Member postings for Brian Baker 1

Greetings Brian,

Precision Paints produce "Livery Data Sheets" which are a comprensive guide to corrct loco liveries.

they have one for GER Claud Hamilton, and you "Petrolea" would be almost the same.

The Great Eastern Railway Society can also provide a lot of information.

Regards

Leighsteamer

Hi Alan, what you are seeing is probably a thin layer of copper oxide, a black oxide of copper which forms when the copper in your boiler becomes warm. The same thing happen on the outside with age, the copper turns black.

Regards

leighsteamer

Greetings Alan, I would suggest Citric Acid crystals for a copper boiler, flushed into the boiler with hot water through a safety valve bush, aggitated as much as practical, depending on size, allowed to cool, and well flushed with cold water.

About a heaped teaspoonful for a largest 3.5 in boiler, up to a heaped tablespoon for a large 7 1/4 gauge boiler.

Citric acid is safe to use & will not damage boiler fittings. Some people use drain cleaner etc, but its strong acid content can do damage, as well as being dangerous to use hot.

The residue can be flushed down the drain.

try a home brew shop for bulk supplies.

Regards

Leighsteamer

Citric is a very good pickling agent for model engineers. it will keep for months, (in a closed container to stop evaporation) and when it is no longer required may be safely poured down a storm drain, although a high copper content may not be welcome in a sewage works, depending on the ammount being disposed of.

As you use the solution, it will become blue with dissolved copper, but will still work fine. When it stops working,, say overnight, then it should be disposed of. If used to clean steel, it may deposit the copper onto the work, but this is easily removed.

Home brew stores sell larger quanties, up to one kilogram, but you should be prepared to prove that you do not want to use it to "cut" (dilute) strange & illegal chemicals.

Regards

Leighsteamer

Edited By Brian Baker 1 on 20/01/2011 13:26:40

Edited By Katy Purvis on 01/06/2015 11:32:45