Skip to main content

I hear everyone rant and rave abiut how great jts megasteam smoke fluid is. So, at the greenbergs showbi picked up a large bittle of chocolate flavored fkuid. I have tried it in 3 of my mth locos, 2 ps1's and 1 ps2 and I am extremely disapointed.

1st: it only smells like chocolate in the bottle..... not while its smoking. It is definatly fully exchanged with my old fluid. I have been smoking out the house everyday this week waiting for the chocolate scent.

2nd: after 2 laps of my ceiling layout its done and needs a refill. 3 laps on my garden. 12x25 and 6x18. 

3rd. Its messy on my locos. It gives the signs of being overfilled by covering my locos in raw fluid.

4th: my mth fluid outsmokes it by far. Its not even a comparison.


I have experimented with diferent amiunts of fluid and letting it soak for 20 minutes before use. It makes no diference. Ive tried as few as 5 drops up to 20 drops with no difference. I have only ever used mth scented fluid and a brand called supersmoke. Both perform the same with long lasting, thick plumes of smoke. The jts is a more thinner, lighter appearing smoke based on how it hangs above the loco and gets carried by the passing train. I must say, this is my 1st truly disapointing train purchase.
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

My experience is exactly the opposite.  I bought a used locomotive that obviously had had the chocolate scent used in it prior to my receiving it.  I'm still smelling chocolate, even though I've added fluid several times.  The boys at the modular club asked right away where the chocolate scent was coming from, it was obviously recognizable. 

 

Personally, I use the NADA scent, and I'm trying to flush the chocolate scent out of the locomotive.

This is quite interesting. Mostly everyone on this forum has said that JT's Megsteam is the best smoke fluid out on the market by far. I have a bottle of NADA smoke fluid and have yet to try it. I use MTH protosmoke in my MTH and Lionel Legacy engines. It works perfectly for me. Long lasting smoke output and really thick smoke even on medium setting.

 

I have heard that JT's puts out thick smoke but doesn't last long between refills. Plus JT's megasteam isn't as abundant as MTH protosmoke in hobby shops.

Thats why I figured I would post my issue because I have never heard a complaint abiut jts megasteam. I dont see what I could be doing wrong. I will say that it does dissapate fast, buts thats the only positive thing I have to say. If I use it I will be constantly refilling and this enormous bottle will be gone in a day. Its already 1/3 empty and my 2 oz bottle of mth protosmoke vanilla flavor is 4 months old and is still at half.

I have used MegaSteam smoke fluid in MTH diesel and MTH/Lionel steam locomotives without any problems...EVER.

 

Perhaps it would be a good suggestion to contact Jeb of MegaSteam directly as he has always been a stand-up guy.

 

Walter Matuch

 

I am waiting for MegaSteam to produce 'Old No. 7' fluid in both the black and green label versions! 

 

Jack_Daniels_Logo

Attachments

Images (1)
  • Jack_Daniels_Logo
Originally Posted by Walter Matuch:

I have used MegaSteam smoke fluid in MTH diesel and MTH/Lionel steam locomotives without any problems...EVER.

 

Perhaps it would be a good suggestion to contact Jeb of MegaSteam directly as he has always been a stand-up guy.

 

Walter Matuch

 

I am waiting for MegaSteam to produce 'Old No. 7' fluid in both the black and green label versions! 

 

Jack_Daniels_Logo

This post really made me smile. Thanks

I used the 'Beer' scent for a few days, and my train room smelt like an old pub carpet for weeks afterwards.  So I use that scent only in my caboose nowadays. 

 

But anyway, back to the subject in hand. After watching the video above, I can't see anything wrong with the amount of smoke. The smell probably doesn't propagate downwards very well though. My experience is that it tends to rise rather than fall.

Originally Posted by groundhogslayer:
I hear everyone rant and rave abiut how great jts megasteam smoke fluid is. So, at the greenbergs showbi picked up a large bittle of chocolate flavored fkuid. I have tried it in 3 of my mth locos, 2 ps1's and 1 ps2 and I am extremely disapointed.


Too much chocolate will make your smoke unit constipated.

If I recall it says 20-25 if it has been sitting on the shelf for a long period. Mine get run daily...lol. megasteam just replied back. They also suggested 25 drops at each fillup and allow it to sit before use. Also suggested replacing the wicks in all my locos to help with the scent and also shake the bottle. Not getting into wick replacements but i will try shaking the bottle...lol. Will try the more fluid approach and see what happens. They also said the frequent fillups is normal due to their design and its a trade off to get the fast dissapation of the smoke. So we will give 25 drops a try and see what happens.

Sounds like you are not adding enough fluid. Most engines will hold far more than 25 drops. Err on the side of more fluid than less--at least to test this out.

 

I  use only this product in many different smoke units and I  have never had a problem due to the fluid.

 

If you have been running the smoke unit lean, there is a good chance that you have burned the wick. You might check that before giving up on the product.

I've used Mega Steam, Lionel, and MTH fluid. 

 

I originally had some issues with MS pulling paint off locomotives but Jeb informed me that was normal and a number of MTH engines from year XXXX had issues with paint application on the underside of the shell and around the base of the smoke unit and stack inside the engine, which was the cause of my issue. Jeb walked me through the procedure to fix it (again, it was MTH's screw up, not Jeb's!) and got some fluid and all was well. Only one of my engines had the issue as it was a rather older MTH PS2 locomotive. 

 

MTH is the most prevalent fluid in my LHS, although Catoctin Mountain Trains has a good bit of MS in stock at the store. I've got plenty of bottles of Lionel, MS, and MTH fluid and rarely run my trains and do not need to buy anymore anytime soon. When I do, I'll get more MS. Jeb is a stand up guy and runs a stand up operation. 

Originally Posted by groundhogslayer:
I hear everyone rant and rave abiut how great jts megasteam smoke fluid is. So, at the greenbergs showbi picked up a large bittle of chocolate flavored fkuid. I have tried it in 3 of my mth locos, 2 ps1's and 1 ps2 and I am extremely disapointed.

1st: it only smells like chocolate in the bottle..... not while its smoking. It is definatly fully exchanged with my old fluid. I have been smoking out the house everyday this week waiting for the chocolate scent.

2nd: after 2 laps of my ceiling layout its done and needs a refill. 3 laps on my garden. 12x25 and 6x18. 

3rd. Its messy on my locos. It gives the signs of being overfilled by covering my locos in raw fluid.

4th: my mth fluid outsmokes it by far. Its not even a comparison.


I have experimented with diferent amiunts of fluid and letting it soak for 20 minutes before use. It makes no diference. Ive tried as few as 5 drops up to 20 drops with no difference. I have only ever used mth scented fluid and a brand called supersmoke. Both perform the same with long lasting, thick plumes of smoke. The jts is a more thinner, lighter appearing smoke based on how it hangs above the loco and gets carried by the passing train. I must say, this is my 1st truly disapointing train purchase.

For what it's worth, pretty much ALL of those scented smoke fluids do have a shelf life, and are seriously affected by sunlight. My "coal burning locomotive" scent went "bad" and smelled like burning tires, until I got a replacement bottle. Although I do NOT use smoke on my home layout since it messes up the weathering and scenery/track, I do use J-T's fluid at train shows, and prefer NADA.

I have tried JT's smoke fluid and I really don't like it as well as my engines. I have found that super smoke smells and works better. I'm satisfied with super smoke so no need to change for me. 

 

Btw I had the same problems as groundhogslayer. I sure wished it did work because I have 4 bottles just sitting on the shelf. 

Originally Posted by PennsyPride94:

Mostly everyone on this forum has said that JT's Megsteam is the best smoke fluid out on the market by far. 

I would be with that group.  I have used just about every smoke fluid out there, and in my experience Megasteam and MTH fluids seem to perform best.

 

Priming your wick with just five or so drops is not enough, in my opinion.  On the somewhat rare occasions when I don't mind filling the train room with smoke, I always start out with about 15 or so drops.

Post

OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Ste 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
www.ogaugerr.com

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×
×