Steam Locomotives required lots of water to operate, so railroads kept water tanks near the track to refill the tenders. These were sometimes filled by a small stream, a well, or, where available, city water. The tank was used to speed up the operation. With a large spout, it could fill a tender with hundreds or thousands of gallons in a minute or so. Since it only needed to refill by the time the next train came along, it could get away with a smaller well pump or stream.

A load of material arrives, supervised by one of the local kids.

I started by wrapping some .5mm styrene sheet around something of a reasonable size.

I employed my favorite modeling material, craft sticks. Some super glue made this a quick task.

The base is craft sticks and some basswood from Hobby Lobby.

I used basswood and craft sticks for the frame that holds the spout. I thought this frame was too high, so I sawed it off and built it lower. This mistake cost a few craft sticks, but I have this huge box I got for $3.00, so who cares? The legs are also basswood. This is actually the second set I made as I didn't like the first, which were made of laminated craft sticks. Again, craft sticks are cheap.

The bands around the tank are copper picture hanging wire. A buck bought a whole roll of it. I used acrylic paint to give it an old, once painted look. I model a depression era short line railroad, so everything is in a state of disrepair. The technique is simple. I first painted the tank black. Then I mixed some water with white to get a thin slurry, and slopped this over the white. Then I painted the legs black. I took an old brush with splayed bristles and just touched the tips to white and streaked the black legs. The lower part of the ladder is smaller craft sticks laminated together. Then I drilled 3/32 holes and stuffed round tooth picks in the holes, breaking off the ends that stuck out. A little glue, sandpaper and paint finished the ladder. The upper ladder is some 3/32 round styrene. I thinned down some "raw umber" acrylic paint with water to give the upper ladder a rusty look. I made the spout by cutting a 45 degree angle in a styrene tube. The chains are a necklace from the kid's counter at Wal*Mart for a couple bucks. The counter weights are brass fishing weights.

I made the pump house of small craft sticks with a scrap of wood I had laying around for the roof. A piece of styrene pipe makes the vent, which I imagine is the exhaust for a gas powered pump.

The scrap of wood had ragged edges where somebody "cut" it roughly. I thought they were a nice detail so I left them.

Notice the water pipe along the leg to get the water up to the tank.

I made these pullys with tiny pieces of styrene tube for the wheel and 3 pieces of craft stick. Tiny wires are from a jewelry repair kit. Small parts are always handy to have around.

Many people suggested I needed to put the 3 girls from "Petticoat Junction." If you've made people with polymer clay, you'll know that skin is lots harder to make than clothes. If you haven't, check out Chris Walas' articles at mylargescale.com and give it a try.

So I started a little smaller. Here's Jess, sneaking up for a dip.

I think Jess took longer than the rest of the project! Since it was really hard to get the clay skin smooth, I used my "North West Short Line" detail sander quite a bit. Once you bake the clay, you can drill it, sand it or cut it any way you want, and it was pretty easy to get smooth rounded surfaces with my detail sander, though I lost some of his toe detail.

To get tiny pieces of fresh clay to stick to the baked clay, I cheated. I drilled tiny holes in the baked clay for his ears and -- er -- other details. Then I stuffed fresh clay into the holes, packing it in with a darning needle. I smoothed it over. Then I had fresh clay for sticking tiny details to.

My main figure making tools are a round toothpick with one end sanded round, and a darning needle. My favorite polymer clay is "Premo" in dark colors, but I used some red "Fimo" for Jess, just 'cause I had it on hand. He is painted with acrylic paint. He is "raw umber" mixed with a little white to get a nice flesh tone.

It's really hard to get a good photo of him with my el-cheapo point-n-shoot digital camera.