Large Scale Central

Smokebox color?

Prototypes
#1

Is there any particular reason why many locos had the smokebox painted differently from the rest of the loco (usually silver or graphite)?

#2

I think Kevin Strong did some work with pencil lead to achieve a protypical smokebox color. Maybe he would explain either here or with an email.

#3

I always understood that the smokebox needed heat proof paint , or a coating that would resist the intense heat in a smokebox caused by the fire being drawn through the boiler tubes and collected there , in effect . The boiler water protects the boiler itself .
If you consider what an oil drum looks like after it’s had a fire burned in it , then left to cool down , the rusty finish is a bit ugly . It certainly would not enhance the appearance of a loco , and the smokebox would rust away very quickly .
So , heat proof paint or a special graphite mixture stops the rot .
The silver paint is easy to reproduce , using car spray . the graphite can be achieved using a finish called Gunmetal , in a spray can from Games Workshop , which is a Sci Fi outlet . Tamiya also do a gunmetal , as do Humbrol , Airfix , Gunze Sangyo , in fact most of the military modelling brigade .
One big advantage of modelling all sorts of stuff as opposed to only trains .

The odd thing about the smokebox silver or graphite , I have never seen it on British or Continental locos . It seems to be an American tradition .
Looks nice , don’t knock it .

Mike

#4

One reason the smokebox is a diffent color, is because its not jacketed with insulation and sheet metal like the rest of the boiler. Its just the bare irone that the smokebox was rolled from. To protect the metal where usually a paint would cook off, the RRs would use a combination of linseed oil and graphite to ‘graphite’ the smoke boxes. Later on after high temp paints were developed here was some variations on this, silver…grey…anything in between. Plasticoat (found in most autoparts stores) makes an Import color No. 5320 Honda that is about as good as ya can get!

#5

I came up with a mixture of flat black paint and graphite powder (sold as lock lubricant) that works pretty well… apply black paint, while still wet apply graphite powder with a brush … after dry, apply more graphite powder, brushed on like paint (something about the flat paint makes it stick) and then polish a bit with a cloth after it dries. Looks good on my Shay stacks anyway… I replaced the originals with Trackside straight stacks, and needed a way to make them go with the rest of the smokebox.

Since the original was applied with a brush (or, so the story goes, a BROOM) the presence of brushmarks is not a big deal… and I know the few times it fell to me to apply graphite to the smokebox on #40 or #97, I went looking for the biggest brush in the cabinet.

At some point, I want to try the graphite and boiled linseed oil on a live steamer smokebox, just like its larger cousins… I’m betting it doesn’t bake off as easily as the paint will, and applying more will not be a big deal. (just gotta dispose of the rags, etc, properly.)

Matthew (OV)

#6

Yeah pile those oily riagss upin a tigh ball in the back of the garage…just a little aire…POOF like magic that oily rags will dissapear!

#7
Bart Salmons said:
Yeah pile those oily riagss upin a tigh ball in the back of the garage.......just a little aire......*POOF* like magic that oily rags will dissapear!
And your garage with them.....:/

Warren

#8
Warren Mumpower said:
Bart Salmons said:
Yeah pile those oily riagss upin a tigh ball in the back of the garage.......just a little aire......*POOF* like magic that oily rags will dissapear!
And your garage with them.....:/

Warren


Colateral damage. can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs. :smiley:
madwolf

#9
Steve Featherkile said:
Warren Mumpower said:
Bart Salmons said:
Yeah pile those oily riagss upin a tigh ball in the back of the garage.......just a little aire......*POOF* like magic that oily rags will dissapear!
And your garage with them.....:/ Warren
Colateral damage. can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. :D madwolf
So pile 'em in your brother-in-law the leech's garage. After all, he's borrowed everything else of yours :D
#10

But wait a minute!! I need the insurance money…:smiley:

Warren

#11
Chris Vernell said:
So pile 'em in your brother-in-law the leech's garage. After all, he's borrowed everything else of yours :D
Just make sure you get your snowblower back, first!