exception), so I recom-
mend omitting rust on
tanks like these.
With all tank painting
and weathering done,
and the tank base ready
to accept the tanks,
they were all attached
with styrene cement.
Small word of warn-
ing: not every tank may
have a square bottom.
This is worth check-
ing before you cement
tanks which are out of
plumb in place. Then
(19) shows the vertical
tanks at this point.
The horizontal
tank
A horizontal tank or two
is such a common fea-
ture of prototype bulk
oil dealers that I wanted
to add one. I decided to
make the tank by the
old-fashioned method,
just to compare with
Archer rivets. I started with a segment of toilet paper roll, and
made riveted overlays for it. I used 0.005" transparent styrene
18: In this view, the tanks have
been painted silver, and the
stairway and top walk assem-
bly is shown approximately
where it will be located after
the final tank assembly is
made. The walkway assembly
is not yet glued on. That step
will be taken after the tanks are
attached to the base, to ensure
correct spacing.
18
all of them a silver color. The painted walkway is shown as it
would be arranged when the tankage is completed, in (18).
The final touch was to add to the center tank an Associated
Oil Company logo (the “Flying A”) from Microscale set 87-874.
Once the tank decoration was done, I gave the tanks an over-
coat of flat finish so I could lightly weather them. One could
regard these as freshly painted tanks, but I decided it was a
little more likely that they had been in service awhile since
their last paint job. I used washes of acrylic paint, mixing gray,
brown, and black to suit, to lightly dirty and streak them, then
added a final coat of flat finish to take care of any glossiness
from the acrylics.
One comment: In most bulk oil depots I have seen, patches
or streaks of rust are usually absent (Figure 3 shows an
Getting Real Column - 11
MRH-Mar 2014
