‘Esso’ Tanker Train - The Tanks
Entry posted by Sylvian Tennant
929 views
The Dapol 20t tank wagons is a simple kit top produce, one I actually would recommend to anyone who was starting out or wanted an add some non-taxing details. However, there were a few slight hiccups when opening most of the kits. Broken parts as you can see here.
This isn’t a major, if incredibly irritating, problem. So first check all of the parts and prepare to spend the best part of a hour trying to rectify any problems you come across!
I started with the barrel and this was the first of my modifications. I added a 10 gram weight perched upon a bit of spare sprue inside. The weight it self is self adhesive but I added a coat of liquid poly just as insurance.
The completed barrel should look something like this and should naturally sit the right way up with the newly added weight.
If it doesn’t…panic!
The chassis was again a straight forward build initially. I should have bored the holes for the braking gear on the chassis and brake blocks BEFORE this stage but I left it until later. For ease of the reader I have included it in this part. I used a 1mm drill bit for the hangers and 0.55mm for the brake shoes and safety bars, be careful as the hangers are prone to snap and cause a lot of foul language! I also could have added buffers here too, but I seem to have taken these photos before I did!
The major modifications begin after this stage!
I ended up using Hornby narrow couplings instead of the ones provided. I would suggest that if this is your first kit to use the ones they provide, I learnt a whole spectrum of colourful language whilst trying to super glue them to the chassis and make them work.
Unfoundedly I didn’t think this through and went I tried the train it kept derailing on the 2nd radius curves. So unless you plan to run your own train on wider, non-train set curves then you may need to select (or keep) different couplings or, like me remove one of the hooks. Since I was planning to keep it as a block train I didn’t really bother me. However, MAKE SURE, the hook align with the loops if you are going down this route!
If you decide to go down this route and want to add the under frame details as I did you’ll have to GENTLY file away a angle at the back of the coupling.
As I said, the Dapol kit was great for basic mods because it is itself quite basic. One major difference you will find is the inclusion of a discharge pipe along the underbelly. Check the length with the chassis and gentle indent with the cutters.
This is followed up by the braking gear. First the tie bars between the break shoes, made from 0.5mm brass wire.
Then I used the staples to create the safety bracket (things). Bend and cut accordingly using the cutters and pliers.
Unfortunately I wasn’t too particular as to their positioning, they should be closer to the spine.
I bit of the inner brackets should be sticking out of the top of the chassis, simply cut this bit off.
The parts connecting the brakes to the cylinders were created using plastic tubing and microstip. I used the same technique to fit the rod as I did to fit the tube. However now there should be a bore in the hangers to help it sit there. (ignore the file!)
The connecting bars were measure between the cylinders and rod to judge the distance. Once there were marked out and cut. I cut a slight section out of them.
I attached them to the cylinders making sure they sat on the rod. Once they had set I then glued them to the rod.
I left the ladders unmodified because I couldn’t be bothered updating them and they looked alright. I also left out the support brackets too because they look simply but are a blooming nuisance!
Here is the rake of unpainted wagons
This was actually taken before I updated the chassis! But next time I will carry the work out in this order!
8 Comments
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now