woodchips?????

[Anonymous]

My christmas project is now complete except for simulating woodchips in the hopper car. How do I make this and since I live way in the country on a hog farm I can't run to the hobby shop and time is a big problem. I thought about just using saw dust but it looks to fine. Thanks for any help.

[dragonriversteel]

Mopsey,

Thats what I use for my wood chip loads....saw dust. I made my loads using a 1X4 pine board,cut down to fit walthers wood chip cars. Then using the saw dust with elmers wood glue,coated the homemade load. Why spend big bucks on walthers loads when ,one can make their own.

Patrick
Beaufort,SC
Dragon River Steel Corp {DRSC}
Making HO scale steel by the ton!!!!

[Anonymous]

I was going to say saw dust, just depends on your scale you model. I would siv(sp) it, that way you could experiment with different textures. you could also put it in a pan, then vibrate it like you're looking for gold, that way it grades itself! my 2cents..........
Danny

[cacole]

Sawdust for HO scale. A member of our local club purchased some Hamster bedding material at Wal-mart, but it is more like G scale.

[jecorbett]

Sawdust should work just fine for wood chips in HO or N. After all, sawdust is just very find wood chips. Allen McClelland had a great technique for creating hopper loads for his V&O. He cut a strip of foam rubber that was just big enough to squeeze into the hopper. Then he glued the material for his load to the top of the foam and inserted it into the hopper. That made it easy to load and unload the hopper cars between sessions so he could have loads going in one direction and empties returning. He did it with coal but it should work just as well for wood chips or any other open top load.

[jxtrrx]

If the sawdust looks too fine to you, strain it through a window screen, large sieve or collender (the Mrs. won't mind TOO much[:-^]) and use only the remaining larger stuff.

[dehusman]

Actually sawdust is probably too big to be scale. The wood chips in Arkansas are only about the size of a half dollar.

Dave H.

[jecorbett]

Out of scale woodchips? Are we taking rivet counting to a whole new level. They're freaking woodchips. Anything in the ballpark should be close enough

[rrgrassi]

Try using pressed wood. Soak it until it swells up like a sponge, the let it dry, take a hammer and lightly whack it to make it break up. Pressed wood is just sawdust and glue, and the resulting chips are different size and color. It is timely, but is does look good when done. If I could show you I would. I do not have a digital camera yet. I always have to make a choice between train stuff and the camera. Trains win.

[cwclark]

how about using vermaculite found in the garden center of a nursery...it can be glued in place and painted tan to simulate wood chips...chuck

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the suggestions-I'm going to try the sawdust and foam idea. As for the collender-I am the wife, my husband the hog farmer. I just happen to love trains especially making the scenery and accessories. Thanks again and Merry Christmas