Wrenching Tales
By Cindy Ladage

At this year’s Summer Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa, visitors had a chance to view hay equipment models by toy modeler and scratch builder Paul Radabaugh.

Paul is from Dubuque, Iowa. He has been going to the show since 2002 and sharing his rare hay equipment. Unlike many builders,
Paul creates haying and loader equipment such as Farmhand, Jay Hawk, over-the-top stackers, Buck Rakes and various types of loaders. His work is on display at the National Farm Toy Museum in 1/16-, 1/64- and 1/43-scales.

Paul Radabaugh began building hay models in 2000, when he wanted to recreate his cousin’s farm and add it to his train layout. “I wanted a Farmhand hay stacker. I saw one at a farm toy show, but I didn’t like it, so I got the materials from a hobby store and built one,” he explained.

Soon Paul started making several variations of the hay equipment, and when a friend asked to buy one, he was in business. The business bloomed when others saw Paul’s work and wanted a model for their shelf.

Paul’s love of hay equipment comes from his youth, when he would visit his cousin’s farm in North Dakota. From the time he was around seven, he went every year for five years and during the summer he would help out with the haying operation.

“Every summer when school was out, I was on the train to North Dakota,” he recalled. “On the first or second day on the farm, we raked hay and got out the Farmhand. When I first heard the name, I thought they meant a farmhand, a person. When I wasn’t raking hay, I was topping off the hay stack.”

Paul has been building models and selling them at the Dyersville summer show for years. Each year his work has become more detailed and he has been written up in several publications, including Toy Farmer and Farm Collector.

At this Summer Farm Toy Show his latest creation was a Farmhand that he had mounted on a Super 88 Oliver. He makes a variety of hay equipment, both horse-drawn and tractor-powered. For more information about Paul and his work, he may be contacted at 563-542-2035.