A large amount of my coal cars are from Accurail. They make a coal load for various cars that they manufacur. Their coal load kit comes with two metal balls that attach to the load and also sell a magnet that you use to lift the load off the car.
You can use any metal object in conjunction with a magnet and do the same thing. Just glue the metal to the underside of the load and use the magnet to lift it off.
Magnets are cheap and metal can be obtained from maney sources. I plan to use scrap metal from now on in place of the metal balls that Accurail sells.
Bill
I use those blocks of florist foam. The fine kind you stick artificial plants in. They cut and shape real EZ with sand paper. You can just paint them the color you want or cover them with coal or ore. (the above coal load was one of the first I did. Doesn't look too good) You can add BB's underneath for weight if you need to.
I've seen an article on using the blue/pink foam cut into blocks that fit into the car, shape the tops as desired (one or two mound loads). Put plastic food wrap in the car and insert the load with the food wrap hanging out the sides. Paint the load black (for coal) then sprinkle on some coal. When dry remove from the car and remove the plastic wrap.
To have it easily removeable you can sandwich the foam with a washer or small chunk of metal in between the layers, close to the top of the block, carve a chunk out and insert the metal, whatever works for you. A Magnetic pick up tool from an auto parts store should work fine to remove the load. For additional weight you can attach nuts, bolts, metal of some sort to the bottom of the foam block to get desired amount of weight low in the car.
Have fun,
Floral foam would probably work, but the article I saw said use paint to act as glue, then thin spots don't show up as readily. Could use glue if you needed to add some more later. Probably floral foam would soak up more glue or paint as it is more pourous than the extruded pink or blue foam.
Good luck,
I pray every day I break even, Cause I can really use the money!
I started with nothing and still have most of it left!
locoi1sa wrote: I made my gravel loads with a piece of styrene cut to size and paint a glued stone just like balasting the track. I would think the metal weight would make the car top heavy.
I use hydocal based loads from Motrak Models. These are much heavier than a steel weight and foam shaped load. I feel that the weighted hoppers, Bowsers, P2Ks, MDCs, and Accurails track very well and experience no wobble. Other club members have pulled up to 100 loaded hopper trains with no problems (tracking , derailments or stringlining).
I have noted that of all the cars, Athearns need some work at the trucks. Although the detail isn't the greatest and somewhat generic, they can be made very reliable. It seems that many come w/ a truck 2/56 screw that is much too long. The screw pressure is supposed to hold the frame and the truck. Setting the frame w/ some dabs of glue, shortening the screw and proper adjustment of the truck make for a good running car. Of coarse all should have metal wheels and Kadees.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
BLe wrote:Do you think I could use some of that florists foam and then glue some coal ballast on it. That sounds like a good idea to me.
Florist foam doesn't expand. I paint it first to give a base color. Then just coat it with un-thinned white glue and sprinkle your ballast/coal/ore on top. I let that dry and then spray it with scenic cement to seal it.
The steel plate ist the weight for the cars. I replace there steel with lead or brass.
Nearly all my hoppers have removable loads. These cullet too.
Wolfgang
Pueblo & Salt Lake RR
Come to us http://www.westportterminal.de my videos my blog
wedudler wrote: [img]http://www.westportterminal.de/wayofhm/07-04-20_IMG_0835_1200.jpg[img]The steel plate ist the weight for the cars. I replace there steel with lead or brass. Nearly all my hoppers have removable loads. These cullet too. [img]http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/703/P7253259_1200.jpg[img]Wolfgang
[img]http://www.westportterminal.de/wayofhm/07-04-20_IMG_0835_1200.jpg[img]
[img]http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/703/P7253259_1200.jpg[img]
Do you have any problems with your cars being top heavy doing it that way? I like the magnet idea.
wedudler,
did you make your loads or did you alter commercial loads?
and if i'm seeing your picture correctly loads can be removed by magnet without handling the car. this is good.....
thanks.
I make my load from a sheet wood and use e.g. Walthers coal load. I've also made my own, crashing anthrazit as well I used an old meat mincer to crash/mill glass cullet into H0 cullet.
I use only about a third from the steel weight. So my load will not be heavy.