A couple of days ago a member asked for some info on how to use stuff called "BLACKEN-IT" I emailed the info to him and thought it might be informative to share it in the pit. This is a product made by A-West out of Georgia. It is not a paint. It is a mild acid bath that corrodes the surface and microscopically etches(I'll use this term rather than paint) it flat black, specifically brass, steel (not stainless), nickel silver, copper and some white metals. It does not remove any and I do mean any details. Depending on the part and what its made of, this process can take anywhere from 90 seconds to a couple of hours. For example a brass tender truck takes about 5 minutes, a brass headlight about 90 sec, steel tweezers about 15 sec. It does not etch evenly. The evenness of the etching is determined by the surface of the part. If it has been thoroughly cleaned, you will get a more even color. But a lot has to do with the molecular content of the surface. No, your engine will not end up looking shiny and brand new, like the plastic models that come out of the box. This slight unevenness has a wonderful appearance on any brass engine or tender. It's almost an instant weathering. Your engine will look real. For any further weathering you need to do just add the road dust and hard water marks found on any locomotive. I have not tried this but I have heard about a very thin white acrylic paint wash that highlights the dimensionality of the details very well. Knowing what we have to spend on a brass loco, let me suggest that the first part you try it on is one of the tender trucks. I like the effect, you might not! Please read these instructions before you start! First step, cleaning. Degrease the part with any solution you are comfortable using, the stronger the better, use a toothbrush to scrub it thoroughly. This will get any mold grease and other stuff out of the nooks and crannies. Next wash the part in hot soapy water. Finally let it air dry or blow dry it with your wife's hair dryer (don't blame me if she yells). OK, the tender truck is ready for it's bath. Notice I didn't say dismantle the truck. "BLACKEN-IT" is conductive. Wheels, axles, frames, throw them all in together. Two words of caution. First word: The label on the bottle says POISON USE COMMON SENSE! Second word: "BLACKEN-IT" will attack some plastics, so if you're worried about the insulators on your axles, test it first. I have not found this to be a problem. But beware! Find a container large enough to hold your part, put the part in dry and fill the container, just covering the part with "BLACKEN-IT". The solution will begin to turn cloudy, good sign, you will see the part begin to blacken, look for air bubbles in the nooks and crannies and using tweezers jiggle and turn the part over so the solution gets everywhere. When it's as black as you want let it stay in a little longer, then take it out and give it a water and baking soda bath. This will stop the reaction. You must do this as sometimes, depending upon the composition of the part you'll get a white dust on the surface that's a pain to get out from between spokes of driving wheels. ( get the idea I've done that) DON'T RETURN THE USED SOLUTION TO THE ORIGINAL BOTTLE. You will contaminate the rest of the solution. But don't throw it out. Keep it for any scrap parts you have, and just throw them in for a few hours, then let them air dry, it may take a lot longer to blacken those parts but they'll come out looking just like old scrap found around any industrial site. To blacken parts that are too hard to dismantle is not too difficult. For example, driving rods and cross heads, use a Q-tip dipped in the solution, don't re-dip back into original container use a separate plastic container for "BLACKEN-IT" make sure you have some baking soda wash handy to stop the reaction. I hope your engines will turnout looking as well as mine. You have enough information to get started, but use your imagination and come up with some tricks of your own. Until I started using this product I had to send my locos out to be painted and you know how much that costs and how much time it takes. This makes much more sense!
We have these products here in the UK. I tried some which was supposed to blacken brass, but with only part success. Different types are available for different metals. I think success depends on thorough cleaning, as Chris says.
Alan, are they marketed under the same name, by the same company "A-West" or is it a competing product? If so let me know I'd love to try it out. I've got a friend who mfg. diesel locos and needs to blacken his puter(sp?) frames. Blacken-It rubs off because of the barilium in his compound.
Where can "Blacken It" be purchased??? I got plenty of old Rivarossi loco's steam that has the nickel silver hand railing on the boilers. That are silver. All my new Rivarossi and other steam loco's have blackened hand railing. When I run some of each (old and the new) it looks awkward from the new one with blackened hand railing and the old ones with silver hand railing this could help me get rid of this problem totally and liking the idea already!! Thanks guys i've been looking for a way to get rid of this on my layout and in the running of mixed old and new loco's
We have used Blacken-it in making tooling, machinery and robots for several years. A word of caution. The solution is an acid, keep your good tools away, and do the work outside away from your milling machine, drill press lathe etc. because the fumes will rust the polished surfaces. Do not allow the solution to get on plastic. Some plastics such as polyethylene are impervious, but others will etch and some will disolve into a gooey sponge gunk. Remove any jewelery, and best wear plastic gloves. Keep a super saturated solution of soda water in a large bowl handy with a 1" paint brush in it. Follow directions!! To obtain an even clean coating, like on a rifle barrel, bright dip the finished piece including all soldering, brass, pewter, lead silver and 10 karat gold or less, then have it copper plated. The copper may be a "flash" plate which is .00015" to regular plate at .0005 to .0010". It will be even colored.
Watash, Where can it be bought???? And what brand name does it go by on the shelf? Or does it simply go by "Blacken It" So I know what i'm looking for when I go to get it. So I don't look so dumb asking for something that may not me what i'm looking for etc..... So I get the right question out and a right answer in return without looking dumb [ 19 March 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
re where can blacken-it be purchased. The product is called "Blacken-It" It is from the A-West Co. A-West does not, to my knowledge have a web site. For mail order try Micro Mark. They usually have an adv. in Mod RR. They sell it. Some hobby shops carry it as well. [ 19 March 2001: Message edited by: ChrisDante ]
Chris, the products here are sold by a company called Carrs, they also sell soldering products, although I have not used any of their stuff for several years.
Alan, can you give me an address for Carrs, are they on the web? Do they call the stuff "Blacken-It"?(I'm using a different computer, weird "L"s )
Here's a photo of a tender I just did with Blacken-It First, the tech data: Polaroid black and white 4X5 sheet film 100 ISO, using a 135 Wolensak Optar lens, at f 32 for 5 sec. with a 65 watt uncorrected flood 16in from tender and a couple of 75 watt bulbs around 2.5 feet away. The actual photograph is slightly larger than life size. Now, look closely at the bottom of the tender above the trucks and at the rear, notice the discoloration and the lack of even-ness on the side. This is what Blacken-It does. There's nothing pretty about this 'old horse'. The trucks when unpainted in brass were very boring and lacking dimension, now as you notice there is a lot of dimensionality(SP?). As I said earlier, Blacken-It does not do it evenly, and makes things look old. [ 23 March 2001: Message edited by: ChrisDante ]
Ok guys, Will the "Blacken It" work on Rivarossi, Mantua, I.H.C. Premier, etc.. Loco side rods and linkage? Thats all I want to know before I go and do it and ruin something I don't want to. And also I use a light oil on my side rods in areas of movement, so will the oil remove any of it once its on the rods and dried?????? [ 23 March 2001: Message edited by: 7600EM_1 ]
7600EM_1, Blacken-It is not meant for plastics!!!!! It is a slight acidic solution that etches metal. It will blacken side rods and cross heads. If your wheels are not plastic it will do them too. If they are plastic, coat them with oil, then using a Qtip, rub blacken it on just the rods.. Once blacken it is applied and the residue washed off it will not be effected by any lubricant you put on your rods. Before you do anything look at the picture above! if it is not to your liking, DON'T USE IT!
Chris, I like it, its just that I wondered about the light oil on the movable parts on the side rods. I will remove the rods to do them in the Blacken It, because my wheels are in fact plastic. It might be extra work but i'm willing to go the distance to do it so... That real high luster on side rods is so un scale and not right. I want it to look like the real ones did and the Blacken It seems to make that happen. I believe that once the rods are blackened it will make a more professional look on my steamers. Thats what I want....... Thanks.
You know, we went to great lengths to sand the rods bright when I worked in the roundhouse. I don't recall off hand seeing blacke or dirty rods except on the scraper track.
The Carrs product here in the UK that Alan refers to is called simply "Metal Black" I recently bought some for nickel silver and it was effective when the object was submersed in a bath but less effective when just "painted" on. Surprisingly there is no address on the bottle and I don't know of a website for Carrs. After blackening, they advise the use of a further product called "Electrofix" which I think is supposed to ensure electrical conductivity is maintained. The "Metal Black" bottle carries a TOXIC----SELENIUM DIOXIDE warning label so I doubt if it could be sent through the normal post. Hope this helps. John
Watash, As usual you are correct. However, I an others just don't like the look of the too shiney side rods and putting blacken-it on them dulls them down to a more realistic look.
John, I also looked at my bottles, and found no address for Carrs! They just seem to sell through retailers. They do different blackeners for different metals, solder, aluminium, steel, brass, etc. and as John says, they should be treated with electrofix. This is why mine rubbed off, I suspect, as I did not use any fix. Could not find a website either.
I have a bottle of Tool-Black from Tooling Systems Division of Stanwich Industries, Inc. 126 North Main Street Frankenmuth, Michigan 48734 Ph.= 517-652-9911 FAX= 517-652-9631 DUNS 04-244-0693 I am not aware if they have e-mail, but I would think they do by now. This stuff is really an even colored black, and depends on how you treat the surface. If you polish the surface with compound and a power rag buffer, it is a high gloss. If you vapor blast it, it is dull like flat black paint with no gloss. If you do a Scotch-Brite surface it has that pattern like on a control panel. There is a degreaser, rust inhibiter, and the bottle of black that comprise the set. This was left over, so I do not know the cost. It was shipped UPS. There was also a process where we hung a soldered assembly into an earthern crock and electroplated copper on it, then dipped or swabbed it with a solution that turned the copper black. It started out dark blue like for a rifle, but if left long enough, it became black, and was conductive. I am not sure if you are allowed to buy copper sulphate today or not. I do know that some of the side rods on engines today are said to be just plastic anyway, so are black, not dirty. I doubt if those are used to drive the other drivers like the metal ones did. You could probably just darken the rods with a Marks-A-Lot for photos though. [ 26 March 2001: Message edited by: watash ]
Watash and others, Of all the HO scale steam loco's i've seen and own I have yet to run into one with all plastic side rods and conecting rods. I do have my fair share of plastic spoked driver wheels though. So to darken or blacken the rods on my steamers I need to remove them and dip or what ever it may take. To get a "used" look instead of a shinney brand new look. But all in all most of my loco's have nickel rods etc.... So i'm going to get a nickel old junker rod and just try it before I actually do anything to a loco for now to see if i'll like it just for the precaution..
