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Bullfrog Snot info needed


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G'day, cypherman,

There is some discussion on this product here:

How long it lasts depends upon how much you use your model. It could be months or years. And it doesn't seem to deteriorate over time once applied.

 

I'm still happy with it.

 

Regards,

 

Rob

 

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Having bought a small jar of it, it appears to be pva with some green dye in it.  It works ok and I suspect the green dye lets you see where it has been applied as it would otherwise dye transparent.  
 

By volume it is much more expensive than pva of course.

 

Darius

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I left the top of mine so as I have resurrecting the layout for winter I want to re coat as neccessary and need to buy a new bottle, expensive though. I think i might try some PVA as an experiment, would PVA peel off the wheel and surely it dries hard?

Edited by wasdavetheroad
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I tried some when they were giving away a sample on a Dublo R1. It worked in that she would then actually pull something, but seriously interfered with current pick up and had to go. When I wanted to try again, I found it had dried up....

 

Could it be a fabric adhesive? It dries flexible, but I found it tricky to put on evenly (ham-handed?). Basically it has the advantages and disadvantages of traction tyres....

Edited by Il Grifone
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17 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

Does it spread muck on the rails like black traction tyres do?

 

Mine didn't last long enough to find out, but I would expect it to do so.

Why just black? - all traction tyres spread muck.

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Hi all,

I want it to replace some missing traction tyres on an Airfix 4F. So electrical pick up is not a problem as all the pick ups are on the engine and not the tender. It is really about how long it lasts once it has been applied that I am interested in.

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5 hours ago, Butler Henderson said:

Sure I read a comment somewhere that traction tyres not wholly rubber did not.

 

Maybe, but I have yet to find any.

Edited by Il Grifone
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I discovered bullfrog snot some years ago as i needed to replace traction tyres. There's a knack to applying it successfully and there are videos on you-tube with good advice.

I have an old Lima DMU that now runs well thanks to bullfrog snot and the attached video shows a tender-drive Hornby A3 that was given a new lease of life about 5 years ago running on my former layout. I've also used it on a few Lima and Hornby diesels to good effect.

Yes, it's expensive but in my view worth the investment. How long it lasts I think will depend on how much you run the loco. Traction tyres perish over time whether or not you run the loco. I've seen no evidence of my 5+ year old bullfrog snot applications falling apart but nothing lasts forever.

Incidentally i have a 40 year old Mainline Class 45 where the traction tyres long ago disintegrated but it runs absolutely fine without them - no bullfrog snot required!

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Does this mean that pva is just as effective as BS?  I can sort of see that.  My views on traction tyres are well known, and BS would be my go to if I needed the traction, but in the event on my smallish BLT the locos I have replaced the traction tyre wheels on (Airfix large prairie, Hornby 2721) cope well enough with the loads.  

 

But I still contend that BS is no improvement over rubber tyres in terms of the ruination of pickup either by preventing current reaching the motor or by the spreading of muck, or both.  If it's flexible and grippy enough to work as a traction tyre, it'll pick up crud from where you can see it and deposit it where you can't, which is by definition an awkward spot to rescue a stall from anyway, and pva does not conduct electricity.  It has a slight advantage in that it can be worked down to the wheel profile, which will improve the chances of your other pickup wheels being able to sit on the railheads properly, so that at least they can pick up current, but you are still reduced from 6 to 4 pickup wheels on a 6 coupled loco.  This is why traction tyres are particularly useless on 14xx.

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I suspect most crud however is created by rubber traction tyres. After an exhibition I struggled to understand for a while why some tracks remained reasonably clean and others were quite flight. Then I realised the flithy tracks where were the sole traction tyres fitted loco had run.

Edited by Butler Henderson
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