"Old Smokey"

**Bunkerbarge** · 09-04-2006

I thought that you might be interested in my experiences with a new product on the market for model boaters and that is the “Old Smokey” smoke generating unit from JJC Electronics.

Traditionally smoke makers in model boats have utilised the principal of heating up an element covered with oil to create smoke that is then fed up the funnel to atmosphere and appear as smoke from the funnel. These units have been around forever as I even remember them in my Triang Steam trains of my childhood. A couple of drops of oil in the funnel and the train would duly smoke for a few minutes as it sped around the track.

Anyway the technology for boats had not really advanced a great deal as they still incorporated filling a bath with oil and letting a wick draw the oil up and around the heating element to create the smoke. The disadvantages of this are pretty obvious, the element uses a fair amount of battery power to generate the heat, especially in the larger units, the units get hot, the area around them gets dirty with the oil and the large ones actually smell. The latest one I had fitted to my Badger boat, as in the first two pictures, actually made a bloody awful smell, generated a disturbing amount of heat to have laying around in a model boat and, when I took it apart to check it, the grommets locating the heater had perished and crumbled apart. This is after only a few hours of operation.

So I turned to the latest device from JJC, which is actually a nebuliser unit, as found in the medical profession for generating water vapour from cold fresh water. Generating a very high frequency current that causes the cold water to vapourise and create the effect of smoke does this. The very strange part of it is that it is actually cold so when you put your hand in it just doesn’t seem right. The major advantages are that it does not generate heat, it uses a lot less battery power and it actually generates an effect far closer to the real smoke effect than the wispy burning oil does. The “smoke” is actually more voluminous and emits in a gentle rolling manner and comes out of the entire funnel. It also couldn’t be easier to top it up as all you do is pour some more water into the funnel.

The final major advantage though is that it is very responsive so it can be linked electronically to the speed controller and work in conjunction with the motor speed. As the motor gets faster the output, which is actually controlled by a small fan, increases. It also comes in Diesel or Steam varieties, which behave slightly differently. The diesel for instance has a slight delay when it starts and then put out a significant ‘puff’ of smoke when the engine starts. Very authentic.

So the downsides, the unit is big so it will only go in a substantial size hull and there is no way of knowing how much water there is in it at any one time. This can be a problem, as the unit will stop working with either too little or too much water in it. Knowing what has stopped it is not always obvious so I will be fitting some sort of sight glass to mine.

Finally it is not cheap at nearly 50 quid but when you think my previous oil operated generator was 30 odd quid and is now useless the nebuliser isn’t such a bad deal.

The last two pictures show the same boat with the new unit, which can only really be appreciated when you see it on the water and it is responding to the motor speed controller.

As I am sure you will have guessed by now I highly recommend the unit to anyone with a large enough hull to carry it.

tigertc · 09-04-2006

Looks awesome bunk.
I guess i'll have to wait till they make a smaller one to fit in my tigers.

**wonwinglo** · 09-04-2006

Good old Jim,he is a great chap and knows his stuff.

**Bunkerbarge** · 09-04-2006

If you see one of these in conjunction with one of his diesel sound units the effect is unbeleivable.

adzam · 09-04-2006

http://adzam.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/MOV00018.MPG

For a quick movie of this excellent unit.
Movie courtesy of Alanb.

tigertc · 09-04-2006

Man, thats kick ass!

alan_b · 10-04-2006

I forgot I had sent that clip to Adzam.

The basic unit has only one outlet for the steam /smoke and as the model I was fitting it in had two funnels, I had to do a bit of plumbing.

It was a case of fitting a standard T fitting to the end of the unit and 2 right angle fittings on the end of the T fitting.
Then drilling out the solid funnels and running 15mm plastic piping up through them and connecting the whole lot together.
Plastic tubing was used throughout and standard fittings from the local DIY store are ideal.

As previously mentioned, it works well when connected to the Cat Turbo Diesel sound module and the speed controller.

All in a very nice piece of kit, puts the old oil burning ones to shame.

new to trains · 11-04-2006

i saw this unit at first at the warwickshire model boat show in nov '05, it was still undergoing testing, i put my name on the waiting list !- i got a letter in early jan and i duly sent off my payment, the unit arrived quickly and as bunk describes the unit is awesome, only drawing approx half a amp on load this unit is great and it uses water !- cheap to refill !, my previous tomahawk smoke unit is drawing between 3 and a half and 4 amps on load to heat the element to burn the oil to produce smoke- plus smoke oil is about £20 for a few litres, and its messy !

this unit is great and a welcome change to the modelling fraternity- finally technology is moving forward in model boating !

noobee captain · 25-04-2006

Alan,

that is mightily impressive !