"Big John" Project Completed
A few weeks ago I posted my “Big John Phase One” article mainly to show off the great work Matt Minnichsoffer @coondog is doing with his 3D-printed tractors, in particular the one he produced for me, a gas-engined 3020 with a narrow front end. This model is the one we had on the farm in Iowa when I was growing up, back in the late 70's - and is still in the possession of my eldest brother down in Texas. Today I am posting the follow-up article with the completed tractor (mostly) and photos of the other three phases - weathering the tractor, scratch-building the manure loader, and scratch-building the Koehn cab.
So, for Phase 2 weathering, I did the following:
Replaced the factory JD yellow seat with a generic one (dad was more concerned with saving money than keeping things original)
Added a block heater on the right side of the engine (gotta have one of those in Iowa)
Added a worn, muddy floor mat in the operator area
Applied wear areas to the paint, and applied washes to replicate dirt and oil
Hand-brushed flat acrylic on the upper surfaces of the hood and fenders to take the shine off.
Before photography happened, I had already started the mount for the manure loader, so it's included in the Phase 2 photos. We often used the tractor in that configuration, so it's cool to have photos in that state. For fun, I added the umbrella at this stage. My brother reported that the original umbrella mount was still on the fender, and he uses it that way now that he has removed the Koehn cab.
For Phase 3, I constructed the manure loader entirely of Evergreen tubing, rods, and sheet. My brother helpfully sent me a raft of photos of the loader parts (piled in a heap behind his garage) along with a piece of lumber of known length for scale. These photos were very helpful in getting the dimensions right. After construction, the whole thing was painted with Testors enamel Flat Rubber, then over that was painted Vallejo Red acrylic. I'm not sure if this was the original “factory” color of the loader, as my dad was known to paint things barn red on occasion, so who knows. Current photos of the loader show no paint whatsoever after 50 years. Anyway, when the red was just dry, I used a wet paintbrush and went over the whole thing, producing the worn-off areas. Testors Flat Rust enamel was applied to the bucket, then Acrylic powders mixed with clear acrylic were applied over that. Modelling clay mixed with model railroad grass served as the dried “stuff” stuck to the bucket.
Phase 4 involved scratch-building the Koehn cab from Evergreen rod. For the roof, I carved a piece of basswood to shape, then used my handy-dandy vacu-form setup to vacu-form the finished item. The whole thing was painted white, and the “Koehn” logo for the decals was copied out of an advertising flier I found on the web. The only detail missing is some blue film for the roll-up windows in the cab. I'll get to that eventually, but I wanted to get on to other projects while I look for a good source for the film.
I think that is everything. I hope you enjoy my trip down memory lane with my “Big John” project.
That's pretty amazing. A very realistic result.
Thank you, Tom! @tcinla
Great scratchbuilding to add to the 3D print, Robert (@robgenev665). You have done a really great job creating a model of something like this.
Thank you, George @gblair
Nice work, Robert, love the umbrella.
Thank you, George! @chinesegeorge
Looks amazingly real.
Thank you, George! @georgeswork
Absolutely amazing, Robert!
Thank you, Spiros! @fiveten
This has been a wonderful project, Robert @robgenev665
Very realistic.
Once you have finished the roll-up windows, please share it with us.
Thanks, John! I will make sure to share the completed windows. @johnb
@robgenev665 this is SO great to see complete. I truly love all the personal details and the weathering is spot on for a well used horse. Your scratch-building is superb. Both the loader and cab turned out great. I’m glad is was able to provide you the base for this piece of family history. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Matt! @coondog It was a blast to build, and getting my brothers involved in the project was good too. I am really pleased with the outcome. I really enjoy this sort of scratch-building. Thanks again for sharing the benefits of your tractor-building with me.
Another great result, Robert, courtesy of your skills and knowledge of the subject. I've got some pics of the farm shop hydraulic top link I'd mentioned some time back, will try to get them to you.
Thanks, Dave! @yodens I look forward to the photos.
Awesome work! We had this tractor when I was a kid growing up in the Midwest, gas powered 3020 with the narrow front end, and the eight speed (IIRC) transmission. Brings back a lot of memories! I spent a fair number of hours on that tractor. Well-done, you really captured the detail!
Thanks for the comments, Greg! I always enjoyed driving ours, back in the day. Glad my article brought back good memories for you.