One of the more striking bodywork styles reminiscent of the 1950's is the enclosed tanker on a rigid 6 or rigid 8 chassis. Probably the best known maker of streamlined tanks was Butterfields of Shipley who had been enclosing tanks since the 1930's.

Colin Wright's book, 'Tankers', provided the photographic patterns for the bodywork and Langley Miniature Models provided the Foden S20, (catalogue no G99).

Opening Langley's familiar sturdy packaging revealed a kit of 47 parts. The first task was to separate the parts that could be discarded. The sides, headboard, and tail gate of the dropside body, battery box, spare wheel were discarded along with the 'seagull' rear mudwings. The intended bodywork would hide these parts and I wanted to keep the chassis as uncluttered as possible, at least until I'd worked out how to build the body.

As usual, if in doubt, just get on with it and any problems will somehow disappear as the model progresses. There is nothing like actually starting a model to provide the impetus to solve problems that have been circulating in the mind without resolution.

The first stage to any model is, in my view, to build a rolling chassis. Loose fitting the wheels at this stage allows checking the alignment and slight bending of the springs to correct any misalignment if necessary. With the rear wheels fitted it was possible to line up and fit the front axles. The axles are cast separately as an axle/spring assembly and slight bending of the springs ensures that all eight wheels touch the ground.

The cab is the traditional Langley style. The floor includes the mudwings and engine cover sides. All there is to do is fit the engine cover, which includes the dashboard, seats, steering column and wheel and the gear lever.

The cab shell is cast in one piece, with the rear wall separate. Some cleaning of the window apertures was necessary and the whole cab was lightly brushed with a fibreglass pencil to prepare for painting. Slight filing around the wheel arches and rear wall was needed to obtain a close fit. The cab was painted in Humbrol Matt Blue with the roof and section between the styling beading painted Cherry Paint's Bradford Corporation White, which is really off-white.

The cab was glued to the chassis, giving a complete chassis cab on which to build the body. My preference is always to reach this stage before tackling the body as it gives a basis for measurements, either by ruler or more often by eye, using archive photographs as a guide.

Initial thoughts that the kit's platform floor could be used were soon abandoned as it was too wide and a new floor was cut from Plasticard. The floor was raised on the chassis with lengths of plastic strip to allow it to clear the rear wheels. The floor would be totally hidden so the exact height was immaterial.

The body sides and roof provided the next headache. There were just too many curves. Thoughts of building the body in sections always ended at the difficulty of producing smooth joints, essential on this type of body. I eventually, though reluctantly, decided that the body would have to be one piece and folded around the body ends.

Two ends were cut from plasticard using the width of the cab for measurement. Each was tapered slightly from half way up and the top corners rounded off by eye. The bottom edge was shaped to give clearance over the gearbox assembly. Once one end had been shaped a rectangle of Plasticard was clamped to it and sanded to shape with wet and dry paper. This ensured that both ends were identical.

A rectangle was cut from plank effect Plasticard and the ends glued to it. The rear end was positioned slightly inset from the rear edge to allow the rear to be shaped later. When it had set the card was folded over the top of the ends and glued into position and allowed to fully set before folding over the other side and gluing. Plank effect sheet was used as it bends easier when the planking is on the inside of the curve. So far, so good and I added strengthening strips along the inside of the body to prevent distortion. The body was then left to fully set and distort as it pleased.

Basically the distortion was so great that the body was scrap and plan 'B' had to be found.

The first step to plan 'B' was to cut new floor and end pieces. The problem of folding the bodywork around this frame still existed, made worse by the knowledge of the previous failure. I decided on two lengths of 12mm plastic tube positioned on the top corners of end sections. This would provide a strong, framework over which to fold the sheet of plank effect plastic without the risk of distortion.

The sheet was glued to one side and allowed to fully set. It was then folded around the top of the frame and Liquid Poly run into the full length of the join between sheet and tube and clamped in a vice until fully set. When set, the sheet was folded further over the frame and the gluing process repeated until both sides were glued to the floor.

A third end piece was cut to size and glued into the rear section of the body at the required angle for the sloping rear. This was done entirely by eye, using the theory that 'if it looks right, it can't be far wrong'. The rear section was then trimmed to give the basic shape. Wet and Dry paper was then used to sand the edges and to give a realistic radius to the corners.

The front and rear wheel arches were then roughly cut into the sides. At this stage the front wings had yet to be worked out and I had decided that the rear wheels were to be covered by wheel spats. This negated the need for accurate cutting of the wheel arches.

The rear spats were cut from plastic sheet and glued into position. The shape determined by the height of the wheels and the corners by drawing round a coin.

The front wings were still proving to be a problem. The Langley wings, at first inspection, did not appear suitable but neither was an alternative obvious. Eventually, I decided that some modification of the Langley wings would have to do. The cast wings have lugs cast into the top of them as they mount to the underside of the body. The new body was nothing like the original so not only were these lugs superfluous but they also got in the way. A few seconds with a fine saw and file removed the problem.

With the new body I had lost the facility to hang the wings beneath it, so I first glued the leading edge of the wing to the rear of the front wing. This looked too weak and plastic blocks were glued to the top of the tyres as wing supports. Provided that the blocks are small enough and fitted towards the inside edge of the tyre they are not visible on the finished model and ensure the correct distance between wing and tyre.

With both wings fitted the body was then glued to the chassis. The uneven gap between front wing and body was filled with Revell Plasto and sanded.

A rectangular piece of plastic sheet was cut to size, using the body for measurement and glued to the bottom edge of the body at the rear, using a square to ensure it was vertical. Thin plastic strip was glued along the top and side edges to create the pump/valve box. Once set the box was trimmed and sanded smooth.

Fine plastic rod was used to create the door and the same rod was used for the top mounted hinges and catch.

A hole was drilled into the left hand side of the body, mid way between the axles, to allow the fuel tank filler neck to protrude. The fuel tank was then glued to the chassis in its normal place with the filler cap protruding through the hole. The fuel tank was painted the same light blue as the wings with the retaining straps picked out in red to match the chassis.

The completed body was painted in mid blue with the rear wheel spats the same as the front wings.

The lettering is a mix of some leftovers from the spares box. With the lettering completed the whole model was given a single coat of satin varnish to equalise the different finish of the paint and provide an 'in scale' sheen. As usual the livery and colour scheme are purely fictitious, intending to depict an era rather than a specific vehicle.

The headlights, cab trim, wheel steprings, fuel cap and hinges on the valve box door were picked out in Humbrol Chrome Silver. Metallic Humbrol paints have to be used after varnishing as the varnish dissolves the metallic paints and the brush drags the paint over the whole surface, necessitating a re-paint.

Abridged from my original article in Truck Model World, 62, Nov. 1999.