I tried something that turned out great and I wanted to share the idea. I wanted to simulate coal loads in my gondolas. I took white stryfoam board packing and cut rectangles with tapered tops leaving the rough texture. After shaping I painted them with flat black acrylic paint. They turned out great! They look very realistic, was super cheap, real easy. Thought you would like to hear.
Jim
Great idea, Jim. I have a post war Lionel 6465 hopper that has some paint missing on the inside. I was going to simulate a coal load with shaped foam board covered with aquarium charcoal, but your idea sounds easier. You should post this idea on the CTT forum. Jim
If you want to make it even better, go get some Woodland Scenics “cinders” ballast (it’s black) and use that to “ballast” the top of the black foam. This heap of coal at the bottom of the picture was made that way: (Click the picture to blow it up a bit bigger.)
I was originally going to add coal dust to the wet paint, but after seeing it
i left it off. I figured it would make derails easier toclean up. I used black aquirium gravel and cinders around my 785 coaler.
Jim