The Tractor and Hayride Project

This Tractor and Hayride is perfect for your holiday decorating or gifting needs, or for any other time of the year for that matter. This project is simple and doesn’t require much in the way of tools or expertise. It consists of only 2 project files (mpc’s) with all the patterns laid out, optimized, and ready to upload. It is also scaled to fit perfectly with the Red Christmas Truck and Christmas Camper projects.

Let’s talk about how we made it!

Design

To start, suitable tractor images needed to be gathered to see the tractor from all angles. Using those images for reference, the tractor parts could be modeled. When modeling a project like this, it’s important to always be thinking about the assembly process. Create it as separate pieces like it’s a model kit.

The tracing image feature is invaluable in doing this kind of modeling. Once the pieces were created, the project files were laid out for carving.

Carving

The projects were uploaded and carved on the CarveWright. We carved 2 of the them, one on normal, and one on best to see the difference.  They were both carved on clean select pine boards from Home Depot and both came out pretty nicely. There was a little less sanding to do on the best carving, but it wasn’t a huge difference in the finishing process between the 2.

Carve Times

Tractor Project 

• • Normal – 3 hours 22 mins
  • Best – 4 hours 57 mins

Hayride Trailer

• • Normal – 2 hours 24 mins
  • Best – 3 hours 28 mins

Preparing the Parts

The parts were carefully removed using a sharp chisel and then sanded to get them cleaned up. Much of this assembly uses dowels to go together and we needed to drill some holes.

Assembly

With the parts prepared, it’s time to start gluing and assembling. The main tractor body is in two halves as are the large tractor wheels.

Finishing

With two of these made, we decided to do a couple different finishes. One spray painted bright red and the other stained with a red dye.

We then used paint pens to add small details such as lights and spark plug wires on the engine. After the painting was done, everything was coated in a high gloss polyurethane.

The projects complete, it was time to display.

You too can make this simple and fun project! Download and make this project today!