Monday, June 3, 2013

Tankers #1: Sodor Fuel Tank Overhall


For this project I wanted to try modifying one of Bachmann's tankers from the Thomas line to make it look more like they do on the television series.


I took this picture to show you the new tanker supports, made from balsa wood strips, the vertical pieces placed closer together, and the top cross piece extended out a little. They were assembled with white glue and crazy glue. After the glue dried I also glued two strips of paper to add a bit of raised detail for the cross supports. An Atlas track cutting knife was used to cut the plastic corner pieces of the buffer-beam off, and sanded them smooth before painting.


Here is what it looks like from the side. The logo remains unpainted, but I added some yellow paint to kill the factory shine, and repainted the underframe and chassis of the car. I weathered it using  acrylic paint in a rust color.

That's it! I would suggest trying to add separate brass or plastic braces that hold the tank to the body, drill or dowel a hole through the tank supports, then into the middle of the chassis footplate side to attach them.

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