WM #62 F7A from Highliners Kit - Fuel Tank Details
Fuel Tank Details - Details West
Time to install the Details West air tank casting. Read through the
Details West instructions a few times before reading on here.
First, cut the front of the battery box completely through between the two
raised clips. When done, it should look something like this. The
cut needs to be wide enough to comfortably hold the air tank casting without
being spread out to the sides. To verify this, snap the fuel tank back to
the frame and dry-fit the air tank casting. At the same time, mark the
mounting pin on the casting with pencil or paint, and note where it attaches to
the frame. Drill a mounting hole in the frame.
Before you install the air tank casting, remove any flash or parting lines with
a small file or sandpaper. Also, drill a hole through the front that is
large enough and deep enough to take the pin from the pipe casting. Do
not install the pipe casting yet.
Put the plastic tank in place and super-glue the fuel tank casting to the metal
frame. Don't worry if the plastic fuel tank is glued in place, as it will
be difficult or impossible to remove after the other castings are installed
anyway.
Next, mount the fuel tank support brackets to the frame. Per the
instructions, use a pencil or paint to mark the locator pins, then press the
support bracket against the frame. Be sure the hole location does not
obstruct the body clip slots (marked by the arrow below).
Placement of the holes you drill is important. You want to make sure that
the support brackets rest at the correct angle, with their backs (with the two
small flat supports) rest against the fuel tank and battery box. On the
battery box end, the holes will be located just about at the edge of the body
clip slots.
Next, dry fit the air pipe into the front of the tank and notice where it
attaches to the frame. You may need to bend the pipe a bit to get it to
fit the frame properly. From other detail shots I've seen, it appears
that this pipe is too long compared to the prototype, but I am not 100% certain
of that. Once you have the location marked, drill a hold there, and glue
the pipe into the air tank and to the frame with super glue/CA.
When complete, it should look something like this. I had a terrible time
drilling the holes, as I failed to take into account the plastic fuel tank (I
put it on afterwards), so that part of the frame is a bit of a mess. I
also managed to break two carbide drill bits. Part of the difficulty was
due to the fact that I had not completely disassembled the mechanism before I
attempted to mount these details. As mentioned on a previous page, doing
that first will make these steps much easier. The next time I do this,
instead of using a dremel to drill the holes, I will mount the frame on my
Sherline Mill and use the drilling attachment. If you have a drill
press, I recommend that you use that for drilling these frame holes. If
you do not have a press, I would recommend that you use a small block or
something to ensure that the drill bit remains perpindicular to the
frame. Failure to keep it perpindicular may result in broken bits and
slipped drillings.
If the fuel tank supports overhang the side of the frame at all, file them
smooth, or else the body will not slip onto the frame properly. NOTE: After I
did the work on this model, I found that Hi-Tech Details has a much nicer set
of fuel tank support castings done in plastic. I'd recommend using those
instead of the white metal Details West parts.
After completing the above details, I attended a WMRHS convention during which I
was able to snap a few photos of the underside of a FP7A. I cannot say if
the piping here is as-delivered (given other photographs I have since seen, it
appears that this is the case), or if the piping is the same on a regular
F7A, but if it is, it shows that the Details West piping is not quite
correct..
Air tank, piping and front battery box support.
Fuel tank support - rear
Having learned my lesson drilling holes the first time, I decided to drill the
holes for the pipe and valve using my Sherline mill. This worked much
much better than the dremel tool. If you don't have a Sherline, but do
have a Dremel tool, pick up the drill press attachment for the Dremel. I
suspect it will do just fine.
In any case, drill the holes very close to the tank support, or else you won't
clear the trucks. If you're in doubt, temporarily remount the rear truck
and check for clearance. Just like the instructions said, I marked the ends
with paint. You'll definitely end up cutting off extra piping, so try the
fit a few times before gluing with super glue.
Here is the pipe and valve attached to the frame
I had one more detail to add to the tank, and that is the weld seam. On my
model I used a piece of .010 x.020 strip styrene. In retrospect, this was
more trouble than it should have been, and ended up looking over scale. I
used super glue to attach the styrene, and that was messy and required sanding
afterwards.
When you add this detail, I recommend that you instead use a thin strip of
electrical tape or bare metal foil (that is what I will use on the next
F7). This way you use something self-adhesive and closer to scale.
Here is a photo of the frame with all details added. You can see the strip
styrene on both sides of the fuel tank about 3/4 of the distrnace from the
front. PLEASE NOTE: I later removed one of the strips as I realized that the
prototype detail was found on only one side of the tank.
At this point, I decided to paint the body and do some initial weathering.
I chose a combination of engine black with grimy black followed up with a very
light spray of overly-thinned brownish gray. I also used chalks for some
initial weathering and finally sealed with Testors Dull Coat. At the same
time, I painted the side frames (see next page)
Next Step Wheels and Side Frames
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