I was visiting a nice hobby shop in Addison Tx (Discount Model Trains) and picked up a bag of Arizona Rock & Minerals coal, intending to add a thin layer to my steamer coal tenders since I don’t like the look of the plastic coal loads.
Can you advise the best way to do this? Just like ballasting? Will the white glue that’s within view tend to coat the coal and ruin the effect? Easier to ask than to make unnecessary mistakes.
Thanks as always.
For the four steamers that I have, I just used the good old white glue but I didn’t do it like ballasting. I spread the glue on the area to be covered making sure to cover ALL the area. Then sprinkled the coal (three using model coal, one using real coal broken into scale size pieces) over the glue, making sure to cover all the glue. The same idea can be used if additional coats are needed. That way the load retains the natural shine of the coal. (I have also used this idea to make woodchip loads for my modified Athearn woodchip hoppers from coal loads. [Top half of a 34’ square end hopper mounted to the top of another square end hopper.] Nothing dulled using that method. The last two I did on Sunday I used construction adhesive and that turned out well.)
Paul.
I use black beauty sand blasting media for my coal loads. White glue and water mix like ballasting works good. For my brass locos such as this K5s pacific the media is glued to a foam block.
It looks shiny because it was still wet when these shots were taken.
Pete
For my brass loco coal loads I use either a carved foam or balsa block, paint it flat black and then use straight-from-the-bottle Elmer’s white glue. I then sprinkle on scale coal to cover and let dry. For the plastic locos with the molded coal, I just coat the mold with Elmers and follow through with the same application.
Tom
I use coke breeze (fines from coke-making) for locomotive coal, and simply dump it loose into the bunker (of course, most plastic tenders require that you first construct the bunker [:P]).
Makes it easy to depict a loco needing re-fueling, too:
Wayne
Thanks, all. Great photos, too.
I use crushed real coal in my locomotive tenders. I build up a shape using sculptamold, paint it black, and then paint on full strength white glue (thin layer). After that I sprinkle on the crushed coal, and I finish securing it with some diluted white glue. As a finishing touch I sprinkle a little coal dust over the top to counter the dulling effect of the glue.
S&S
As a followup, thought I’d post a couple of photos after adding the Arizona Rock & Mineral medium coal to the loads in a Bachmann mogul, BLI mikado and mountain, and Athearn big boy. The mogul photo is the “before” for the mogul, which was the best plastic representation (for me the worst was the dull big boy load). The photos don’t do justice to the difference. I’m quite happy with the result. Used slightly diluted white glue, a layer of coal, then 50% diluted glue w/dishsoap and dusted a bit more on. Then turned it over and let the excess fall off. Thanks again for suggestions.
