Scratch Build A Water Tank In OO / 1:76
This how-to article was kindly submitted by Paul in the Railway Modellers Facebook Group.
Here’s how I made the water tank for ‘Brierley Canal Road’ The base is constructed from plastic H section, microstrip and microrod. The riser pipe casing is balsa.
The tank panels are 20thou plasticard, with microstrip to represent the 4ft square panel edges. The pressed centre pattern is made from thin card, punched out using a card crafters flower punch, with every other petal removed. The remaining shape was then stuck onto the panel with solvent. The timber boards on the top are balsa and a representation of the ball valve, overflow and outlet pipes was made with odds and ends. A piece of code 100 rail formed the reinforcing between the tank sides.
It’s sprayed with grey primer from the £1 shop and weathered with rust wash and weathering powder. The tank needs to detach to allow the lid of the box file to close, so the tops of each stanchion have a small magnet glued to them, and a piece of thin steel cut from a tin can is stuck to the underside of the tank support girders. All in all, an enjoyable little project to research and build.
Really clever use of the card making punches. It would have been very hard to cut those shapes freehand.