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His Wedding Surprise Is Now A Parade Favorite
"With Caterpillar's acquisition of Claas, it will likely remain the first and only combine of its kind ever built," says Eric Wendel, Ridgeville, Ind., who last year built a model Claas combine out of wood as a wedding surprise for a custom-harvester cousin who uses the "real thing".
Wendel spent more than 735 ho
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His Wedding Surprise Is Now A Parade Favorite AG WORLD Ag World 21-5-24 "With Caterpillar's acquisition of Claas, it will likely remain the first and only combine of its kind ever built," says Eric Wendel, Ridgeville, Ind., who last year built a model Claas combine out of wood as a wedding surprise for a custom-harvester cousin who uses the "real thing".
Wendel spent more than 735 hours on the detailed, 1/6-scale model of the German-built Commandor 228 C.S. Mobile Trac. This summer, it appeared at 32 parades, four county fairs and even the Indiana State Fair.
Although it doesn't run, from a distance it looks like the real thing. Wendel built the replica in five sections so it can be quickly and easily assembled and disassembled to fit into his pickup.
He used 2 by 4's and plywood to build the frame of the model. The 30-in. sq. by 4-ft. high cab is fully carpeted with windshield, side panels, 26-in. wide by 4-ft. high door opening and round rear window made out of plastic storm window material. It's rigged with a steering wheel out of an old Gleaner combine, a brake and clutch out of a Deere combine, an electronic monitoring system out of a Massey 6600, a heater out of a New Holland combine and a C.B. radio.
The 5-ft. high by 3-ft. wide sides of the combine fold down to just 34 1/2-in. high on each side. The driver's side has actually a 5-in. dia., 10-ft. long grain auger - a cardboard tube donated by a local carpet outlet - ex-tending out at a 45 degree angle. A grain spout is fashioned from a 14-in. long plastic pretzel can and is painted black. The auger system has a flood light that runs off one of two 12-volt batteries mounted behind the driver's seat, as do 12 other lights including a yellow warning strobe.
A 3-ft. wide by 4-ft. long by 16-in. high grain tank atop the combine is filled with 3 bu. of soybeans for parades and fairs.
The combine ærides' on a pair of 77-in. long by 16-in. wide rubber tracks off a Case-IH skid steer loader. They're supported by 2 by 4's bolted to both sides of the trailer.
A rear-mounted "fuel tank", an authentic-looking paint job, and Claas's Teutonic-style lettering completed the project.
Wendel is now building a grain header for the combine.
Out-of-pocket expense was $1,860.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Eric C. Wendel, 3537 E. Co. Rd. 1000 N., Ridgeville, Ind. 47380 (ph 765 584-5019).
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