Bunker coal - how realistic

[macwales]

Hi

Today I was painting some of Dapol's excellent fireman's irons prior to placing them on a loco when I noticed that the bunker coal in the the loco tender was a bit dull.

A quick glance round my steamers and I noticed that the 'realisticness' of the coal in the various locos differend quite a bit.

Worst is undoubtably Dapol. Most coal loads being - full, uniform and a peculiar smooth surface with a sprinkling of small knobbles to depict the coal. Finish was not black and shiny (my preference for coal as it looks good glimmering under the lights on my layout) but uniformly dull. Some loads do have some humps which is good.

Much better are the latest Faiish locos and they are the only make I have that have thought about the fact that the loco might use some coal and the bunker might not be full. The coal surface is less uniform than Dapol's with edge facets that catch the light.

My old Minitrix have some realistic looking plastic coal but no humps.

All look better in my eyes when the coal is painted glossy black. I would like to put real coal on top of the Dapol knobbles but there is not much room as the loads are all full. On some weathered (by the manufacturer) loads the coal is weathered the same as the loco!

I know many prefer dull looking coal and that has the benefit of not changing much when dusty.

It seems to me that (Farish Austerity in my collection excepted) Manufacturers put little effort into the coal loads on new locos and they could easily do better. Why not some alternate part loads in the accecories bag?

What do others think?

Cheers

Mac 

[Malc]

I've seen people remove the original coal load altogether and replace it with a piece of plastic card, then real Welsh coal added on top. Really looks the part.

[d-a-n]

I'm toying with the idea of having my WD austerity weathered by one of the big companies and I'll definitely have more realistic looking coal added. I'd love to see some half empty tenders but I suppose this all comes down to cost of manufacture and the complexity of making such a thing reality!

[mr bachmann]

those good old manufacturers , full tender of coal and with that there would be a full tank of water , but the springs have'nt settled   

alan

[scotsoft]

I am well aware this is a completely different scale but I felt it is worth posting just to get an idea of what trickery manufacturers are developing.

This is a video of a Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive with a twist in the tender.
Jump to 7 minutes if you don't wish to watch it all 


www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZpwqPqF7Jc

cheers John.

[PLD]

Much better are the latest Faiish locos and they are the only make I have that have thought about the fact that the loco might use some coal and the bunker might not be full.

For me some of the worst are the Farish tender drive locos closely followed by Union Mills tender drives. - They are so-overloaded, that it would be unlikely to even make it off shed without leaving a black trail behind them and never mind a the end of the journey...

[Dorsetmike]

Where possible I try and remove as much of the cast coal as possible with an abrasive  drum in a minidrill, quick coat of paint followed by a coat of glue, and sprinkle with almost powdered coal. With non motorised tenders I do sometimes dig out as much as possible and then add paint, glue and coal to represent a half load or less.

One knob of real coal placed in a strong bag and then hammered to pulverise it, maybe leaving a few larger pieces, - say 2mm - 3mm  across -, that should give you enough for quite a large fleet of locos and still leave some for the staithes.

Nowt looks more like coal than coal!

[macwales]

Hi

What a fabulous video John.

I liked the steam and the double puffing. That loco would be great on a garden layout. Pity it rains so much here.

Cheers

Mac