Smoke. That is a visual effect sure to turn heads. Imagine a small campfire or a building burning down. Smoke coming off a train layout would indeed spark interest. Whether just a puff of smoke from a steam engine smoke stack, from a BBQ, or a towering inferno.
Many models have experimented with cotton. Some have even placed flashing mini yellow or orange Christmas lights in the cotton to simulate flame.
But smoke rises, cotton does not.
So what is a modeller to do?
How do we create smoke without burning the place down. We could use the old school trick of baking soda and vinegar. But that is messy and not easy to repeat without a bit of work.
We could invest in a proper smoke making machine. Small ones start at US $8.00 and nice ones that could be used all around the layout start at US $30.00.
Imagine a smoke machine under your layout. You have placed small tubes around the smoke release nozzle and fed the other end of the tubes up through the layout in strategic places. As you and your friends start running trains, you reach over throw a switch and in seconds the room comes alive.
A small tube runs up the leg of the grill. Then suddenly the grill is smoking. It looks like the steak is burning. Over there a small flame appears to be flickering thanks to a mini Christmas light in the middle of the campfire and smoke is rising. Next you notice smoke coming from a building. Quick call the fire department.
In the industrial area is a large chimney. Yep, a few puffs of smoke are now escaping the smoke stack.
Option two is a small humidifier. They are called Desktop Atomizer Hydrating Devices. They start at about US $9.00 and can provide a mist of water that looks like smoke. These are small units with a single stream of steam. As a result you might need several depending how much smoke you want rising from your layout.
What else can you burn down? What else smokes?
Wow, over by the marina, smoke. Wait, that is not smoke from a fire. It appears to be fog. The smoke machine can simulate morning fog. It is gently moving across the pond with the help of a small fan.
Until next time, hope to see you around the tracks.
