László Szegi was barely 5-6 years old when he was introduced to and immediately fell in love with the world of agricultural machinery thanks to his paternal grandfather. His enthusiasm did not fade as the years progressed: as an elementary school student, he already got to know agricultural tools in the machine yard of the producer cooperative, and thanks to his good manual skills, he was able to put what he saw on paper. This is how the first sketches were created, after which the first sample was completed within a short time.
Photo: Gábor Fehér
– The first pieces were made from dried corn stalks and Styrofoam. I colored them with watercolors – László Szegi recalls the history of his very first models, who still uses traditional tools and techniques in his work today, the individual parts get their final shape with the coordinated use of the hammer, welder and file.
As he says, he was an industrial apprentice in Seregélyes, trained as an agricultural machine mechanic, he also did locksmith work, and around this time he had the opportunity to create his models out of metal. Although he remembers that at first these were rudimentary mock-ups, the work process at that time was still a decisive part of the creation of pieces that are already receiving accolades today.
During his time in the military, he began building the first model, a SzK-4 type combine. He worked on it for four years, from 1974 to 1978, he even bent the chain links, one by one, from sheet metal. He won first prize at the Creative Youth competition. The model can still be operated with batteries. By this time, the corn stalks and Styrofoam had already been replaced by metal elements, and nowadays the precisely crafted models that perfectly reflect reality are made in our own home workshop – of course, as it is written in his big book, with a scale of 1:5, heart and soul. Over the past two decades, masterpieces that have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions have represented their creators in chapels, various meetings, small settlements and large cities alike.
Photo: Gábor Fehér
László Szegi proudly tells us that even children’s eyes often light up when they see a tractor at exhibitions. More than a dozen maquettes and models were made under the creator’s hands over the years: some of them required “only” one year’s work, and there were also those whose creation spanned two calendar years. Three of the Pusztaszabolcs models are among the exhibited objects of the Agricultural Machine Museum, enhancing the reputation of their maker.
The artist from Puszta Szabolcs not only builds, but also knows the history of the individual pieces well, his bookshelves are lined with a multitude of specialist literature. He has already built, among many others, the DUTRA UE-28 and DUTRA D4K tractor models, which are considered the best in their category. He has also made a threshing machine, of course, together with the tractor that works with it – it was a working model, driven by an electric motor.
László Szegi’s hobby is also recognized by his home town of Pusztaszabolcs: his models and models of agricultural machinery are part of the Pusztaszabolcs Valuables as local value, in the “industrial and technical solutions” category. The Pusztaszabolcs Heritage Preserver and Tradition Creator Foundation recently expressed its appreciation for the creator with the Valuer Award.
