Small tractors make big collection

REARDAN-It isn't Willy Wonka's Chocolate Room, but it is just as colorful and satisfying. Instead of Everlasting Gobstoppers or Laffy Taffy, you will find Ed Brommer's collection of model farm machinery displayed on shelves from floor to ceiling.

The collection, numbering in the hundreds, is jaw-dropping, but discovering that Brommer created many of the pieces himself makes one realize they're in the presence of a master artisan.

Brommer, 85, was born in Reardan and has lived there his entire life. In 1955, he met his wife Marianne during their senior year in high school.

"She was the favorite of all my girlfriends," Brommer said.

In 1963, he and Marianne took over the farm he grew up on.

In the early 1980s, Marianne suggested he find a hobby to occupy his down time during the winter months. What kind of hobby? He was unsure.

For Christmas one year, Marianne gave him a model of a 1953 green Chevy pickup. That was all it took. He'd always been around farm machinery, so he began to collect model trucks and tractors, mostly those made between 1914-1980.

There were few available to buy, and those he found he couldn't afford, so he started making his own from scratch.

"My collection takes up a lot less room than real tractors," Brommer said.

Brommer's unique creations are born from a keen eye and steady hands. He does not depend on plans, drawings or calculations. Instead, he studies pictures of the machines he is building and relies on his memory to fill in details.

"When I started farming my first two tractors were a Caterpillar D4 and a Massey-Harris combine," Brommer said. "I never claimed to be a diesel mechanic, but I was a good welder."

Instead of a welding torch, he uses a soldering iron to construct projects from sheets of brass and tin, and brass rods and angle channel. On one tractor, he used pieces of his father's handkerchief as a sunshade.

He estimates spending up to $75 on materials for most of the tractors he's built.

One of his favorite projects is a Gleaner N5 combine. He made all 870 pieces that were used in its construction.

"I started in September and got it done just before harvest, eleven months later," Brommer said. "Unfortunately, I had a breakdown when the spring in the header broke. I had to bring it back into the shop for repairs."

He estimates the brass for that model set him back $150.

Currently, he's working on a logging truck. After that, a manure spreader.

"I never had one when I farmed," Brommer said. "Back then we just piled the stuff up. I found a neat picture of one so thought I'd better make it."

Brommer can be found in his shop, listening to country music as he works to expand his collection, sometimes 2-3 hours a day.

"It's a good way to spend idle time," he said. "It allows me to keep farming, but on a small scale."

Marianne added, "And it keeps him out of my hair."

When not tinkering in the shop, Brommer spends time at the R-Store, "meeting with the village elders to solve the world's problems."

Mostly, Brommer says, they just "sit around and chew the fat," and reminisce about how they farmed in the olden days. An eavesdropper may think they're just spinning a yarn, but he's got the collection to prove it.