To complete the tanker conversion I’ve made a fake chassis. It’s a simple rectangle of plastic section with lengths of 3.2 x 2 mm (125 x 80 thou) at the ends and lengths of 4 mm (160 thou) I beam along the sides.

I like the result but it looks rather plain when viewed from the sides.

To add some detail to the sole bars, I cut short lengths of plastic strip and pushed a nail into one side to create something resembling rivets on the other side. It was a little fiddly to do this consistently so I made more pieces than I needed and selected the ones that looked best.

Adding them to the chassis has improved the look of the wagon.

Next step: the paintshop.