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Originally Posted by Schumann:

Does anyone know how to darken metal and if so, with what chemical or paint? I want to darken the  tires on my Lionel steam locomotives. I  just got Lionel 261 and  it is not prototypical of the locomotive to have chrome tires. This frankly is my main complaint with Lionel.

Try doing a SEARCH for "blacken It" or "neo-lube". The subject has been discussed MANY times here.

Originally Posted by Schumann:

Does anyone know how to darken metal and if so, with what chemical or paint? I want to darken the  tires on my Lionel steam locomotives. I  just got Lionel 261 and  it is not prototypical of the locomotive to have chrome tires. This frankly is my main complaint with Lionel.

Floquil Engine Black works pretty good. 

 

Lay the locomotive on its side, clip some leads to the center rollers and a ground somewhere, run it real slow and flow the paint on with a brush.

 

Rusty

Originally Posted by Lee 145:

What color of Metal will result from Neo-Lube?

 

I have a Williams Hudson that may receive this kind of treatment.

 

Would you just apply it and leave it with no further treatment to stop the reaction etc.

It is a very dark gray -- not quite charcoal, more of a burnished cast ironish look.

 

You just brush it on like paint.  

Originally Posted by oldrob:

I find that Blacken-it works on almost nothing. The only place it worked was post war 2025 drivers in the centers and 2321 TM trucks. No way will it blackin those tires. Its nearly useless.

Rob

It works on brass soaked in it for several days.  I used to scratch build models of sailing warships and I would turn the cannon barrels out of brass stock and then blacken them since most real cannon in the Napoleonic period were cast iron.  But it took about four days and it would not work on other metals as well - at least for me. 

 

Still, for locos, neolube is all I use on drivers and any moving parts and such.  Otherwise, flat black paint. 

I am not specifically  familiar with Blacken-It but I do know that a lot of "blackening" products work on brass or aluminum, but NOT nickel or chrome. Driver rims on 0 gauge engines are typically plated, which is why a coating such as Neolube or paint will work, while a chemical blackening solution will not. Both gun bluing and chemical blackening products work by making a chemical change to the surface of the piece. The piece must be extremely clean and it helps a lot if the piece is heated. Nickel and chrome are pretty much impervious to any kind of chemical bluing or blackening solution - that's one reason they are used in the first place, they resist corrosion and the solutions are basically a form of corrosion. You need to pick the right product for the surface to be darkened - bluing for steel or iron, blackeners for brass or aluminum, paint or Neolube for nickel or chrome. Of course, paint or Neolube will work on anything as long as it's clean when you apply it. 

hello Southwest Hiawatha...........

 

That's very interesting, in this case i better leave the driver rims alone as i think they are nickle plated.   Back in 1993 i had a scale lionel #6-18010 steam turbine with the nickle plated tires and i tried the "blacken-it" stuff and it later had corrosion damage on it.   I cleaned the tires well per instructions but turned out poor and damaged so i never used it again.  Painting of on the sides of the tires didn't stick well either as they were easy to rub off so i gave up. 

 

the woman who loves the S.F.#5021

Tiffany

Originally Posted by Hot Water:
Originally Posted by Tiffany: 

What about the bottle of gun metal blue from the gun shop ? Did anyone ever tried that ?

Do you want it "blued" or blackened?

"Blueing" is blackening.

 

Works fine on ferrous metals; I've been using it for years.  I don't blacken side rods or wheel rims, so I couldn't say how well that works.

Post

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