Chuck, I think this would be a lot easier for us if you’d post a step-by-step tutorial with photos. I glued the cotton balls to the layout with the toothpicks sticking up, but something doesn’t look right. [%-)]
It’s the back end of the engine my siblings I and played on in the park near where my grandparents lived in Germany. Here are other shots. See the bottom of the page (last four or so images) at http://web.syr.edu/~pdverhey/eisenbahn/vorbild.shtml for more shots. I was really miffed when it disappeared (never hurt any of us to play around all those sharp rusty edges) but relieved to learn it was being preserved. The engine itself is an industrial tank engine that was used in the steel mills of the region.