More Trolley Details

After building and installing new front and rear bumpers on my large scale trolley, I felt that these new bumpers were a bit bare for being so large so I went on a search for detail parts that would make sense in this situation and fit on these bumpers.

The first thing I knew I should add is an air tank on the rear bumper.  This would be an air tank (or auxiliary air tank) for the brakes so it would make sense that it would be located on the rear bumper.  Many small switching diesels (Plymouths) had rear mounted air tanks so that was the logical place to put one on my trolley.  

Unfortunately, it turns out that finding a tank in the size I needed was a problem.  

I wasn't finding anything in F scale which is what I needed.  Since I needed only a small tank, I tried finding a tank in smaller scales.  Unfortunately, I didn't find any G scale tanks that would look right.  I tried O scale but most of those would be ridiculously small.  I eventually found a package of two air tanks made for a cheap plastic, clunky G scale locomotive.  Although not the tank I preferred, I figured I could make it work on my trolley if I got creative.

When these two air tanks finally arrived, I found that they had hollowed out backs to them presumably where the tank was up against the boiler of the original locomotive where they were meant to be mounted.  This hollow back was going to be visible on my trolley though so I went on another search in the hope of finding something that better fit my needs.  

I never did find exactly what I needed but I realized that if I was really careful, then I could cut out a section of one of the tanks and glue it in place on the second tank to cover the hollowed out back.  I knew this would be tough to do but, if I did it right, it would look good so I decided to use these cheap tanks for this project.  

These tanks are small (even though my trolley is in giant F scale) and the cuts would need to be precise or it would look like a sloppy mess.  

After deciding on a plan of attack, I figured I could cut out a piece that was oversized from one tank and then use my rotary tool to grind it down to the exact right shape so it could fit over the hollowed out back of the other tank.  

The photo above shows the rough, oversized piece I cut out of one of the tanks.  

To complicate this patch, the tanks have molded-in straps around them to depict straps holding them in place.  I knew I would need to be precise enough to keep these straps in a straight line through this patch or it would look like a mess and I wouldn't be happy with it.  The first thing to do was to cut out a section from one of the tanks.  Then I went at it with a grinder bit on my rotary tool.

Below is a photo of the tank after I glued the patch in place and did some rough filing.  I still needed to do more filing to smooth out the edges of the patch but this was looking good so far.

Once my filing and sanding was done, I primed the tank...   now the patched tank looked like one solid tank!  It is just barely perceptible in this photo, below, but that is mostly because I know exactly where to look.  It looks good!  To be honest, it looks better than I expected...

After it was primed, I needed to decide on what color to paint it.  I chose a charcoal color that was close to the color of the new bumpers.  Then I carefully painted the straps a silvery color...  that looked terrible.  I toned down the silver straps to medium gray...  it was still looking weird so I toned the straps down to a charcoal color that was only a little lighter than the tank...  this looked good.  I still need to do some very mild weathering but it is looking good and, better yet, it looks like it belongs on the rather oversized bumper.  

I'm going to write about this in another blog entry but, since it is visible in this photo below, I'll mention it here too.  As you can see, I added couplers to the new bumpers.  These have not been painted yet so they are still in their shiny plastic form.  Now, with the air tank and the new coupler in its gearbox mounted on this rear bumper, it is looking better!

I was stumped on what to add to the front bumper other than a coupler with gearbox.  Even after adding the coupler and gearbox, it was still looking pretty bare so I knew I needed to add something else.  

I had originally been thinking about maybe mounting a horn on this front bumper but I knew that was not the place for a horn.  A horn belongs high on the trolley.  I did add a horn but not on the bumper (see bottom photo).  I thought about a winch of some sort but that didn't seem right for a trolley.

I decided to add a child sort of hitching a ride sitting on the bumper.  This would work...

Here is a photo of the horn I added to the roof of the trolley.  

These little extra detail parts are really adding to the realism of this large scale trolley.  I think this is probably all the work I'll get done on this trolley until after the grandkids are here for Christmas.  Hmmm...  I might weather the front and rear couplers before then if I find some time to squeeze that in before the grandkids arrive.  

I really like this trolley especially the more details I add to it!