Calamity gets a Watertank - Finished

I guess I was pretty excited to get this watertank. I worked late last night and finished it off this morning. The instructions could certainly use a little improvement and I think the pictures are from a prototype version as there are some differences between the pictures and the instructions. Still I had a good time building this one and I'm looking forward to getting started on the Calamity boards so I have someplace to put it!

Its a pretty basic kit if you are a model railroader and I certainly recommend it for that crowd, although it could use some NBW castings for all the cross bents. I think I'll pick up some Grandt Line ones next time I'm at Caboose. For the gaming crowd this might be a bit much, however it does not have that spindly look at I dislike so much with the gaming kits that are out there. Just be patient while you put it together and I think the extra detail you get with this kit is worth it. Its right in the same price range as many of the simpler gaming kits.

Here's my progress pictures and a few scale shots at the end.

This is a template to make the Bents

I'm gluing the cross beams to the bents here, they are just hidden underneath my steel weights

These are the pieces to make the tank itself

Here's the core all put together

Putting on the scribed siding "wrapper" being glued in place.

The tank platform, built on top of a piece of  thin plywood

Gluing the bents to the underside of the platform. The locations for the bents are scribed by the laser cutter so there's no guessing here.

These are the tank bands. Their are on self-adhesive paper which makes them a little easier to work with. On these I gave them a coat of a metallic paint and then "rusted" them with some MiG pigments and "fixed" them after that. I'm quite pleased with the effect.

The tank bands in place, went much easier than I expected.

Gluing the tank to the base. You can see that I have applied the tank band tighteners and the water scale at this point. 

Here the support for the water spout is in place. This was also constructed from a template included in the kit.

Okay, this was not fun. I had to drill all the way through the water spout so the "hinge" formed from brass wire could be inserted. My hand cramped on this because all I had to use was my little pin vice.

I had to drill out this hole as well. A little patience as my smallest bit (#74) is just barely small enough.

Looking pretty good at this point. All that's missing now is the water spout and the rigging.

Finished!

Dave "Mac" contemplates what he can do to the water supply

I don't think our gambler is going to find a game up there. I like the proportions here. Its not really tall, definitely shorter than some of the game versions but it looks stout without being over whelming.