engine as a safety precaution. The boiler holds a gallon of water, which lasts for an hour if the machine is firing hard, and a little more than a gallon in the water tanks.
The engine is coal driven and the harder it's steamed, Richard said, the better draw there is through the stack, resulting in a better burn. It runs for wards or backwards, and connects with a belt to a little thresher Richard also made, although it isn't powerful enough to run the thresher well.