Concluding the 1922 steel-framed water tank

The Basement Subdivision

Picking up where we left off in the December Magazine, add the sheathing under the roof . Use the template in the last issue to cut eight pieces from either scribed wood or styrene. After installation paint them with Floquil's Foundation. Let this dry then add a coat of Floquil stain.

Install the 2x12 fascia boards around the outside of the roof. Cut four pieces a little oversize and glue them to every other roof edge. Later, using a file or emery board, sand them to length and also miter the ends. Then cut four more pieces glue in place and when dry sand them flush and stain. Tar paper comes next. I used Builders In Scale #260 Faded Gray Black again. Cover the roof then add strips down the ridge peaks. Cut a small cross at the roof peak for the finial. Make this from a piece of 6x6 wood reshaped into an octagonal cross-section. Sharpen it to a point 1'-0" long, stain, and install with about 2'-0" showing above the roof. The last piece of tar paper is an octagon about 5/16" square, big enough to cover the ends of the ridge strips. Cut a small cross in the center of it and spear it over the finial and glue to the roof.

The last thing to add to the roof is the hatch. This is a scrap piece of sheet wood or styrene 2'-6" square with a frame of 2x4s stained and glued on the bottom with the top covered with tarpaper. The bottom edge of the hatch is about 1/3 of the way up from the eaves to the peak.

Now install the tank bands, using either brass wire or Vintage Reproductions black monofilament line of about .Ol" in diameter. Make a hoop-spacing jig by gluing the template to a piece of plastic, notching it with a razor saw at each band, and then gluing a piece of styrene on top to make alignment easier. Place the drilling jig on the tank and mark a spot between two tank staves for the lowest hoop. Move the jig three staves to the left and mark the next hoop up, and continue doing this until all the bands are located. Now drill all the holes. To install the first hoop make a bend in a piece of wire about a 1/4" from the end. Pre-curve the wire to the tank radius for a couple of inches. It's not necessary to be very accurate here - just bend the wire in roughly the tank radius. It's also better to be a little smaller on the curve than larger. Put your tank horizontally into a vise and lightly tighten. Insert the bent end of the wire into the hole and touch it with a drop of CA-type super glue to hold it in place. Loop the wire around the tank and pull it tight with a pair of hemostats. Where the wire laps itself put a tiny piece of soldering flux. Don't use acid-type flux. I use Burley's Battery Flux but any good rosin paste flux will do. Heat the joint with a small soldering iron and when the flux has melted just touch the smallest diameter solder wire that you have to the joint (.032" is ideal).

After all the hoops are in place use the jig to align them horizontally around the tank and hold them in place with CA at three or four places around the circumference. Glue a Grandt Line tank hoop casting over each of the solder joints, taking care to maintain the offset between each hoop. Hoops on the real tanks were made from three equal pieces of rod. Model this by using a scrap piece of flexible plastic or wood 25' long as a guide in spacing the Grandt Line castings around the tank.

Glue the tank to the steel tower being careful to center the tank with the long spout support joists opposite the angles that will support the ladder. Make the water pipe (bottom of the tank to the spout) from 1/16" diameter brass rod 5" long. Make an 850 bend, with the legs roughly 3" and 2". Blacken the rod and insert the 2" leg into the hole. Glue it to the tower frame "S" member making sure it's square. Glue the roof in place next, with the hatch on the same side as the ladder supports.

Make the spout frame from the following pieces of wood: 4x6x10'-0"; 4x6x23'-6"; 4x6x6'; and 4x4x6' (two needed). Trim one end of each 4x4 to a 45degangle and glue them to the 4x6x23'-6" length of wood. Next, notch the 4x4s so that the frame fits between the center two floor joists. The bottom of the notch should be 2'-6" from the bottom and 12" high. After you're happy with the fit, trim the water pipe with a flush cutter so that it just touches the back of the spout frame. Notch the 4x4 trim on the roof eaves to fit the 4x6 spout post. Make sure the post is vertical before cutting. The last thing to do before gluing the spout frame to the tank is the notch at the top of the frame post where the valve operating lever pivots. This lever is a piece of 2x6 so file the notch accordingly. After the frame is glued in add the 4x6x6' brace below the eaves, and when set add an "NBW" casting. Drill a hole in the frame post 7'-6" from the top for an NBW and another hole in the center of the 4x6x10' long piece of wood. Add pulleys from Grandt Line's spout set at the ends of the cross piece. Add the cross piece to the spout frame using an NBW to pin things together. At the bottom of the frame glue the Grandt Line plate with the hole in line with the water pipe.

Add tie rods to the spout frame, running from the extended floor joists up to the pulley beam. Add a DA eyebolt to the neck of both spouts, painted silver. Drill the bottom of the spout pipe and insert a piece of brass wire for an extra-strength mounting pin. Drill the hole at the angle you want the spout to be. Drill a hole in the plate on the spout frame and install the spout on the tank.

After the spout sets up, add the rigging. I used wire this time, and it was easier than using thread. Drill out the top of the Grandt line sheaves - it's a lot easier after they're mounted. Take a piece of fine brass wire and bend into a "V" shape. Before threading the wire through the eye bolt on the spout drill a small (#78-80) hole at the top of the Grandt Line pulleys. With the wire through the eye bolt adjust the "V" angle so the ends line up with the sheaves. Bend a short leg on the end and insert into the pulley hole. Do the other side and paint the wire black.

Make the counterweights out of 3/32" plastic rod, 12" long. Drill a hole in the center and insert a piece of wire the same length in each. Paint flat black and glue to the back side of the sheaves.

The last item for the spout mechanism is the valve lever. It's a piece of 2x6x11'. Mark the pivot point that is 4' in from one end. Taper the lever from the pivot point to each end, so it's between 3" and 4" deep at the ends. Put the lever in place and drill a small hole in the roof for the valve operating rod. Remove the lever and drill a small hole at each end. Install a length of blackened wire in each of the holes. On the short side of the operating lever it will be a piece about 3' long to fit into the hole in the roof. A piece 14' long goes on the other end to make the pull rope. Once this is done, glue the lever in place.

Make the gauge next. I used the water tank at Cass, WV., as a guide. Roughly cut the gauge out and glue to a piece of 2x 12 wood with contact cement, then trim it with a new X-acto blade (keeps the paper from having the fuzzies). The Cass level indicator was a red disc 4" to 6" in diameter that rode up and down the gauge board on a cable. You could use a paper punch to cut a disc from red paper or plastic and glue it on a piece of wire that runs the length of the gauge. Or, just add a dot from a red "Sharpie" marker. Glue the completed gauge to the tank, on the right side of the spout midway between the extended floor joists that support the spout and frame.

Install the ladder on the back of the tank, perpendicular to the ladder supports. A Central Valley industrial steel ladder works nicely. Glue the return bends in place, hold the ladder in position against the ladder supports and on grade, and start trimming the bottom of the ladder until the return bends hit the roof. You'll have some slack in the system as the bottom of the ladder should be between 8" and 12" above the ground. Glue a spare spout to the steel tower or on the turf, sit back and admire your work. Of course, it still has to be weathered - and a few pigeons from Master Creations would look good on the roof.

Copyright Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. Jan 1999
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