TRACTOR PART IV - FRONT GRILLE

A bit of real-world tractor inspiration with a fun night out watching Chichester’s recent Christmas tractor run. Oooh look! There’s a John Deere! 

Merry Xmas from John Deere

And another one ….

Crikey everyone's got a John Deere

About a hundred tractors later, my feet are frozen and I’ve seen enough tractors to take me into the next millennia. 

Is that a tractor?

It would be great fun to drive about in a tractor. Perhaps I’ll make that my next car as I could probably squeeze a smaller sized tractor onto the driveway.

My next car?

Meanwhile, back in the tractor lab something’s brewing and it’s not Tetley’s.

To add a bit of 3D detail to our creation, I’m fashioning a decorative front grille using some pieces of thin plywood and pine bead.

Design for the front grille

Cut out a squarish shape the overall size of your grill and paint black (2 coats).

Cut out individual pieces of pine beading in keeping with your design then paint these in metallic silver (2 coats).

Pine bead mouldings cut and painted silver

When everything is dry, carefully stick the beading into position onto the painted ply square as per your design leaving enough space at the top for a couple of lights.

Begin with the 3 vertical pieces

Stick long horizontal bits on bottom

And the top to form two squares

Glue the smaller horizontal bits to both sides

Evenly spaced out with both sides aligned

Tidy up any glue splodges with some black paint applied with a fine artists brush.

Tractor lights

I’ve picked up a pair of push on/off battery-operated lights from one of those High Street discount stores for a couple of quid which I’ll add to the top of the grille as an interactive feature.

Lovely tractor stickers you can buy online

To complete the design authenticity, the other half has acquired some John Deere stickers (available online) which I plan to use on the front and sides of the tractor as a finishing touch.

Finished grille should look like this

I feel it’s always these little decorative touches that can really make your creation stand out from the crowd.

Leave your front grille to one side as we'll come back to it later on once the tractor body has been painted.

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!

WOOD PANELS - SECOND SECTION

With fruit cake coated in marzipan and waiting to be iced, it’s time to panel again. After all, why have one job on the go when you can juggle 2, 3 or 4 balls at the same time! I tried juggling once. Needless to say, I had about as much hand-eye co-ordination as an epileptic octopus which pretty much rules out a travelling circus career so I guess I’ll have to stick to cakes, crafting or blogging.

The second part of our wood panelling project involves turning a corner. Not something the current Government can claim to have achieved since they came to power, maybe we’ll be luckier.

Ha - not one wall area but two to be done

Applying the same methodology as previously but this time working across 2 wall spaces. Wow! Yep, not one but two walls simultaneously. Good skills as the kids would say.

Due to the fiddly nature of this next part of the project, I’ve girded my loins, said a few prayers and put on my lucky pants.

Starting at the bottom, take both horizontal pieces and hold them in place with one section slightly overlapping the other to form an external corner.

Dry fit the two bottom horizontal pieces

The corner should be perfectly aligned at the join, all edges nice and flat. No sticky out bits. Glue into place then leave to dry for about 20-30 minutes.

Align all corner edges

Next add all the verticals, working from the outside to the corner edge. I’ve overlapped the two middle vertical pieces to match the corner exactly of the bottom horizontal bits. Again, glue then off for a cuppa.

Add verticals from outside to corner

Finally add the top bars, again creating that external corner.

Add the top horizontal bars

Well, that went better than expected. No corner crisis in sight so I can now add the panel mouldings then caulk/sand/prime everything before giving the plumber a buzz as the corridor radiator needs removing before the next section can be worked on.

Fit panel mouldings to inner edge of panel squares

Two coats of primer

WOOD PANELS - FIRST SECTION

Starting our panel project with what I feel are going to be the easiest sections, those around the bathroom door all of which are largely big rectangles.

First wall section to panel

With pre-cut MDF pieces quick progress can be made in putting up these sections.

Begin by dry fitting. Place your horizontal/vertical pieces into position against the wall to double check measurements and get a feel for what your panel squares will look like.

If there are no alterations needed then the next step is fix them permanently to the wall otherwise nip, tuck, sand as required. As our walls are relatively flat having been plastered only recently then I’m moving straight onto adhesives. Guns out, CT1 to the ready! This stuff really does stick anything to any surface.

Bottoms up! Start by sticking the lower most horizontal piece above the skirting followed by each side vertical and lastly the top horizontal bar. 

Start from the bottom and work upwards

Add verticals to each end

Finally add the top horizontal bit

Press each bit firmly into place for around 5-10 minutes to give the CT1 a chance to bond. With a nice flat wall there should be no unsightly gaps. Use panel pins to secure if adhesive isn’t enough to keep it in place. Leave to dry.

Now originally, I primed each piece individually before sticking to the wall but that seemed like an almighty time consuming faff so from now on, I’m priming in situ.

OMG!  This is taking forever...

Once everything has dried solidly, time to add the panel mouldings to the inside edge of the central square. I’m using a 9 mm barrel moulding – the same thickness as my MDF so that it doesn’t stick out.

Panel mouldings typically come in lengths that are 2.4 metres long.  To work out how many lengths of moulding you'll need for your panel inserts, add up all the linear measurements of each square to arrive at a total length then divide by 2.4.  Remember to include a bit extra to allow for mitred cuts.  I usually round everything up as my thinking is that more is better than not enough.

Available from Covers Builders Merchants, Chichester

Small but perfectly formed

You’re using this moulding to essentially create a picture frame that sits inside your panel square. To do this, a mitre box is needed as all corners will need cutting at an angle to form a nice tidy joint.

Use a mitre box for perfect corner joints

Cut the moulding to the required measurement then mitre each end. Finely sand any ragged edges then dry fit into position. Repeat until you have four panel strips to form your frame. When you are satisfied that each strip fits neatly into position, glue into place. Leave to dry.

Dry fit then stick into place

Next. Inspect your handiwork closely and fill any hairline gaps with decorator’s caulk. Leave to dry for a few hours or overnight then sand caulked joints or any uneven areas with fine grit sandpaper.

Ready to prime

Once everything is as soft as a baby’s bottom, apply 2 coats of primer to wall and wood. I’ve used some leftover Zinsser BIN 1-2-3 for this applied with a small gloss sponge roller and brush.

Looking good so far

Stand back for visual assessment. Does anything look wonky or in need of TLC other than you that is? Nope. Great! 

Well, that’s the first bit done. And now dear readers, I’m swapping pine bead for pinny as it’s time to head to the kitchen to throw together the family fruit cake for Crimbo.  OMG - only 2 weeks to go!