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!