Looking good so far Dave. The only thing you might consider doing different is make the 2 x 2 blocking continous from bottom to top. IE 4 pieces of 2 x 2 @ 28" long Just notch them into the outside of the plywood rings. It will make for a more ridgid assembly.
I agree with Randy on the continuous 2x2s. Definitely worth the trouble of insetting them nice and tight into those donuts. I query whether 3/4" wide staves will look OK or seem too small in this scale. Something wider, say 1-3/4" or even 2-1/2" will hold its shape better, be less likely to warp and wiggle and be easier to affix solidly, say with 2 rather than one fastener at each spot… The staves can be run thru a tablesaw to angle off their edges and make for a closer fit, if you want to go to that trouble, and (sorry!) the wider the staves, the more it will show, tho’ at merely 3/8" thickness this may hardly be necessary at all (?)
I didn’t realize from the beginning that you were planning a false tank with the bucket inside it; I thought you’d be strapping the staves directly to your bucket. What you are planning here will look like a lot more substantial tank - better, IMHO.
The base looks great; I am following your build with interest!
Randy McDonald said:I was thinkin the same thing. Either notched inside the ring or on the outside.
Looking good so far Dave. The only thing you might consider doing different is make the 2 x 2 blocking continous from bottom to top. IE 4 pieces of 2 x 2 @ 28" long Just notch them into the outside of the plywood rings. It will make for a more ridgid assembly.
The spacing should be fine.
John, what about bead and cove for the staves? Otherwise there will be unsightly gaps. Since you built that cedar canoe, you must be familiar wit the principle.
Thanks for the input guys. I got the 1st coat of paint on the base… Andy said that he liked the D&RG brown, and this is what I came up with.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-26.jpg)
Certainly not like a “Lawn ornament” now. More like a “National Park Service Sign” I have an Idea on changing the 2x2 blocking to notched posts, but with a collard dado. I’ll draw it up in the morning and run it up the flag pole. Got the wood pieces cut down that I will make the staves out of. its packing material out of furniture cases. Rough Cut 1/2 x 2 1/2 wide. I’ll plane it down as soon as i replace my good knives with old ones.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-27.jpg)
John, at this scale 3/4" wide staves scale to 6". All the blue prints that I’ve read call out 5-6" staves. I think that I will need about 90 staves to get around the tank, I’ll do the math latter.
Heres the proposed joint, is this what I need for the best and strongest? I dawned on me that with 9 gal of water and all the wood and hardware the top half if it was to hit the ground and survive it had better be stout…
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-31.jpg)
Let me know please.
If that joint is screwed and glued in place, the wood will break before that joint will. I don’t think you’ll have any worries.
Titebond III is what I use.
See below :>(
Dave Taylor said:O K , Dave ! That pile of staves is looking really good. I love the stage when the parts are all collected and nicely organized like that; It's like having your own custom-made kit laid out, and just waiting for the joy of assembling it. :P Makes me drool !! Steve: Your idea of bead and cove canoe-type construction was a pretty classy piece of creative thinking... :cool: now if only the D&RGW actually did that...:rolleyes:
...John, at this scale 3/4" wide staves scale to 6". All the blue prints that I've read call out 5-6" staves.....
Jon said: "now if only the D&RGW actually did that… "
But they might have if they had the cove and bead bits…oh and the Router as well. 
BTW Steve can be classy at times, he’s from the West, all us guys out here can be classy.
John Le Forestier said:What they did do was individually plane each stave so they fit together tightly to get the water tight seal. If they had the bead and cove routers back then, I'll bet they would have used them.Dave Taylor said:O K , Dave ! That pile of staves is looking really good. I love the stage when the parts are all collected and nicely organized like that; It's like having your own custom-made kit laid out, and just waiting for the joy of assembling it. :P Makes me drool !! Steve: Your idea of bead and cove canoe-type construction was a pretty classy piece of creative thinking... :cool: now if only the D&RGW actually did that...:rolleyes:
...John, at this scale 3/4" wide staves scale to 6". All the blue prints that I've read call out 5-6" staves.....
What will happen with a rectangular stave around a circular frame is that the staves will touch on the innermost corner, leaving a gap on the outside. That can be hidden with a bead and cove.
I was just trying to save Dave some work. I guess he wants to be prototypically correct with his modeling. :lol:
That’s gonna be a lot of planning with a small plane.
I’ll be so glad when I get this d@#$%&*mn splint off!
Steve, Not principally looking for prototypically correct per se, but I really don’t want a gap between the outer edges of the staves either. Nothing against the bead and cove, I have the bits and a shaper, tho not for 3/8", Frankly it would scare the hell out of me to try beading and coving on 3/4 x 3/8 stock, I really like the tip of my fingers where they are!!! and setting up a jig would take a lot of time to get right, I still might have to in the long run.
Dave,
If you have a joiner you can tip the fence, and build a custom push stick. Gets a good bevel and saves the fingers.
Bob C.
You can also just bevel the edges of the staves… did you catch that I mentioned this earlier?
I think if I’d been ripping them on a table saw that’s what I would have done in my first pass. But you still could do it, methinks. You don’t even have to get the angle right, as long as it’s great enough; it’s just a matter of giving the staves sharp outer corners; the inside edges of the staves won’t have to actually meet as they won’t show.
'Course, this isn’t as classy as those beads and coves… 
but it might be a lot quicker and easier!
By the way, if the wood dries out it’ll shrink in width, and my method would show some very narrow gapping. Bead and cove construction would conceal any such shrinkage (if you don’t paint the staves, or if you pre-paint them)…
Personally, I’m a non-painter, BTW. I just let my wooden structures weather au naturel.
Made a LOT of shavings today. Took the good knives out of the planer and replaced with an old set. I learned the hard way a number of years ago when you plane used lumber, even thou I now use a metal detector. Got the stave boards down to 3/8 thick from about 1/2 rough sawn original.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-28.jpg)
Boy there is some pretty wood hiding inside some trashy looking stuff.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-30.jpg)
Next up, the tank forms, and ripping the staves to 3/4+ width.
Put a 15 degree tilt on your saw blade. That should do it.
Work interrupted work on the water tank, My boss just doesn’t get the point about trains!! Any how, I got the 5 plywood disks bansawed out.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-32.jpg)
I sawed just out side of the line intending to sand to round up to the line. Thinking that the closer to smooth and round the forms, the better the staves would fit to. Doweled the center and started to sand to round with my belt sander…
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-33.jpg)
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-34.jpg)
2 min. into the sanding and my good (read $200+) Dewalt DW433 Belt sander goes up in smoke…to the point that I quickly set it down and backed away and unplugged the fiery monster… Now this thing is only two years old, bought it to replace my 25 yr. OLD Porter Cable, Stupid me I gave it to a friend that now lives in Alabama… Drove it to the Dewalt service center only to find out that this thing is discontinued !! And about 2-3 weeks to fix if it can be and at unknown cost yet. Went across town to borrow my dads old Craftsman and got it back only to find out that the drive belt on it is broken …AAARRRGGG. Now i’ve got to try and get a belt for dads, pay to fix the discontinued Dewalt, OR I’m now in the market for a new Belt Sander
Back on the water tank build. Got my sander back ($26.91 to repair, Cheeeeep for repair work). Tackled the sanding yo round of the discs. Laid out the notches, and band sawed the sides in one cut to keep all the notches the same for each post.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-35.jpg)
Used the Mortising machine to cut clean square corners to the notches.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-37.jpg)
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-39.jpg)
Figured the bucket size for the height of each ring, and cut out the inside of the now rings.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WT-40.jpg)
On the top ring, after cutting the inside out large enough for the bucket to clear, there is only about 1" of wood left between the inside cut and the notch for the vertical posts. Looks like a weak spot in the plan… I think that I will glue and screw a reinforcing piece on the underside jest to be sure.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/WY-41.jpg)
Next… Cutting the dados in the posts and assembling the tank skeleton.
Really nice build so far. Looking forward to more updates.
Just noticed you’re from Farmington. That’s Farmington New Mexico right?
Our outdoor layout is in Bayfield, CO. Well we’re really out at Vallecito Lake, but Bayfield is our post office.
Didn’t see ya at the San Juan Large Scalers on Sunday in Durango… Was hopeing to touch base with you. This Water tank is for Andy Saiz up at Hermosa. He’s hosting a Steam UP in June, Got to have it set by then. Thats Andy’s 3 truck shay on the first page that I’m riding…