Fray Bentos! Are you ready?

[tomparryharry]

Hello folks, I hope you are all doing OK.  A quick couple of questions from the collective, if I may.  Now, I like corned beef, so I make no excuses. But! Those cans, what can I use them for?  It's the same with certain drinks cans. Some are Aluminium , some are steel. The scrounger in me can't abide seeing potential raw material asset  going in the bin.  Has anyone tried soldering these, or am I a sandwich short of a picnic?

 

Views, pointers, etc, gratefully received, as usual.

 

Cheers,

Ian.

 

 

[didcot]

My Grandfather used to make cake tins for my Grandmother from tin cans. He used folded joints to hold them together rather than solder which could potentially melt in the oven.

[Michael Hodgson]

I know a large O gauge railway which has lever frames constructed from scrap given the post-war shortages.  The levers themselves were made from the spokes of broken umbrellas, and the quadrant plate from salvaged tinplate from cans.

 

One of my soldering iron stands was made by cutting and bending an old tin can.

[john new]

Always worth salvaging potential raw material.

[Steamport Southport]

Doesn't he play for the Arsenal?  

 

There was an article in Model Railways about 1982 where someone built a locomotive out of tin cans. An LSWR M7 I think.

 

The problem with modern ones is I think they are lined with plastic or a lacquer of some description.

 

 

 

Jason

[kevinlms]

I tried a Fray Bentos about 10 years ago, because I have read about them.

 

My conclusion is that perhaps the can, is the most useful part!

[didcot]

12 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

The problem with modern ones is I think they are lined with plastic or a lacquer of some description

I think you are right. I once had a tour around Metalbox near Denchworth. I seem to remember the metal sheet was covered in a white plastic film on the side that would become the inside of the can.

The thing that impressed me most was the large plastic test tube thing that would become a 2 litre Coke bottle.

[simontaylor484]

Ah the pre form plastic bottle its a brilliant invention. It is a plastic bottle supplied as a test tube shaped moulding to a bottling plant. The tube is put into a mould air is injected to form the larger bottle 

[SM42]

Chop em up and make a scrap load for your wagons.

 

Andy

[HonestTom]

I recall an 009 layout in a very old modelling magazine (we're talking late 60s, early 70s) where the builder made his locos out of Oxo tins.

[Mike Bellamy]

 

As well as being one of the organisers of the Derby Exhibition, I also belong to the local narrow gauge group. Several years ago, our layout was to be in the show but when I looked at the hall plan - all different bits of paper pinned to the master plan, I couldn't see the layout anywhere. I was then shown a cut out square called 'Corned Beef' as the exhibition manager couldn't remember the layout name when preparing the plan but as there is nothing available ready to run in 7mmNG (O 16.5), he thought we made all of our models out of corned beef tins !  Ever since then any narrow gauge layout at Derby has been known as 'Corned Beef'.

.

[Zomboid]

On 15/05/2021 at 13:39, kevinlms said:

I tried a Fray Bentos about 10 years ago, because I have read about them.

 

My conclusion is that perhaps the can, is the most useful part!

To get the least damaging "nutrition" you have to eat the packaging.

 

They're the same as pot noodles in that regard.

[HEATH STATION]

I read a number of the US Model Railroader and Model Craftsman magazines of the 1940's-50's which carried articles by M D Thornburgh and others showing O scale builds of B&O and other railroad equipment where tinplate coffee cans were the main source material. Other cans with corrugated metal sides were favoured for boxcar doors and ends.

 

[5050]

Tin can usage was very common around war time - there was nothing else.  J N Maskelyne who edited Model Railway News had a favourite saying -'a coat of paint hides a multitude of tins'.

[russell price]

I once built a dean goods out of Castrol  cans, fully soldered with cored flux solder. Not sure what became of it. Sat on a Triang  060 chassis.

[Binky]

On 15/05/2021 at 22:12, SM42 said:

Chop em up and make a scrap load for your wagons.

 

Andy

I remember a great article in an old Model Railroader where someone used real rusty metal that fell out the wheelarch of his Pontiac as scrap metal loads. Any steel cans could be chopped up and left to rust for a while to produce the same effect and I believe there are a few tricks to accelerate the rusting process if needs be. The ridged sides of some food cans could work as scrap corrugated sheets and I've seen aluminium foil screwed up and pressed into cubes to make scale bales of crushed metal.

It seems model scrapyards and their traffic are ideal for metal recycling, just like the purpose of the prototype!