Model Railroading > Metal scrap load for scrap gondolas

This is my first try at making scrap loads out of metal shavings. I bought 6 oz. of iron shavings off of ebay, and looked up how to rust it. Using a plastic tray I had, I spread out a quarter of the filings in a thin even layer, and then sprayed a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, and salt on it with a spray bottle. Depending on how soaked it got it started to rust almost immediately. Letting it sit while the moisture evaporated allowed it to rust more completely on the surface. After a day or so I scraped up the filings and initially found that the underside lying on the plastic wasn't rusted since the moisture didn't get there. More applications and mixing fixed that. There was some clumping that I pulverized with a glass bottle. For now, just messing around with it, I filled these two gons entirely with the mixture. Looking at prototype photos I think I actually should allow about have the metal to stay free of rust and avoid it becoming to powdered. I'll probably order some more and then I can remix to get a different consistency.

In the background, the DJJX high sided gon has a mixture that I made when I was teenager using metal shavings that my Dad got from someone. I need to get that gon weathered to match. The CSX gon in the foreground is a project car I made from an older Walthers kit that I found, and I added metal grab irons to part of it. From what I found, this car actually is a CSX prototype, stemming from a small series of RF&P gons inherated by CSX. for 50-52' gons, I don't think any other car out there is accurate, aside from the Atlas thrall 2743's that CSX briefly had in the late 90's. Luckily, NS still does have that car, which is the model in the middle. Accurate gons are hard to find... I wish I had a Tangent CR G43 to beat up and load with scrap.

Also, there is a very different type of gondola hiding in these photos if anyone can identify it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/20 19:50 by inCHI.

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Looking good! 

You think it's something that is glueable to say a foam piece to have the load be removable? 

Mike ONeill
Parker, CO

mcdeo Wrote:
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> Looking good! 
>
> You think it's something that is glueable to say a
> foam piece to have the load be removable? 

Yeah, it can be done that way. I did way back in the example in the high sided gon. I made a mistake, though, which was that I didn't paint the foam a dark cover first, so over the years when pieces fell off it shows the foam color.

Just something about the size of the load would think it would be about half of that due to weight. Looks great we have a few here at Train Mountain with scrap from our shop in them.

Nice modeling! That unloaded gondola in the back looks a little lost. 

Back in my modeling days, I would save all my drill and tap filings and put them in a small tupperware container.  Then I would just leave the container (sans lid) outdoors and stir everything around once a week.  If rainwater sat in the thing for a day or two before I dumped it out, no problem.  After 3-4 weeks, the effect was natural, nearly effortless, and pleasing to the eye.

-John

 Great scrap! To me the stuff in the CSXT gondola looks the best-----maybe because of the odds and ends chunks mixed with the finer stuff?

How many carloads will 6oz of filings make?

Thanks! I agree that the wider range of sizes in the CSX gon looks better. When I do another batch I'm going to crush it less.

As for how much 6oz. makes - The two gons in the foreground, NS and CSX, are all 6 oz. dumped in. If I instead made something like foam inserts to glue the scrap on it seems like 6-8 loads could be made.