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"Mann's Creek Railroad 20tonn Coal Hopper."

Mann's Creek 20tonn Coal Hopper - Made by Torsja

This is my version off the "Mann's Creek Railroad 20tonn Coal Hopper." Featured in a NG&SL Gazette number some time ago. The HOn3 drawing was made by David J. Williams in 3-foot Gauge and as a HOn3 Hopper. I scanned the drawings and scaled it down to Z-Scale. It's a nice coal hopper for my Needle Eye Rail Road layout and it will make a nice addition to my rolling stock and my layout I think. I have made my master from Strip wood and Styrene and then made a mould off it for resin castings so that I could easier make more then one car.

Regard Torsja

	The model is not 100% to scale I think, because the original author in the article off the NG&SL said that he made a few adjustments along the way on the scale. But as the author say, it's not a problem because he and I are freelancing our layouts.

	1. I have made my master from North Eastern Strip wood and Evergreen Styrene. Glued only with white glue so that the silicone mould wont react to master and don't cure properly.
	2. Then made a mould off it for resin castings so that I could easier make more then one car.
	3. The resin castings are made and ready for assembly after I got rid off the access resin and some bobbles.
	4. Before I can assemble the resin parts I have to sand down on the back off them to make them fit better. For this I use my newly acquired UNIMAT 1 multi machine.
	5. The assembly has begun and one off my old wooden boxcars had to donate the MTL trucks and body mounted couplers.
	6. I milled down some off the resin underneath and made a 6x6" (HO 1:87) strip wood for mounting the trucks.
	7. Drilled a 0.9mm hole in the resin casing for the MTL's couplers at the ends.
	8. Drilled a 1.5mm hole in the strip wood for mount the MTL's trucks holding pinn.
	9. I carved away some off the strip wood to get clearance for the trucks to move freely.
	10. Then added a cheat off styrene in the bottom who holds a led weight.
	11. On the top I laid another sheet off styrene and a small peace off foam painted it black.
	12. The bottom is just painted black and then I add the trucks and couplers.
	13. Added the real coal on top after I had painted the model. It's held in place with white glue. The model is not 100% finished yet. It misses some details like breaker wheels and the wheels for opening the side doors.
	The paint job is made with a coat off white paint first. Then I used Artitec powder, brown, black and rust colour. Added black paint deluded heavily with rubbing alcohol with a brush on the whole thing to try and highlight the wooden structure. Then I spray a cote off dull coat on the hole thing. Not sure if I got it right, but I'm getting better at it every time I thick? PS: If anyone wants to trade some things for the resin castings make me an offer. What I need now is some brass breaker wheels and more trucks and couples. Contact me at tjm@smbservice.no
	I have now made three off the hoppers for my own layout. The next three is going to Jürg in Switzerland.