FORWARD TWP - When it comes to miniature farm toys, you might say Danny Hixon has a case on Case tractors.

Hixon has the first toy tractor he received as a child - and every other toy farm implement he has acquired since. His collection fills his basement display room.

"I don't drink beer," he said. "This is what I spent my beer money on over the past twenty years."

"Case is my favorite because I grew up on one," Hixon said of life on his grandfather's farm.

But Case implements are the first among equals when it comes to his collection of International, John Deere, Ford, Allis Chalmers and Oliver replicas displayed at his home.

Hixon said his collecting didn't get serious until after he married.

"My wife says nothing above the floor joists," he remarked about how his collection has been barred from filtering into the living areas of their home.

"You can't make someone else love your passion."

That's because it would seem the love of farm miniature replicas can be carried on the chromosomes.

Both his sons, Todd and Chad, share their dad's pleasure. The boys' growing collection is interspersed with their dad's.

"They could tell you which are theirs," said Hixon. "Chad knows exactly what's here."

What's here is here and and there throughout the large room. In glass cases and lining shelves, Hixon has more than 800 1/64th scale tractors, in addition to more than 300 1/16th scale and a couple of 1/8th scale.He's got every one, all 26, of the 1/16th scale, National Show Tractors. Only one model is issued per year, and you have to belong to the Toy Farmer association and spend a bit of coin on a toy you order a year in advance to get one.He also has a trophy in his display case adorned with a little gold tractor. The engraved plate bears the title of Todd Hixon's Field of Dreams Farm. The trophy is for a 1/64th scale display of a 1,000-cow dairy farm set up like a milking parlor. The display won first place in the youth division at the 23rd annual National Farm Toy Show division in November 2000.Todd was 14 years old at the time."The barn was the main display and it took us about a year to build the barn," said Hixon of the father-son project.The display also includes 13 silos, 14 grain bins, a 400-pig farm and a tractor dealership with more than 700 tractors parked in rows.The National Farm Toy Show, near the Ertl Toy Factory in Dyersville, Iowa, is a three-day event drawing more than 30,000 enthusiasts each year.Hixon said the show usually contains about 22 displays with hundreds of exhibitors. Last November was the first trip to the show for Chad, 11, and the Hixon display won a third-place plaque."Six of us rent a van and go to the National Toy Show every year," said Hixon.Wayne Cooper, a collector from Fombell, is one of the guys in the van yearly."(Wayne) says it's our hunting trip. We go hunting for toys," said Hixon.Charlie Baird of Beaver Falls also participates in the November treks."We go out there to buy," said Baird. "I tell them, (to) just keep the driver's seat open. They can stock the rest of it full."I've been collecting since I was a little kid and still have all but one that I had when I was a kid."Baird admits to having 3,000 toy farm implements."But I haven't counted them lately," Baird said. "My collection is larger (than Danny's), but I've got 20 years on him."Baird, who feels about Oliver tractors the way Hixon feels about Case models, thinks bringing the kids to the national event is great."It's something they can always do together," he said. "Chad is really into this with Danny.""My dad and me get to go to shows and stuff." Chad said. "We're always looking at the new tractors. I like to hang around him. We go when he wants to go, to shows he likes to go to, mostly in summer," said Chad.As for passing the passion through the genes, Chad said, "I'd like to keep (the collecting hobby) going for my children and pass it down."Hixon takes his toy farm implements and displays to shows in the area as well as the Midwest. In October 2004, five collectors get together and created a display for Brandon's Toy Show in Beaver Falls."We had more than 2,000 1/64th scale tractors" on display, said Hixon. "There are more collectors in the area than you'd think. About 400 collectors came to the Beaver Falls Show."The toys aren't inexpensive."About $35 to $40 is not really expensive for a toy tractor," said Baird. "I don't know if you could get anything for under $30" at 1/16th scale."There is a precision series that costs about $100 to $125. They are very detailed."Baird estimates a collector will often spend about $500 at show."But when you go to big shows like Dyersville, you see everything," he said.Size isn't everything for Hixon when it comes to tractors. He also has bought and restored about 20 child-sized pedal tractors. And then there's the life-sized, 1961 Case-O-Matic 730 that had belonged to his granddad, Don Hixon.Danny has restored it to tip-top shape and displays it at the Portersville Steam Show.Hixon is a member of the Case Collectors club and Toy Farmer club, whose publication he refers to as "the Bible of toy tractors."