Does anyone have any thoughts on a better smoke fluid then JT's Mega Steam. That is what our local hobby shop sells and I am sure there is something better out there. Something that makes more "smoke". I am running a Marx 333 smoker and would like to see a little more smoke.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
JTs is the best there is bar none. If the engine doesn't smoke well it might need a smoke unit tune up.
Jerry
Put a couple of old cars with 'stiff' wheels behind her, make sure one or two are open gondolas, place a brick in each one and crank up the voltage....
JTs all the way. I am very happy with the product.
My engines smoke better on megasteam, especially after running their new "eliminator" product through the smoke units.
You need to do something with the engine; It's not the smoke fluid. I'm not familiar with your Marx 333 unit but some smoke unit's are just garbage! I just purchased a Lionel Christmas Mikado from a forum member and the engine and sound are very good but the old style puffer smoke unit won't smoke hardly at all without cranking the voltage to 12 or 13 volt's! I put new wick material in and JT's Megasteam which is all I use and I still can't get anything out of it at low voltage. Jerry is correct.
Megasteam is the best out there bar none!
You need to do something with the engine; It's not the smoke fluid. I'm not familiar with your Marx 333 unit but some smoke unit's are just garbage! I just purchased a Lionel Christmas Mikado from a forum member and the engine and sound are very good but the old style puffer smoke unit won't smoke hardly at all without cranking the voltage to 12 or 13 volt's! I put new wick material in and JT's Megasteam which is all I use and I still can't get anything out of it at low voltage. Jerry is correct.
Megasteam is the best out there bar none!
I agree and the Marx units I have seen all put out a lot of smoke. I would check that. As far as the Mikado you might change to a different resistor that gets warm at a lower voltage. I put one in an Area 51 0-8-0 and it went from pathetic to pretty good.
JTs is the best there is bar none. If the engine doesn't smoke well it might need a smoke unit tune up.
I'm with Jerry, that smoker may need a tune-up or tweak!!
I agree and the Marx units I have seen all put out a lot of smoke. I would check that. As far as the Mikado you might change to a different resistor that gets warm at a lower voltage. I put one in an Area 51 0-8-0 and it went from pathetic to pretty good.
Thanks Jeff. I need a little instruction on how to incorporate a resistor on the unit but I would give it a try.
Alex M is the smoke unit guru, I have him tutoring me on my Polar Express puffer. I had changed resistors in a few TMCC diesels and it was pretty cut and dried. The puffers are a little more complicated than just changing the resistor, and almost a bit of a pain!
But hopefully the end result will be smoke, glorious smoke!!
I agree and the Marx units I have seen all put out a lot of smoke. I would check that. As far as the Mikado you might change to a different resistor that gets warm at a lower voltage. I put one in an Area 51 0-8-0 and it went from pathetic to pretty good.
Thanks Jeff. I need a little instruction on how to incorporate a resistor on the unit but I would give it a try.
I have done a couple of puffer units now and once you have done one they are simple but just a pain because if fitting everything back together does not always cooperate the first time. I cannot remember the part number for the lower value smoke resistor but hopefully someone will chime in with the number. Otherwise I will look in my bag of bits for a number in the next day or so.
Another trick is to add two or three diode pairs in series with the motor power, this slows the locomotive down for a given track voltage and gives the smoke unit more power at a given speed.
This is for after you rebuild the smoke unit and still want more smoke.