I Have been transfering a semi van trailer into a trailer for hauling wheat, have any of you got any ideas for making an open load of wheat I know that in most cases the wheat is hauled covered with a tarp, but in this case it is comming fresh from the field to the elevator un-covered trailer on a sunny day. Any suggestions. Thanks Mike
I would suggest making a suitable loading hump shape in plaster or similar and then coating it with a very thin layer of a very fine sand of suitable colour (probably want to paint the base… may be able to use the paint to stick the sand. If you can find the right colour I would suggest a coral sand from an aquarium supplies. I’m suggesting self colour so as not to increase the grain size/creat lumps. A water based paint would probably be best.
The thing you are looking for is an extremely small grain size… the grain shape doesn’t matter… it’s way too small to show.
Let us know what works please.
I have not tried it, but I’m thinking fine sawdust of the right colored wood might do it. Sanding dust my be better sized. Pine, fir, cedar or light maple may provide the color. If you have access to a stationary belt sander, grind some up and experment. I would start with 80 grit, but 150 may look better. Remember when you glue in on, it will swell a little.
I work with wheat at a grain elevator,in Indiana the color is a light brown.
Hi,
I think the perspective that you will be viewing your (h/o?) scale scene will be from a distance of a scale of 200-300 yards away. If I understand your question correctly, you wouldnt see any (or minimal) of the grai texture
So what ever material you choose to make the pile of grain from, the color would be more important. I personally would take a small piece of pink or blue styrofoam, shape it, sand it and paint it.
Hope this helps.
Vern
Hope things have picked up for you there in “Greer County” - before it was split up into smaller political units isn’t that what they used to call that area between the North Fork of the Red and the Texas border? Anyway, my wife and I have been holding you - and anyone else, really, who is suffering from this unusually hot and dry summer - up to the Lord in prayer. Maybe things will pick up for you before fall. We are in our ninth year of drought here in Arizona and we’re used to hot weather in the summertime but even this one carries an abundance of misery with it!!!
In response to your post about wheat, its been many years but I seem to remember a kernel of wheat being about 3-4mm in length so I hauled out my hot smokin’ calculator and did some hot smokin’ calculations and in my humble opinion - and I don’t have those very often - 600 grit sandpaper should give you just about the 1:87.1 theoretical textural representation you are looking for. If you hunt around you can probably even come up with a color that approximates what you are looking for.
Two more things;
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time may have hazed my recollection a bit but I seem to remember that grain, unlike coal or other minerals, doesn’t tend to “hump”; rather it levels out particularly after the jostling the trailer goes through while being loaded and any “humping” seldom survives the first couple of miles of potholes out on the highway;
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the outfit I worked for north of Forsyth, Montana had a rather substantial dry-farm operation; it was about 13 miles from headquarters into Forsyth and about 33 into Miles City; we might haul grain from the field to temporary storage in the headquarters silos in open topped semi-trailers but I NEVER remember hauling an untarped load into either Forsyth or Miles City. There were two reasons for this; if you’ve ever seen the force that flaps a tarp at 60 miles per hour you realize that an awful lot of grain can be vacuumed out of the back of a
Well here is what I have came up with so far.
I do not like the color of the trailer and going back and paint it white, and the color of the wheat I think needs to be a little darker so I am going to add a little black to my paint. What do you think? Mike
Going to what rtpoteet1 said about losing a load if no tarp how about having a trucker and helper getting the sheet on or off the load?
otherwise looks okay so far. What’s wrong with the truck colour? if you paint it white will you keep the lettering?
Here in SW Okla when the wheat is loaded into the truck from the combine and heads for the elevator it is generally less than 10 miles and mostly on gravel roads, and would take to much time to tarp and untarp so they generally do not tarp unless there is a cloud approching. As for the color of the trailer the silver did not lay on as smooth as I would like, and I will simply make new decals. Arn’t decal makers fun? Mike
Mike,
I think that wheat from a distance would look lighter than what a scoup held in your hands would look like. Again, just this scale distance thing I always try to consider.
The color in this photo looks not too bad to me.
As others have posted, once grain has been trucked even a short distance, it would settle out. And I agree with the others, most times I is covered by a tarp.
Also, i like the sand paper suggestion that some else suggested.
Hope this helps.
Vern
What decal makers have you used please? Which would you recommend?
TIA [:P]
I bought a Testors from Hobby Lobby but since then I have seen them at Wal Mart. As far as recomending one, the Testors is the only one I have ever tried, and I like it very well. I can make the images on the Print Shop and copy and paste them into the decal moker. That means I am only limited to images that I cannot get on the computer. Mike
I love the concept and I like the open look. My first take on the pic was a load of shelled corn, the texture is too course. I still am curious about sanding dust, maybe a mixture of yellow pine and white cedar. As I remember wheat in a box car, it stacked a little more than what you have it. I suppose a rough gravel road would settle it some, but it is pretty mounded in the center when it comes out of the combine, is it not??
ART, I agree with you after looking at the pic, it is to course, and the color is still not right. I will try some sawdust and see how it looks. The load of wheat is easy enough to change since it is simply some fine sand glued on a piece of foam then painted. If I am not mistaken, wheat will settle during transport, but will not be real level on top but not rounded like coal. will let you know how the sawdust works out. Here is a pic after I re-painted the trailer yesterday. Happy Monday Mike
I like the white truck and great lettering concept. I noticed you put the grain load in backwards this time and it looked better shape wise. Little things make more difference than they should. I also noticed that the truck now matched the grain car, but the colors on the lettering are reversed. That is a great touch.
ART, Man I am really on top of everything!! I hadn’t noticet the colors of the lettering, but I think it looks better in the last pic. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Maybe that has something to do with the problem with my tree color LOL Mike