1.5" Scale 1923 Tidewater Tank Car TWOX 1367

[Highiron]

Adam

I will look and see..I am not sure, we kept the press off the Bayhead sight during the move, I know Transit had there people there taking some and I think some were taken by a fellow from the Pine Creek Railroad where the other 2 went

It was a tough move I rode the top of each car out of town lifting wires over the domes

[steamin10]

Thanks to those that replied with pics and other trails of doing, this is what I was hoping for. Pics are worth a thousand words and inspire the mind more than mere words. I have to admit, I was looking at very austere builds, but see easy details that would be killer for a small car as I would build it.

One thing the pics enforced was the lack of shields and walk ways of the older cars. I worked in Union Tank car, and those details are very different for modern cars.

Second, the idea of spinning an end was not 'disliked', but seems a viable road perhaps less traveled. Also the details of various mounts and push rivets, are the treasure that is unrealized for information. This is the Gold I was panning for. There are many ways to do the jobs at hand, I just needed ideas to fuel what will become my way. This is the core of the boards use, and I thank you all for your efforts to the spread of supporting ideas.

I like the idea of tank cars, as in the model ride on world there are way too many flats and gons, for the obvious purpose of revenue with passengers. So be it. But on casual days of just for fun, a tank is a rare car to see, and for me excites the mind. I prefer mid life railroading, just after oil became king, where coal was the fuel of choice and shifting markets forced railroading to change or die, with great upheaval in the rail industry. My thoughts follow that of a small industry and home rail projects that keep it alive another day. Logging is the romantic backdrop, small industry and mining another. These are the themes I work to and develop the character.

[amadlinger]

Hi Dave,

I should also mention a trick about the running boards. They are 1-1/2" wide x 1/4" thick wood (from Home Depot) for appearance as per the prototype, but I milled out the bottom side of the wood in order to hide 1" wide x 1/8" thick steel strips, for reinforcement. Wherever you see wood on the car, there is actually the 1/8" thick steel hidden underneath.

Sincerely,
Adam

[steamin10]

Cool! Thanks for the note.

I relish the museum pieces that can be built, but in the real world where we may run with public, small details are too delicate and get broken and bent too often. Children can be thrilled unthinking monsters, that have to touch that lantern and see if it moves, and all that. So, I look at the charicature of what I want and try to build as bullet proof as I can, without losing the feel. But thats me. One has the many choices to go through to make it happen. I bid you peace.

[Steampipe]

Adam
This tank was truly one of the highlights for me this past weekend at PLS. As a fellow tank head, I am a bit inspired of how you made this tank car look so (mostly) simple. It may prompt me towards a new project later this year - once the already in process projects are completed. I hope you might have drawings and detail info to share of who to contact for those special fittings.
Congrads!! A true work of art.

[John_S]

I was hoping for a different answer on the tank ends than "turned out of a solid piece of 12"x12" PVC"!

A tank car is the next (and last for a good while) piece of rolling stock I'm going to build. Your's is a work of art and I love it!

[chooch]

OK, Guy with the Wide Brim Hat.
Big Dave,
Are you still looking for simple, non-machined, rude and crude, non- prototype hand made tank car ends ? OH, and probably having to use some BONDO!!
CHOOCH

[steamin10]

Ya, still looking for input on the many ways to work through. Just looking for a 'more better' answer from the collected minds here.

I bought a 6 inch cap, and it is very square on the end. I am thinking of 'slumping' this cap to get some roundness to it for the dome. By the way, I checked prices at Menard building center, only a mile from my home and a 10 foot length of PVC is special order for about $75. So you modern tankers can build 2 from one stick.

The liquid tanks I was around were 54 feet, buffer to buffer. I am sorry I never grabbed any detail sheets that were laid out for individual cars in the fleet, that were essentially side on half view of the tanker and its detail mods scripted in. But that would be company espianage or some such, so they went to the dumpster. Of note, I had one of the 'old' oil tankers on site, and mostly filled with steel blaster grit. It was used as a scale test car, as its weight never changed, and borrowing a scale weight car or renting one was unecessary . It was an oiler from the 60's

[redneckalbertan]

I bought a 6 inch cap, and it is very square on the end. I am thinking of 'slumping' this cap to get some roundness to it for the dome.

If a person were to take one of those square end cap, a heat gun, and a basketball. Heat up the end cap and then press it over the basket ball to round the end a bit. I don't know if it would work, just spit balling.

[NP317]

Here's a solution for domed tank ends:
One of my fellow Kitsap Live Steamers created a Vanderbilt tender for his Pacific, and used an aluminum WOK cooking pan to make the domed tank end!

He had to lathe the diameter down and add brackets to fit in the cylinder of the tank, and it works great. Of course he needed to make a fixture to hold the WOK pan for turning on the lathe, but that's the fun of this creative hobby. It was way easier than trying to spin an aluminum domed end.

See what you can find, and make it so.
~Russ

[chooch]

I marked an 8 inch "domed" PVC cap--22 bucks a few years ago-- on a 12 inch PVC pipe x 3/4 thick. Cut the hole with a Sabre saw. Ha! Saw pretty flat on pipe but hole came out Slanted/Tapered on two sides for cap to fit. OK, saw trim a little and rotary file more in drill motor till cap fit down IN nicely with close fit. Not perfect but Close.
Made a couple small brackets inside pipe for cap to sit on so I could take cap in or out.
I figured I could do That better than trying to fit the cap Over/ On the pipe radius. Can`t see trying to taper fit the cap for a tight/Close "Sit-on" fit. Not by hand for sure.
If I got too much space around the cap I would have just filled it in maybe with Bondo or something. A bit of work but I was lucky with the cut.

End Caps. Being cheap and not wanting to pay for Custom or Supplier made end caps and not yet finding the right usable size(s) I have been making Chimney / Chinese caps for tank ends. That is another how to sometime.
chooch

[steamin10]

In my rounds of searching for those things I cant live without, I ran across a lid from a crock pot. It is 10 inches across, and has a rather healthy dome to it. Thats it! the perfect cover for my crock pot, that has a broken handle. +wrong+ loose, wobbly fit. So while comparing tops, the $1.49 hard spent, still has a screw on handle that fit the other glass lid. So, with the change of the handle, (I AM getting slow!) It finally dawned on me the heat resistant glass would make the crown of the end covers just about right for the pipe. (duh). I cant find the wok I remember did not work well on the gas range, so I was thinking of a large flat mixing bowl (SS.) but it has about a three inch flat spot on the bottom, the lid is more continuous, out to 10 inches.

Now to scribble on paper with a ruler and figure out sizes, and maybe mock some things up with wood, and cardboard.