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 Posted - December 12 2013 : 11:00:52 PM
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One way to obtain a coal load , just about guaranteed to fit any hopper car , ore car or even a gondola.
Nope not at any hobby shop.
Try the local pet store.
Go to the Aquarium section.
Look for activated charcoal. aka activated carbon.
Not very expensive either.
plus you will have the options of,
leaving it a loose load just like the real ones, and you might have a mess if a derailment occurs, just like the real ones ! 
OR
I am sure there is a way it could be made into a solid load that stays put for the most part if one prefers that.
How to make it a solid load ? that looks good ? not like a rice-crispy treat gone bad ?
Feel free post ideas for that.
Edited by - jbsmith966 on December 12 2013 11:45:59 PM
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 12:01:34 AM
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| There's also a sand blasting medium called black diamond. It's perfect for almost any scale coal.
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 06:26:43 AM
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quote:
I am sure there is a way it could be made into a solid load that stays put for the most part if one prefers that.
How to make it a solid load ? that looks good ? not like a rice-crispy treat gone bad ?
Feel free post ideas for that.
Originally posted by jbsmith966Â -Â December 12 2013Â :Â 11:00:52 PM
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Great idea, never would have thought of that. I've never even seen the stuff but - if it's anything like ballast, couldn't you make it solid the same way? Wet it down with a gentle mist of wet water, then use an eye-dropper with some scenic cement?
I'm going to get some and experiment.
http://tycodepot.com/
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 09:00:47 AM
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quote:Wet it down with a gentle mist of wet water, then use an eye-dropper with some scenic cement?
Originally posted by JNXT 7707Â -Â December 13 2013Â :Â 06:26:43 AM
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I've used normal ballast gluing methods to put real coal in the bunkers of my tenders and it works pretty well. I do glue a layer down with Duco Cement first to make it stick to the plastic, but mostly it's glued like ballast.
For a hopper, it might be a good idea to put a board of some sort inside and glue down he charcoal/coal/sand on top. It would keep the weight down, especially if you were using sand blasting sand.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 10:44:50 AM
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Mr Smith,
I have used speedy dry, The stuff used to soak oil off of the garage floor. What I found was pretty small. I bought it at an auto parts store.
1. I would build a base that fit inside the car, on gondolas I used spacers to hold it off the floor
2. Put the base in the car surrounded by plastic sandwich wrap.
3. Fill the car to the desired form with the speedy dry.
4. Use thinned white glue to set the speedy dry.
5. Allow the glue to set.
6. Take the load out, remove the wrap, and spray the load with gloss black Krylon.
7. I drill a small hole in one end of the bottom of the car to allow a wire to push up on the load.
Hope this is useful, John ****************
An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity. <> Clint Smith
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 6:16:13 PM
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or you could use REAL coal
ok ok I KNOWS the pieces in the car are too large but this was set up as a example 
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 6:24:10 PM
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quote:Mr Smith,
I have used speedy dry, The stuff used to soak oil off of the garage floor. What I found was pretty small. I bought it at an auto parts store.
1. I would build a base that fit inside the car, on gondolas I used spacers to hold it off the floor
2. Put the base in the car surrounded by plastic sandwich wrap.
3. Fill the car to the desired form with the speedy dry.
4. Use thinned white glue to set the speedy dry.
5. Allow the glue to set.
6. Take the load out, remove the wrap, and spray the load with gloss black Krylon.
7. I drill a small hole in one end of the bottom of the car to allow a wire to push up on the load.
Hope this is useful, John ****************
An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity. <> Clint Smith
Originally posted by JRG1951Â -Â December 13 2013Â :Â 10:44:50 AM
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I used sifted gravel from the side of the road
![]() 
This is a gondols load of gravel about to be unloaded at the concrete block factory. These loads are removed at this point and taken back by hand to their starting point, where they are put into another gon and shipped to the block factory
![]() 
Here is a loaded hopper with a coal load made from painted gravel, and a load on the ground next to it. I made these loads by constructing a mold from wood scraps, then lining it with masking tape, then build up the loads, glue them with white glue mised with water, let them dry, then spray them with flat black paint from the hardware store
String Bob
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Posted - December 13 2013 : 7:05:28 PM
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quote:or you could use REAL coal
Originally posted by microbusss - December 13 2013 : 6:16:13 PM
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Ben, I do use real coal (broken a lot smaller) and it looks pretty good. For hopper cars, I just fill them with loose coal and have not had to clean up too many messes. I have access to a coal pile and just sift the fines on the bottom through a screen mesh kitchen strainer, keeping what falls through. Then, I sift it again through plastic mosquito screen (finer mesh), keeping what doesn't fall through. This gives me a credible size for HO scale and not to much airborne coal dust.
Carpe Manana!
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 08:00:47 AM
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i use real coal,thats where good old fashioned hammers come in handy,ken
coal not crushed enough,but finished one will be
new coal load done
Edited by - catfordken on January 08 2014 7:15:01 PM
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 09:14:51 AM
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quote:i use real coal,thats where good old fashioned hammers come in handy,ken
Originally posted by catfordken - December 14 2013 : 08:00:47 AM
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Boy, I'd hate to be the fireman that has to throw those clinkers in the firebox!
String Bob
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 09:24:46 AM
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![]() 
I noticed that the load of gravel I posted last night did not appear. Here it is again. The clamshell rane is an item I picked up on Ebay. I still want to string real "cable" fishline for the bucket, but it works for now. It was a little low for S scale, so I built a concrete "foam" base for it and mounted it on rails. It doesn't roll too well, but it doesn't have to.
This is the only load of gravel I have currently, but I want to do more so I can have some in the yard waiting to be unloaded. Then, when I don't feel like doing a full fledged operation, I can switch out sand cars. The remote manual switch linkage I use to throw the switch behind the batch tower may be visible in the photo as well. If not, I can post a photo of that if anybody's interested
String Bob
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 7:15:39 PM
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| Nice looking crane set up "S"tring Bob. I also like the treatment on your rails; what did you do? Also, you're talkin' S scale. Is that like, the crane is S scale, but you're using it on an HO layout; or is the whole layout S scale? I like the corrugated sheathing on that crane. I wouldn't mind seeing more photos of that crane to be able to see how you set it up to roll on the track and such. Thanks. Barry
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 8:08:18 PM
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quote: ![]()
I noticed that the load of gravel I posted last night did not appear. Here it is again. The clamshell rane is an item I picked up on Ebay. I still want to string real "cable" fishline for the bucket, but it works for now. It was a little low for S scale, so I built a concrete "foam" base for it and mounted it on rails. It doesn't roll too well, but it doesn't have to.
This is the only load of gravel I have currently, but I want to do more so I can have some in the yard waiting to be unloaded. Then, when I don't feel like doing a full fledged operation, I can switch out sand cars. The remote manual switch linkage I use to throw the switch behind the batch tower may be visible in the photo as well. If not, I can post a photo of that if anybody's interested
Originally posted by String boBÂ -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 09:24:46 AM
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Bob that crane loader pictured here.......can you get a few better pictures of that clam-shell bucket? I'd love to be able to copy that for a few application I have for one!
~John
Many have tried to, and failed, ya just can't repair stupid...
Do NOT try to Idiot-Proof anything!!!! God, will simply create a better......IDIOT!
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 9:47:46 PM
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quote: quote: ![]()
I noticed that the load of gravel I posted last night did not appear. Here it is again. The clamshell rane is an item I picked up on Ebay. I still want to string real "cable" fishline for the bucket, but it works for now. It was a little low for S scale, so I built a concrete "foam" base for it and mounted it on rails. It doesn't roll too well, but it doesn't have to.
This is the only load of gravel I have currently, but I want to do more so I can have some in the yard waiting to be unloaded. Then, when I don't feel like doing a full fledged operation, I can switch out sand cars. The remote manual switch linkage I use to throw the switch behind the batch tower may be visible in the photo as well. If not, I can post a photo of that if anybody's interested
Barry, et. al.
I'll get some photos, but it may be tomorrow before I can get them posted. The crane is actually HO. I looked a long time for one more suitable for S scale before settling on this one.
I'll take photos of my switch linkage that I use to throw the Scale Track Switch on the switch lead. It's location is such that I was risking tipping the crane over every time I threw it.
By the way, I'm using my Arc Soft photo editing program for the photos I post here, at least until I get a handle on Picasa, or something I can master.
Originally posted by String boBÂ -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 09:24:46 AM
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Bob that crane loader pictured here.......can you get a few better pictures of that clam-shell bucket? I'd love to be able to copy that for a few application I have for one!
Originally posted by EM-1Â -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 8:08:18 PM
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String Bob
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Posted - December 14 2013 : 11:29:21 PM
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Bob,
Yeah that's a Kibri crane isn't it? I know one of the over seas companies make it so..... Was in the Walthers book for a long time, and now, I'm not sure its even there.....
As for scale, fits right in to S scale, as that has got to be a REALLY BIG Clam shell for HO never mind a small one for S scale.....Looks great tho!
~John
Many have tried to, and failed, ya just can't repair stupid...
Do NOT try to Idiot-Proof anything!!!! God, will simply create a better......IDIOT!
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Posted - December 15 2013 : 09:30:54 AM
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quote:Bob,
Yeah that's a Kibri crane isn't it? I know one of the over seas companies make it so..... Was in the Walthers book for a long time, and now, I'm not sure its even there.....
As for scale, fits right in to S scale, as that has got to be a REALLY BIG Clam shell for HO never mind a small one for S scale.....Looks great tho!
Originally posted by EM-1Â -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 11:29:21 PM
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I photographed the crane at the block factory last night and I hope I can post them this morning
![]() 
![]() 
Well, I got two of them, I'll see if I can get the rest in another post
String Bob
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Posted - December 15 2013 : 09:34:20 AM
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quote:
We'll see what happens this time. Otherwise, I may have to wait until later. For some reason, I can't seem to post more than two photos at a time
String Bob
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Posted - December 15 2013 : 2:28:01 PM
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quote: [quote]Bob,
Yeah that's a Kibri crane isn't it? I know one of the over seas companies make it so..... Was in the Walthers book for a long time, and now, I'm not sure its even there.....
As for scale, fits right in to S scale, as that has got to be a REALLY BIG Clam shell for HO never mind a small one for S scale.....Looks great tho!
Originally posted by EM-1Â -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 11:29:21 PM
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I photographed the crane at the block factory last night and I hope I can post them this morning
![]()
![]()
Well, I got two of them, I'll see if I can get the rest in another post
Well, I still can't upload the rest of the photos, at least right now. The crane is a Kibri, I guess, I don't know for sure. I would rather have had a boom crane like the photo that appeared here, but I couldn't find one like I wanted. I must have looked at this one for several weeks before biting on it. My next project is to find some thick black thread (or fishline) and add better rigging to it.
![]() Still can't add more images. I'll come back later. As a matter of iinformation, I removed the quotes from the "S" in String Bob because that seemed to be affecting my ability to post photos. Now, I need to find out how I can post more than two or three at a time. Suggestions welcome - of course, it might help if I could type, too.
String Bob
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Posted - December 15 2013 : 2:31:41 PM
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| if you get timed out,which happens if site is busy,or server,do it again,i sometimes have to do it three or 4 times,but the smaller the pixels the quicker it loads,1024 seems to be best ken
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Posted - December 15 2013 : 2:44:44 PM
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quote: quote: [quote]Bob,
Yeah that's a Kibri crane isn't it? I know one of the over seas companies make it so..... Was in the Walthers book for a long time, and now, I'm not sure its even there.....
As for scale, fits right in to S scale, as that has got to be a REALLY BIG Clam shell for HO never mind a small one for S scale.....Looks great tho!
Originally posted by EM-1Â -Â December 14 2013Â :Â 11:29:21 PM
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I photographed the crane at the block factory last night and I hope I can post them this morning
![]()
![]()
Well, I got two of them, I'll see if I can get the rest in another post
Well, I still can't upload the rest of the photos, at least right now. The crane is a Kibri, I guess, I don't know for sure. I would rather have had a boom crane like the photo that appeared here, but I couldn't find one like I wanted. I must have looked at this one for several weeks before biting on it. My next project is to find some thick black thread (or fishline) and add better rigging to it.
![]() Still can't add more images. I'll come back later. As a matter of iinformation, I removed the quotes from the "S" in String Bob because that seemed to be affecting my ability to post photos. Now, I need to find out how I can post more than two or three at a time. Suggestions welcome - of course, it might help if I could type, too.
![]() Originally posted by String boBÂ -Â December 15 2013Â :Â 2:28:01 PM
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![]() 
![]() 
Hey, it's working! Image 1313a is the crane. Don't overlook the pigeon droppings on the overehang. I weathered the corrugated tin siding with acrylic paint from WalMart, using a dark brown and black to simulate wear and rust.
#1414a ahoows the switch linkage which runs beneath the batch tower to the Scale Track Switch
![]() 
![]() 
![]() 
Thought it best to keep going while I was on a roll. The last three photos are of the Scale Track Switch rod control mechanism. I have used these in several places while constructing SHABBONA RR, with good success, using 1/16" brass tubing, .030 steel wire and Caboose Industries Low Stand switch throws
String Bob
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Posted - January 08 2014 : 7:47:27 PM
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| Cool scene and great photos stringbob and most certainly a cool looking crane.
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