Make a Balloon Animal

Visit my gallery page to find instructions for all balloons previously posted.

Steam Train

Click Here to see Ian Lloyd's adaptation.
If you like Thomas the Tank, check out this page.

Boone's biggest annual celebration is Pufferbilly Days, celebrated the weekend after Labor Day. Trains are the theme, and I've been wanting to do a Steam Locomotive for a long time. The effort displayed here contains ideas borrowed from a variety of sources and a few details of my own. Ready to begin? Then . . .

All Abooooard!

Instructions

You need three 260 balloons. I like to use white for the smoke, blue for the body, and red for the wheels and cab. Inflate about 6 inches of the white one and tie it off. Inflate the blue and red ones leaving about a 6-inch uninflated tail.

Apple link the white balloon to the blue one, making a shallow apple twist in the blue. This will be the top of the smokestack. Twist ten half-inch bubbles in the white balloon and lock twist numbers 5 and 7 together, making a 3-bubble loop of bubbles 5, 6 and 7 in the middle of the string. Just below them, make a 4-bubble loop of numbers 3, 4, 8 and 9 by twisting 3 and 9 together. Twist number 10 to the joint between 1 and 2, then break off the remainder and tie it off. In the blue balloon, twist a 2-inch bubble for the smokestack, followed by a 3-inch, three 1-inch and another 3-inch.

Lock the 3-inch bubbles together and pinch twist the first and third 1-inch bubbles. The three little bubbles form the cow catcher at the front.
Next make a 1-inch followed by a soft 3-inch. pinch twist the 1-inch and push the 3-inch between the other 3-inch bubbles to make the front of the engine. The pinch twist is used to help keep the smokestack upright.

Twist three 4-inch bubbles and make a 3-bubble roll-through for the main body of the engine. Follow with a 1-inch bubble for the cabin base, and make a toe twist to seal the end. Break off any extra balloon left.

Arrange the 3-bubble body so that one bubble is on the bottom and two are on top.

Tie the nozzle of the red balloon to the back of the 3-bubble body and make three 1.5-inch bubbles for wheels. Twist around the front of the 3-bubble body and make three more wheels for the other side. Secure the balloon at the same point where the nozzle is tied.

Twist a 3-inch, 1-inch, 1-inch and 3-inch, securing the last twist to the back of the cabin base. The second 3-inch should be on the opposite side of the train as the first one. These form two diagonally opposite corners of the cab.
Now make a second set of 3-inch, 1-inch, 1-inch, 3-inch bubbles. This third 3-inch makes the other rear corner of the cab. The twist between the two 1-inch bubbles should cross the twist between the first two 1-inchers, and the last 3-inch makes the other front corner of the cab. Finish by making a 1-inch pinch twist to help support the cab. Pop and tie off any excess balloon.


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