Fig. 297. Putting the Car Body Together. off flush with their edges. The floor thus formed was now turned over so that the scantlings lay uppermost and the sides of the car were then nailed on with their edges overlapping the ends of the floor boards. The sides, which were about 18 inches high, were each made of two boards firmly battened together. Great care was taken to securely nail both the flooring and the sides to the scantlings, because these scantlings were to carry the wheels of the car. The car body was completed by nailing on the end pieces which overlapped both the flooring and the side walls.
The Flanged Wheels.
Fig. 298. The Car Wheel.
Next we sawed out the wheels of our car. From a board of hardwood 3/4 of an inch thick four disks, 12 inches in diameter, were sawed out. Then from a board 1 inch thick four 9-inch disks were sawed out. We cut these disks in the same way as we had made the disks for our surveying rod (see page 78), by making cuts across corners and finally smoothing off the angles with a draw-knife. A half-inch hole was now drilled in the center of each disk. Then on each large disk a smaller one was placed, with the center holes of the two coinciding and the grain of one lying across the grain of the other. In this position they were firmly nailed together, making a wheel like those used on a railway car, with the small disc forming the tread of the wheel and the large disk serving as a flange.
The Car Axles.
For the car axles we bought four 1/2-inch bolts, 6 inches long, with two washers and two nuts for each bolt. In
