Wooden Farm Toys for Haymaking

 I made these for my son when he was a boy.  They are made from 3/4 inch birch.  They would make a good Christmas gift for a young male in your family.

Step 1 The tractor

 The degree of detail is not for an exact replica, but suitable to stir the imagination of a young boy.  Rather than give measurements I included a scale in inches in most of the photos.  Begin by drawing the profile of the tractor body.  The wheels were turned on my lathe.  Axles are from 3/16 inch steel rod with end cap retainers from the hardware store.  The exhaust stack is a piece of 1/4 inch welding rod for an oxy-acetylene torch.  The steering wheel assembly is from a 3/8 inch carriage bolt with the square portion under the head ground away to make the column round.  There will be more on the seat and the gear shift later.

Comments

[lemonie]

They're nice, did you model the tractor on a specific machine?

L

[Phil B]

 I have always been partial to International Harvester (Farmall) tractors.  I did not specifically copy any particular model, but it probably resembles an International 560 series a little.  Thank you for your comment and for taking a look.

[lemonie]

I commented because it does look the part, the wheel arrangement isn't one that you typically get in toys and you bothered to get the angles nice on 'em too.

L

[Phil B]

I have seen pictures of some tractors from the UK and do not exactly remember the arrangement on their front wheels.  I believe many of them are set apart in a wide wheel configuration.  Almost all of the tractors I knew from my years in the USA's Midwest used the row crop arrangement I used.  Now I live in the Western US (Idaho) and many of the tractors have a single front wheel mounted in an inverted "U".

[rimar2000]

Very nice toys. Congratulations.

[Phil B]

 Thank you, Osvaldo.