TRACTOR PART III - BASE

Now that you’ve completed both boxes that will form the tractor’s body, a base needs to be prepared shaped something like this:

Tractor base

Use a piece of 11 mm thick OSB3 board that measures approximately 1 metre x 50 cms to make the base.

The easiest way to mark out the base is to put both your completed boxes on top of the OSB sheet then draw round using a thick pencil.

Marking up the shaped base

Inset the smaller front box around 7 cm from the outer edges of the larger box. Cut out the inset sections.

You should now have an OSB shape that looks like this:

Shaped base

Add small blocks at each corner underneath your base to act as feet. 

Cut small square blocks to use as feet for your base

Screw from above, remembering to use short screws that won’t poke through the other side of the feet.

Screw feet into position

Underside of base

Paint with 2 coats of black paint and varnish all sides.

Decorate base with paint & varnish

TRACTOR PART II - FRONT BOX

‘Can you hear that?’ says the other half, a hopeful lilt to his voice.  

In our house, this question generally translates into the following – is that the sound of the kettle boiling?  Meaning someone has to drop what they’re doing to oblige.  Since I’m not the one cutting or clamping bits of MDF then I guess that means me. 

As I wait for the ancient hot water God to miraculously materialise two mugs of the steaming elixir of life from a small round perforated bag, the other half is busy making the second box for our tractor.

To construct the smaller front box or as I call it the engine block, you will need 5 x MDF panels. Two side panels (45 cm wide x 40 cm high) and two end panels (34 cm wide x 40 cm high). A fifth piece measuring 45 cm long x 36 cm wide will be used to make a lid for the box.

Gather all pieces for the front box

Before assembling this cube, I’ve sketched out a design on one of the end panels for a decorative grill. This will be made up separately and glued to the front. More about that later on.

Design for the front panel

As before, make up your box, reinforcing the interior with battens if required.  If you are adding battens then make sure that your corner pieces do not go all the way to the top of the box.  You'll see why when we look at making the lid for this box.

Making the second box

Reinforced interior

You should now have two boxes which when pushed together should form the basis of your tractor’s body.

With a bit of imagination this could be a tractor

TRACTOR PART I - BACK BOX

Rather than starting with the shaped base, begin by constructing each of the box sections, starting with the larger back box.

You should have 4 x MDF panels for this part of the project. Two side panels (55 cm x 50 cm) and two end panels (47.8 cm x 50 cm).

Cut out a section of the rear box panel big enough to allow a small boy to step into the tractor safely. We’ve made our gap size about 28 cm wide x 23 cm high, rounding off the internal corners.

Draw a rear door to cut out

Carefully cut out section using a jigsaw

Sand all edges 

Screw panels together to form a cube.  Use long clamps to help keep a grip on all sides whilst you assemble your box.  

Use long clamps to help secure things while you work

Making the rear box

It's at this point we realised that 12 mm thick MDF was perhaps not the best material for this project because even using thin wood screws, the panel edges had a tendency to split so the interior of the box has been reinforced with battens.  Suggest 18 mm thick MDF.

Reinforced interior with battens

For that ‘rivetted’ effect, you can use domed headed screws to secure the panel edges together.

Using dome headed screws to look like rivets

Your completed rear tractor structure should now look like the above box.

HOW TO MAKE A TRACTOR

My gorgeous little grandson is tractor mad. No surprise seeing as how he lives in deepest darkest Dorset where tractors probably outnumber residents of some villages.

We have a growing fleet of the things in the toy box because according to the munchkin you can never have enough tractors.

How many tractors is that?

So as his third birthday approaches, the creative talents and tools of Nana and Grandad are to be put to new uses to make a children’s sit in tractor. 

Never too old to build tractors

If you want to make your very own tractor, then here’s how we went about it.

Using the principles and materials employed to make our tortoise enclosure (see previous posts), the same approach is being used to fashion our wooden tractor.

The tractor design largely revolves around a 2 box 12 mm thick MDF structure – the first box big enough for a small lad to sit in (55cm L x 50 cm W x 50 cm H) and the second box or engine block smaller in size (45 cm L x 36 cm W x 40 cm H). Both boxes sit on a sturdy piece of OSB3 board.

A practical addition to the engine block box will be a removable lid to allow this part of the tractor to be used for toy storage.

This tractor will also feature a small seat, steering and decorative wheels. Blimey! Who do you think we are – John Deere? The other half has that look about him that says ‘this time she’s really gone barking mad’. I’d better not fail to live up to expectations!

Pencil poised, cuppa in hand, a few banging metal tunes in the background (this week it’s Ghost’s new Skeleta album) and hey presto, a tractor sketch emerges that looks something like this:

Here's my tractor sketch plan

Back at the timber mill. Cooeee! Lads, it’s me again. You’ll never guess what we’re making this time!