Building The LX208-OO Water Tower Kit (OO 1:76 Scale) Part Two

Let us get started…

Tank wraps

Pictured right is what we call the texture wrap layers, & as you can see there is two tank wrap layer options (these are marked with the orange crosses). We are going to go with the wrap layer that the arrow is pointing to.

Using a sharp craft knife, scissors or circle cutting wheel, cut out the texture wrap. Take your time & cut close to the edge of the printed wrap area as possible. Make sure you use a fresh sharp blade, a blunt blade will drag & possibly rip the texture wrap.

Cut against a steel rule or straight edge for a crisp straight cut.  

The tank wrap should now look like this as shown on the right.

Turn the wrap over & on the cutting mat, lightly score the fold lines on the non-printed side of the wrap. Turn the knife over & use the rear blunt edge to do this. Don’t press too hard as you run the risk of cutting through the wrap!! Use a straight edge to help score a straight line.

The image on the right shows the score lines marked out in orange. These score lines will give good clean crisp folds.

Using a glue stick or similar, apply an even coat of glue to the non-printed side of the texture wrap as shown on the right.

Place the tank core centrally on to the glued texture wrap. The open top must face upwards as shown on the right.

Fold up the two end tank sections as shown on the right. Make sure there are no bumps, lumps or air bubbles & that the wraps are fully smooth against the tank core sides.

Now fold down the four end side flaps as shown in the image right.

Now fold up the two side sections but don’t fold down the top flaps!

Next, trim off the four top flaps as shown on the right.

After trimming the top flaps the tank should look like this.

Now cut & remove parts J & K from the parts sheet. As before, any pips on the parts side make sure they are sanded flush.

Next cut & remove the tank edge top wraps as shown on the right.

The long wraps go with the long core sections & the shorter wraps go with the shorter core sections as shown on the right.

On the non-printed sides of the wraps, score two fold lines again using the rear blunt edge of the knife blade. The two orange lines show where to score.

Apply glue between the two fold lines as shown on the right.

Then carefully place the core section onto the glued area as shown on the right.

Apply glue onto the non-printed side of the flaps & fold over & wrap the core layer. Repeat with the other three so that you have four wrapped tank top sections as shown on the right.

Now cut out the four inner tank sides as shown on the right. Take care to cut to the printed edge as close as possible.

Next, apply glue using the glue stick to the rear non-printed side of the longer inner tank side wraps. Place on to longer the inner tank wall side. Make sure the rust streaks on the texture wrap sides face the way as shown on the right.

Repeat with the gluing in place of the other long inner tank texture wrap on the opposite inner long side.

Next, apply glue using the glue stick to the rear non-printed side of the shorter inner tank side wraps. Place on to the shorter inner tank wall side. Make sure the rust streaks on the texture wrap sides face the way as shown on the right.

Now cut out the water wrap as shown on the right.

Using a glue stick or similar, apply glue to the non-printed side of the water wrap & then place into the tank as shown right. Make sure it sits flat & smooth inside the tank.

Apply glue along one of the top edges as shown on the right.

Then place the corresponding tank top piece onto the glued top (in the photo one short end piece on to one of the shorter ends). Use firm pressure to hold the piece whilst the glue starts to set.

Repeat the gluing into place, of the other tank top lip sections. Once completed it should then look like this.

Time to move on to the walkway for the open tank top. Cut & remove the following marked parts as shown with the orange crosses right.

Lay the barriers out alongside the walkway so you know which will go where. It’s a good time before installing the barriers to paint them. We’ve used a Woodland Scenics Tidytrack steel rail paint pen to paint the barriers, the ladders & ladder supports. 

Start off with one of the longer barriers & insert into the laser cut holes on the walkway deck. Once they sit true & square, apply a small amount of glue around each base of the barrier legs.

Now, fit & glue the next long barrier as shown into place.

Next, fit & glue the next two mid-length barriers as shown into place.

Now, fit & glue the two short end barriers as shown into place.

Next, fit & glue the last long barrier as shown into place.

And finally, fit & glue the last short barrier as shown into place. This should leave an access gap for the workmen.

Flip the walkway over & apply a small amount of glue as shown on the three locations as shown in the orange squares.

Turn the walkway back over so it’s the right way up & carefully place on to the tank as shown. Make sure the longer section of walkway goes to the same end on the tank that has two small holes printed on the outer side. The two small holes (marked by the two orange circles) are for the ladder mountings.

Now apply a small amount of glue on the top & bottom of the small ladder.

Then fix the ladder in place as shown on the right, so it sits below the gap on the walkway.

Next, take the ladder support section & glue that onto the long ladder as shown on the right. You’ll see on the ladder a pair locating of pips, the ladder support should fit into these. 

The two small hole marks (arrowed in the photo on the right), make each of these into holes just big enough for the ladder support to sit into. Use a small drill bit to make a shallow hole but don’t go all the way through the tank side.

Now glue the ladder support ends & also the top of the ladder. Fit the two legs of the ladder support into the two small holes on the tank side. The top of the ladder then sits on or just below the tank top lip. 

The tower base sections now need to be cut out from the parts sheet & texture sheet. 

As before with the other texture wrap layers, lightly score the fold lines on the non-printed side of the texture sheet. Then apply glue to the non-printed side of the texture sheet & place the core base onto the texture wrap. Then proceed to wrap the edge flaps over the core base side & down on to the underside as shown right.

You can, of course, omit this section & paint the base instead. You’ll notice that one side has laser engraved markings showing the tower location.

Apply glue to the bottom of the tower as shown & then fix into place on the markings outline on the base section as shown right.

Apply glue to the top bars of the tower as shown right. 

Carefully place the tank onto the glued upper bar sections as shown right. The tank must sit squarely on the tower top. 

Trim the bottom of the ladder to suit & glue into place on the tower base section. This completes the build of the kit. You can so wish to add extra detail parts like pipes etc.

To finish our tank off we’ve added a layer of Deluxe Materials Aqua Magic inside the tank to simulate water. The dark coloured water texture adds depth & helps give the impression of deeper water in the tank.

To use Aqua Magic, pour a thin layer of around 2 to 3mm in depth & allow to set. If you require a deeper look, apply another layer of Aqua Magic. A tip is to cover the top of the tank whilst the Aqua Magic sets, this prevents any dust etc getting into it & spoiling the effect.

We’ll take a look at more kit builds in the next upcoming article.

Happy modelling.