CIO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 27, 1998
RANDY WELLS
Indiana Co. Correspondent
INDIANA (Indiana Co.)
Ever since Fred Foster was a teen
ager and worked on Indiana Coup.
ty potato and cabbage farms in the
19505, he has wanted to own and
live on a farm. But he realized it’s
a tough business.
“It’s probably best that I just
have a 150-acre farm in my base
ment,” he said.
Not only can Foster farm in the
cool, well-lighted comfort of the
lower level of his home, he can
also enjoy the nearly 400 farm im
plements —including 258 tractors
he keeps down there.
It all started about Christmas
1986. On a visit to a local farm im
plement dealership, Foster de
cided to buy a one-sixteenth scale
Ertl model of an Allis-Chalmers
tractor like the one he had driven
on the farm where he worked as a
boy.
On the back of the tractor’s box
was an invitation to join the Ertl
Farm Toy Club.
“I was a little uncomfortable
listing my age," he said. “But this
is where my interest started.”
Today a large part of the base
ment of Foster’s White Township,
Indiana County home is occupied
by a 17-fool by 13-foot scale farm
layout, complete with farm imple
ments, buildings, livestock, and
farmers. And in lighted, glass
door display cases along the wall
are dozens of the tractors and
pieces of farm equipments Foster
has added to his collection since
that first Allis Chalmers.
These are not just toy tractors.
Many are Precision Series models
nearly exact replica made of
steel, with rubber tires, gearshifts
that move and seats that have
springs. When you turn the steer
ing wheel, the front wheels turn on
many models.
Many of the tractors in Foster’s
basement are from manufacturers’
collector series one tractor was
offered each year for several
years.
From behind a glass door Foster
retries an Ertl model commem
orating the five millionth 1066
tracfor built by International. Pos
ter said he paid $45 for it five
yea!*'ago. He estimates it’s worth
about $250.
Models of a John Deeer 620
tractor and hay baler—circa 1954
were bought for $2O. The trac
tor alone today is worth $lOO,
Foster said.
So the models are good invest
ments?
“Yes, but it’s like the stock
market You have to watch it a lit
Foster cares for a large tractor collection at his home.
‘Toy Farming * Is Next Best Thin
tie bit,” he said.
But it’s evident Foster isn’t in it
for the money. It’s for the fascina
tion with tractors and farm life.
The men he worked for as a teen
ager were “the first to give me the
value of farming,” he said.
Not all of his collection came
straight from manufacturers. He
lifts an old John Deere from the
shelf and recounts how he found it
at a yard sale. The tractor obvious
ly was a child’s toy. The green
paint has been worn away along
some of the edges and the steering
wheel is missing.
That’s not a problem, Foster
said. When he gets time he’ll re
paint the tractor, and replacement
steering wheels and other parts
can be ordered from manufactur
ers to replace ones that are dam
aged or missing.
One of the oldest pieces in his
collection is a cast-aluminim
steam thrasher from about 1956.
He also has several pieces of Tru-
Scale implements and an old trac
tor made at Hubley. Both Tru-
Scale and Hubley have been out of
business for decades, he said.
But it’s rare to And valuable
collectible farm toys at yard or
garage sales.
‘This has become a smart in
dustry,” he said. “ People know
what the values are.”
The best places to find farm
toys already in circulation are or
ganized toy shows, like the big
one coming up in mid-July in
Beaver Falls, Beaver County, he
said.
Other collectors gather at the
shows to sell and swap toys and
parts and to admire each other’s
collections.
About eight years ago Foster
came to a conclusion; “Now that
I’m collecting, I should display
them in some 'way,” he said.
That’s when he hit upon the
idea for his “150-acre farm” in his
basement.
On specially-designed tables
with plastic foam tops, Foster de
signed and built a diorama depict
ing a farm scene from the 1940 s
and ’5O the era when he fell in
love with farming.
The centerpiece of Foster’s dis
play is a scratch-built bam. Con
structed to one-sixteen the scale to
complement his tractors and im
plements, the bam is 36 inches
long, 23 inches wide, and 26
inches high at the peak of the roof.
Foster spent months building it
He hand-cut the rafters and siding
boards and just like the real
bams built years ago he pinned
the rafters and braces together
with small wooden dowels.
No, that’s not a giant making its way through an Indiana farm. That’s Fred Foster
on his huge miniature farm, making some minor adjustments.
A section of the roof and floor
are removable so that the working
stanchions and bull pen in the low
est level are visible.
He even handmade the tiny
hinges for the main double doors,
fashioning them out of copper tub
ing he cut and hammered into
shape.
One side of the bam roof is cov
ered with miniature shingles Fos
ter bought at a hobby store. But
the hobby shop went out of busi
ness before he had all the shingles
he needed. His solution: He built a
small wooden extension ladder
and positioned one of his farmers
at the top of the ladder, depicting
him installing the first row of shin
gles in a re-roofing project.
Other hand-built structures in
the display are an L-shaped house
with windows that slide up and
down, a milk house with cooler
and old milk cans, a com crib with
screened sides, a combination out
house and coal house, and a cov
ered bridge crossing a small
stream.
And everywhere around the dis
play are Foster’s busy farmers and
their tractors pulling hay wag
ons, plowing and disc harrowing
fields, and spraying cabbage.
There are also lots of animals
cows, horses, sheep, chickens,
barnyard cats and dogs, even deer
and an owl in a tree.
Foster used a table saw in his
basement workshop to rip soft
pine boards into the sizes he
RUY. SELL.TRADE OR RENT THROUGH THE
M-HI d & .Ms. I"
U FARM
EQUIPMENT
10’ Bat Wing Rotory Mower
Heavy Duty, Chain
Guards, Very Nice Condi
tion, New Blades,
$1,500/obo. Flemington,
908-561-5047.
12' Direct cut head, $2OOO
OBO; 6' pickup head, $4OO
080. Both fit Hesston or
Field Queen chopper. Port
able SOye* PTO grain ele
vator, $5OO 080.
301/896-5871
301/898-5505.
16" Woods jointer, $5OO.
(215)598-3528.
needed. But much o r the diorama
is made from olhe» materials at
hand. Tom up filters give
the illusion of water in the stream.
And carpet underlayment cut in
strips and laid side-by-side looks
like furrows behind a Farmall M
and three-bottom Little Genius
plow.
Foster was unable to find a re
plica of the Iron Age sprayer he
had used as a teen, so he built his
own. Scaled down from a parts list
of an actual 10-row sprayer, Fos
ter cut tin, aluminum, and rubber
hoses and soldered connections to
build his own sprayer. The boom,
made of brass tubing, swings in
and out, up and down.
An Oliver Super 88 pulls the
sprayer across a Held of make-be
lieve cabbage plants in his display.
It takes a considerable amount
of time and work, but Foster can
disassemble his diorama, pack it
into a trailer, and take it on the
road to toy shows. At a toy show
in Summerville, Jefferson County,
PHONE: 717-626-1164 or 717-394-3047
FAX 717-733-6058
Mon., Tuee., Wed., Frt. 8 AM to 5 PM: Thus. 7 AM to 5 PM
125 JD silage wagon, 3
beater, tandem wheels. Sil
age blower, NH 28 high
throw. Grain drill, IH model
MF 13-disc rope trip.
609-397-0029
1952 Ford BN, Serial
#513242, excellent ORIGI
NAL condition, 3rd owner,
rebuilt motor, new tires,
never out in weather, 6 at
tachments, extra parts, all
manuals & parts catalogs.
Great collector tractor or go
farming. 717/367-8581
Gary.
MILK
Where's your mustache? “
1959 JO 730 Gas, Fair
Condition, Needs Paint.
Partially Restored, Have
lots of extra parts, etc. Ask
ing $4,500/obo. Leave
Message. 717-362-8776.
1977 JD 7700 combine,
good looks, good rubber,
excellent value for $B9OO.
Zeisloft 800/919-3322.
1978 Ford truck F7OOO,
636 CAT engine w/log
pockets. 1980 5408 JD log
skidder. (717)485-4405.
his farm display won awards three
years in a row.
It was also featured in a 1997 is
sue of Toy Fanner magazine.
Foster is the senior buyer at
FMC Corporation, a materials
handling firm near Homer City,
Indiana County. When he retires
in 16 months, he’ll have more
time to tinker on his farm. He
wants to paint a Mail Pouch tobac
co sign on the end of the bam and
install lights in the bam and house.
He also plans to add a horse
bam, a gristmill along the stream,
and a main road near the back of
the bam. Foster hasn’t been able
to find a toy manufacturer that is
building replicas of some of the
potato and cabbage harvesting
equipment he used as a boy, so he
plans to make those, too.
Out of all the toy tractors in his
basement, Foster can still pick his
favorite a Farmall Super M.
“I like the red ones,” he ex
plained.
1980 Case 4690 4x4 w/
duals, excellent original
paint, 3pt, PTO, runs excel
lent, used on our farms this
spring. Reduced to
$17,900. This is a good
one. Zelsloft from Blooms
burg, PA 800/919-3322.
1981 IH 1460 combine,
2900 hrs., electric over hy
draulic, in field, nice,
$21,000. Flex an corn
heads available. Cumber
land County,
(717)766-4907.