#315 - Water Tank and Handcar Maintenance Shed - Official Build - Karl. A

Karl.A

Well, I'm at that point, and as always I get a little nervous, I dont know why but, it's just one of those things for me.
Time to epoxy all that hard work down and then hope I did everything right and I followed all the steps correctly.

Nothing has ever gone wrong, everything has always worked out perfectly, but, I do still get that little 'twinge' when I plant it down for eternity... probably just me.

Anyway....
structure and ties epoxied down and planted earlier today, I gave that a good few hours to cure while I did 'other' things and then tonight I just laid down the base layer of 'dirt'.
Thats going to need to dry out until tomorrow and then we can turn the manual page and see what's next.

So, the newsprint paper that Brett puts in the USPS kit shipping boxes is great for keeping the desk clean at this stage.



Time to take a deep breath and get messy. (but very carefully...)

Karl.A

randyp said:

Hay Karl, I just noticed the 1:1 bottle on your workbench. I guess that is why you have so many models with the same label. HaHa Randy

Haha Randy, I like to keep things familiar and prototypical to what I see around me IRL...

Karl.A

mikemettelka said:

Interested in how you did the coloring on the rock work as well!

Thanks Mike, I followed the steps in the manual and am really pleased with the results.

Karl.A

glandesjr said:

........... Do you add tracks or is it without tracks?

Tracks will be added in the next steps George.

Thanks for following along and all your comments.

brownbr

You got the grimy look going on.

kebmo

but somehow you manage to get so much done when you do.

Jerry

Karl.A said:

I do like to get in an hour or two at the bench each week. haha

What do with the rest of your time??

Anywho that is a beautifully weathered looking little shack!!

Jerry

TomMich

Karl, don't you mean being next to the rails it would get pretty Grungy? Turned out very nice!

KKarns

Ahh...coming along splendidly!

admin

Wonderful progress, now the fun begins.

Karl.A

Thanks Everyone, great to read all the comments.
I've got a few irons in the fire Jerry to keep me busy.

Ken is the master of Grungy Tom, I'm just going to play around with grimy.

The fun begins... meaning that it's back to graining and staining strip wood.

Next in the manual is to put the base aside and build the tank base and water tank.
I got the base done and now I'm moving on to the tank.

(the tank 'frame' is just sitting on the platform to show it together)




The details are relegated to the back of the bench for a while. I spotted this one in the pile and snapped a quick pic.

I think Bretts tool box is more randomly cluttered than even one of my real life 'general' ones.

This toolbox in the kit is about 3/4" long and 1/8" wide, so pretty small, Brett still managed to squeeze in a hammer, plumbers wrench, couple of adjustable wrenches, a tire iron, drill bits, some regular wrenches and a few other things, amazing detail part.




Looks like I missed painting the hat in the background, there's also a few more I missed on the sticks, the car batteries for example, plenty of time until we get to that point.

Of course we all know that "the fun begins" as soon as we open that wonderful SWSM box.

Jerry

Can't believe all the discs to keep the tank round!! Brett you are the "MASTER" of kits and ideas for sure.

Glad you kept the tools in the box nice an shiny looks that there getting a lot of use.

Jerry

Karl.A

A working mans tools make his money and pay his bills Jerry, he should always take care of them and keep them clean.

Jim M

Wow, what a great job painting that toolbox with tools. You must have good eyes and a steady hand.

Karl.A

Thanks Jim, I'll admit I had to wear glasses for that one, but yes, a small brush and a steady hand.

Well Jerry, those circles and the spacers worked perfectly as designed to keep the tank absolutely straight and true. Such an easy process and fantastic method.

Base done, details and weathering to follow...


another day.

randyp

Tool bok and tank look great. Randy

Joel

Love that tool box. What fantastic detail.

KKarns

Tool box is wonderfully detailed…love the barrels and hat in the background.

Jerry

A perfect tank!!

Jerry

Jeroen

That looks wonderful. I would have thought the weathering of the boards came before attaching them, so that is a little surprise. It all looks awesome, I can’t wait to get mine and start with it. It’s very inspiring!

Karl.A

Thanks Randy, Joel, Ken, Jerry and Jeroen.

Jeroen, the boards were grained, weathered and basic random colour stained before assembly.
The sun bleached top, rising damp and colour blend were then added after construction.

kebmo

[i'm gonna need a bigger house....]

Jeroen

Oh yes, I’m seeing it much better now. To be honest, I noticed the lighter Wood strips on the side after I wrote the remark Karl. But these pics show even better what you did. I’m really enjoying your thorough explanation on progress. Can’t wait to see what the landscape will look like. Did you make the sleepers under the rails yourself… and what rails will you be using?

Karl.A

At the begining of this thread there was a detail bag I didnt open and show as it was small parts and waited until I needed it.
Well we are at that point, so, here's whats in the bag...



More bags in the bag...


It's basically all the exceptional details for the water tank, along with chain, styrene for the fill pipe, gauge and brass wire.
Also the spout, turnbuckles, weights, pullys, NBW's, globe valve + handle and the finial.

Thats more details than most other kits... hahaha

Karl.A

First thing to be used was the turnbuckles,
I added the bands to the tank using the extremely easy guide method provided by Brett and then added the highly detailed turnbuckles to the bands.




Next in the manual is graining/staining the wood for the shingles, building the subroof and then putting it all together.

KKarns

Best water tank details I have seen yet!

Karl.A

You know it Ken.
I wasnt going to post this pic as it looks so bad... but it does show some of the details.

Also I had cracked one of the super fragile rods in the middle of the 2nd down turnbuckle, and the third is slightly mis-aligned. Luckily as they are so fragile Brett provides several spares for just such an incident, now that is customer service and support at it's best.



I'll replace the broken one with one of the spares later as I have already cleared and moved the tank off my desk, (well, I've cleared a 6" working area), to make the shingles.

KKarns

Looks the real deal!

Karl.A

Took some time out, and I got the first row done, moving on to the second row.
I'm thinking those cut-offs would look good around, and in a burn barrel...

Karl.A

Jeroen said:

Did you make the sleepers under the rails yourself… and what rails will you be using?

The sleepers ('ties' for our American friends) were weathered and cut from 6"x8" stripwood, (6hx8w),
The code 55 rails for inside the handcar shed are provided in the kit,
for the mainline rail I think I have some code 83 rail around here somewhere that I'll use.