Large Scale Central

Water Tank Project

Since the weather was so miserable over the three-day weekend, I decided to spend a little time in the shop and start a new project. It will be a small 6500 gallon water tank for my branch line. I started with a PVC Schedule 40 coupling for 5” diameter PVC pipe. It is a little over 6” in diameter and about 7” long.

I cut it down to a 6” length and sanded off the mold line around the middle. I also sanded the entire outer surface to remove the sheen and give it a bit of “tooth.”

I cut enough scale 1” x 8” boards to cover the exterior. I also cut some 8” x 8” timbers and built up four bents to support the tank. The diagonal cross bracing is 2” x 8” boards. The floor joists are 4” x 10” timbers. I also cut enough 3” x 8” boards for the floor and roof. All wood is western red cedar.

Here is the tank support base.

Here are the floor joists and floor boards.

Unlike most of you I haven’t yet mastered the art of napkin drawing. I still use the old fashioned method of drawing the plans on the computer, printing them out full scale, and building right on the plans. Here is the plan for the floor joists. The violet areas are the tops of the bent caps.

Here is the bare tank on the base.

I started applying the tank boards to the PVC coupling with construction adhesive. I use a framing square to keep the boards perpendicular. I wipe down the boards with mineral spirits to remove any adhesive that seeps out between the boards.

This is a fun project and going together really fast. More to follow soon,

Bob

Neat… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Bob Hyman said:

Unlike most of you I haven’t yet mastered the art of napkin drawing. I still use the old fashioned method of drawing the plans on the computer, printing them out full scale, and building right on the plans. Here is the plan for the floor joists. The violet areas are the tops of the bent caps.

Well hell, Bob, that ain’t no fun. Trying to decipher what you wrote on a napkin takes a lot of brain power…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

I almost tried that using a tapered gallon flower pot, but decided tapering all those planks for the sides, too??? Nah!

Good start, looks good so far.

very nice . . . . .(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Cool project Bob. That’s going to be a fine looking water tank when completed. Thanks for sharing your construction methods.

Nice Bob.

Very cool!

Do you use a graphics program, or CAD?

i like it!

these two longer beams, are they for installing the spout?

Ray,

I use Microsoft Visio for my drawings.

Korm,

Yes, the two longer joists are for mounting the spout.

Bob

Today was kind of cold and windy so I had a good excuse not to work outside. I’ve been trimming oak trees in the yard for the past few days. My wife says there’s nothing scarier than me up on a 24-foot ladder with a chainsaw. I guess that’s why she keeps 9-1-1 on speed dial when I’m out playing lumberjack. I spent a little time in the shop working on the water tank project so I thought I would post an update on today’s progress.

I started by building a couple of ladders.

I cut two disks from thin birch plywood that fit snugly inside the PVC tank. I covered one with 2” x 8” boards for the top, allowing enough overhang to reach just past the outer tank sheathing. The other disk will be hidden at the bottom of the tank.

I made foundations for the four bents from stones and attached them to the bottoms with construction adhesive. I didn’t notice the glue smear until I took this photo, but it will be gone the next time you see it.

I added the initial layers of tank weathering using thinned gray acrylic paint wiped on with a paper towel. After the paint was dry to the touch, I wiped down the surface with a paper towel dipped in a isopropyl alcohol/black India ink solution until most of the gray was removed.

I cut seven 24” long strips of ¼” wide, 0.032” thick brass to make the tank bands. I sanded the strips with a sanding block to give them a slightly rough surface.

I measured the circumference of the tank. It was a scale 33’ 4” or actual 500mm. I wanted about a 2 scale inch gap in the band for the band tighteners, so I needed to make the strips about 497mm long. I scribed a mark on the strip 2 actual inches from the left end. I measured 497mm from the scribe line and scribed a second mark. This left a bit over two actual inches to the right end of the strip. The 2 inches on the left and the 2+ inches on the right will be cut off after the strap is curved.

I used a rail bender to bend the straps to the desired curve.

After I was satisfied with the curve, I trimmed the band to proper size by cutting at the scribe lines. Here is how the band fits on the tank.

Here is the stack of curved bands.

I washed the straps in hot soapy water, rinsed them well, and allowed them to air dry. I “pickled” the straps in a brass darkening solution. Here is how they came out.

That’s about all I got accomplished today. Next time I will install the straps and start on the tank spout, pulleys, and other hardware.

More to follow,

Bob

I added the bands to the tank today. Here is how they look.

The irregular spacing is intentional. Due to the increased water pressure, the bands are spaced closer together as you approach the bottom of the tank.

I added the band tighteners. Here is an extreme close-up of one of them.

I also fabricated the tower that mounts the pulleys for the spount and water valve. I weathered the spout, pulleys, counterweights, and the bell crank that lifts the valve plug. These will go on tomorrow.

I still need to fabricate a inspection/access hatch for the roof. I also need to go to the home store and pick-up a 12" x 12" ceramic tile to mount the whole thing on. Hopefully I’ll finish this project this weekend. I’ll post one more photo when the job is finished.

More to come,

Bob

Wow! That looks great! Really clean work too.

Are the band tighteners castings?

Ray,

Yes, they are white metal castings. The band tighteners are included in the water tank detail parts set from Wiseman Model Services, Product code: GSPOUT.

link to Wiseman parts

These are the same detail parts that are included in the Banta Model Works Branchline Water Tank kit, on which I based my model.

link to Banta kit

Bob

Nice model, Bob. What are the dimensions (diameter) of each end of the spout? Scale or actual will work. Thanks.

Dan,

The spout casting is 9mm diameter at the small end and 15mm diameter at the big end. It is 103mm in length.

Bob

Thanks for the info, Bob.

Very authentic looking.

Wiseman, will have to bookmark their site.

Something about this brings up the question of water tank proportions. What first comes to mind is Minneapolis & Saint Louis tank at Belmond, it doesn’t say which state, on page 170 in book The Minneapolis & St. Louis Railway, a photographic history.

That tank is low and wide almost to cake pan proportions, maybe a hair more than twice the height of guy on tender deck using it to fill 304, and easily six or seven times as wide as he is tall. Even at that low height a dozen bands can be counted; but, hey, whether it is low or high, the weight of water applies a force.

Have also seen on several railroads tanks with 2 spouts opposite each other and they usually appear a bit wider than they are tall.

There is one of those on the CNO&TP/Southern on this page, http://www.smarttinc.com/blog/modeling-cnotp-railroad.

May also be one in one of the two M&StL books but I wasn’t looking for it right now and do have the low tank marked.

Very nice ! . . . I like the aging on the hardware . . . . (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Finally got around to finishing up the last details on the tank today. I mounted it onto a 12" x 24" piece of ceramic tile.

A couple of Devon firs and a Devon Pine sprouted but I decided to leave them in place for now. Here is a close-up of the tank.

Although this project is finished, any self-respecting tank needs a pump house of some sort. I left room on the right side of the ceramic tile to mount it when it’s done.

Until the next project (probably the pump house) strikes,

Bob