Hopefully this is not too stupid of a question: How much abuse would the paint on the slanted portion of a tender take over time?
Say it's painted a standard black. Would the paint eventually wear off or just fade? Or, would the acidic pH of the coal attack the paint? I'm trying to determine how best to weather the inside of a brass tender that will not be entirely full.
Thanks,
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
tstage Hopefully this is not too stupid of a question: How much abuse would the paint on the slanted portion of a tender take over time? Say it's painted a standard black. Would the paint eventually wear off or just fade? Or, would the acidic pH of the coal attack the paint? I'm trying to determine how best to weather the inside of a brass tender that will not be entirely full. Thanks, Tom
As you might already have found out yourself, it is very difficult to find a top view of a half-empty tender. Here is one:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/66600931@N03/6944831491/in/album-72157632564157277/
I would have expected that the surface of the coal pile would remain rather horizontal, but here this is obviously not the case; this might depend on the type of coal used. The paint on the uncovered portions of the tender looks faded or covered with coal dust with a hint of rust.
As an interesting side note, addressing the rule "there is a prototye for everything": If you ever modeled a steam engine where the cab doors are removed and stored at the back of the tender, you would be called crazy. But here you see...
Coal is a rock. Its not the hardest rock, but its a rock none the less. Dropping coal from 15 ft above the tender and the constant motion of the coal while be used will grind away the paint over time.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
What is that little tower on the top left of the linked photo?
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
It would appear to be the coaling chute. There seems to be a pit under the angled support. I couldn't see it clearly enough but there is either a bucket chain hoist inside that support. Or an open top auger to convey the coal. Cool picture of a European railroad.
wrench567 Henry It would appear to be the coaling chute. There seems to be a pit under the angled support. I couldn't see it clearly enough but there is either a bucket chain hoist inside that support. Or an open top auger to convey the coal. Cool picture of a European railroad.
Look at the four small white "squares" on the side of the tender. If you zoom in you will see that they are Chinese letters.
Here's a link to an overhead view of a German locomotive's tender that might be helpful. It's not the slanted portion, but it still might give you an idea of how to model the inside of the bunker. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/01_118_Koenigstein_28052007_02.JPG I should also add that the condition of a tender's coal bunker probably depends a great deal on how well a given locomotive is maintained, and when it was last in the paint shop.
Even odder is the two cab doors stored on the grabiron on the rear of the tender.
I would hazard a guess that the effect of coal on a tender's coalbunker would be very similar to that on an ordinary hopper used primarily for carrying coal - paint worn away, and the bare steel rusting, with rust periodically removed, at least partially, every time the hopper or tender was reloaded.
I use loose "coal" (actually it's coke breeze - the fine particles from coke-making) in all of my locos' tenders....
I also use it loose in hopper cars, but for some hoppers, instead use Black Beauty blasting medium, as its shiny appearance makes a decent rendition of Anthracite. Here's some, also loose, in a truck...
Coke breeze...
...and a tender with its "coal" partially used-up...
...a hopper loaded with bituminous "coal"...
...and one loaded with Anthracite...
Coke breeze includes a lot of dust, so loading or unloading tenders and hoppers is done off-layout. It is also somewhat corrosive, but not to plastic tenders. A regular HO scale Athearn two-bay hopper weighs just a bit over 2oz. empty, but loaded with coke breeze weighs about 4.5oz.The same car, loaded with Black Beauty, weighs 8oz.
While most of my hoppers have "rusted" interiors, I've used dry-brushed silver paint on a few of them to represent cars recently unloaded. For locomotive tenders, though, the interior of the coal bunker is black, since most are seen full or almost full.
Wayne
Doctor Wayne,
Sorry if I'm a little off topic here, but I wish you would write a book about your modeling. Your layout, motive power, and freight/passenger equipment are just fantastic, some of the finest I have seen and I can't ever read one of your post without learning something new.
Thanks again,
Ralph
Thanks for your kind words, Ralph.
While I do tend to post lots of photos to illustrate methods of doing stuff, there are lots of areas on my layout that are less than presentable. That's not to say that I won't show them, but if they're not of use in helping out fellow modellers, there's not much point in boring the viewers.
There is not just one type of coal but bituminous is softer then anthricite and there are varying degrees of organic chemicals incuding sulfur. The slope sheets were pretty heavy steel. I would think that wet coal would tend to eat at the steel with mild sulfuric acid but any effect would be insignificant
Tom,
Direct message me with contact info, I can send you photos of an empty steam tender. I happen to know where I can find one of those recently out of service .