Marvelous Miniature Tractors

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Dennis Franz (shown in the purple shirt) at work on his 3/8th scale model of a 1925 John Deere D.

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Dennis Franz has a small tractor collection: small in every sense of the word. His collection consists of miniature tractors he's built from scratch.

In 1990, Dennis built a 3/8th scale miniature replica of a 1925 John Deere D. Two years later, he built a hand-held remote control to operate the tractor.

He also put a farmer doll in the driver's seat. The doll would roll his eyes, turn his head, and move the clutch and steering wheel.

Dennis, 53, is the owner of Denny's Heating and Cooling in Newton, Kan. He has long exposure to things mechanical.

"I've built stuff all my life," he said. "And I've been around machinery all my life. My dad was quite a mechanic, and he had a construction business and did soil conservation work for the government. He overhauled his own equipment. As a little kid, I saw that and was intrigued by machinery. I thought it would be a good challenge."

To build his miniature replica, Dennis completely disassembled a full-size 1925 John Deere D and then reproduced all the parts on a 3/8th scale.

"I had to make everything, even a lot of the nuts and bolts," he said. He built the engine, too.

The gas tank can hold two quarts of fuel, but Dennis has never filled it, because the miniature tractor will run for six to eight hours on just a quart of gas. It weighs about 254 pounds.

Dennis has taken the miniature tractor to several antique tractor shows, where it always attracts large crowds of onlookers. He later sold the miniature replica to a collector in Montana, but has since created two other remote-controlled replicas.

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