Pierre, recognizing that you truly need no advice from me or just about anyone else in how to build models, Bill Darnaby's post on this list some years ago (#20484) and Ted Cullotta (#36207) on building this great car kit were, and still are, gold standards as to how two great modelers approached and completed successfully this extraordinary kit. I also contributed some working notes on the same kit in a post about three years ago (#86281 November 4, 2009).

The most important piece of advice that I learned from Bill, and then slavishly copied, was to deep-six the multitudinous brass wire tank bands, and the clunky process required to bend them, in favor of using nylon monofilament fishing line instead (easily secured with ACC). Although I used some line of the proper diameter found serendipitously wrapped around the propellor of my old ChrisCraft, I determined at the same time that lines of the same weight can have different diameters; so be careful (c. 8-13 lb. line, if I recall).

A broomstick does indeed work in shaping the tank wrapper- for me much better than the PVC pipe included in the kit.

Checking available prototype photos of these cars, the number of tank bands in the kit directions are fewer than the prototype. The ease of using the nylon line allowed me to replicate the correct prototype number.

I substituted PSC handrail clamps for the ones supplied in the kit.

The cast urethane "clamps" for the tank bands in the kit are also crude at best, but still presentable. If I am correct, however, I believe that Tichy has much better bands, which I would have used if I had known about them. The latter "may" also be predrilled, which if so, would void a lot of drilled finger tips.

Denny


Denny S. Anspach M
Sacramento







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

It's been about 10 years since I built mine but I don't recall having a PVC
tube with it. I do distinctly remember hunting around and finding an old
broom handle in the garage that did the trick for forming the tank.
YMMV....

Bill Darnaby

-----Original Message-----
From: STMFC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:STMFC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Pierre
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2012 3:43 PM
To: STMFC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [STMFC] Sunshine vinegar tank car

I'm about to tackle another one of these neat kits and the kit I have is
missing the PVC tube for the tank form.
Does someone have an unbuilt kit that they can measure the PVC tube for me?
Need length and diameter please.
Thanks,
Pierre Oliver



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