Walthers Coal Mine Kit Picture

[NZRMac]

Hey Guys My first attempt at a big kit, and some weathering. Be brutal if you want I need to learn!!!



Took a better pic this morning.



It's Not PINK I went for the faded red paint peeling off look.

I haven't glued the roof on yet.

Has anybody made a model coal mine actually fill hopper cars? If so have you any details?

Thanks Ken.

[rexhea]

Ken,
Well...maybe it's just the computer, but your NZ Red sure looks like Alabama PINK..[(-D][(-D] Just kidding you, Ken. It looks like you have done a good job putting it together.

If I may suggest, add 3 or 4 lights to the interior and some under the loader section and bring it to life. You may not want to glue all the roof in so you can change out the bulbs if ever necessary. Keep up the good work. It sure didn't take you long to build this one.

Maybe Fergie's Pink Loco can pickup the coal hoppers. [:D]

The BEST, REX [:)]

[NZRMac]

Thanks Rex

It's a kind of rusty red. I can blame Jan if it looks to pink one of her colour samples she has about 30 different sample pots.

Ken.

[Cox 47]

Good job on a great kit Cox 47

[simon1966]

Have you put in the Window glass yet? It does not look like it?

If not, here is a tip I picked up that worked really well IMO. Since the window frames are mouled into the plastic of the glass, it is virtually impossible to paint the frames well. Use a sharpie marker instead and draw them in! It works great and with a little care, you wont mess the glass portion up at all!

[Anonymous]

Blast that mine with coal dust. It shore is dirty!

That may tickle you PINK he he.

Actually that is not a bad red. Overall I think that mine looks pretty good.

Did you have trouble with the "corners?"

[NZRMac]

Thanks Simon I did wonder how to do the window frames, It's a permenant marker pen?

HighIron, I was real careful with this kit, I normally just thro things together, I scraped the edges and did a trial fit and then taped them while the glue was drying.

Ken.

[simon1966]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NZRMac

Thanks Simon I did wonder how to do the window frames, It's a permenant marker pen?
Ken.

Yes Ken a permanent marker is what I used. I used a black one, and in the odd place where I did get it on the glass, I just colored in the whole pane to make it look like a broken window that was blocked in.

[G Paine]

Ken

There was an article in MR or RMC a couple of years ago about installing an operating coal loader - sorry, I can't remember which magazine or year. It had an internal bin with the coal which fed to a cup that measured the amount of coal then rotated with an electric motor to dump into the car. Seemed a slick idea for a coal road.

Perhaps someone else in the forum remembers more details, otherwise you could e-mail MR & RMC - they are helpful with requests about back issues.

George

[NZRMac]

Thanks George

I'm thinking of using an auger, like they use for moving grain from silos.

I've seen a large drill 2' long and 1.5" for drilling holes for electric cables in walls, it needs to be in a close fitting plastic tube with a slow turning motor at the top, and a container of coal at the bottom.
I think it will work fine, lots of tinkering, should do the trick.

Ken.

[mecovey]

Hi Ken,
Good job on the mine. I load live loads using both the Walthers Mine and the flood loader. I experimented with a number of devices to deliver coal to the loading chute including conveyors and augars.

The only thing I have been able to make work is gravity. The coal is fed via PVC pipe to a funnel inside the structure. The funnel fits into a square tube that is only marginally higher than the top of the coal hopper. To prevent the PVC pipe from showing, I run it through the backdrop to the container that holds the coal. In the case of the mine, the container is a 5 gallon plastic jar originally used to hold water. For the flood loader, I use a 2 gallon bleach container.

Activation of the loader is via a choke cable that extends through the fascia of the layout to a vane attached to the end of the PVC pipe inside the building. If anyone is interested, I could post some pictures.

[soumodeler]

That would be great. Now we need to get one to put the two humps on the top to make it look "prototypical". Also, have you had any problems with overflowing or burying?

soumodeler
-----------------
The Southern Serves the South!
http://www.trainweb.org/mgr

[mecovey]

When I use diesel power I have been able to load on the move which puts a nice rounded peak down the middle of the car. I don't "drive" well enough to be able to do it every time. As the hoppers fill and the load gets heavier it takes a light hand on the throttle to keep the string moving at the same speed. I plan to try a decoder with back emf to see if that helps but I haven't gotten to it yet. With steam power, I gave up trying to get my BLI Mike to maintain a constant speed so I make 3 spots of each hopper. One on each end and one in the middle. I'll include some pictures of the "2 hump" variety as well as the "three hump".

[roadrat]

I once visited a large two level layout that had a coal mine on the lower level that loaded coal into operating hopper cars , You then ran your train up to the second level and onto the unloading track were the coal drained out of the car and ran down a pipe back into the mine which was directly below thus you never had to touch the coal with your hands.
I believe that the the operating hopper cars and magnetic unloading track were made by Tyco and you can only find then at swap meets and on ebay.
really loading and unloading cars definitly adds to the realism.


bill

[nfmisso]

See: http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=coal+&MAG=MR&output=3&sort=3

Specifically: "Build a working coal tipple " In July 1999 MR:
http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=I&MAG=MR&MO=7&YR=1999&output=3&sort=3

"PVC pipe, an auger bit, and a windshield wiper motor are key ingredients". He used a bit around ؾ" (19mm).

See: http://www.allelectronics.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=search&item=DCM-171&type=store for a motor.

[nfmisso]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ggpaine


Perhaps someone else in the forum remembers more details, otherwise you could e-mail MR & RMC - they are helpful with requests about back issues.

George

George; just click on "Index of Magazines" at the top of the page......

[Anonymous]

Nice job on the mine! When I first saw PINK, I mean red, I didn't know what to think after seeing the mine in the Turtle Creek Central. But I like it. I was thinking of building this mine but am going to scratch build my own [small mine] due to the size of the mine (my layout is only 4ft by 8ft, and also I didn't want a mine that huge). How hard was it to build this mine? It looks like to me it was a boxy, kind of kit but a good one. Also, what kind of styrene was used on this model? Thanks

[NZRMac]

I missed all those last replies, thanks for the info on working mines/tipples. I'll save those links.

mecovey, if you do have some pics, I'd love to see 'em, post them or email me thanks.
How do you unload??

My BLI SD40-2's run nice and slow, I guess it's the speed control throttle set up and 128 step decoder, so filling on the move might work for me.

I'm not sure of the type of styrene used I just used a common plastic modellers glue

Thanks chaps

Ken.

[Anonymous]

I dont think prototype trains bothered to put "three humps" on coal loads today, they just moved it all thru at like 1 mph and flood loaded the thing.

The Humps are a result of the old style loading where you would pu***he empty coal car up to the tipple. Then the coal will flow into the car perhaps filling it half. A brake man climbed it and released the hand brake just enough to coast it so the mine tipple can fill the rest of the car thus creating 2 or 3 humps.

As the coal train rocked and rolled towards the customer the humps would shake out and everything would settle down.

Me thinks you will do better wen you just worry about getting that coal into the cars without having to stop several times per car for the humps.

[Anonymous]

Peeling red!??!!!

Just kidding, but try dulling it down a notch!

[NZRMac]

Man I'd be happy to just fill the hoppers with some coal!!

Cheers for the replies

Ken.