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By: Jason Rhodes
Those are the four words which best sum up the Red Addiction Pulling Team. The team is owned and operated by the Rohlfing brothers out of Washington, Missouri. When you look over their International 966 Puller, there are several things which stand out. Aside from the beautiful design, excellent engineering and attention to detail, you will notice the "Pulling In Memory of Dad" decals. After just a few conversations with the Rohlfing brothers, you will quickly gain a sense for what a great and respected man he was. It is obvious that his memory still lives on very strong in their pulling team however.
Rick Rohlfing originally got in touch with me over a year ago. He had inquired about possibly having a custom model built of their Red Addiction 966 Puller. We tossed around some figures and ideas, and in the end laid out an order for one scratch built 966 Puller, two custom 966 pullers and three scratch built pulling sleds. He wanted a model of their puller and a pulling sled for himself and each of his brothers. He had also inquired about more pullers as well for team sponsors and friends, but the order was already a little large for my operation as it was.
I began building the scratch built 966 puller early last spring. It was a real challenge as I had never built a pulling tractor from the ground up, one piece of hand fabricated steel at a time. Slowly but surely, the rear end came together, followed by the front frame and axels. Most of the build went pretty smooth until it came time to build the hood. In the end, I would scratch build 5 different hoods for the tractor before I had one I was satisfied with. Remaking parts like that can really tack a lot of hours on to a model. I never charge for those hours though. I see no need to charge for a part which wasn't made up to standards.
After the third shot at building a hood was realized as a failure, I decided to start building the first pulling sled. I was careful to make patterns of certain complex pieces on paper, so I could just trace them for the following two pulling sleds I needed to build. This first pulling sled, which would be mated with the scratch built 966 puller had a little more detail than the second and third. It featured a nice big Cummins motor cast by the Sharps, along with working LED lights. I originally used standard bulbs in the setup, but converted them all to LED's as I became more educated about them.
Once the pulling sled was finished, I decided to give another shot at building an acceptable looking hood for the scratch built 966 puller. The hood was extremely difficult for me to fabricate for the puller. There were a lot of areas where measurements had to be perfect, and everything had to line up just right. It was hard to keep all those things in check, while maintaining the true look that the hood should have.
Upon realizing that the fourth hood was also a bust, I started to build the two custom 966 pullers which would be for Rick's brothers. I have built lots of custom pullers, but never had I built one that required this much fabrication and detailing. The two custom pullers were built from the older Ertl 66 series castings. I had just less than seventy three hours into the custom pullers alone by the time they were finished.
Now that the custom pullers were finished, I decided to build the other two pulling sleds. I was really starting to become disappointed that I couldn't get that hood right for the scratch built 966 puller. Usually when
I try to fabricate something from steel; it turns out right on the first or second try. I was really getting discouraged that I had built four hoods, and they were all no good. I learned something from each failed attempt though, and that is what kept me going.
The last two pulling sleds didn't have working LED lights, or a detailed cast engine. I did try to change the style of each of them a little bit. I don't like to build identical models, as it seems boring to me and my customers alike. Each sled had different details here and there which made them a little special. The pulling team is sponsored by Budweiser, so I made a little cooler with a six pack of Budweiser in it for the third pulling sled. This was of course to be enjoyed once the pull was finished :)
Now that the pulling sleds and custom pullers were finished, I knew I had to get back to work on the unavoidable. Finally on my fifth attempt at building a hood for the scratch built 966, I had some success.
Everything seemed to fit right, as well as look right. The hood even worked the existing hinge system I had built over six months before. Now that I had a working hood, I could build the side shields, and add the rest of the finishing touches before paint.
I had a lot of help from some very nice folks throughout the project. Rick Rohlfing sent me lots and lots of incredibly detailed pictures of the tractor. He took pictures of it when it was tore down last winter, and as it was reassembled. That helped tremendously with the build. I also had a lot of help from David Chan. He was the fellow who educated me on LED's and provided them to me at an excellent price. He was incredibly helpful, and right on the ball. If you have any plans to use LED's in your models in the future, I highly recommend you contact him at david@etechkits.com
All while the Red Addiction order was being built, the real pulling team was having an incredible season. They had very impressive performances at almost every pull they attended, usually taking home the top spots in each class they pulled in. It really isn't hard to see why, when you see the close up pictures of their tractor. They have put a lot of time and dedication into making the 966 the pulling machine it is. The season was not without it's woes however. Toward the end of the season, the blower went out twice on the puller. When they removed the side shields and opened the hood on the track, the main comments received were
"This tractor is too good looking to be out here doing this". The blower went out twice toward the end of the season, causing a couple missed hooks, and last place finishes. Even with these troubles, they still finished the season in first place for one class, and a very close second place in their other class.
I have built a lot of pullers since I began in this hobby five years ago. This was by far my favorite and most detailed of any of them though. I learned a lot of new building tricks, and made some new friends. I am really looking forward to seeing how the team does in 2005. With the inspiration of the "Memory of Dad", it is sure to be an impressive season for the "Red Addiction Pulling Team"
Jason Rhodes
T&J Tractors
www.modeltractors.com
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