Painting realistic coal

[Esmedune]

Hello all,

Does anyone have a process for painting tender coal, so that it looks realistic, with that blueish sheen reflecting the light?

[Barclay]

I always use real coal but accept that some people don't think it looks realistic ! 

 

Getting much harder to find as restrictions on its sale come in - I stashed an ice cream tub of it a while ago that I hope will see me out.

 

If you do want to paint fake coal instead I would suggest the Humbrol Metalcote paints which can be buffed up when dry to create that metallic sheen.

[Esmedune]

There was a train driver in Liverpool who collected coal from all the engines, so my Flying Scotsman had coal swept from the real engine. It didn't look bad to be honest.

[cypherman]

Hi,

You will never get that real look by painting. You should just use real coal crushed to the correct size. Glue it on with a little pva.

[Mick Bonwick]

I am a member of the 'Real Coal' camp. I have tried many times to use paint to represent coal in a tender and never succeeded. Does this look like the real thing to you?

 

[Ray Von]

I've also used real coal, a little trick I came up with: put small fragments in a salt/pepper-grinder (available at pound shops) this gives a good variation of size, especially useful when working in N Scale.... 

Edited May 13, 2021 by Ray Von

[The Johnster]

Real coal for tenders/bunkers, loaded wagons, and coal in collieries and at coal yards, every time.  There are some materials that will not scale down and never look right, such as water because of the surface tension and the way it moves, or sand, which is already as fine as it is going to ever be and needs to be finer; consequently sandstone is better represented by repainting limestone..  But coal, limestone, maybe granite, and wood scale perfectly and weather perfectly, and are thus the best solution for modelling purposes. 

 

My current coal supply, large enough to last me several lifetimes, was given me by Tomparryharry of this parish, and came from the same source as my previous small lump, Big Pit at Blaenafon.  I mined the previous lump myself back in the 80s. 

 

Real coal is probably the quickest, easiest, and most effective way of improving an RTR steam loco, along with spectacle plate glazing and painting out the brightwork of wheels and motion on older models.  If you must paint the risible plastic RTR stuff, probably the simplest way is to apply a coat of gloss varnish, let it dry, then a coat of matt, wiped over before it dries, which will give you the shiny facets against a background of matt dust between the lumps.

 

A general problem with RTR is that the manufacturers insist on providing a full bunker of plastic coal, so that you do not have much option when you glue real coal over it other than to model your loco with a very full bunker.  This is fine for coming off shed at the start of the day's work, but the day's work is about 8 hours and sometimes more for the loco, and the pile starts to visibly diminish after about an hour in service.  For the most part, steam locos in service ran at least partly empty, with the coal not visible behind the bunker fenders, and one hears stories of long distance trains arriving at termini having been running on dust for the final 30 miles or so; it was sometimes just as well that the final approaches to London from the north are all downhill...

 

Recent models are starting to feature correctly modelled empty bunkers for you to put your own coal in; the current Hornby large prairie has this desirable attribute.  The plastic coal was essential in the days of tender drive of course to hide the motors.  Bachmann tank locos use mazak bunker ballast with the coal shaped at the top and painted gloss black, which is better than plastic but still not as good as the real thing.

Edited May 13, 2021 by The Johnster

[Michael Hodgson]

4 hours ago, Barclay said:

Getting much harder to find as restrictions on its sale come in - I stashed an ice cream tub of it a while ago that I hope will see me out.

 

If you follow the track of a Welsh mountain railway on foot, you'll find quite a lot of genuine steam coal abandoned via the chimney into the two-foot.

Edited May 13, 2021 by Michael Hodgson

[JeffP]

I used to pick up a pocketful after every outing to a local station watching mgr trains.

Still have a few lbs.

[Reorte]

19 hours ago, The Johnster said:

Recent models are starting to feature correctly modelled empty bunkers for you to put your own coal in; the current Hornby large prairie has this desirable attribute.

 

They've sometimes had a small bag of real coal included, although I'm wondering if that's now illegal pre-bagged coal.

[Il Grifone]

 I have a large lump of anthracite. A big hammer and a sieve soon reduce a bit to 4mm scale.... It can even be graded for mineral wagon loads.

[The Johnster]

3 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

 I have a large lump of anthracite. A big hammer and a sieve soon reduce a bit to 4mm scale.... It can even be graded for mineral wagon loads.

Basically a reproduction of the screening process at the pit.

[Steamport Southport]

5 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

They've sometimes had a small bag of real coal included, although I'm wondering if that's now illegal pre-bagged coal.

 

Nope. Coal is readily available. Just that you can't buy certain types in places like supermarkets anymore.

 

Hattons will sell you a big tub of it for about a fiver. Should last ages.

 

Already graded into sizes. They're out of some, but that's probably a supply problem rather than anything legal.

 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/3156644/1000594/1000714/0/hattons_constructor_any_or_multiple_scales_minerals_water_and_rocks/prodlist.aspx

 

Other retailers and manufacturers sell similar. Easier than ferreting about on disused railways in Wales.... 

 

 

Jason

[RobMG]

I always use real coal crushed to the correct size. There is no substitute.  I saved a large box full the last time we bought some for home use a few weeks ago.   it should last me the rest of my days.

 

Rob

[cypherman]

I have found that even the smokeless fuel when crushed is just as convincing. Admittedly I should have crushed the coal a bit more on them.

Edited May 15, 2021 by cypherman

[The Johnster]

If you can't get hold of real coal, a good substitute is aquarium filter charcoal; if weight in a long train of minerals is a problem, it is lighter than real coal as well.

[Steamport Southport]

8 hours ago, cypherman said:

I have found that even the smokeless furl when crushed is just as convincing. Admittedly I should have crushed the coal a bit more on them.

 

 

I don't know about that. Look at the size of some of the slabs in these tenders. Some are huge!

 

http://www.gwr.org.uk/no-tenders.html

 

 

Jason

[Darius43]

On 13/05/2021 at 15:16, Ray Von said:

I've also used real coal, a little trick I came up with: put small fragments in a salt/pepper-grinder (available at pound shops) this gives a good variation of size, especially useful when working in N Scale.... 

 

Just don’t leave that grinder in the kitchen...

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[cypherman]

3 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I don't know about that. Look at the size of some of the slabs in these tenders. Some are huge!

 

http://www.gwr.org.uk/no-tenders.html

 

 

Jason

Hi Southport,

Thanks for that. They do not look too bad compared to some of those pictures.....