“Are the wheels ready?” asked Donald.

“Here they are,” and Polly pushed across the table four little wheels like Figure 7. “I didn’t use the box covers because there was writing on them, but I tore away the upper part of the box and the lower part was exactly like the lid. I drew a circle on the bottom of each box to mark off the tire and then drew the spokes and little air valves. See them?”

“We will give the tires a light wash of black paint to make them rubber color and paint the spokes black,” said Donald.

When they were finished Donald used three small corks for fastening each wheel in place. One for the hub, one inside the wheel, to steady it against the auto frame (Figure 8), and one on the inside of the auto frame. The front wheels he pinned at the extreme front of the auto frame, half way up from the bottom edge of the frame, and the back wheels at the extreme back of the frame, the same distance above the bottom edge. (NN, Figure 2.)

“You see,” said Donald, “these wheels must not touch the ground, else they will interfere with the speed of the car.”

“Here are the seats,” said Polly. “I worked them out while you were busy with the other parts.”

Figures 10, 11 and 12 are the patterns of the seats. Figure 10 is the front seat and Figure 12 the arm that divides it into two. The seat proper is an oblong two inches and three-quarters long by one inch and three-eighths wide. The ends and front that bend down and form the supports are each three-quarters of an inch high. The back is one inch high at the middle of each curve and three-quarters of an inch high when it bends to form the arms. The arms, which are cut to fit the sides of the auto, are one inch and three-eighths long. The middle arm (Figure 12) is one and one-quarter inches long at the bottom, three-quarters of an inch high at the back and the laps are each one-quarter of an inch wide.

Polly used paste to fasten the arm to the middle of the seat, putting the paste on the laps, then she fitted the seat in the car, pasting the sides of the seat to the sides of the car.

The back seat has no arms. It is the same length as the front seat, but one-quarter of an inch wider. The supports are the same height. The back at the middle is one and one-half inches high, while at the side edges it is one and one-quarter inches high. When the back seat was pasted to the back and sides of the car, Polly decided that she would make little cushions and cover them with tan-colored tissue paper, to look like leather.

“I have made the steering wheel,” said Donald, and he held it up. (Figure 14.) Figure 15 shows how it is cut from bristleboard and then marked off into a rim and four spokes. He used a wooden toothpick for the column and a small cork to keep the wheel in place. First he forced the small cork onto the toothpick, pushing it down not quite half an inch, then he inserted the point of the stick into the small hole he had previously punctured in the center of the wheel and pushed the wheel down to rest on the cork. (Figure 14.)

With a large hatpin he pierced a hole slantingly at the base of the dashboard, half an inch from the right side, all the way through the frame of the auto; then he forced the lower end of the steering column into the hole and it retained the proper slanting position.

“I didn’t forget the number,” said Polly, holding up a little oblong card, to which she had attached narrow strips of yellow paper for straps. On the card was printed the number of the Kraft Shop automobile. (Figure 9.) With a drop of paste on the end of each strap Polly hung the number to the back of the car. (Figure 17.)

The finished motor car is shown in Figure 18.

“Now we will test her speed,” said Donald, as he knelt on the floor and with a sure, strong push sent the auto spinning the whole length of the room.

“My, but it does go!” said Polly.

Making the Bird Airship

By Adelia Belle Beard

One of the Authors of Things Worth Doing

“How are we going to make an airship when we can’t fill the bag with gas?” said Donald. “Why, make it of stiff paper and it will stand out without gas,” Polly answered. “Yes, but I don’t see what is to hold it up?” Donald objected. “We will make the airship first and then find something to hold it up,” Polly replied, cheerfully.

“That’s a girl’s way of doing things,” laughed Donald.

“Well, it’s a good way,” retorted Polly.

Donald did not entirely agree with her, but Polly’s way seemed the only way in this case. “Of course we will make the balloon cigar shaped, like a dirigible, and have a propeller,” he said.

“Yes, and let us make wings, too; they will help keep it in the air,” Polly added.

“And a tail for a rudder,” said Donald.

“Why, it will look just like a bird!” Polly exclaimed. “And we can call it the ‘bird airship.’ That sounds nice, doesn’t it, Donald?”

“All right,” said Donald; “now I’ll make the balloon.”

“Oh, Donald, please let me do that. You always take the hardest parts and I know I can do some of them,” protested Polly. “Besides, I have thought of a way to make it.”

“Well, I don’t care if you make the balloon,” said Donald. “This is your scheme, anyway. I’ll do the other things, but use this stiff manila paper, Polly; it is good and strong.”

Polly was soon at work bending and clipping and shaping a pattern that later she would correct and reduce to exact measurements. Donald watched her while he waited to learn what size to make the wings, tail and little passenger car.

“I am making the balloon in panels,” Polly informed him. “It is easier than trying to keep it round, and I shall cut each end into points with a bend-over on each point to fasten them together.”

“Going to glue it?”

“Why, no. I thought I would button it together with catches and slits. It is hard to glue a thing of this kind, and one has to hold each part so long for the glue to harden,” Polly answered.

Figure 1 shows how Polly drew the pattern for her balloon after making it out. She was very careful in her measurements, using a rule and making the lines for the panels exactly one inch apart. “The sides won’t fit if they are not even,” she said to herself.

“That looks simple enough,” commented Donald.

When Polly cut the balloon out along the heavy lines it was like Figure 2.

By this time Donald, who had been experimenting with Polly’s first pattern, had designed the wings (Figure 3), and the tail (Figure 5). He directed Polly to cut slits for the wings in the position shown in PO, OP, Figure 2. The slits P are exactly in the middle of the edge between the first and second panels at the top and the first and second panels at the bottom, and the slits O are in the middle of each second panel, top and bottom. Each slit is three-quarters of an inch long.

“Now make slits for the tail in the top edges of the top point and the fourth from the top point,” said Donald. “Make each slit five-eighths of an inch from the tip.”

“How long a slit?” said Polly.

“Three-eighths of an inch,” returned Donald.

So Polly made the slits R and Q, Figure 2, and then bent the balloon along the dotted lines. Donald made the wings (Figure 3) four and one-eighth inches long from tip of catch to tip of wing. The neck of the catch is one-half of an inch long and five-eighths of an inch wide, and the catch from tip of point to neck is three-eighths of an inch deep. Just above the neck of the catch the wing is seven-eighths of an inch wide and at its broadest part it is three and one-quarter inches wide.

Donald bent in the points of the catch of one wing and pushed the catch in through the slit O in the balloon and out through the slit P, then he opened out the points of the catch.

“That will hold it steady,” he said, and fastened the other wing on in the same way.

“Do you want to fasten the tail on now?” asked Polly.

“No. Put the balloon together first,” said Donald.

Then Polly began to shape her balloon by slipping the catches of the bend-overs at the bottom L, M, N through the slits L, M, N. She lapped L and N over the panel and M under the panel. This brought the catches of L and N on the inside, and the catch of M on the outside. Then she lapped the bend-over of the point B over the edge of the point A and inserted the catch of the bend-over in the slit in the point A. The catch of the bend-over of the point C she put through the slit in the point B, and in the same way fastened D to C, E to D and F to E. This brought all the points at one end of the balloon together, except F and A, and these she secured by putting the catch J of the point A in through the slit J and out through the slit K in the point F, which brought the catch on the outside. The other end of the balloon she put together in the same way, and it looked like Figure 4.

“This is the tail,” Donald said, holding up a piece of paper cut like Figure 5. The tail is four and one-half inches long, two and one-quarter inches wide at the end and five-eighths of an inch wide where it joins the body. Donald cut a slit half an inch long in the middle of the narrow end and then cut out a small, wedge-shaped piece at the end of the slit. The wedge is five-eighths of an inch long and a trifle over one-quarter of an inch at the base.