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I built a power supply company (BTS) for my layout. It ran off of sawdust from a nearby lumber company. I don't have a nearby lumber company; but I do have plenty of coal from the mine on the edge of town. I have 6 Roundhouse small ore cars supplying the company. But I have some Athearn Sawdust trailer/tractors that I want to incorporate with the scene for an emergency fuel source for the power company. I don't think they make the Athearn sawdust trucks anymore and I don't think they make the Roundhouse ore cars anymore. But the two trailers are open topped and I want to put something in them to represent sawdust. Nothing is coming to mind. I have enclosed a picture of the trailers and I made false tops so the only thing coming to mind is beach sand glued onto the tops?? I have enclosed another picture of the power house. The semi-trucks will abreast of the power supply on the right hand side; while the coal will come in via rail on the left. I might have a sawdust building in town that would have the second trailer on hand filled with sawdust to fuel the fire in the boilers of the power company if there was a problem with the coal supply. The scene is far from done. But I hope you get my plan. Gluing real sawdust my turn into a mess in the trailers and be out of scale
I'd try the sheet metal blade first. Finest cut you have. HO scale sawdust is going to be like talcum powder at scale size. Maybe a little larger from a planer.
Think what a small pile of sawdust looks like standing next to it, and then imagine that in HO scale. It's microscopic.
A rectangular slab of pink foam to fit in each trailer. Carve the top of it to look like a pile of sawdust, then sand smooth with a fine grit sandpaper (say around 240 grit or so). Lastly, paint it with an appropriate sawdust color of cheap acrylic craft paint.
I've done this in N-scale with various colors representing sand, or coal, or any other fine particulates one might find in a hopper car or gondola or holding bin. Or even piles of material on the ground. Should work good for HO-scale too, if done properly.
On the old layout I used sawdust for my woodchip pile at the paper mill.
From a local woodworker I got some saw dust from his collection system. I then shifted it into different grades and then with an old hand cranked coffee grinder ran it through that. It wasn’t a quick process but it worked
if your are getting a mess using diluted glue in your trailers I would try a mist of any hair spray. 1st on the form. Sprinkle, dump off and let dry. Then repeat till satisified.
I built a power supply company (BTS) for my layout. It ran off of sawdust from a nearby lumber company. I don't have a nearby lumber company; but I do have plenty of coal from the mine on the edge of town. I have 6 Roundhouse small ore cars supplying the company. But I have some Athearn Sawdust trailer/tractors that I want to incorporate with the scene for an emergency fuel source for the power company. I don't think they make the Athearn sawdust trucks anymore and I don't think they make the Roundhouse ore cars anymore. But the two trailers are open topped and I want to put something in them to represent sawdust. Nothing is coming to mind. I have enclosed a picture of the trailers and I made false tops so the only thing coming to mind is beach sand glued onto the tops?? I have enclosed another picture of the power house. The semi-trucks will abreast of the power supply on the right hand side; while the coal will come in via rail on the left. I might have a sawdust building in town that would have the second trailer on hand filled with sawdust to fuel the fire in the boilers of the power company if there was a problem with the coal supply. The scene is far from done. But I hope you get my plan. Gluing real sawdust my turn into a mess in the trailers and be out of scale
Well the sawdust looks more like wood chips; but they would bury in a boiler also; so that's the way it going to be. I have a half dozen Roundhouse ore cars that I have put a false bottom so that I can load (not much) with coal; but first I have to add decals. The scene isn't done; but getting there.
HO scale sawdust is like everyone said it's like powder. But what I've done for my little sawmill is I took sawdust from my Proxxon tablesaw. That saw dust is like powder and worked great. One thing you should do if you do use this material is put glue on the ground or on the payload and sprinkle the sawdust on. DO NOT spray or add glue to the dust afterwards. It will mess the whole thing up (don't ask how I know). I will say it wasn't pretty and a pain to redo.
You can see the sawdust pile I did for the conveyor for the sawmill
