A SET OF CARS.
Procure a stick of wood of any length, and an inch and a half square at the ends. Saw it into pieces six inches in length, being careful to cut it evenly, that the blocks may be rectangular in form. Round off the tops slightly at the edges and paint them brown, then give the sides and ends a good coating of yellow.
If you have no oil paints, it would be a good investment to get a few tubes, as they are not expensive, and are of invaluable assistance in adding beauty and naturalness to many things a boy can make. For the cars, a tube of chrome yellow, one of Indian-red, and one of black would be needed, but as those are not over seven or eight cents apiece the whole cost would be small. The windows can perhaps be most conveniently put on by “stencilling.” To do this, cut a piece of stout paper or thin cardboard the exact size of the side of the car, and mark the windows on it in their proper places (see Fig. 2). Then cut out the windows thus drawn with the point of a sharp penknife. Catch the card firmly upon the surface by driving two or three fine pins through it into the wood. Finally, with your brush moderately filled with the black paint, cover all the yellow surface exposed through the openings; then remove the card very carefully and one side of your car will be complete. After painting the whole set, another long time will be needed for drying. During the meantime obtain a few screw-eyes and hooks, and, when perfectly dry, screw a hook into the left and an eye into the right end of each car, join them into a train, and you will find you have a strong set of cars with which your little brother can play to his satisfaction, without a fear of breaking. The locomotive is more difficult to make, but with a little care any boy of ten can be quite certain of success.
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THE TOY LOCOMOTIVE.
The thin ends of a common soap-box afford very good material for the base of this locomotive, while the end of a curtain-roller makes a capital boiler. The cab can be cut from a cigar-box, and a button-mold will do for the boiler-head. First cut from the thicker wood a base in shape like Fig. 1, and seven inches long by one and a half wide; with a jackknife bevel it on either side of the pointed end to correspond to the shape of the pilot, as shown in the cut. Saw the roller even at either end just four inches in length. Next cut from a solid block of wood a smoke-stack three inches high and an inch in diameter across the top. The cab is cut from the cigar-box wood, and consists of a front like a, two side-pieces like b, and a top like that seen in Fig. 1; round off the edges of the top to give it a slightly convex surface like the tops of the cars. Now, with brads, fasten these three parts together. Then with a long, slender brass screw fasten the button-mold and smoke-stack on front of the boiler. The screw should have as large a head as it is possible to find, and should be long enough to extend half an inch or more into the round section of wood or boiler. Cover the whole, excepting the cab, with two thick coats of black paint, being careful that the first is perfectly dry before the second is put on. After the blackened surface is thoroughly dry and hard, put the red stripes on the pilot, as seen in the cut: and for the brass bands around the boiler use chrome yellow. The cab is painted Indian-red, and after this is perfectly dry, the windows are painted on with black, as in the cars.
