Scale Model Gleaner Combine Built From Odds And Ends

Scale Model Gleaner Combine Built From Odds And Ends AG WORLD Ag World 23-1-24 A real parade favorite in southeastern Illinois is this scale-model Gleaner R62 combine built by Frank Battershell for his two grandsons, Jacob and Caleb Smith. "It's patterned after their dad's Gleaner and is not quite 1/4-scale," says Battershell of Robinson, Ill. "I built it because Jacob's so wild about farm equipment, always insisting on riding along with his dad in the combine during harvest." The combine took about two years to build out of odds and ends Battershell either had around the farm or purchased for the project. The combine is powered by a salvaged 14 hp Briggs & Stratton engine mounted inside the body of the combine and a 3-speed transmission out of an old riding lawn mower. Battershell built a frame for the 12-ft. long machine out of angle iron and fitted axles and wheels with salvaged turf tires on front and lawn mower tires on back. He covered the frame with 18-ga. sheet metal he got at a local heating and air conditioning shop. A 6-ft. grain auger built from 4-in. dia. stove pipe is fitted on the side of the machine. A shop-built, free-spinning, 6-ft. soybean head mounts on the machine in front of a cab. It was built from angle iron and steel. The grain tank holds a couple 5-gal. pails of beans for extra realism. "The hardest part was getting the rear-steer system correct," says Battershell. "I used a cable system made out of 1/4-in. dia. airline cable from the steering column back to the rear steering wheels." Since completing the combine over the summer of 1997, the machine has appeared in five area parades where it's become quite a sensation. "Reaction has been super," says Battershell. "It really draws a lot of attention." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Frank Battershell, 309 Park Forest, Robinson, Ill. 62454 (ph 618 546-1172).

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