I just installed a Soundtraxx decoder in my Bachmann shay. I was very pleased with the result, but now I need to make a coal load from foam to cover the speaker. Does anyone have a suggestion as to the best way to accompli***his?
I cannot speak about tenders and speakers but I can tell you that a friend of mine uses foam rubber coal loads for his unit hopper train and he simply cuts the foam rubber to shape and painted it black and it looks pretty darn good. But a tender might get closer examination. I’d use foam rubber, cut it to shape, but rough it up just a little perhaps with an old tooth brush or wire brush, spray paint it black (not while it is on the tender) but while the paint is still wet sprinkle on just a little scale coal to give it texture while still leaving plenty of space for air – meaning sound – to get through.
I’d affix it to the tender with an adhesive that is easy to tear loose, perhaps a glue stick…
Dave Nelson
The problem with foam rubber is that it will degrade after a whle. Now it might take a few years to do it but it WILL degrade. Better to use extrude foam insulation.
Tom
Is there any way you could get some fine gravel, from anywhere at all, and paint it semi-gloss black? Then, mold a shape that will fit in your tender, just enough to look good without weighing it down too much. White glue should do a good job of holding it all together as a single casting.
Foam works great with the right shape and detail. Works good for me.
You might think of changing you tender to an oil tender,that would cover up every thing,or make an thin plastic cover and glue scale coal on it?
JIM
I’m going to try using a piece of really fine mesh window screen this way. It should let the sound out and still look OK.
Ray
I have made dozens of foam based coal loads. I start with 1 inch thick foam padding from a fabric store. You can then cut it just bigger than the tender or hopper. When you have the piece cut, cut the top like you want the coal to be loaded, depending on what coal loading system you model. Spray paint the foam black and let it dry. When it dries, stick in in the car and cover it with woodland scenics coal. There are two grades of the stuff so you will have to look and see what you like. To attach it I soak the whole mess in diluted alchohol and then drench it with 50/50 elmers. The glue will soak into the foam so it will take a couple of days to dry, but when it does you have a rock hard coal load that looks great. Plus it weighs just about nothing so your cars or tenders wont be heavy like they are if you use resin loads. I started using this method about 6 years ago and havent had any problem with deterioration.
Try cheap carpet padding painted gloss black and sprinkled with coal while wet. I have probably 50 plus coal loads in hopper cars with no problem
If you have friends who work in the electrics industry , you might be able to get some black anti-static foam from component packaging.
I got some from work that has a little sparkle to it and it makes nice hopper loads.
Well I decided to use the gray foam rubber that comes in packaging. I cut it to shape, painted it black, and then glued down some spare coal on top. Here is what it ended up looking like:
I use that green florist foam. It’s cheap and you can form it with some 220 grit sand paper. I cut out a half inch thick or so block the size of the car and shape it into a load shape with the sand paper. You can paint it black for coal and it looks pretty good, or you can coat it with glue and cover it with scale size coal. Make sure to keep the corners of the block sharp and square. It doesn’t look realistic if their rounded off too much.
Some very good ideas up above for coal loads in hoppers and gons but remember Kevin’s original question. The goal here is to 1) look like coal but also 2) let the steam locomotive sound come out as clearly as possible. Some of the suggestions would look great but would stifle the sound. Others are too thick for the purpose
On the Bachmann tender you only have about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch to work with in the way of a coal load.
Dave N.