“You will have to sharpen the blunt ends of these skewers, then,” said Donald, “and cut them off if they are too long. Three and one-half inches will be just about the right length.”

When she had cut her axles the proper length and sharpened the ends, Polly punctured a very small hole in each axle guard, as shown in Figure 1. Then, from the inside, she pushed one end of an axle through the hole in one axle guard, slipped a spool on the axle and forced the other end of the axle through the hole in the opposite axle guard. The auto frame upside down (Figure 2) shows how this is done.

“Now for the hub to keep the axle in place,” she reflected. “I know,” and with a spring she was up and off to rummage in her treasure box, coming back triumphantly with several small corks.

“See, Donald,” she said, screwing the point of the axle into the large end of a cork. “It holds splendidly, and the spools cannot possibly drop off.”

“First-rate idea, Polly; I hadn’t thought of the hubs. This is the body of the car,” he continued, showing his paper pattern. “I’ll draw it on the bristleboard if you will make wheels of the pill boxes.”

Figure 3 shows how Donald made the body of the automobile. The oblong in the center is the floor. It is two and three-quarters inches wide, just the width of the auto frame, and five and three-quarters inches long. The back is two inches high at the side edges and curves up one-quarter of an inch higher in the middle. The bend-overs at the back measure two inches at each edge, and curve, as in Figure 3. The length of the side from the dotted line of the bend-over to the door is two inches. The door is square, measuring one and one-quarter inches each way. The length of the side between the dashboard and the door is two and one-half inches. Next to the door it is one and one-half inches high, and at the lower corner, where the curve ends, it is one inch high. The strip that meets the dashboard is three-eighths of an inch high. The bend-over, including the catch, is seven-eighths of an inch high and seven-eighths of an inch long, and the catches E and F are each three-eighths of an inch square.

The dashboard fits in between the two front bend-overs. It is one and one-half inches high in the middle and slopes to the sides, which are one and one-quarter inches high. The slits in the dashboard, E and F, are each one-half inch long and just one-half inch from the side edges. The slit G at the top is one-half inch long and three-eighths inch below the top edge. When Donald had cut out the auto body and scored the dotted lines, he bent up the back, front and sides, then lapped the back bend-overs across the outside of the back and fastened them in place by running a pin through from the outside, as shown in Figure 17. He found that the pin alone would not make it sufficiently secure; so, adopting Polly’s idea, he pushed a cork on the pin, brought up snugly against the inside of the back, and it held like a bolt. The front bend-overs he lapped over the outside of the dashboard and pushed the catch E through the slit E and the catch F through the slit F.

“Oh, Donald, the little doors will open, won’t they!” Polly exclaimed.

“Of course,” said Donald, bending them outward along the dotted lines. “This is the hood,” he went on. “The power box, you know,” showing his pattern like Figure 4. “I will draw it on the bristleboard now.”

First, Donald drew an oblong, five and one-quarter inches long and two and one-quarter inches wide. This he divided into seven parts, or panels, by drawing straight, vertical lines across the oblong. (Figure 4.) Each of the two end panels he made one and one-sixteenth inches wide and each of the other panels five-eighths of an inch wide. He extended the middle panel up one and three-eighths inches above the oblong, and across the extension, half an inch above the top line of the oblong he drew a dotted line to denote that beyond that was a bend-over. Then he cut off the corners of the bend-over. (H, Figure 4.) He made extensions three-quarters of an inch high above the two panels next to the middle panel, then he cut off the inner part of these extensions, making each half an inch wide. (I and J, Figure 4.)

Directly through the center of the middle panel Donald drew a straight, vertical line, bringing it down several inches below the bottom of the oblong. He did this in order that he might measure on either side and so get the end of the hood exactly in the middle and evenly balanced. He called this center line his plumb line.

Three-eighths of an inch below the bottom line of the oblong, and three-quarters of an inch to the left of the plumb line, Donald drew a horizontal line just half an inch long; then he drew a corresponding line at exactly the same distance to the right of the plumb line. These lines he connected with the bottom corners of the middle panel with slanting lines. (Figure 4.) Half an inch below the two short horizontal lines he drew parallel lines of the same length and connected their outer ends with the outer ends of the upper lines by vertical lines. This made two square extensions. (K and L, Figure 4.) One-quarter of an inch below the lower lines of the extensions K and L he drew another horizontal line one and one-eighth inches long, half on one side of the plumb line, half on the other side, and then he connected this horizontal line with the inner ends of the bottom lines of the extensions K and L by slanting lines. This formed the octagon-shaped front face of the hood. Below the octagon he drew a bend-over one inch high and running almost to a point at the bottom and half an inch above the bottom edge of each end panel he made a slit three-quarters of an inch long. (MM, Figure 4.)

When Donald bent the hood into shape it looked like Figure 5. The end panels from the bottom of the hood, and lapping completely over one another, make it double, and the point of the bend-over (M, Figure 4) slipped through the two slits M and M holds the hood in shape.

“But I don’t see how you are going to fasten it on,” said Polly.

“Wait until I make the lamps,” Donald answered, “and I will show you. Are there any more corks, Polly?”

“Yes; how many do you want?”

“Four for the lamps, but bring all you have.”

Donald selected two pretty good sized corks for the lower lamps and two smaller ones for the upper lamps. Both sizes were rather longer than he wanted, so he cut a slice off the small end of each cork. This left the largest corks three-quarters of an inch long and the smallest half an inch long.

“Now, Polly,” he said, “we will cut some rounds of silver paper to fit the tops of these corks and paste them on to represent glass, then paint black circles around them for the rims to hold the glass. That will make them shine.” (Figure 6.)

In a trice the lamps were finished and Donald fastened the largest ones on the extensions K and L at the front of the hood by running a large pin through the middle of each lamp, then through the extension, securing it at the back with a thick slice of cork. This done he proceeded to fasten the hood to the dashboard; first by running the bend-over H through the slit H from the inside of the dashboard, then by pinning the small lamps on the extensions I and J, running the pin through the dashboard also, and making fast with slices of cork. The exact position of the lamps is shown in the front view of the automobile. (Figure 16.)

“Now fasten the whole thing together,” urged Polly, and Donald adjusted the body of the car to its frame. He allowed the back of the body to project over the back of the frame half an inch, which gave one inch and three-quarters space in front of the hood to rest on. The hood extended about half an inch beyond the front of the frame.

“The pins and corks hold so well I’ll use them for this,” Donald announced, as he pinned the floor of the auto body to the top of the frame. He put one pin just back of the dashboard and another close to the back of the auto body. This time he used two slices of cork for each pin, one on top of the floor, the other underneath the frame.

The two back mud guards Donald made like Figure 13, which is a strip of bristleboard five and one-quarter inches long and five-eighths of an inch wide. The dotted line at the end, showing where it is to be bent, is three-quarters of an inch from the end and just half an inch from the slots that separate the catch from the guard. From the dotted line to the other end the guard is four and one-half inches long.

The two front mud guards he made exactly like the back ones, except that between the dotted line and the dotted line and the opposite end the distance was but two and three-quarters inches. He curved all four of the guards by drawing them lightly over the blade of his knife; then he bent them at the dotted lines, turned in the ends of each catch and inserted each catch in its slit in the auto step. The two back guards he put at the back ends of the steps, the two front guards at the front ends of the steps. Taking two pins, he inserted them in one of the back mud guards, as shown in Figure 13; then he pushed the pins into the side of the car, the lower one into the frame just below the door and the other into the auto body about one-quarter of an inch from the back. The other back guard he secured in the same way, but one pin only was needed for each of the front guards. This was run in three-quarters of an inch from the bend of the guard and forced into the frame just in front of the dashboard.