It may not be noticed but this is the third and final attempt of making the reinforcing ribs, when compared to photographs my ribs are perhaps a little more bold and thicker than should be but hey one has to draw the line somewhere otherwise a model will never get finished. I also made the three fuel filler ports from sprue.
Here is a close up of the rough shape and the large nut that holds it to the fuel tank sheeting. This sheeting you see is actually not the fuel tank, like most French tanks it has rubberised self sealing bladders inside these sheet metal housings. I haven't and don't intend to make these inner fuel tanks as they are totally invisible.
Next step was to start on the bilge pump pipe, this is normal kit sprue that has been heat formed to achieve the correct contours. This is actually easier than it seems, the sprue is held over my heat gun and once the plastic starts to soften you can manipulate it quite easily it just takes practice.
The bend you can see to the right is where it joins up with a T-junction yet to be made, I have also added the makings of the fuel tank outlets at the bottom of the fuel tanks, this is also simply sprue from some kit with the correct T intersections.
I have a pile of wire from various old appliances, you never know when a piece of black flex will serve as piping.
On the left you will see the loose ends of the fuel pipes which eventually join to the fuel junction point and from there to the carburettors.
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