Model Railway Forum

Depends if you want the wagon as a nice piece of rolling stock or ca track cleaner. I used mine to clean track and pure IPA is best for that.

Thats why the CMX rail cleaner has no paint. Just plain Brass.

I would avoid using anything that has been watered down! But that my way of looking at things. I use full strength 99.9% IPA in my CMX and it works a treat. Smells great too! Hick Hick (No, I don’t drink it!) I think so called Rubbing Alcohol is around 70% proof.

Thank you again Brian, Steve M and WTD. I'll keep it pure IPA and try to wipe off any spills. You are right that I'll only be using it for cleaning, not for standard train running. I dare say that tanker wagons tend to be a tad 'weathered' in real life anyway.

A piece of hardboard is still the best and slightly less expensive.

brian1951 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 02, 2023 6:24 pm A piece of hardboard is still the best and slightly less expensive.

A bu##er to fit a coupling to though.

This is my Sharge track cleaner having been painted, weathered and a few transfers added. The one minor problem I have found is that the chassis(?) - the bit the tank is sitting on - touches the tops of the wheels, creating a bit more drag than necessary. A washer on the bogie mounting screw(bolt?) would probably cure this problem.

IMG_1166 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

I didn’t have that problem Barry. Perhaps more pressure on the cleaning pad will lift the chassis a bit.

i got as far as putting new sharge in basket on line. heather then asked about the cleaning solution. So we checked. The sorta equivalent is only available here, in chemist shops, at a price, and is diluted down. It came out the basket, and i cut up some more hardboard.

99% IPA is available from eBay or Amazon John. I buy it by the gallon for my 3D work cheap as chips.

Hi, Steve, thanks. will look at amazon france. Cannot order from uk.