55 Gallon Drums


D

Dougget

Member
I would love to have a lot of 55 gallon drums on my layout. These things seem to be everywhere, lined up outside of factories, alongside of equipment buildings, next to auto shops, etc. I've seen them for sale, but was wondering if there is a way to make my own? Any homegrown alternatives out there?

Thanks,
Doug
 
Preiser used to offer a bunch in a plastic box, check the Walthers website.

There have been articles in the magazines on how to roll your own. Think they got some thin copper flashing, and cut it up in strips. Then rolled it along a form that had two pieces of material to form the ridges in the middle.

I've formed a few in the past, as I wanted open drums to put junk into. I had saved some thin lead wrapping that covered the end of a wine bottle. I just wrapped it around a plastic drum and removed it. Lots of work, probably easier to buy some.
 
I've tried the DIY type and was never satisified with the details, in particular the raised ribs that surround them. You could try a few handcrafted ones in the background but use the commercially available ones in the foreground. If you can't see the sides of the barrels, a short piece of rod could work.

I'm not sure where I got these, they're either Rix or they came with the Walthers' Fuel Depot kit. Or maybe somewhere else, it's been awhile....
http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/17300/title/handmade-junk/cat/500
 
I've cast my own resin from some white metal ones I used for a mold. I was making molds for some other larger pieces and had some of the silicone molding material left over so I poured some smaller molds before it set so's not to waste it. I made garbage cans, tree stumps, several little things I knew I could always use down the road. Same when it was time to cast the stuff, I had left over resin, so I'd fill up the small details with the left overs. It would be too expensive to buy everything you need just for a few detail parts, I used the Micro Mark materials from their catalog.
A cheaper way might be to make a Latex rubber mold of a barrel and fill with Epoxy (I use a syringe to fill small cavities). With the Silicone mold I made, it had had four barrels in it so you can crank them out fairly quick.
 
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I have an anicent Model railroader mag that shows cutting off the metal eraser holders from pencils. Since I've got a cigar box of old pencils I 'm tempted to try it. Maybe surround them with better ones to fill out a bunch.:p
 
Put a wooden dowel in a variable speed drill and turn it like you would with a lathe? Probably take too much time and be hard to produce consistent results.
 
How about Plastic or metal beads. I bought 500 thin wall beads to make barrels & never did on sale at WM.
 
fast_ian said:
Hey,

A quick search at Walthers turns up *dozens* of variants in all scales......

Cheers,
Ian
Click to expand...

A slow read of the original post reveals that the poster knows of this, but he was looking for a DIY method to save money.
 
Here's some of mine that I made, again from my past post it isn't practicle to buy all the materials just for this, I was casting other larger parts and this was left over materials.
The metal ones were the Masters, I put screws in them to set them in the mold to begin with.

IMG_2863.jpg
 
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flh80 said:
Here's some of mine that I made, again from my past post it isn't practicle to buy all the materials just for this, I was casting other larger parts and this was left over materials.

IMG_2863.jpg
Click to expand...

How did you get such great castings? I was not able to get mine without air bubbles that drive me crazy. Nice work.
Dave
 
Man, these drums are heavy! But maybe if I stand here round the corner, the other guy will move them all.

IMG_4767.JPG
 
flh80,
I'm not sure sure it wouldn't be practical. You have about $30 worth of barrels in that picture. I might give it a shot.
Doug
 
North Coast Railroad said:
A slow read of the original post reveals that the poster knows of this, but he was looking for a DIY method to save money.
Click to expand...

My bad - Sorry.

I guess we're all guilty of losing sight of the "time = money" equation in our hobbies on occasion - Part of the fun as our time is "free" ;)

No offense intended.

Cheers,
Ian
 
I used to cast a lot with resin. Here is what I did to cut down the air bubbles.

1. use none scented baby powder to coat the mold. lightly blow or tap the excess out. You will just want a coating to help the resin flow.
2. Pre heat the mold in a micro wave. This also helps the resin flow and push out air from the nooks and crannies.

** CAUTION** over heating your mold will result in excessive wear and tear and help decay the life of the mold.
 
Hi,

I can't remember where the idea came from, and maybe everyone already does this, but when I made some molds I "dribbled" the resin thru a small funnel from a height of about 3 feet into the mold - This small stream forces the bubbles out before reaching the mold.....

YMMV etc.

Cheers,
Ian
 
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