Building a farm toy collection is exciting! For the past 20 years we’ve been collecting and building custom farm toys.
Custom farm toy builders each have their own style and ideas of what makes a great model. You want to make sure the model you're buying fits your needs and you will be excited about it for a long time.
Here are some things to look for when buying a custom farm toy:
1. Is this model accurate to the real farm equipment?
The farm equipment model should be designed from the real measurements and then scaled down. If this is not done, the model can look distorted or inaccurate.
What I like to do is find the real equipment at a local farm to auction yard and get the measurements there. If I am building a model for a farm equipment company sometimes they will provide the actual cad line drawings of the farm equipment. This makes the design process much easier.
2. How durable is it?
When parts on a real piece of equipment are scaled down to 1/64 scale they can sometimes be too small. This could make them easily breakable.
To correct this, sometimes small parts must be “beefed up” to make sure they will be able to be handled by the collector.
This can mean that the model is not exactly built to scale, but the trade off of having a model that will last a long time is worth it.
3. Does it have moving parts?
Adding moving parts takes more time to build and design. You need to make sure that the parts move and don’t stick to each other.
The hinges must be made strong so that they don’t become a breaking point.
The moving parts add a lot of value to the farm model because you can show it doing different jobs. For example you can show a forklift sitting in the shop with the forks down. Or you can show it with the forks up loading a truck.
This is definitely more exciting for your farm display!
4. Does this model fit into your farm display’s story line?
A lot of times I buy farm toys just because they are cool to me.
If you are making a display for a contest like the National Farm Toy Show, you will want to make sure that the custom farm toy fits into your line up. Judges will look to see if that model fits into the story line you have for your display.
You can also think, does this model remind me of a story? Sometimes custom farm toys are great for telling a story about your farming history or reliving a memory. You can buy a model that doesn’t fit in on your farm display, just to remember a farming story that you have.
5. Is this scale model safe for your home?
Many custom farm toys are not built for play. All of 2 Scale Fabrication’s models are only built for farm displays or collections. They are not meant for play.
If you are looking for a model that’s built for play, usually stores like Tractor Supply have mass produced toys that can withstand being played with.
Custom farm toys usually have small pieces and moving parts that can be hazardous small children. That’s why we recommend our models for ages 14+
