Model Farm Started With One Toy Barn

1994 - Volume #18, Issue #6, Page #19

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When he was 8 years old, Roy Schwebke saw a toy barn that fascinated him so much he knew one day he'd build one of his own.
Now, more than a half a century later, Schwebke is making the rounds at Midwest-ern farm shows with a farm replica that includes his prize-winning toy barn and a whole lot more.
"Nobody knows how many pieces are in it because we keep adding things here and there," says the 72-year-old Schwebke, a retired Wisconsin farmer.
"This replica is set up the way I'd like to have a farm if I was still farming," Schwebke says. Built to 1/16-in. scale, the 18 1/2-ft. long by 8-ft. wide replica "more or less covers the 1970's on up." The only parts of the display that aren't hand-made are the 31 toy tractors, he adds.
The project started about seven years ago when Schwebke built the barn. It features an electrically operated, working bale elevator. Six years ago, Schwebke entered the barn in the Green County fair toy exhibit where it won a blue ribbon. That gave Schwebke the bug to build an entire farm from odds and ends he had around.
Soon, he added a house designed by his wife, Wauneda, and decorated by his daughter. It even has vinyl siding.
Next came a machine shed.
Now the farmstead also features a silo with electrically operated silage unloaders, grain augers and dryer that actually blows hot air. (Schwebke used an old hair dryer mounted underneath the hand-made grain dryer.) Also, the windmill's pumpjack is fully operative, thanks to a motor out of a junked VCR. The farm's light poles are made from old pool cues and lights are out of the dashboard of a junked car.
The numerous working parts all operate electrically using transformers, relays and time delay relays, notes Schwebke's son-in-law Paul Heimann. The farm is spread out on a table that sits atop six sawhorses. It folds in the middle for transport.
Schwebke says none of the display was particularly difficult to make. "It all seemed to come pretty easily," he says. "The good Lord had a hand in it, I suppose."
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Schwebke, P.O. Box 204, Juda, Wis., 53550 (ph 608 934-5377).

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Model Farm Started With One Toy Barn AG WORLD Ag World 18-6-19 When he was 8 years old, Roy Schwebke saw a toy barn that fascinated him so much he knew one day he'd build one of his own. Now, more than a half a century later, Schwebke is making the rounds at Midwest-ern farm shows with a farm replica that includes his prize-winning toy barn and a whole lot more. "Nobody knows how many pieces are in it because we keep adding things here and there," says the 72-year-old Schwebke, a retired Wisconsin farmer. "This replica is set up the way I'd like to have a farm if I was still farming," Schwebke says. Built to 1/16-in. scale, the 18 1/2-ft. long by 8-ft. wide replica "more or less covers the 1970's on up." The only parts of the display that aren't hand-made are the 31 toy tractors, he adds. The project started about seven years ago when Schwebke built the barn. It features an electrically operated, working bale elevator. Six years ago, Schwebke entered the barn in the Green County fair toy exhibit where it won a blue ribbon. That gave Schwebke the bug to build an entire farm from odds and ends he had around. Soon, he added a house designed by his wife, Wauneda, and decorated by his daughter. It even has vinyl siding. Next came a machine shed. Now the farmstead also features a silo with electrically operated silage unloaders, grain augers and dryer that actually blows hot air. (Schwebke used an old hair dryer mounted underneath the hand-made grain dryer.) Also, the windmill's pumpjack is fully operative, thanks to a motor out of a junked VCR. The farm's light poles are made from old pool cues and lights are out of the dashboard of a junked car. The numerous working parts all operate electrically using transformers, relays and time delay relays, notes Schwebke's son-in-law Paul Heimann. The farm is spread out on a table that sits atop six sawhorses. It folds in the middle for transport. Schwebke says none of the display was particularly difficult to make. "It all seemed to come pretty easily," he says. "The good Lord had a hand in it, I suppose." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Roy Schwebke, P.O. Box 204, Juda, Wis., 53550 (ph 608 934-5377).

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