-Farm News Photo by Karen Schwaller
The DeKam brothers stand by their work that adds up to thousands of hours of tedious craftsmanship and brainstorming. Shown here are twin brothers Jimmy DeKam (left) and Jerry DeKam (right).

SPENCER — Anyone walking into the Depot Building at the 2022 Clay County Fair to see the extravagant train display got another surprise — an enormous 1/25-scale model farm display.

It measures 8 feet by 24 feet — two acres by 1/25 scale — and was built over the course of 47 years (so far) by now 68-year-old twin brothers, Jimmy and Jerry DeKam from Ruthton, Minn.

“It started when we were kids when someone gave us a model car kit for a Christmas present, so we got into cars and pickups,” said Jerry DeKam. “Then the Ertl company had plastic model kits of four tractors in that same scale, so we started building equipment to go with that when we were about 20 years old.”

Before long, the brothers began building tractors like those that belonged to neighbors and family members, and it grew from there.

“Dad had a D-17 and a Case 1070, which he later sold to my uncle; my uncle had an 8N Ford, and my grandpa had a John Deere GP Wide Tread,” said DeKam, adding that those tractors are in their display.

-Farm News Photo by Karen Schwaller
THE 1/25-scale model farm display was a hidden treasure at the 2022 Clay County Fair, made by Jimmy and Jerry DeKam of Ruthton, Minn. This was their 10th show this year.

The tractors and other implements are built out of plastics and wood — most pieces hand-made, with only a smattering of actual model kit pieces or toys in the lot.

Some of the machinery they have hand-crafted include a John Deere 4020 that took 180 hours to build; an Allis Chalmers XT190 that took 148 hours to create; a Case 7240 that took 308 hours to make; a John Deere 8410 that took 650 hours to craft; a Case-International 485 that took 636 hours to build, and a motor home that has a chassis from kit and a scratch-made body, which took a whopping 1,050 hours to make.

Almost every tractor has been “scratch made.”

DeKam said he and his brother follow a process to make each tractor, for example.

“I start with the rear axle and follow it up to where the crank shaft and the transmission go, then line it up and build off of that,” he said.

-Farm News Photo by Karen Schwaller
CADE RHOADES, 3, and his mother, Emily Rhoades, were just two of thousands who came through the Clay County Fairgrounds and found this hidden treasure — a 1/25 scale model farm display made by Jerry and Jimmy DeKam of Ruthton, Minn.

He said when the brothers build out of plastic they use polystyrene.

“It’s flat stock, so you can cut shapes out of it and glue pieces together,” he said. “To make ‘glass’ for the windows in buildings we use CD case covers and cut it to size and shape.”

The grain bin is made of wood.

“(We do) pie-shaped cuts for the roof with a rib glued over the joint,” he said. “It’s eighth-inch Masonite, but I had to cut a kerf on the inside so it would bend, then there’s a little stud weld in there on top and bottom to hold the circular shape together.”

The round bales are made of Styrofoam.

-Farm News Photo by Karen Schwaller
This gambrel roof barn in 1/25 scale took the DeKam brothers a total of 769 hours to complete. The silo took dozens more hours.

And that’s just a small sampling of the many pieces in the display. It also features a hand-made windrower, a couple of combines — with grain heads; a skid steer loader, pay loader, school bus, semis with trailers, fifth-wheel camper and a building site that measures to

scale with all of the 1/25-scale machinery and equipment.

The full round corn crib is something the brothers are especially proud of.

“We broke up around 3,500 toothpicks to make it look like there was corn in there,” said DeKam.

The ranch house took 702 man hours; the granary took 125 hours, the scaled 50-foot-by 100-foot machine shed and 30-foot-by-40-foot machine sheds took 575 hours; the cattle shed took 84 hours, the

-Farm News Photo by Karen Schwaller
The DeKam brothers wanted to make the corn crib look like it was full, so they broke around 3,500 toothpicks to replicate corn in the crib.

40-foot-by-60-foot machine shed took 114 hours — one of the machine sheds includes an add-on office area, which also features a restroom … with a toilet.

The display features a gambrel roof barn that took 769 hours to construct, and the grain bins and dryer holding bins took about 380 hours to create. It also features hand-made grain augers and elevators.

The display features two houses — one of which is a replica of the one they lived in while growing up.

DeKam said when they build something they sometimes divide up the tasks. One of the latest pieces they collaborated on was an excavator.

“I built the body and the boom and the sticks for the hoe and (Jimmy) did the undercarriage and the tracks and all of that,” said DeKam.

With supply chain issues, DeKam said they have been lucky enough to be able to find whatever they need to add on to the display.

“If we can’t find it, we make it,” he said. “We have to make a jig once in a while to get stuff to line up, but that’s about it.”

DeKam said it took the brothers four hours to set up the display at the fair, and because of the long, narrow space they had in which to work, they made some changes to the layout.

SHOWING THEIR SKILLS

“We’ve only been showing (the farm display) since 2013, but we did 10 shows so far this year,” said DeKam. They set the display up at other fairs and toy shows around northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota as well.

The DeKam brothers grew up on a farm but decided to go into the construction business for a living on their own, working together just the two of them all of their lives. But their hearts were always with the farm.

He said of the reason they do this, “It’s something to do — this is what we do to relax. We add something new every year — the school bus, excavator and grain wagon are the newest pieces this year,” he said.