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[Rob47]

yonks ago on my 1/96 Hermes, I made a smoke gen by using a pastic box, and a commercial generator for model trains.  Would like to do it again but cant find type used and sadly no images, it was ceramic and the base sat in the box of fluid and = - wires, dead simple, but all I can find now are the type to fit locos that have a tube around them to hold the fluid.. Woud like to do this agian as it will fit nicely in the island of Victorious.


Bob

[Geoff]

There is a lot of items on the board re smoke generators if you use the search feature. I've always found it very difficult to by something I had a few years ago and get the same product today! Everything just moves on at such a pace.


My belief is that there are generally two types of smoke generator available today:


Water based - these use a nebulizer and there has been some very recent developments using a mesh nebulizer which uses a lot less power - see model boats article February 2022. These types essentially atomize the water and create a cold mist. I have experimented with this type about 6 years ago. At that time most worked on 24 volts so you needed a voltage converter (no big deal - component shop do them) but once jumped from 12 volts to 24 volts the current consumption goes to about 2 amps. The mesh nebulizers seem to be drawing about 0.5 amps so have the potential to be much more efficient. However in my general experience the "smoke" produced tends to be very ephemeral and thin and does not last more than a few inches from the funnel and not so good in hot weather. Happy to be corrected here!


Oil based - these use a hot wire to vaporize an oil of some type but tend to be quite heavy on current consumption in the 3 to 5 amp range. There is also some concern with oil residue on the model albeit I have not experienced this to any degree. The smoke oil can also be expensive. Now to clarify a little - whilst these are "oil" based they may not actually use oil at all but fog fluid (used in stage shows). This type can produce lots of smoke which is visible in most conditions and from a distance. The smoke is heavier and more visible but the issue is current consumption. There would seem to be some very successful designs on the market but some are quite expensive.


Fog fluid, which I use for gunnery simulation in my battleships is very effective. Whilst made of de-mineralized water, glycerin and a certain type of glycol in various proportions is shown as non flammable but this is not strictly true. If vaporized properly then this is correct, if not then a small residue undergoes a chemical change and this builds up and is flammable. You are talking about a small candle flame here but that's quite enough to damage a model. My experiments used a nichrome wire wrapped around a fire proof wick in a bath of fog fluid and a small PC fan and produced copious amounts of smoke but invariably caught fire after about an hour - residue.


If you use a PTC Thermistor then there is no ignition source but candidly I've not been able to get this to work so far and current consumption on 12 volts is about 3-5 amps so there are limitations.


Its a surprisingly complex area to solve.


Hope this may provide some interest


Cheers


Geoff

[Martin (Admin)]

Great post Geoff!   

[RST]

Gaugemaster are still listing plenty of them.  Not all in stock but they have a couple of the "elements" for fitting in your own tank.  Not sure but I'd wager you can cut the tube off a regular one anyway.  Search for "Seuthe".


...I'm shocked at the price of them now since I last bought one but Gaugemaster never was cheap when I was into model railways.


Not sure if that helps,


Rich

[Fred Ellis]

Hi One & All


I have been using a 6v Heng long smoke generator from AliExpress @ £9.81 + P/P along with DJ & Party Fog fluid 1Ltr @ £5.99 from eBay,
I found that I could fit the smoke gen into any space in my small models and run one of the pipes up into the smoke stack, so far all has worked out O.K.
I am more than happy with the results.


Fred

[Rob47]

Hi One & All


I have been using a 6v Heng long smoke generator from AliExpress @ £9.81 + P/P along with DJ & Party Fog fluid 1Ltr @ £5.99 from eBay,
I found that I could fit the smoke gen into any space in my small models and run one of the pipes up into the smoke stack, so far all has worked out O.K.
I am more than happy with the results.


Fred

Cheers Fred, sort of what I had in mind, have found something like I am looking for but waiting for the manufacuerer to confirm befor purchse.


Rob

[Akira]

I think this is what you were looking for. Made by Seuthe.https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/model-railways/seuthe-brand5/seuthe-seuthe-no490.html

[Rob47]

I think this is what you were looking for. Made by Seuthe.https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/model-railways/seuthe-brand5/seuthe-seuthe-no490.html


HA Ha beat me to it, was about to post on this, spoke to suppliers and its the nearest i will get to whaqt I was looking for, the seperate tank is just right.  Many thanks for the heads up.


Bob

[Rob47]

Thanks for all ideas, as you can see I have found the modern version of what I was looking for so thta could be my route., still checking things out though.


Bob

[Dainesh]

Hi Gents,


Tha Denes Design has a quite nice smoke generator, but it is in development/production stage.


Hopefully it will be available soon.


Whenever I get the missing components from the distributor.


If you interested in please watch this video :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di8Qtyh2qCY&ab_channel=DesignDenes

[RST]

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