| Working on the bents |
| One of the problems you run into when doing something for the first time is that you are unsure of which direction to go. I made a jig so my three bents would be the same. That went well enough. Now .. I come to the bit where I go .. “What next?”
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| Saddling the sucker |
 Glued the saddles for the tank on and the blocking on the side. I figure that should keep everything aligned while I finish up with gluing the diagonals that run between the bents. That will prob take a while being that it will be so ‘fiddly’. The only thing left after that is the missing nbw .. but I will place an order with Tichey tomorrow for that.
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| Diagonals etc. |
 Finished up all of the interior diagonals. I placed an order for more Tichy nbw today so .. going any further will depend on getting in those bits and pieces. Still snapped a pic. Kinda purty I think.
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| Finishing the support structure |
 Finally got back and finished up the tank support. Still have to go back and touch up areas here and there where I cut the wood .. perhaps some rust on bolt heads, that sort of thing but the structure is basically finished. Up front on those tank saddles I put a couple of ties. I figured that my LP would have used what they had .. and .. that’s what I had so I used them. They will support a footwalk.
Think I will darken them up a bit. Wanted some contrast with the bents but these are supposed to be ties and for that are too light IMO. |
| .. and .. a walkway |
 Went with 2×4 for the walkway. Shrug. What I had .. and that’s what I will say .. that’s what my LP had. Besides .. any spilled oil covers a smaller area.
The guy was a quick-n-dirt paint job. Just wanted something other then a ‘pale dude’. I’ll go back later and add shadows and highlights etc. |
| a Closer Look |
 This is after some thin oil washes. I mostly used a brown from a set of cheap oils I picked up at Walmart thinned greatly with Turpenonid. What I like about using the oils is that you can layer on very thin tints of color. Oils thinned like this dry really quickly so you can build the colors up.
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 Zooming in a bit. Oops. There is a hair of some sort left on top. Amazing what these close-ups show that you don’t see with your naked eye. This is a much better representation of what the tank looks like in ‘real life’. I had been playing with my camera and had it set two-stops high which was giving me a bright, washed out look.
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| Another Look |
| Tom Stockton asked for a look at the other side .. so I snapped a couple pics of both sides |
Front side – click for larger pic The ‘front side’ of the tank or .. what you will see. I suppose a camera in ‘just the right position’ might get a shot at the other side when the tank is installed on the layout. Lower right you can just see the connection for the discharge pipe. |
Back side – click for larger pic Here’s the back side. If you look at the far left in the photo on the bottom of the tank you can see where the discharge pipe will attach. |
Wonderful modeling and well documented. I have been looking for photos and other sources for my 1926 HO layout. I appreciate greatly what you found in Fuel oil in industry by Stephen Osgood Andros pub 1920. Hopefully I’ll be able to find it as a web download. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share.
Gary. Thanks for the comments! Always helps.
I had forgotten to link to the book. I went back and did that. It is .. http://books.google.com/books?id=pnhBAAAAIAAJ&dq=fuel%20oil%20in%20industry&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=fuel%20oil%20in%20industry&f=false
Or just log into Google Books and do a search for the title
Excellent work, and your “tutorial” and pictures are top notch! I do have a few questions:
1. Are the “weld lines” I see between the rows of rivets the results of the cardboard wraps? Or is there some process that you use to make them?
2. Time permitting, could we see some pictures of the other side of the tank?
3. And how does the oil get up to the tank for storage, and back down to the ground to fuel the pump motor? In studying your pictures, I’ve been unable to see any piping.
Thanks in advance for your reply — and once again, kudos on your work!
Regards,
Tom Stockton
Tom.
1. Weld lines : What I did was first wrap the tube with card-stock (spray contact cement). Then, after it was cemented to the tube I took my X-Acto and scribed through the card to make a seam. There are a couple of places where the cardboard separated just a tiny bit .. which gave that weld look. Not a bad idea .. I think you could run something down the slice to separate/make the seam more obvious (like a weld).
2. Ok. I added a couple of pics to this page.
3. I haven’t got to the piping yet. To be honest I got side-tracked with ‘life’. I have a reserve oil tank that will supply the pump house. It will be fed from the large tank. I wanted to get that in place before I ran the piping. I was working on the frame for the small tank lat night and should have that in place today. Once that’s in place I can run the piping .. which I will add to the thread.
Thanks for the reply, and the excellent pictures! Your techniques are very effective — and thanks for further notes on the card stock. If I’m seeing what I think I’m seeing… I’m guessing that when you scribed the card stock, you didn’t cut all the way through. Then when painted, the cut edge absorbed some of the liquid (paint), which seeped into the card stock and caused it to expand / raise, thus giving the effect of a slightly raised weld line — which then was highlighted with your weathering effects.
The rivets are a wonderful detail; I have some on order from MicroMark, and have picked up a couple of sheets of Archer’s rivets from my local hobby shop. It looks like that will be an excellent “tool” to add to the toolbox!
I’ve been playing around with different-sized PVC piping to make some tanks as well. I’ve capped the end with sheet styrene, then slightly rounded the ends with a 220-grit sanding block. I’ve used a scriber (also from MicroMark) to scribe in panels. There are a couple of places where my hand slipped and carved a wee bit to the side of where I wanted it, but I think I can hide that with some judicious weathering…
Thanks again for your excellent tutorial! If you had shown only the completed tank, I would have “ooh-ed” and “aah-ed” and thought that kind of work was well beyond my abilities. But when I’ve seen the work broken down into a step-by-step procedure, I think “hey, I think I can do that!”
Regards,
Tom Stockton
Tom,
Appreciate the comments. Yep. I’ve found that often what seems like something beyond my capabilities is simply that the “oh wow” factor can be broken down into small steps that are ‘dooable’.
A good example I think is where I needed a flywheel. Looking at what I wanted .. vrs .. what appeared to be at first something that was beyond my ability. I then saw a SBS by Ken Hamilton on creating a wheel for one of his vehicles. I adapted some of the steps he used to make my flywheel. What had seemed too hard .. was really easy once I broke it down into little steps where each step was in itself easy. I posted a SBS on making the flywheel on the Shortline Modlers Lounge – http://www.shortlinemodelers.com/structures/scratchin-flywheel
Really effective weathering method. Glad you shared with us. Through Model Rail Radio FB page.
Appreciate that Roger. A lot of that came from the modeling in the Westlake Publishing Forum. I have it under – Model RR -> Fav Forums on the right side menu.
You did an excellent job and the step by step is very easy to follow.