Has anyone here seen any HO scale MOW equipment? Thinking along the lines of a ballast spreader, etc?
What about one that operates? How about on DCC?
How about some of the ballast hoppers that have the dispensing chutes on the side? Thought about making a train of them that’s five or so cars long, and animating them with a DCC decoder and some of the “Muscle wire” to control whether the chutes are closed or open.
The only HO scale operating DCC MOW equipment I’ve seen was a Roco 200 ton crane. Pretty neat. But I’m not sure if they are available anymore.
The best HO MOW equipment is from Custom Finishing. They make all sorts of equipment. Nice Burro cranes, impressive tampers, etc…
They are not the easiest kits to build, but also are not the hardest.
Here’s the link to the current line at Walthers.com:
Operating ballast cars might be do-ble… BUT… take a look at the number of threads here about getting ballast to stick down where people want it to be and not make a mess/get into switches/cause derailments/produce dust (that gets into everything - especially motors). [xx(]
Sorry to be boring.
Next question would be… after your 5 cars drop several cubic inches of small stone/powder… HOW YOU GOING TO PICK IT UP BEFORE YOUR NEXT TRIP?
Looking at other MoW equipment though… some of the spreaders and weed cutters could be made to spread their arms… you’d want them to have a clear run and not sweep up anything from trackside… or get hooked up and come to a shuddering halt…
[8D]
Walthers makes a Difco side dump ballast car - have a couple - they can be tipped up, but how to do mechanicaly? As previously mentioned - WHAT A MESS!!![:O][:D]
The Walthers Jordan Spreader can be built into a pretty reasonable looking model, but I’m not sure about how easy it would be to animate it.
I modified mine so that the wings are positionable, using music wire and parts from some disposable lighters, although even with the wings retracted, there are places on the layout that pose clearance problems.
Cleaning up the dumped ballast should be a snap: Use the crevice tool on your vacuum - slip a piece of pantyhose over the none-business end of the tool, then insert it into the hose. The nylon allows enough air to pass to maintain suction, and will prevent the ballast from being sucked into the cannister. You may need to empty the nozzle periodically, as the suction drops-off as it fills. Sounds like an interesting project - I hope that you’ll show us how it turns out.
Wayne
Might be a good project for garden scale or even ride on trains. However I’ve seen some pretty cool operating accessories in HO. See what you can do and don’t let conventional thinking get in your way,and let us know what you come up with.