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