Hello all
Been kinda out of the hobby for a bit but was looking at something and see now the MTH fluid they sell looks pretty much like the MegaSteam stuff and was just wondering if it is?
Thanks for any help
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I do not believe it is, but think of it as a tribute to Megasteam and keep buying their great product. (The real stuff)
No.
Most of the fluids will "look" alike because they are almost all mineral oil based. "fog juice" basically comes in two flavors. Oil based and water based. Almost all of the toy train smoke units use the oil based fluids. The ones that don't usually have a warning about the fluid and it is usually a propylene glycol based liquid (aka water). I seem to remember that MTH acquired the formulas for the old LVTS fluid when they(LVTS) shut down about 10-15 years ago?
Interesting, was just thinking it might have been as they have the dif scents and stuff, as well bottle kinda looks the same.
Took a look at the MSDS for the MTH stuff and for the most part just says White Mineral Oil.
NO. Definitely NOT the same. Two reasons:
1. They mysteriously seem to produce the same smoke volume in most Lionel/MTH engines; and
2. MTH fluid (at least the Christmas variety) smells better and when stored seems to hold its scent much better. The last few batches of Cedar Megasmoke I have had seemed to go, er, sour after sitting in storage.
Mineral oil does not have many solvents, so I have been testing mixtures of mineral oil from the drugstore (AKA baby oil) with various popular brands of train smoke fluids. I have not found a train smoke fluid that does not dissolve in drugstore mineral oil, so I conclude all are of a mineral oil base.
My experiments with various train smoke fluids and drugstore mineral oil indicate that the rate of smoke production and the smoke's density are a function of the viscosity of the fluid. I determined this by comparing the smoke production of straight mineral oil from the drugstore, to various non-diluted popular train smoke fluids, and from mixtures of equal amounts of both in the same MTH Rail King steam engine.
The lower viscosity oils produce denser smoke more rapidly than higher viscosity oil. Mineral oil from the drugstore (AKA baby oil) has a higher viscosity than all of the train smoke fluids, so by itself, drugstore oil is smokes but marginally.
I find that the higher viscosity drugstore mineral oil lasts longer, so I use an equal mixture of drugstore oil with train smoke fluid for a reasonable smoke density and longevity.
Cost is also a factor. Train Smoke fluids cost $3 to $4 per fluid ounce, whereas drugstore oil is much much less expensive. So mixing the two increase longevity and reduces cost. I us a lot of smoke fluid.
Having used the straight drugstore mineral oil and various mixtures over the last 3 years, the smoke units on my locomotives have not failed because of any of the fluids I use. However from my experience, the fastest two ways to ruin a smoke unit are to run it dry and to overfill it to the point the fluid gets into the fan motor.
Candle oil scents do not dissolve in mineral oil, so forget about using them.
