What is a good inexpensive material for loose coal and for making hopper loads? What techniques have you found most satisfactory? Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Must it be loose? I like the Hay Brothers fabricated loads. Wide selection and very realistic. http://www.nscaleloads.com/n_products.htm
Both Woodlnd Scenics and Scenic Express have loose coal that I've heard positive comments about. Scenic Express has a larger selection it appears though. But if your not going to make your own loads, Hay Brothers loads are the way to go IMHO. http://www.sceneryexpress.com/Loads_Ores/products/1291/1/0 http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/category/BallastAndCoal
Just recently I made some coal loads by cutting some floral foam I had on hand into a reasonable shape. I then brushed on some Matte Medium, which I think is just Elmer's Glue which dries to a matte finish. Then, press the foam into a dish of "coal" and wait for it to dry. What I learned along the way is that floral foam may not be the best thing to use. When you cut it or shave it to shape the loads it makes a real mess (lots of static going on here). Also, only put glue on the TOP of the foam. My first few had some glue on the sides and the results cause you to have to sand the sides down so the load will fit. And, it helped to paint the foam flat black before gluing the coal in case there's some bare spots peeking through. Overall the results look good. The coal I used was in a baggie that said it was Real Coal and it was N-scale size, however I can't remember the brand name off the top of my head. There's some good You-tube videos but I think most are HO scale, but they're basically the same. Mike
I have used 'Decorative Black Sand' obtained at Hobby Lobby. It a little on the large size for N Scale but could be sifted to get the smaller particles or semi pulverized. Since most mines in the era I model produced more than one grade of coal different cars could have different sizes of coal. I simulate coal mined for power plants today with Woodlawn Scenics ash. The coal is pulverized to increase the surface area for rapid, almost instantaneous, combustion. Interestingly when the cars leave the loader they are not evenly loaded front to back. The coal would be heaped up in the front of the car and coal in the rear would be lower than the top of the car. As the car traveled to the power plant, usually no faster than 45 mph, the coal would tend to settle and move back in the car. Very little coal is lost that way.
HI I use black diamond sand. you can bye it at tractor supply. the sand is coal dust and it looks real in the cars. the bag I got is 50lb. that cost me 4.00. my wife used it for a fish tank. and I still have about 30lb. left. it will last me a life time.
MMR Dick Bradley turned me on to one many years ago - 1/8" craft sheet foam in jet black. You cut the sheets slightly oversized using scissors with a slight taper toward the ends, and bend the 'up' in the center, lightly wedge in the car. This is almost identical to the filter material you find in the hardware stores for air conditioners. The stuff is featherweight. It's dirt cheap. When it gets dirty or dusty you take it out and rinse it, let it air dry, but back in car. I did my first set of 25 cars back in 1984 or so. The stuff finally deteriorated and dried out and I had to replace it all about 8 years ago, run #2 is just fine. I've never had anyone 'bust' me on what the stuff actually is unless I tell them. It's rather astounding how good it looks. If you don't believe me, look at my video of the train.
I just happen to be heading to visit family and they just opened a Tractor Supply in the nearest town. I will stop in and try this. I've a lot of coal loads to make for my coal trains. Thanks.
I found that those moisture absorbers that come in pill containers contain either a clear crystal or a black material that could easily pass for coal. The black stuff may be activated charcoal. Anyway, the round cylindrical ones contain the black material. I have been collecting it for a while, and intend to use it to make simulated coal loads. To make my loads, I intend to start with a piece of plastic cut to the size of the hopper opening. On that, I intend to build-up an appropriate "pile" shape with a piece of foam, with a small nail between the foam "pile" and its plastic base. That will allow me to quickly extract the load with a magnet when I need the hopper to be empty. The foam and plastic will be sprayed black, then the foam will be pained with matt medium and spinkled with my pill bottle coal. This will look like "run of mine" or "chunk" coal. I haven't decided what to sprinkle on top for other sizes of coal. "Slack" coal will look like black dust in n scale, because it is getting close to dust already in 1:1.
