Hi,
I have a question about modeling realistic woodchip hopper loads. I have several woodchip hoppers and I would like to load them with a realistic load. I recently built some bookshelves and saved a lot of the dust from the saw to use as loads. I'm just not sure how to make use of these shavings so that it looks realistically mounded and loose like it would on a prototype car. If anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Pierce
I did mine with some yellow foam rubber. I cut it to shape to create the mound look, then coated it with white glue, and rolled it in some sawdust. The foam rubber is sized to fit snuggly in the top of the hopper.
Works great in N scale... You might want to add some card stock or something else to stiffen the bottom in a larger scale... But the concept should work either way.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Here's a better view...
Black foam dipped in coal dust works, too...
The best part about this method is you generally don't have to handle the car to pop the load out. Just pinch it an pull it out!
Great idea - thanks! The loads look terrific.
PD
tpd0418Great idea - thanks! The loads look terrific. PD
It is a good idea and the loads, especially the coal ones, look very nice. The only comment I would make is re the chip loads: real chips are very light (hence the larger capacity gons that are used) and subject to being blown around. If a real chip gon was loaded like these are, by the time it arrived at its destination, the load protuding above the car sides would be gone. Gone with the wind. Not such an issue with coal due to its weight per piece.
I make hopper loads by cutting a piece of scrap styrofoam to just smaller than the size of the hopper and with an appropriate shape on top, painting it an appropriate color, then gluing a little thin layer of the appropriate load material on top (fine sawdust for wood chips, WS lump coal for coal, fine ballast for sand or ore loads).
Cheap, easy, and fast!
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
As to materials, the sawdust from a table saw or from a pencil sharpener would work in HO or larger
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch