Swather Features Moving Parts

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"I have always enjoyed building toys rather than collecting," said Leif Sperling, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. "It brings out the creativity in your and it makes you think really hard."

Leif's latest project, a 1/16 scale, 24-foot International 75 pull-type swather, took him a year and a half to build. The model has ground-driven moving parts. The reel, knife and two canvases all operate, and it can go from field position to transport position. It includes approximately 100 pieces.

"It was a big challenge. I think the hardest part was trying to get all the moving parts to work," he said. "My dad had the 21-foot swather, and I remember riding with him and listening to the knifes and watching the canvases bring the crop to the middle. He told me once swathing was his favorite."

Leif has always like Ertl implements with ground-driven moving parts, such as the balers and hay rakes, so he wanted to make a similar swather.

"Because the swather has quite a few components to move, I decided to make the hitch section quite heavy by using solid metal instead of tubular metal. This way, the single wheel under this section wouldn't have a problem moving them and wouldn't drag. I had to be careful to make sure all the belts I used weren't too tight, and things moved quite easily. I used good quality rubber bands to move the knife section and the canvasses, and a large O ring to move the reel," he described.

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