Train Locomotive Made Out of Cardboard With Electric Motor.

Fun little project requiring few things to construct. Here's list of what I used.

Cardstock dividers from meow mix catfood cups.

Cardboard tubes (2 different sizes) from foil and plastic wrap (thick and durable).

Some craft sticks of varying sizes.

Various ink pen parts.

2 brass tabs for + and - battery terminal connectors.

Small wire 2 different colors for positive and negative.

Led light

Couple of slide switches (just need one if running motor and light off same switch).

Spray paints and acrylic brush on paints.

Hot Glue

Elmers glue all

Electric motor and some gears.

Thin Foam sheet (I used for black top roof panel).

Pictures pretty much explain what I did here.

I took the motor from some old toy and used some gears and a metal axle to drive the rear wheels. 3 volts is plenty of power. I did have it working off 1 AA battery but 2 works better.

Initially I had the LED powered by a 3 volt 2032 coin type battery with it's own switch but in video at end I had changed this to have the led powered from the same 2 double AA's that powers the motor.

I made a front wheel axle with wooden dowel and cardboard. The front wheels have to actually spin and for the rear driving wheels I used cardboard as wheel. The central wheels are just for looks & slightly smaller so they don't tip the ground. I drilled a small hole and placed a pin with nylon around it to allow the piston arm to appear to be functioning like a real steam engine. Each piston arm is made out of cardboard with a craft stick cut down to size for reinforcement.