sanded off the weld lines and added Archer rivets, set no.
AR88025.
The McGraw kit includes top walkways, designed to connect
tanks of the same height. This is fine for my pair of identical
tanks, but I needed to connect those two with the shorter tank.
As is common in the prototype, I chose to arrange a stairway to
connect the shorter tank to the adjoining tall one, then a lad-
der from the ground to the top of the short tank.
The ladder was made from a length of the ladder in the Central
Valley Steps and Ladders set, which includes rounded ladder-
top returns. I used short lengths of scale 2 x 4" styrene for
standoffs between the tank and ladder.
The stairway is also from the same Central Valley set, along
with the side railings. I then needed a short horizontal walk at
the top of the stairs. The thickness of the CV stair treads is about
0.030", so I simply used a piece of Evergreen 0.030" styrene for
the walk, and added a pair of scale 4" x 4" end posts. The near-
est match to the Central Valley railings appeared to be about 2"
x 4" lumber, so I added that also. The assembled stairway and
top walk is shown prior to painting in (15), while (16) shows the
assembly from underneath. The piece of styrene used to splice
the stairs to the horizontal walk can be seen.
17 shows the tanks ready for paint. The ladder arrangement is
clearly visible. With tanks and walkways separate, I airbrushed
17: The Walthers tanks ready for paint. The center tank
has Archer weld lines on two segments. The shorter
one at right has received Archer rivets and has the
Central Valley ladder attached.
16: This view from beneath the stairway assembly may
clarify the construction of the horizontal walkway, and
clearly shows the splice plate attaching the two parts.
17
16
Getting Real Column - 10
MRH-Mar 2014
