Who's put real coal loads in tenders?

I just use white glue thinned about 1:1 with water. This with Brennan's coal which I believe is real coal.

Pete

Hay OGAUGEGUY,

Usually what I do is sprinkle coal pieces onto the tender and I've got the real thing because I was a fireman for the New Hope & Ivyland R.R. no. 40 consolidation about 5 yrs. ago. Would sweep the small bits from the corner of the tender & pick them up, the coal, & place  in a container. Usually, too, the over flow of water from filling the tender washed the small bits in the same corner.No.1 I'll dress the tender with the coal bits then generously spray the coal with misted water. No.2 Mix a solution of 50% Elmers white glue (dries clear) & 50% water ( put a drop of dish soap to break cohesion). Shake till the two mix, but not too violently because you don't want bubbles in solution, at least not too many because they will show when dried. No.3 Gently apply the solution over the coal until it's almost ready to spill over. Don't worry if it does, water & paper towel will make it proper again.

No. 4 DO NOT TOUCH THE COAL WHILE IT IS DRYING!!! It will take about 3 - 4 days, or longer, for it to dry, or when you see  that it looks dry. The reason for using the Elmers white glue is that warm water will remove it if you want to put it back to it's original look with no effect to the tender. Also know that a piece or two will occasionally break off and you can always re-dress it again & again. There may be others on the forum with better ideas, so be open minded before you make a decision.

Best  to you,

Steam Forever

     John

ogaugeguy posted:

I need guidance. I have both plastic and metal Lionel and MTH tenders with simulated molded coal loads I want to convert to realistic separately applied coal loads. I bought several MTH #30-50005 Bags of Coal to do this . If you've done this to any tenders, how did you do it?

• did you first apply adhesive glue to the tender shell and then sprinkle the coal on top of it?
• No.
• did you coat the coal with glue and then sprinkle it onto the tender?
• No.
• did you soak the coal in a glue solution and then put the coal nuggets on the tender?
• No.
• did you put a layer of coal on the tender and then spray a glue solution on top of the coal hoping it would drip down and bond the coal to the tender?
• No.
• what glue or adhesive is best for a plastic tender?
• I have always used diluted (to the consistency of whole milk) Matt Medium.
• what glue or adhesive is best for a metal tender?
• See above, i.e. Matt Medium.
• did you prep the tender in any way before applying the real coal?
• Yes. I remove ALL the original "factory" coal. On the Lionel tenders with that die cast "coal", I used a carbide cutter in a Dremel and cut the whole thing out, then built a sort of coal bin out of bass wood in order to hold the loose coal, prior to gluing. 

Naturally, I want the results to look identical to Lionel and MTH tenders that come with a realistic separately applied coal load with no indication of the coal being glued or visible traces of glue residue.

Just my opinion but, I have gone to great lengths to make coal loads that do NOT "look identical to Lionel and MTH tenders"! In fact, some of my tenders have the forward portion seriously "dug out" so as to reflect a locomotive that is about half out of coal, on the road. Not all steam locomotive tenders should look like they just pulled out from under the coal dock.

If you have pictures of you doing this modification, please post them.

Thank you.

EDIT:

Forgot to add; I add the coal in loose and make sure the whole coal load looks EXACTLY the way I want it to, then moisten if VERY CAREFULLY with cheap 70% alcohol. While still moist, then, using a pipette, apply the diluted Matt Medium WITHOUT DISTURBING THE COAL. Let it dry for a day or two. 

I also used white glue and placed the coal on top. After it dries I shuck off the unattached coal. Looks much better. All my steam engines have real coal. Don

I not only put real coal on the tender, I put a shovel resting on the fireman’s side of the tender on each loco. I also painted the footplates and walking surfaces in the cab and tender to show all the paint wear from the plates rubbing together and the foot traffic. It’s a detail I hardly ever see done on models, but almost always there in real life.

The smaller pilr at the bottom edge of the coal bunker, near the tender floor, was covered in even finer Crush coal, from a container of cinders from Woodland scenics, using the same method.

I laid down saran wrap under the coal pile shell, smeared the plastic shell with gorilla glue, sprinkled crushed coal, let it dry for a little while, then shook off the excess. I removed the plastic wrap after the glue had partially dried, about 5 hours later. The finished tender looks fine now.

Jack had a good idea of showing the coal pile like it’d been scooped down, but the Bachmann plastic coal shell hides the DCC decoder and wiring underneath, so I thought it made sense to go with the shell it came with, just covered in coal, instead of modifying the shell and risk getting too close to the wiring.

Real crushed coal is a very inexpensive detail that is well worth the cost and effort.

Hello O gauge Guy, I use Hob-e-Tac glue from Woodland Scenic's to attach the coal to the tender top and also making coal loads for my hoppers.

Just put a nice even coat over the area and sprinkle the coal on and then let it sit overnight and dry. The next day turn the tender upside down and shake off any loose pieces of coal.

Just remember to put down a piece of newspaper or something that you can catch the coal that falls off so it can be reused.

With a few of my engines I did the opposite of what Hot Water mentioned, was that after I applied my first layer of coal and it was dry I added some more Hob-e-Tac in the center of the tender and then added more coal so the coal load looked heaped.

I don't have a real good picture of the coal loads in the tenders but here are some shots of coal loads I made the same way in MTH 2 Bay Hoppers.