Unlike its namesake, this baby Eagle hatched from an idea
instead of an egg and it runs instead of flying. This baby Eagle is
the project of Elden Myer, Miltonvale, Kansas. It was patiently
built in his shop to a half-scale model of a 13-25 Eagle tractor.
Work began in the fall of 1982 and finished in the summer of 1984
(except for the proper decals). Materials for the project were
recruited from many sources.
The power is supplied by the two front cylinders of a 1928
Chevrolet motor laid on its side with the valves at the back near
the operator. The crankshaft was fashioned from an eight
horse-power Cushman two cylinder engine with babbitted rod
bearings. The clutch is modeled after the Eagle original with three
expanding type shoes. There are brakes on the belt pulley and the
transmission drive. The eighteen inch flywheel used came from a
John Deere one and one half horsepower stationary engine. A flat
fan belt driven by a small pulley on the crankshaft side of the
flywheel runs the water pump to circulate water in the radiator
which came from a Kohler light plant. Myer used F12-IHC
transmission gears for the two forward speeds and one reverse
speed. The original hubs were cut out and replaced with hubs which
fit the shaft.
The four wheels were made to scale the rear ones being
twenty-four inches high and the front ones fifteen inches. Fenders
with raised ribbed lines and gear covers were designed and
constructed. A child’s pedal tractor seat served as pattern for
the reproduction seat. The completed Eagle is painted in red and
green, the original colors.
Myer has exhibited my Baby Eagle at several engine and traction
shows this past summer and is justly proud of his creation. The
Baby Eagle is Myer’s second scale model project. The first was
a forty-three percent model of an 18-35 Rumely tractor. Myer’s
address is: R.R. 1, Miltonvale, Kansas 67466.
