Bodging tank wagons

[Dave]

At the Kettering show I bought a second hand, but unbuilt, Slater's tank wagon for just £25. I already have three such wagons so I decided to make this one slightly different.

The difference is that I'm having a wooden-framed version.

The cradles are from the Slater's kit but the axle guards, springs, buffer bodies, coupling hooks and wheels are all from my spares/junk box. I bought the wood strip at a local model shop that has since closed down and so as I can't buy any more ATM I've substituted plastic in some parts.

So I was left with a complete frame, brakes and running gear from the kit and for this I am bodging a tank. It's going to be an insulated and steam-heated type.

This is the basis of the tank - a tube that contanined silicon sealant.


The beauty of building an insulated tank is that you don't need to form domes for the ends.



This brass and whitemetal tank is a Meteor Models 14-ton RCH tank that I've also started.

 

[Dave]

The insulated and heated tank end with steam heating pipes. It's all a bit basic and I should have taken more time over it and added more detail. The Meteor tank is in the background.


And, in best Blue Peter tradition, here's one I made earlier. It's the standard Slater's tank but with added owners boards. Obviously I can't print decals in white so I printed black onto white paper to make these.

The class A tank on the left has home-made decals that I made using Crafty Computer Paper.

 

[john lewsey]

Lovely photo Dave

 

[Dave]

Thanks, John.

The wooden-framed tank is on hold due to fiddly bits needing to be attached and me not being in the mood to concentrate enough not to cock it up. But the other two are more or less done and just need some weathering (and a fast traffic star in the case of the insulated tank).

I'm not entirely happy with it. The pipework is a bit rough and ready, the logo is crap and the scoring of the card wrapper that is supposed to represent the joins in the panels on the sheet metalwork is too pronounced. That's down to the card wanting to bend at the score because I didn't glue it to the pipe all round. Instead I just glued it at the joint at the bottom. This was fine and the wrapper would have stayed round if I hadn't scored it. Lessons learnt.

The Meteor tank is done with no modifications except for an attempt at representing the welds at the section joints on the tank. I've seen other people's completed models from this kit and they don't look right with a smooth and completely seam-free barrel so I've made my welded seams from masking tape. It may be a bit overscale but it looks better to have something there than a smooth barrel IMHO. The logo and Bury Thorn & Sons lettering was made on the PC and printed onto the last bit of Crafty Computer Paper that I had. The fast traffic star and no light etc. lettering are cut from the sheet that comes with the kit.

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Dave,
Too late for this one but there is a range of stick on rivet transfers by a company called Archers (in the US but I they are quick to deliver from what I have read) who I believe also do transfers to represent welded seams. I think that they may be aimed at the military modeller market.

 

[ZiderHead]

very nice, your ballast looks really good too

 

[Colin M]

very nice, your ballast looks really good too

+1

 

[40126]

+2

Steve

 

[alcazar]

That last picture is not only quite amazingly realistic, but also captures that elusive atmosphere.

Even the figure up the top of the platform is correctly proportioned and well painted.

 

[P-J.S.]

Great modelling Dave! Lovely atmosphere... but are the rivets right?

 

[john lewsey]

Really looks good dave what ballast did you use

 

[dibateg]

Enjoying the thread Dave - I built one of the POW sides tanks, but ended up rolling my own tank ( See the Derby Line Thread ) from scrap brass sheet to get the distinct welded sections. With a set of rolling bars it is quite easy - something else I never thought I would do!

I shall have to post some pics now it's painted, I awlays have trouble getting the transfers to look convincing though.

Cheers

Tony

 

[Dave]

Thanks for the comments, chaps (even you PJ you cheeky git ).

John - the ballast is made from real ballast. There's an old trackbed, a few miles from home, that was a colliery line and I sometimes take the dogs for a walk down there. The old ballast was bulldozed away some years ago but you can still find in the undergrowth lumps of ash and foundry slag that seem to have made up the most of it. There's also the odd piece of coal and coke too that go into the mix, along with bits of broken brick and tile.

I crush the lumps with a pestle and mortar and then sieve them. The sieved ballast is brushed into place and held there with diluted wood glue and Klear.

I think it's much more realistic for an industrial line than the stuff you buy in bags, which is uniform in size and colour.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Too late for this one but there is a range of stick on rivet transfers by a company called Archers (in the US but I they are quick to deliver from what I have read) who I believe also do transfers to represent welded seams. I think that they may be aimed at the military modeller market.

From my experience they are quick to deliver. Their rivet, welded seam etc decals were originally aimed at the military modellers market by they have expanded their range to include Railroad Modellers with different types of rivets, louvres, treadplates etc in all scales. They're worth checking out - especially the surface details. They are applied like decals.

http://www.archertransfers.com/SurfaceDetailsMain.html

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Good work Dave

The tank cars make a nice change from the usual wagons and vans considering the important role they have (or had) distributing petroleum products before the pipelines were built around the country.

On the subject of tank car kits. Have you built the POWsides anchor mount ex Petroleum Board tank car kit - if so what is it like?

 

[Dave]

Good work Dave
On the subject of tank car kits. Have you built the POWsides anchor mount ex Petroleum Board tank car kit - if so what is it like?

I have built two. I'm sure I've posted something about them elsewhere on WT but to sum up - they're crap. OK that's not quite true. The chassis and running gear are adequate but nowhere near as nicely detailed as anything from Slaters but the tanks were bloody awful! They are a resin-cast tube and ends. I threw one away and made my own because the tube was egg-shaped and the ends weren't much better. I managed to sand and file one tank to something approaching round and placed it on the frames so that it didn't look too bad after a coat of paint.

From having built both the Meteor 14t RCH and the Powsides Anchor-mount tanks it appears that they share the exact same frame etches and running gear castings but the Meteor kit comes with a nice pre-rolled brass tank with whitemetal ends.

I've done nothing else with the wooden-framed tank. I've been too busy with work and have also been distracted with building another loco kit. I'll maybe post some progess on that next.