Hi Curt, I made that tank out of 35mm motion picture cores (I was a film archivist). I think I stacked four of them, glued them, and then wrapped them with thin styrene (maybe .010), which I previously embossed with a pounce wheel. For the top, I cut a circle of same, with a notch in it to make a raised center. I then added a Walther’s oil piping valve and pipe, and painted the whole thing silver.
I would think you could do the same with pvc pipe section, or mailing tube to start. I like your Shell scene! Did you build the oil derrick?