While on a trip to Europe recently to ride and run steam I stopped by the Lenz GmbH factory. Since one of the topics discussed here is about realistic smoke for steam locomotives and hile at Lenz we discussed how they did their smoke effects I thought it might be useful to share what I learned.
For background Lenz produces 0 scale steam locomotives and was the first company to design locomotives in concert with the electronics rather then the electronics being an add on.
This is one reason their locomotives constantly get awards and very high marks for how well they operate. They are also know for there smoke effects. Following is how they do it.
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the actual smoke generator draws less then 300 ma. It is on continuously when smoke is desired. The design uses capillary action to draw smoke fluid up through the heater to produce smoke.
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inside the locomotive there is a large hollow sealed cavity inside the weight. On one end is the smoke stack which screws into the weight and the other end is a fan. The intent is that this cavity is only filled at most half way leaving a large amount of space to collect and hold the smoke.
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a small fan is pulsed by the decoder timed to the motor movement which is synced to the movement of the pistons. What is desired is a strong short burst at slow speeds and a less strong briefer burst as the locomotive speeds up.
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the inside of the smoke stack is shaped to provide the maximum puff effect. Apparently they do this uniquely for each locomotive to get the maximum effect.
The above might provide someone with 3D printing some insight on how to design a similar concept for large scale. I think the same low current smoke generator is used in the the good cuffing European steam locomotives. What is missing is the concept of a large reservoir tied to the inside of a smoke stack and powered by a small but strong fan.
Hopefully this will provide some insight to those that wish to build something similar.
Stan
