Guest baldrick25 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Most of us will have used selected lumps of real coal, suitably resized with a hammer, but is there any 'look-alike' for coke. Just racking my brains what to use to create a load in Bachmann 7 plank wagons. I can't imagine real coke , if its still about, smashed up would really look to scale as does coal. Any suggestions what to try, or is it just a layer of fine, nay very fine, foam rubber ground up almost to a powder a then weathered a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PhilH Posted February 3, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ground up cork? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baby Deltic Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 My recollection of coke is that it is a lot lighter in colour than coal - a dark silvery grey colour. I think its usually in smaller lumps aswell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard Lamb Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Fancy a holiday in Iceland or Japan? Volcanic ash would be about right for coke. The scenic suppliers do a commercial coal sustitue that is domestic authority friendly. Some German locos actually come with a small bag of the stuff. Bernard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertiedog Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Coke comes in sizes, pellets, blast furnace or larger boulders, blue light grey, a matt surface, so any crushed soft rock material will paint all right for colour, dry brush the surface with white to pick out texture. Plenty of pictures on the net in Google images Stephen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Ground up barbecue charcoal? Or Barbecue lumps? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Years agao I bought some Javis 'coal'. Didn't think it looked very realistic for coal, but was OK for coke. I don't know if it is still available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 For coal, I either use the real stuff crushed up for wagons loads where it is appropriate, e.g. local delivery coal merchant and woodlands imitation for my coal train that is going up to one of the London Power Stations (for-runner of the merry-go-round trains. For coke I am still trying to figure something out. 1st the size, As I remember growing up next to the station yard in about 1953 it came in two sizes, a sort of pre-sized lump about 2" large and a much larger lump that could go up to 6 or 7" in size. Both were not round, they were irregular lumps. Both came with a significant amount of fines. For modelling, I am leaning towards cork. Next is the colour, Both types were a sort of silvery grey, It was actually very uniform in colour when looked at close up but from a distance appeared to be many different shades of grey, presumably due to the multi-faceted nature of its surface. This is what I dont know how to capture. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium petethemole Posted February 3, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 3, 2011 This go me thinking as I have coke wagons to load, so bear in mind I haven't actually done this, but I think it might work. Try cat litter sieved to size or cork granules. Paint overall a dark grey such as Panzer grey, then dry brush with a lighter grey, just light enough to highlight without too much contrast. The very slightly metallic appearance of coke at close quarters was less apparent at a few yards distance (from our back door to the bunker in the 60s), it just looked grey and caught the light a bit. I was first home in the evenings and had to fill the hod and riddle and light the boiler, so saw plenty of it. Incidentally the latest edition of Archive magazine has one of a series of articles on coke production. Some of the lumps straight from the ovens were quite large. For that you could use cat litter as it comes (from the bag, not the cat). Pete Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sailor Charon Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I think I used some of the dark ash woodland scenics ballast. It looked quite good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotcent Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 The main visual difference between coal and coke is the texture. Coal is fairly solid lumps with a degree of glossiness about them. Coke is porous with an almost spongy appearance (hence much lighter than coal, which is why the wagons had higher sides). Both are fundamentally black, but because of their different textures will pick up different shades from their surroundings. Coal has a slight gloss, coke is dead matt. Allan F Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davknigh Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Has anyone tried the charcoal found in Brita water filters? It is quite finein size and the right colour. Cheers, David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Michael Edge Posted February 4, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 4, 2011 I use Woodland Scenics cinder ballast, it's a bit dull for coal but it doesn't crush and jam the mechanism in the colliery screens on Cwmafon. Real coal is best for putting in loco tenders and bunkers but it gets very messy if it is left loose. Michael Edge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest baldrick25 Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 Think I might have found a solution. ( ps thanks for all the other suggestions guys, I will try and make a few wagon 'loads' to do a comparison) Whilst rummaging around SVR today , I noticed some dropped boiler clinker between the sleepers, and a quick 'sort over' of the bits most likely to do the job gave me this:- This shot was taken with a macro lens and the biggest dimension is about 12-15mm of each lump. It looks sufficiently different to real coal or its plastic substitute, and exhibits a grey-ish silver sheen. I reckon a bit of careful tapping with a toffee hammer might just give a realistic load once they are 3 or 4mm diameter. A quick spray with acrylic clear varnish - jobs a good 'un. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 To model coal real coal sprayed using Humbrol metalcote gunmetal then polished by using a stiff brush to create highlights works very well - I think if you just use the metalcote it'll look much like how the coke I've seen appears. Coke produced at Scunthorpe is still quite dark in colour but very, very matt in appearance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldrocker Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 I used coke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 My Coke loads made from painted granulated cork Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Saunders Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 I would go for real coke and sieve it to get a uniform size! Mark Saunders Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted May 9, 2011 Share Posted May 9, 2011 Not sure where I could get real coke in Canada, especially where I live. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Siberian Snooper Posted May 9, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 9, 2011 Not sure where I could get real coke in Canada, especially where I live. Do you have a local blacksmith? over here they still tend to use coke for forging. Cheers SS Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campaman Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I have used a charcoal briquette suitably sized using a hammer Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
markyb208 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 My Coke loads made from painted granulated cork Hi Theakerr, Thanks for pointing the thread out, there's some good ideas here which need looking into. What colour/colours did you use to paint your granulated cork version please? Regards, Mark Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Coke for domestic use in the UK is almost impossible to buy these days, and has been replace by something called Homefire, amongst others. http://www.coals2u.co.uk/homefire-25kg-prepacked 25kg might be a little too much for the average layout but if you can find someone who has a smokeless solid fuel heater, and blag a few pieces from them, a quick bash with a hammer should produce something not dissimilar to coke. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theakerr Posted October 28, 2011 Share Posted October 28, 2011 Re painting for my coke, I blended (all tamiya paints) German Grey and Grey with a bit of flat blue and a touch of flat green and matt black. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted October 29, 2011 Share Posted October 29, 2011 How about pumice stone, as used for removing hard skin in the bathroom? The colour is about right, as would the texture be, once you'd smashed it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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