Help with Water Trough

[Maletrain]

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.

Winner!!!  I just took a look at my pencil, and it is the right diameter (~1/4") to crush into the size/shape of an N scale trough.  Not only that, but it is thin, the right color, and already has some pairs of ridges formed into it in about the right places.  Cutting a 0.15" strip of that band and crushing it to 0.15" width should make a passable watering trough without too much work.

[narrowminded]

Use aluminum foil and Elmer's glue on a flat or curved surface with fine details (not spherical).  That printed trough looks like a good candidate for this process.

Rather than try to fully describe a process in detail, just get out a flat piece with some small details, maybe like a tender with rivet detail or a building wall without crazy deep brick or wood lines, put an even coating of Elmer's glue on the flat surface, choose the shiny side or the brushed side of some aluminum foil depending on which look you're after, smooth it in place and into or over all of the fine details with your fingertip and maybe a wetted cloth rag piece, smooth into place squeezing out all excess, then clean up with water, let it dry, maybe another shot with a damp rag at the end.  Play with it.  You'll figure it out and come up with what works.  I did this with a truck trailer about 10 years ago and it's still perfect, has all of the line and rivet detail, and looks just like an aluminum truck trailer.   

Edit add:  Perfect for metal building and roof panels.

[cfritschle]

I didn't have any 1/4 inch aluminum tubing handy, but I did have 3/16 inch tubing handy.  This took about 10 minutes to cut a piece of tubing about 18 scale inches tall and form it into a trough 36" long by 18" wide by 18" deep.  It still needs detailing, and probably the pencil eraser "tube" would be easier, but since I had it, I decided post to it anyway.  I used 0.10 inch styrene square strip instead of 0.125 inch square strip inside the tubing to keep from accidentally crushing the tubing.

[dnhouston]

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.

Great ideas everyone.  I think I'm going to try this one first.  Funny thing is, I tried using that part of a pencil ("the ferrule" thanks @peteski ) to emboss some texture into the foil.  Never thought about just using it instead 

Also, my wife, bless her soul, spend several hours searching last night and managed to find some N-scale bathtubs at Hobbylinc (https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/asm/asm1600927.htm) that she ordered for me to try to convert.

I'm also willing to pay someone to print the design by @GimpLizard (if anyone is interested PM me)  I need at least 4 troughs.

If none of those work, I'm going to try bending the tubing as @cfritschle suggested.

[GimpLizard]

I'm also willing to pay someone to print the design by @GimpLizard (if anyone is interested PM me)  I need at least 4 troughs.

PM me with your email if you want me to send you the STL file.

[Maletrain]

. . .
Also, my wife, bless her soul, spend several hours searching last night and managed to find some N-scale bathtubs at Hobbylinc (https://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/asm/asm1600927.htm) that she ordered for me to try to convert.
. . .

Now that just kicked loose a memory:  Back in '68, near Emigrant, Montana, a bath tub appeared on the front porch of a rancher.  After remaining there for a long period, and becoming the butt of a few jokes, it finally was moved out in some pasture near a well.  It was really for the horses in a dry field where they spent nights in the summer.

So, although not appropriate in a railroad holding pen, I think I will put an N scale version of "Compton's tub" in the stock paddock of a farm on my future layout. 

[nkalanaga]

That was a fairly common work-around to avoid buying a new stock tank.  It also had the advantage that, when the water got too much dirt and algae in it, the tub could be drained easily.  Many troughs didn't have a drain, so had to be bailed or dumped.

[dnhouston]

Thanks to @NtheBasement, here are the water troughs using pencil ferrules.

Cut to size (roughly 2x2x4) using my needle nose pliers as the former for the shape:


Base added, painted and added water:


Added to the stockyard:

[peteski]

Pencil eraser ferrules. Those look good, and it was a quick, easy, and cheap solution!  Excellent!