Help with Water Trough

[dnhouston]

I have been struggling with a way to make galvanized water troughs for my stockyard (similar to this: https://www.behlencountry.com/product/224-galvanized-round-end-tank-approx-103-gal/ dimensions are 2 x 2 x 4)
I have tried heavy duty foil by itself, and I have tried wrapping it around various things (wood, foam, etc.) and every attempt looks like a tornado just came through and bent it all to hell.  I'm not sure if this can be done with styrene or not.  But I need four (4) of them (minimum) and so it has be something I can reproduce.  I have searched online, and have not been able to find anyone doing a 3D print of anything similar. 

Anybody have any suggestions?

[peteski]

You need something heavier than aluminum foil. I think a perfect material would be disposable aluminum baking or roasting sheets (from a dollar store).  Or even a pie plate (if you only need a small piece of material). They are made from very thin aluminum, but a lot sturdier than heavy duty foil.

[wazzou]

I’d made something like that long ago using a shaped Styrene buck and wrapped it with Builders in Scale corrugated siding.

I guess I should add that once the adhesive had set, I pulled the formed tub off of the buck.

[Chris333]

I would just paint a chunk of styrene. It would have water or food in it.

[Maletrain]

Maybe a thick walled tube - probably brass?  Chuck it into a drill and turn the side details into the wall, then put it in a vice with smooth walls and crush it onto a piece of metal stock the right thickness to make it oval.  Should be repeatable enough to make them all look similar enough for N scale.  Would probably take some trial and error to make the oval come out right.

My calculations say start with a 1/4" tube for N scale, and crush it down so the flats are 0.15" across the outside when done.  The metal stock to limit the crush would be 0.15" by (0.15" minus twice the tube wall thickness).  (But check my math.)

[cfritschle]

Woodland Scenics "Old Windmill" comes a a couple of troughs that are similar to the Behlen trough.  https://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/item/BR4936

[rail_nut]

Maybe use the metal sleeve from a wine bottle. the metal is very flexible and holds its shape. Found this on a model ship discussion for making tarps.

[rail_nut]

I should have added that the soft metal sleeve would be from a bottle with a cork, not a twist off.

[cfritschle]

Is the thickness of the tank's "wall" a major issue?  If not, then one could start with .025 inch diameter aluminum tubing, insert a 0.125 square styrene or wood into the tubing, and carefully squeeze the tubing into the shape of the tank.  Here is a source of 0.014 inch wall aluminum tubing.  https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Round-Aluminum-Telescopic-Thickness/dp/B07VS4823F/ref=sr_1_9_sspa?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&keywords=Aluminum+Tubes&qid=1640712558&s=industrial&sr=1-9-spons&ts_id=11260300011&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyVFhNM1VZU0c2UlBXJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODAyMzc2MlFBTjRRMldZRjQ1MCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODc4MzY0M1FPQU9GRzdMSVFRUSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX210ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Note:  Aluminum tubing is really easy to reshape.  I use a thread cutting die to make corrugated culverts from aluminum tubing, and I have to insert a brass rod in the tubing to keep it round while I am cutting the threads/corrugations.  Without the rod to support the tubing, I get oblong shape culverts.   

Finding some half round material to simulate the horizontal bands might be a little tricky in that Evergreen does not make any half round strips smaller that 0.04 inches in diameter.  The vertical corrugations could possibly be "imprinted" with a chisel blade ground down to the appropriate width.   

[GimpLizard]

A very simplified design, but I can provide an STL file to anyone interested. It measures .15x.15x.30 inches. I'm thinking that if it's printed out of a "clear" resin, with the outside painted silver, it might look like there's water in it... maybe? 

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[Maletrain]

If you are going to squeeze a tube into an oblong cross section, it will be necessary to put something inside the tube that supports the parts that are supposed to end up parallel.  Otherwise, the ends will not be very round and the sides will not be very flat - it will probably be more elliptical than oblong.  That is why I calculated that the internal part for the forming operation needs to be an N scale 2' long by N scale 2' wide minus twice the tube material thickness.

Personally, I would still use brass, rather than aluminum, and color it when done.  I can machine brass better/smoother than aluminum, and I can soften it by annealing it in a flame and dunking it in water to make it really non-springy for forming the oblong shape.  And a "silver" magic marker would make a reasonable galvanized look, especially if it is "dirtied-up" a bit with powders.

[NtheBasement]

Dunno what they call it - the metal tube that attaches the eraser to a pencil - but if you slightly flatten one into an oval in might pass for a Rubbermade stock tank.

[peteski]

Dunno what they call it - the metal tube that attaches the eraser to a pencil - but if you slightly flatten one into an oval in might pass for a Rubbermade stock tank.

A ferrule?

[Chris333]

It's like a flugelbinder 

The metal ring that holds the eraser on.

http://flugelbinder.nl

[propmeup1]

If you paint it with Alclad metal paint you can make it look like metal. Perhaps not galvenized but still metal.