What smoke unit do you recommend me to get for my BSA Caboose by Lionel? The smoke units they put in this caboose and others are not the greatest. I would like to find an alternative smoke unit to use
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Originally Posted by Tim Lewis:
What smoke unit do you recommend me to get for my BSA Caboose by Lionel? The smoke units they put in this caboose and others are not the greatest. I would like to find an alternative smoke unit to use
Just my opinion but, I would much rather have correct details AND illuminated rear marker lamps than a stupid smoke unit, which tends to melt the plastic body anyway.
Probably safe to assume that the simplest method to increase smoke volume would be to install a fan driven unit. Any of those available should produce a very convincing chimney fire effect.
Don't try to supercharge the existing unit and be wary of using the unit under command control voltages. We of the Salvador Dali smoking caboose society know of what we speak.
Bruce
keep in mind that these smoke units are different than those in engines. They are not meant to pour out smoke like an engine. At best you will only see a wisp and thats while standing still.
romiller
One thing to keep in mind, as Hot Water mentions, is that you need to be cautious about letting that smoke unit get too hot. If you run your trains on command control, your track voltage is at "full on" and the smoke unit will heat up. A few manufacturers have placed a switch under the car to choose between Command and conventional. But most manufacturers also put a switch under the car to just turn the **** thing off. That's the position that I usually have set on my cabeese. I don't want to risk damaging the car, just to add a little more smoke to the train room.
Paul Fischer
As suggested above, one of the Lionel fan-driven smoke units ought to do the trick.
A 2-wire thermal switch might help with the overheating issue by cutting power when the trip-temperature is reached...then resets and re-applies power after the temp drops below the (lower) reset-temp. You'd have to fiddle a bit choosing the right cut-out temp and where to mount it. Note the printed trip-temp on this family of switches in 5 degree increments:
If you are handy with DIY electronics installation and there's space, a cycle-timer module (under $10 on eBay) could turn the smoke unit on and off every so often. Or a voltage regulator module (under $5 on eBay) could limit the voltage to the smoke unit to, say, 14V or whatever keeps the unit from overheating. Or a power-resistor (about $1 on eBay) could limit the current to the smoke unit.
And if this is for public viewing, for a conversation-starter how about bacon-scented or similar JT Megasteam smoke fluid. That would be the conductor cooking breakfast. 
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I've put the MTH HO fan driven smoke unit in a couple of these, I use a small DC power supply set at around 5V, three diodes to drop the motor voltage to about 3V, and it smokes treat and doesn't get nearly hot enough to melt anything. Just keep it supplied with smoke fluid and you're all set.
Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Just my opinion but, I would much rather have correct details AND illuminated rear marker lamps than a stupid smoke unit, which tends to melt the plastic body anyway.
Hot Water you are so correct. Many experienced in the hobby know this. No one ever listens to the voice of experience.
Of course some like that feature. Me I could do without it. First thing I do is make sure the thing is turned off. Careful modifying it, like others have said many nice caboose' have been damaged by the heat.
While the smoke unit is certainly not necessary, it's quite possible to solve the problem of any melting. I'd like to have the smoke and all the other details.
Originally Posted by brwebster:
We of the Salvador Dali smoking caboose society know of what we speak.
Bruce
This is hysterical! I destroyed a beautiful scale K-Line Pennsy caboose years ago. This at least eases the pain of that faux pas!
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
I've put the MTH HO fan driven smoke unit in a couple of these, I use a small DC power supply set at around 5V, three diodes to drop the motor voltage to about 3V, and it smokes treat and doesn't get nearly hot enough to melt anything. Just keep it supplied with smoke fluid and you're all set.
Part number?
Originally Posted by cjack:
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
I've put the MTH HO fan driven smoke unit in a couple of these, I use a small DC power supply set at around 5V, three diodes to drop the motor voltage to about 3V, and it smokes treat and doesn't get nearly hot enough to melt anything. Just keep it supplied with smoke fluid and you're all set.
Part number?
Is that the AA-1600000
That would be the one Chuck. 
Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Originally Posted by Tim Lewis:
What smoke unit do you recommend me to get for my BSA Caboose by Lionel? The smoke units they put in this caboose and others are not the greatest. I would like to find an alternative smoke unit to use
Just my opinion but, I would much rather have correct details AND illuminated rear marker lamps than a stupid smoke unit, which tends to melt the plastic body anyway.
+1 and I'm not much of a person that wants 100% accuracy to the prototype. I've had plenty of smoking cabooses over the years. All either don't smoke well or not at all and ALL have been damaged by the shell melting/warping from the heat.
Originally Posted by gunrunnerjohn:
That would be the one Chuck.
Hmmm...thanks!
The cheaper method is to line the interior plastic around the smoke unit with aluminum foil. The foil will act as a heat sink and protect the plastic body.
Originally Posted by prrhorseshoecurve:
The cheaper method is to line the interior plastic around the smoke unit with aluminum foil. The foil will act as a heat sink and protect the plastic body.
I like the fan I think...
Originally Posted by prrhorseshoecurve:
The cheaper method is to line the interior plastic around the smoke unit with aluminum foil. The foil will act as a heat sink and protect the plastic body.
I've tried that, it helps, but it isn't a perfect solution. I got one from a guy to fix with a melted spot started, and he had used tinfoil as you state, still got too hot.
Mine just melted. Wow. Just got it and because it was on dcs. Wow. Plastic body melted. Plenty of fluid but charred wick. Wow. I want to get a smaller ho.. fan driven unit also for it. The heck with the factory one
The reason I like the MTH HO unit is you don't want a ton of smoke from a caboose, just a nice visible stream. I figured that the HO smoke unit was just about right. It runs cool enough that you can hold it in your hands, so the chance of it melting the caboose is really remote.
The K-LINE smoking caboose had its' issues when ran on TMCC layouts . I lost two cabooses .
I bought a Christmas Caboose with a smoke unit based on the K-line model. THE SMOKE UNIT STAYS OFF !
I love smoke but not from the caboose. I do not trust any smoking caboose.
I trust the smoking cabooses that I modify.
I don't have a problem with the concept of a smoking caboose, but those K-Line cabooses were designed for track voltage typical of a conventional controlled layout. In most cases, guys would run conventional trains at 10 to 12 volts which was fine for the smoker. But when you would run the caboose on Command Control, either D CS or TMCC, your track voltage was maintained at a highter level. Most guys run their CC trains with a track voltage of at least 18v and some as high as 21v.
The "smoker" would get much too hot and start melting the plastic of the body and roof and finally of the smoker itself. I agree; With the way I run my layout, the caboose smokers stay off.
Paul Fischer
A common mod for command operation of the older smoking cabooses is a 3A diode in series with the smoke power, that keeps the smoke unit from overheating.
John, no doubt your mod will do the job. I would trust anything you do but the smoke unit that we find in any caboose is not mil spec. I have not seen one yet that I would call quality.
Marty, AAMOF, they're all pretty lame! Setting a convection heater next to a plastic body and then pumping enough heat to melt things doesn't strike me as good design.
fisch330 posted:One thing to keep in mind, as Hot Water mentions, is thatyou need to be cautious about letting that smoke unit get too hot. If you run your trains on command control, your track voltage is at "full on" andthe smoke unit will heat up. A few manufacturers have placed a switch under the car to choose between Command and conventional. But most manufacturers also put a switch under the car to just turn the **** thing off. That's the position that I usually have set on my cabeese. I don't want to risk damaging the car, just to add a little more smoke to the train room.
Paul Fischer
I want to underscore what you have said here, echoing what BRWebster and Hotwater warned of, also. I had (had) a beautiful (was) red Lionel caboose that smoked pretty well, but needed "watching." During one TMCC operating-session, which included ten steam locomotives running simultaneously, at full smoke-ness, including that caboose, I had room-filling-cheer with all that smoke and lost track of the caboose output. The roof melted, to quite a degree, by the time I thought of it.
No more smoking cabooses for me. Good cabooses. Bad operator. Apparently, running ten smoke-queen locomotives was my limit for smoking,
