LOUISVILLE, Ky. – For as long as there have been tractors and farm equipment, there have been toys to mimic them. And the biggest sector of collectors of these miniatures are farmers themselves.

“Farmers are latching on to these replicas as they want to replicate what equipment they grew up on,” said Jeff Moore, owner of Moore’s Farm Toys of Dresden, Ohio. “For these farmers they may have a favorite tractor from their childhood. Sometimes we don’t have the specific model that they grew up with, so I customize them.” 

Moore will have a large booth at this year’s National Farm Machinery Show, selling tiny farm replicas at the 1/64 scale. He’s sold his miniatures at the show the past several years.

“Even more, farmers want a model of tractor that their father or grandfather once used,” Moore said. “A lot of people will come up to me, see one of my replicas, and say ‘hey, my grandpa drove one of those at one time.’ The older generation and older farmers are into this big time. Unfortunately, few kids are collecting the replica of older farm equipment. Even my own grandchildren are this way.”

Moore himself became hooked on miniature farm toys after attending his first toy show in 1981 in Lafayette, Ind.

“It was at this time I was hooked on toys,” Moore said. “I started customizing tractors and combines to make them more realistic. I started to sell them at local toy shows. I knew then there was no turning back. The buck had bitten.”

Moore’s Farm Toys was born in 1994 out of Moore’s idea to create life-like miniature replicas of farm equipment and accessories for the toy collector community. The idea has grown into a family business that now operates out of the building that was once his father’s farm equipment dealership.

“My first customizing was a Massy Ferguson 760 combine, which was followed by many more,” he said. “I soon learned the demand was much greater than I had ever anticipated. I also learned scratch building was a lot of work and very time consuming. It was at this time I decided the pieces could be made in larger volume if I had a spin casting machine, so in 1994, with a spin casting machine in hand, I set up shop in dad’s barn.”

In Moore’s workshop in Dresden are shelves towering with molds, workstations for assembly and detail work, and a spin casting machine among numerous materials and tools for the job. New parts are prototyped in plastic first and then created in brass to use as a master. The master is pressed into a fresh mold to create a cavity for the liquid zinc to pour into. The process of the metal transitioning from a solid to a melted liquid and flowing into the mold takes only a few minutes. After removing the mold from the spin casting machine and letting it cool for just a bit the parts are then separated. Anywhere from two to 24 parts can be formed into a single mold. There is little waste because what metal isn’t used in the final product is re-melted and used again. With just some quick cleanup and sanding the project is ready to be painted, powder coated or decaled.

“We moved into the 21st Century with the addition of our own website,” Moore said. “This features over 1,000 model implements and a full line of parts to customize one’s own toys.”

A huge part of their business is through wholesale to businesses throughout the country and parts of Canada. Sales from their website, toy shows and the National Farm Machinery Show keep them busy.

Their offerings vary from unique toy tractors with 100 percent of their metal parts cast right in their shop to the individual custom modules created to enhance an existing toy. Some of their accessories that can be found featured in their displays include three-point hitches, custom trailers, Degalman blades, sickle bar mowers, hay shoots and loader bucket forks. Just about any accessory imaginable can be found at Moore’s Farm Toys.

However, the options to customize toys does not stop there. Moore’s Farm Toys makes parts for trucks like ladder racks, dump bed kits, blades and hitches. Special requests from miniature replicas of commercial vehicles have been completed as well.

Moore’s father was a farm equipment dealer who sold Allis-Chalmers, Massy Ferguson, Deutz and then Kubota.

“Dad sold farm machinery and we had many toy tractors and other toys growing up, and real ones to play with,” he said. “We carpet-farmed and played in garden sandboxes with them.”

Moore started working in the family business before he even graduated from high school in 1975. “I was working in our family’s dealership, Moore’s Equipment, as a mechanic, parts manager and later sales, selling real tractors and equipment,” he remembered.

He did that full time. Then his first son was born. Moore started collecting farm toys, not knowing where it would lead to in the future.

“I started a toy collection for him and a few years later I started customizing some of them,” Moore said. “Toys back then didn’t have much detail, so I wanted to make them look similar to real ones. We changed wheels and tires, made lights, mirrors, railings, pedals, shift levers and such. My main interest in the ‘80s were combines. It took a lot of work to customize one, but we took many orders for them.” 

Demand for the toys was so great by 1995 that he hired his first full-time employee. Six months later he hired the second, and two part-time employees.

“We enjoyed making something others haven’t,” Moore said. “And we enjoy building items for our customers. Many of them send us pictures of a tractor, truck and more and we build them a detailed model of it. We’ve come a long way. We feel our detailing parts and kits have made other toy manufacturers step up and do high-detailed models.”

When toymaker Ertl came out with 1/64-scale farm toys, their popularity soared, and Moore switched over to that scale.

“With 1/64-scale toys, you can make a realistic display with barns and bins in a smaller area,” Moore said. “Without kits, you can make the toys more realistic, too.”

Moore will be on hand at this year’s show, exhibiting a wide array of ‘vintage’ miniature tractors to browse or purchase.