Note: This feature is in the Jan. TF 2017 issue.
For the first time in the history of the diorama contest at the National Farm Toy Show, the large scale division was comprised entirely of 1/32 scale entires. Jacco van den Broek of Zeven-Aspe, Germany, placed first in this competitive division. Farm toys in 1/32 scale are the most popular among European countires. Cathy Scheibe, publisher of Toy Farmer, therefore encouraged Jacco to enter the competition with his 1/32 scale display. There were a total of four quality entires in this division. Jacco was born and raised in the Netherlands. He is now a citizen of Germany and has no farming experience. He is emplyed as a company representative for LISEGA SE of Germany, where he works in the shipping department. He also works as an on-site service mechanic where needed. And Jacco is gluent in three languages. When quaeried about his inspiration to build the diorama, Jacco commented, "The suitcase ruled by diorama. I had to give careful thought on what would fit into a suitcase. I wanted the theme to be a typical German or Eurpoean farm during the mid-19880s. Buildings and large combines were not possible. Heavy wood or metal would be too heavy and could cuase custom issues. But a few tractors and equipment would work just fine." The foundation is 2-inch Styrofoam that measures 39.5-by-23.6 inches. It is in two pieces for transport in a suitcase. "On top of the Styrofoam, I began adding the detail. The diroama depicts several months in a farming operation. There are two stacks of forages covered with plastic and rubber tires. A tractor is shown hauling feed from them. A third stack is being made with a tractor and forage wagon. There is one Fendt and two Mercedes-Bentz tractors, along with forage-handling equipment of that era. At 90-100 horsepower, they were considered good-size tractos in their time," he noted. To read the rest of this story, subscribe to TF at: http://www.toyfarmer.com/subscriberenew.html or buy the online version at: http://toyfarmer.epubs.forumprinting.com/publication/?i=369826 |