If you want a bit more control, you could use a paint brush to put the liquid hairspray right where you want it. I have done that before and it worked out well for me.
Chris
I got my smoke unit from Harbor Models today and started fitting it into the body shell . Wow , its a lot bigger in person , but it fits after a little grinding. 
Mike, I think you’ll be able to throttle down that smoke unit, they put out a tremendous amount. Did you get that one because you want not only the body in rough shape but the prime mover as well?
Greg
You nailed it Greg , I want this thing leaving a cloud as it goes. I’m even going to tap into the main stack and run a tube to the bottom of the engine so smoke comes out from underneath.
mike dorsch said:
You nailed it Greg , I want this thing leaving a cloud as it goes. I’m even going to tap into the main stack and run a tube to the bottom of the engine so smoke comes out from underneath.
I really can’t wait to see this Mike. I’ve always thought somebody could make a million dollars if they could get our model trains to pour out real-looking smoke like the real trains do. Keep us posted for sure.
edit: okay, okay, maybe not a million, but maybe a few hundred grand anyway.
I’m looking forward to seeing it too ! I will post a video of it when its done.
But, isn’t it a bad thing when diesels smoke?
John, this smoke unit has been installed by several people and there’s lots of videos.
It makes a huge volume, but of course no one has made black smoke yet, except with an actual fire! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
John Passaro said:
mike dorsch said:
You nailed it Greg , I want this thing leaving a cloud as it goes. I’m even going to tap into the main stack and run a tube to the bottom of the engine so smoke comes out from underneath.
I really can’t wait to see this Mike. I’ve always thought somebody could make a million dollars if they could get our model trains to pour out real-looking smoke like the real trains do. Keep us posted for sure.
edit: okay, okay, maybe not a million, but maybe a few hundred grand anyway.
Actually, years ago, I mixed carbon black with smoke fluid and did produce black smoke. But I gave up on the experiment, because I only had a little bit of carbon black, and I wasn’t sure what the long term effects on the smoke unit would be. Would the carbon black ruin the unit? I wasn’t sure.
Yep, BTDT… the carbon black clogged the wick right away. How did yours fare? Do you have any pix?
Maybe the best thing is to squirt the fluid, with carbon black suspended in it, at a hot element… the wick just cannot take anything except fluid.
Actually Aristo had a patent with a little plunger type pump doing this. They never made the unit though, but I saw the patent.
Sorry for derailing this thread… I’ll stop…
Greg
Greg, I only tried it once, and the wick didn’t clog that one time. Or, it didn’t clog enough for me to notice. I didn’t have a camera capable of video at the time, and no, I didn’t try taking any still pictures.
I put the loco on the track to see how the Harbor Models smoke unit worked and had a big grin . My wife is gonna hate it cuz she hates the smell so i’ll have to turn it off when she’s outside with me. I could live with that because I didn’t get too much grief when I told her what it cost to buy it . I’m waiting on a wireless remote on/off switch from Amazon that i’m going to try and hopefully get the chassis finished soon . I had to drill two 1/2" holes in the top of the body shell at the original smoke stack location . I test fitted it all together and it fits nicely under the “B” unit shell. I posed a video of it on You Tube at todus2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=advzjnZsbNY
seems like a lot of work when you could have just used a MTH unit
The MTH smoke units are good too , I have a couple of their dash 8’s and I like them alot . However in my opinion ( and its no knock on the MTH ones) this thing is insane.
That harbor models unit is about double the output of the MTH unit shown. Since it draws double the current and is twice as big, makes sense. One thing though, the MTH units are all metal and rugged. It would be nice to have the MTH “toughness” on that huge Harbor Models unit.
Some people put double heating elements in the MTH units, but you should be prepared to replace them more often, although relatively simple to do.
Greg
Holy Moly! I just looked at another of your youtube videos!
That one from 2014 looks like the real thing, the shots where there is a real car in the distance, etc.
Great Stuff!
Greg
Mike, add some citronella oil in there and you will never have to worry about pesky mosquitos again!!! That is some smoke unit! Cannot wait to see it all together
click on this link
https://youtu.be/HAow2-yxRyY?t=2m20s
trying to link at 2:20 into video where she’s warmed up!
I can’t get a screen capture shot of her with full smoke.
You are not having any luck with that Joe. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)
