 Joined: 04/06/2012(UTC) Posts: 107 Location: Adelaide
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Hope this helps some of the members here, Had a bit of a brain wave the other day and don't know if anyone else has thought of this but here goes. Have you ever tried making your own COAL and then adding it to carriages, its messy and dirty and a real pain in the proverbial. well take heart i believe i have come up with an easy and lightweight solution. Do you live near an industrial area if yes then look for a Plastic granulation service, go there and ask if you can purchase some recliamed black plastic granules, and hey presto instant coal for carriages and perhaps even a coal yard i bought a kilo of this for $2 Au yesterday and found that it looks really effective in the high sided open topped carriages, Photos added. Will be interesting to see if any one agrees with me and perhaps look into this cheap source of material for further projects, am pretty sure that if the right color can be found that that could be used for ballast on the tracks and for road side rubble. Will welcome any and all feedback in regard to this subject as it is a cheap way of doing scenery in my opinion. anyways here are some of those photos, haven't glued the bits down at all just filled the carriages. to just over the top, personally i think it looks Bloody great. My coal wagons.
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Joined: 09/08/2008(UTC)
Posts: 884
Location: Auckland,
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Possibly a little out of scale (on the large side) there chief.
If you are going to do your own coal loads, a common practiced method is to create a false floor in the wagon with some balsa wood or styrene sheets, then you can use one of the black HO scale ballasts to create a load on top of the false floor.
By doing it this way you can minimise the amount of coal used and the additional weight added to the train is kept down.
Another method is to take a mold from an existing load and then plaster cast extra loads that you can then paint to the colour of your choice.
Cheers....
Mike.
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 Joined: 17/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 12,201 Location: New Zealand
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Hornby do a nice packet of coal for about $4 or $5. Much cleaner too!
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Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 9,272 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
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I bought mine from a dealer who had real iron ore, coal already crushed to HO size.
John |
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 Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 9,896 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Originally Posted by: Farkenoath  Hope this helps some of the members here, Had a bit of a brain wave the other day and don't know if anyone else has thought of this but here goes. Have you ever tried making your own COAL and then adding it to carriages, its messy and dirty and a real pain in the proverbial. well take heart i believe i have come up with an easy and lightweight solution. Do you live near an industrial area if yes then look for a Plastic granulation service, go there and ask if you can purchase some recliamed black plastic granules, and hey presto instant coal for carriages and perhaps even a coal yard i bought a kilo of this for $2 Au yesterday and found that it looks really effective in the high sided open topped carriages, Photos added. Will be interesting to see if any one agrees with me and perhaps look into this cheap source of material for further projects, am pretty sure that if the right color can be found that that could be used for ballast on the tracks and for road side rubble. Will welcome any and all feedback in regard to this subject as it is a cheap way of doing scenery in my opinion. anyways here are some of those photos, haven't glued the bits down at all just filled the carriages. to just over the top, personally i think it looks Bloody great. My coal wagons. Interesting idea! The size is a bit on the large side, as others have pointed out, but the colour and texture look about right. I wonder if it is possible to crush the granules into smaller pieces? I use expanded polystyrene, picked at with a scalpel blade, to produce a "lumpy" block, which I then cut to the right size for the wagon and paint matt black. The texture and colour are not quite right, but the overall impression is not too bad. Thanks for sharing your idea! |
Ray from the Rock.
Mostly Marklin Era III & IV
6021 replaced with MS2 |
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Joined: 02/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 982 Location: Auckland, New Zealand
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Real coal that was put in engines can vary from about the size of a man's head to dust, although the latter is avoided when possible, but when coal becomes scarce anything goes... Coal destined for the likes of coal merchants and some industries was graded to particular sizes. Some industries will take graded coal, others will not. Depending on where the train came from and where it is going you may see diffrent grades of coal in the same train.
I crush lumps of real coal, and put a bit of polystyrene in a wagon so I only have to put a layer of 1-2mm of coal in the wagon. I paint the polystyrene black beforehand so it is not obvious. I don't really find making scale coal too much of a pain, I put a lump of coal in a sturdy tin box and go at it using a hammer and a small block of steel until it's the right size. It's quite therapeutic really...
And something for the rivet(coal lump?) counters, real coal lying outside tends to get a coalt of dust on it, and isn't shiny anymore by the time someone puts it into a wagon or a tender. So if you're wondering why your load of coal doesn't quite look right, this may be why.
Cheers,
Rick
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Joined: 04/06/2012(UTC) Posts: 107 Location: Adelaide
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thanks for all the info will take it to heart and try to reduce the size of my coal LOL like i said it was only an idea but i value the feedback.
Thank you to those that have replied.
Peter
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Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 9,272 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
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Ray,
to get the real effect, coal has a shiny and matt side to it.
John |
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Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC) Posts: 1,479 Location: Wellington
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Originally Posted by: Farkenoath thanks for all the info will take it to heart and try to reduce the size of my coal LOL like i said it was only an idea but i value the feedback.
Thank you to those that have replied.
Peter
Sometimes you have to try these things to find what works and what doesn't. If you hadn't tried and shared, there would have been none of this wonderful feedback and further suggestions to build upon. Cheers Steve |
Cookee Wellington  |
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Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,055
Location: Auckland NZ
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Glen
Auckland NZ
" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !
CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider |
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Joined: 12/02/2010(UTC)
Posts: 110
Location: Pretoria, South Africa
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Originally Posted by: kariosls37 . I don't really find making scale coal too much of a pain, I put a lump of coal in a sturdy tin box and go at it using a hammer and a small block of steel until it's the right size. It's quite therapeutic really...
Cheers,
Rick  Rick, I've done that many times using different digital components and it was very therapeutic!
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Joined: 24/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 466 Location: Sydney, NSW
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Hi Farkenoath, Do you have a first name? I for one like to know who I'm talking with. Keep up the experimentation with trying new methods to simulate wagon loads etc. I would warn all, that using real coal can cause problems, if the coal has sulphur content ( think sulphuric acid) you may get corrosion on your trains. I have used "Anita Decor Kolen Antracit # 402" a Dutch product which is great as you get that little sparkle when you look at the coal load from different angles. Another product is Asoa Kohle #1004 from Klaus Holl, Munich. And last but not least an article on making wagon loads with ballest and coal. http://members.ozemail.com.au/~.../rms/pdf/wagon_loads.pdfOriginally Posted by: Farkenoath Hope this helps some of the members here,..... |
Ross
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 1 user thanked Ross for this useful post.
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Joined: 22/01/2009(UTC) Posts: 9,272 Location: On 1965 Märklin Boulevard just around from Roco Square
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Ross,
His name is Peter.
John |
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Joined: 04/06/2012(UTC) Posts: 107 Location: Adelaide
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 Revision done went out got some different material and think this looks about the right size and cheap too LOL. didn't cost anything but some travel time to a local factory about five minutes away so cheap as all buggery please let me know what you think again. Sorry the Name is Peter  Edited by user 24 August 2012 04:03:07(UTC)
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Joined: 15/03/2011(UTC)
Posts: 1,055
Location: Auckland NZ
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Originally Posted by: Farkenoath Revision done went out got some different material and think this looks about the right size and cheap too LOL. didn't cost anything but some travel time to a local factory about five minutes away so cheap as all buggery please let me know what you think again. Sorry the Name is Peter Hello Peter, I'm no expert modeller, other than I know what looks right and what doesn't, and whilst a good effort I woulld have thought the pieces still a little large and maybe rounded too, but without enlarging your pic I'm not sure. Top marks for ingenuity tho Peter  Hopefully other members will have constructive idea's. I haven't checked Ross's lnks yet, but I suspect they are good ones of correct looking material. Faller and Noch also have coal looking products  Mind you all of those cost $$$  |
Glen
Auckland NZ
" Every Marklin layout needs a V200, a Railbus and a Banana car", not to mention a few Black and red Steamers, oh and the odd Elok !
CS1 Reloaded, Touch Cab, C Track Modules, K track layout all under construction. Currently Insider |
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Joined: 24/09/2006(UTC) Posts: 466 Location: Sydney, NSW
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Hi Peter, The size is getting more correct but the items are too rounded to resemble coal. Originally Posted by: Farkenoath Revision done went out got some different material and think this looks about the right size and cheap too LOL. didn't cost anything but some travel time to a local factory about five minutes away so cheap as all buggery please let me know what you think again. Sorry the Name is Peter |
Ross
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Joined: 14/03/2005(UTC) Posts: 9,896 Location: Gibraltar, Europe
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Hi Peter, Size looks more like it. Maybe a bit too shiny? You could try giving it a wash with matt black paint. Alternatively, this material could be used to simulate other loads. How about painting the bits green and using them as a load of water melons? |
Ray from the Rock.
Mostly Marklin Era III & IV
6021 replaced with MS2 |
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 Joined: 04/06/2009(UTC) Posts: 17,006 Location: Scotland
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Hi Peter,
Sorry, but that doesn't look anything like coal.
Get yourself a piece of real coal and you'll see what I mean.
Ian.
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