Wooden Models Bring Past to Life

By Bill Vossler
Published on August 1, 2007
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Melvin Ehlert with his handmade Farmcrest 8 seeder, a complicated project.
Melvin Ehlert with his handmade Farmcrest 8 seeder, a complicated project.
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Melvin’s Cockshutt 50 has a wide-front design.
Melvin’s Cockshutt 50 has a wide-front design.
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Though this manure spreader sports the Farmcrest decal, Melvin made it to represent all seeders sold by Gambles, including Galloway and Cockshutt brands.
Though this manure spreader sports the Farmcrest decal, Melvin made it to represent all seeders sold by Gambles, including Galloway and Cockshutt brands.
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Farm implements Melvin made hang on the wall in his toy room: from left, a hay bucker, harrow wood drag, corn marker and stone boat.
Farm implements Melvin made hang on the wall in his toy room: from left, a hay bucker, harrow wood drag, corn marker and stone boat.
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Melvin’s flare box wagon and hayrack are drawn by a team of horses.
Melvin’s flare box wagon and hayrack are drawn by a team of horses.
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The hitch on the back of Melvin’s Gambles Farmcrest 30 can be moved into several positions.
The hitch on the back of Melvin’s Gambles Farmcrest 30 can be moved into several positions.
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When Melvin saw a farm sled like this at a toy show in Sauk Centre, Minn., he was inspired to make one himself. Note the miniature nuts and bolts.
When Melvin saw a farm sled like this at a toy show in Sauk Centre, Minn., he was inspired to make one himself. Note the miniature nuts and bolts.
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Parts like the oil filter and lights for the Ferguson 30 were made from common items such as dowels.
Parts like the oil filter and lights for the Ferguson 30 were made from common items such as dowels.
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Melvin’s first brand-name tractor that moved under its own power was this Gambles Farmcrest 30 model.
Melvin’s first brand-name tractor that moved under its own power was this Gambles Farmcrest 30 model.
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The Teeswater Cockshutt 30 (foreground) does not have the correct configuration of steering wheel as does Melvin’s Gambles Farmcrest 30 (rear). Though the names are different, the tractors are supposed to be identical.
The Teeswater Cockshutt 30 (foreground) does not have the correct configuration of steering wheel as does Melvin’s Gambles Farmcrest 30 (rear). Though the names are different, the tractors are supposed to be identical.
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From top: A close-up of the Ferguson 30; the PTO on the Ferguson 30 actually works; the hood on the Ferguson 30 model opens.
From top: A close-up of the Ferguson 30; the PTO on the Ferguson 30 actually works; the hood on the Ferguson 30 model opens.

Glue is what got Melvin Ehlert, Sauk Centre, Minn., stuck on building wood models of old farm equipment and tractors, including two that run. “I was retired at the time, and I saw an old farm sled someone had made, but it was all glued together,” he says. “I saw that and I thought, ‘By golly, I could make something like that.'”

But 84-year-old Melvin wanted to make his wooden model sled more original. He wanted to use nuts and bolts, and he wanted the finished piece to have the removable box he remembered from his days on the farm. “I told my children I used to drive a team of horses to the barn with that sled and load it full of manure by hand, and then haul it out to the field and spread it by hand with a fork.”

Questions from his children sent him back to the drawing board. When they asked how the sled worked, he made a set of dump planks and demonstrated how a box filled with gravel was unloaded, lifting the removable sides and pulling out the dump planks under the gravel one by one.

Next, he made wooden models of a hayrack and a flare box. Each fits the frame and is interchangeable with the original box. That versatility allowed the real sled to be used for multiple tasks throughout the year. He recalls an era when his father and other local farmers used the sled-turned-wagon and a team of horses to haul gravel to rural roads. “That was during the WPA (Works Progress Administration) days during the Depression,” he says. “That was how country roads originally got graveled.”

Early memories made real

After his success with those models, Melvin decided to complete the set. “I decided to build whatever we had on the farm at home,” he says. Thus followed the corn marker, hay bucker, harrow wood drag and stone boat.

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