Wood Lake, Minnesota
Have been a subscriber of the IRON MEN ALBUM since the first of
the year and I enjoy every issue very much.
The steam engine is a copy of the old Port Huron built ‘ to
1 ft. scale and is made out of metal and wood. It is powered by a
sewing machine motor and gear reduction box built right into the
round track pulling a water tender and coal hopper. I built this
model in about 275 hours.
The next model I built was the old threshing separator which was
built at about a ‘ scale. I did not try to copy any particular
make of separator but followed a parts book of Case and IHC. I also
tried to make the separator look like a real old timer. The
separator model will run and has all the working parts such as
shaking grain pan and straw rack, real working blower, the feeder
and the elevators are all chain drive and work. This model took
about 225 hours.
The third model I made was the miniature merry-go-round. This
model was built to scale about one-tenth natural size, it being
28′ in diameter has 20 horses all jumping and two chariot
seats. I have received a lot of comment on the ‘jenny’ as a
merry-go-round is known in carnival circles. The model is powered
by a one-fifteenth hp. motor mounted in a dummy box under the main
platform of the model. The horses are plastic toys which I
purchased at the Hobby stores-except the two horses in the
foreground of the picture. These two were carved out of wood by a
friend of mine. I also have regular calliope music played through a
dummy organ which I have a small speaker mounted in it and then use
a record player hidden out of sight of the model. I built this
model in around 300 hours.
Am hoping that I have furnished you with something of interest
to you and your readers, and if you should want more details about
any of the models I should be glad to send them to you.
