The Tank came from the author’s scrap bin and was de- tailed by adding a wood- en ladder and an access hatch on top.
Stairs The stairs were built from an Evergreen kit with new side railings added.
onto the brickwork to simulate mortar and added a wash of al- cohol and India ink to replicate weathered wood on the top. The door and frame are Floquil Prim- er Gray. With the structure’s foun- dation completed, I focused on building the tank itself.
I first thought about using a piece of PVC pipe for the water receptacle, scribing in the seams and adding a separate roof. How- ever, I came across an old HO tank (I hardly ever throw anything away), and it turned out to be al- most perfect in size. It measures 6 feet, 3 inches in diameter (about three inches narrower than the prototype) and 14 feet, 9 inches tall (nine inches or so shorter than the prototype); I could live with those discrepancies. In addition, the separations of the tank sections were well defined. I made up a roof hatch of Evergreen scribed sheet with Grandt Line hinges and a wire handle. I then sprayed the tank
44 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
with a coat of Testors Mod- el Master Silver, followed by a coat of Dullcote. Centered about 15 inches up from the bottom, I glued the outlet pipe — styrene tubing — into place and painted it. A wash of Rustall and an Evergreen ladder finished things up, and when all was set, I glued the tank in place on the foun- dation roof. To get from the ground up to the tank level, I started with an Evergreen kit (#209) for a stairway and used a ra- zor saw to add grain and tex- ture to the sides and steps. I made up some railings and supports from similarly dis- tressed strip and glued it all together. I added a coat of Floquil Foundation (the same color used on the ladder) and a wash of India Ink and alcohol. I glued the assem- bly in place, adding a timber held in place with nut, bolt & washer castings as a fasten- ing site where the top of the stairs meets the brick wall. Once the engine crew person who’s go- ing to deliver the water gets up to tank level, there needed to be a way to ensure he didn’t fall off — a railing was required.
Using the draw- ings to get the railing’s height, I cut nine up- rights from pre-black- ened 0.020-inch brass wire to a length that would project three feet above the deck. I glued these uprights into position, leav- ing a four-foot space at the tank’s front. I carefully soldered the top and intermediate railings in place and touched up any dam- age to the black finish with Floquil Weathered Black. Across the front opening, I ACC’d a pre-
painted piece of styrene sheet 3 feet, 6 inches x 5 feet, simulat- ing sheet steel, which had a hole drilled to support the outlet pipe from the tank. To replicate the “faucet” on the outlet, I glued a casting from Plastruct into place on top of the pipe. All that re- mained to do was the spout. Dave Frary’s plans showed
a five-inch pipe from the tank, even though it scales to about three inches when enlarged, and a spout about six inches in diam- eter. I had a styrene spout I had made for another project that scaled to nine inches — a bit big, but hey, it’s my model! I mounted two eyebolts at the base, inserted and then bent some wire to a “U” shape and drilled matching holes in the plate at- tached to the railings at the height of the outlet pipe. I used a Blue- jacket Shipcrafters pulley and some chain to hang the spout; the counterweight is a short length of styrene tube with a plug in one end. Another length of chain al- lows an engine crew member to lower the spout before going up top to start the water flowing.
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