Hi Guys,
I recently discovered a guy selling “junk” on ebay and it turns out he has a website at www.johnnysjunkheap.com.
I bought 3 oz. of his junk and found that it will actually make 4 gondola loads (rather than the two he mentions) because I’ve figured out a way to make them removable. Buy using Masonite for the removable base, I’ve reduced the amount of junk it takes to make a gondola look full.
First, I cut a piece of Masonite (1/4" hardboard), the size of the inside of the gondola with my band saw.
I then laid a piece of plastic food wrap like “Saran” wrap over the gondola and then inserted the Masonite into the gondola. The wrap is intended to keep the load from being glued to the inside of the gondola. Then, I covered the top of the Masonite with Tacky Glue (available at craft stores). It’s thicker than Elmer’s and is great for gluing together different materials like the Masonite and the “junk” . Next, I laid down a layer of the junk on top of the Tacky Glue. I then added another layer of “junk” until I was happy with the look. I poured drops of Elmer’s glue, mixed 50/50 with water, into the gondola. I was careful to pour drops of the Elmer’s along the inside edge of the gondola because I didn’t want to wet the top surface of the junk and ruin the dusty, rusty appearance. I continued dropping in Elmer’s until I was sure all the top junk had some glue under it. I did pour some in between pieces of junk, again being careful not to wet the top of the junk too much. I use an empty bottle of Palmolive dish washing liquid to apply the glue.
The next day, I slipped the load out buy pulling gently up on the plastic wrap. By allowing it to dry for 24 hours, the junk was dry on top and formed to the inside of the gondola. I peeled off the wrap and wiped the wet glue off th
Here is an idea I like for modeling gondola junk in N scale (works in HO also). I empty the shavings out of a pencil sharpener onto wax paper, carefully air bru***hem silver or light grey. When dry toss them a bit and repeat. When well covered in silver/grey, give them a light dusting of grimy black. Then, when dry, dripple rust color over them . When done, pour them into the gondola and secure them with diluted white glue. They look like great scrap loads.
Hi Chuck,
Thanks so much for the postive comment. I’ve been a little disgusted with this forum lately because I have spent a lot of time doing some postings, as with this one which take time because of the photos and detail explanation, only to find that 60-70 people read it and nobody takes the time to even make a simple comment. Even a negative comment is better than none.
You’re right that the prefabbed loads available are expensive and as you can see in my photos, the junk from Johnny is much more realistic.
Thanks again and have a great day Chuck.
By the way, I should have mentioned that you need to wait till the load has dried for 24 hours after removing it from the plastic wrap before you install it in a gondola because the Masonite expands with the moisture from the glue and then contracts once it has dried. Just be sure the piece of Masonite you cut in the beginning fits loosely in your gondola.
Mondo
Hi Bill,
Thanks for the note! You just gave me a great idea. I forgot that there is a scrap dealer near my home town and it would be great to model that business. All it really takes is a tall crane, piles of scrap, an overhead crane and a siding. I’m going to get to work on that next.
Of course now you are going to get a gazillion thanks! Anyway, it really was a good link and a great way to make a removable load. I have made a number of the foil bales myself and they are not all that hard to do.
good loking loads and a great idea. i have a couple of issues of RMC where they did scrap loads 1 using pecil shavings the other using stuff from the BBQ grill.
Was that also the series where some guy took rust flakes from his rusted fender (it looked like a late 1970s/early 1980s US vehicle, which were notorious for rusting), crushed them, and used a light sprinkle of flakes for rememants of scrap loads in a emptied gondola?
I actually have a rusting iron bar which I plan to remove rust flakes from and detail my empty gondolas (like everything, any-day-now…)
A Cheapo way to develop crushed car loads is well known. Make a little box, appropriate to your scale. Tear off some heavy duty aluminum foil. Crumple it up good than cram it into the box. Give it the rust teatment, and there you go. Light weight too.
I also use foil for the weather curtains on steam loco cabs.
I have used a few wood sticks from the bird food
I have 4 pet bird’s 2 parakeets a cockatiel and a parrot
they will kill the wood if I dont get them out of the cage in due time
these look like old wood beams
Good pix Mondo. Several years ago I tried something similar. I used the foil instead of the wrap. I also didn’t use the Masonite. I still have a few empty gons, so next time I’ll try it your way. If I ever learn to do pics, I’ll put them on the forum. Loathar doesn’t live too far from me and we’ve been trying to get together. I bet he can help.
mondo,
I took your advice and ordered 12 ounces of the stuff and brother!..that’s a lot of junk!..here’s my first gon i did this weekend…it came out pretty good …the glue isn’t dry yet but it will look real good when it does…chuck
