Join the discussion on the following article:
Modeler’s spotlight video for March 11, 2010 – Inside Cody’s Office
hey cody cool magic elixir look awsome
You guys are absolutely right about the Dr. Model Railroader’s Magic Elixir. It cleans wheels fantastically, works like a charm on scenery, thins paints and a great paint stripper. I keep two big bottles on my work bench at all times, and it’s cheap. The local drug stores have sales every once in a while.
Well, I do congradulate Cody on not using anything abrasive like I’ve seen in MR or RMC in the past. The method that he uses perhaps gets most of the dirt off, but if I’m going to do the job in the first place, I’m going to do it right, and not have to do it more frequently. BTW, did you notice that Cody cleaned a diesel with all wheel drive? Lets see how he cleans the wheels on an articulated steam locomotive with a pilot truck, a truck under the boiler and a pair of six axle tender trucks! But again, thank you for not endorsing any abrasive tools to clean wheels!
Cody, Keep it up I really enjoy the walk in the park of you topics even i they are not on my plate or layout at the moment. Chris
Cool label! Where can we download it?
Regarding 70% isporopyl alcohol, the problem with it is that the 30% that is NOT alcohol is made up of water and other impurities. The impurities are what makes it “rubbing” alcohol, so this may contain lotions and moisturizers for skin conditioning. The 91% concentration is preferable since it has less of the undesirable stuff, and as mentioned by David Nelson before, does work better. It is pretty common in most pharmacies.
I have my pharmacist order a gallon of the 99% concentration of isopropyl alcohol and use it for cleaning optics. I won’t use the lower concentrations for that purpose. It costs a little more, but I like it for this reason. Although it does evaporate a bit more rapidly. I’ve found that it keeps just fine as long as it’s tightly capped.
Two observations about Dr Railroader’s Magic Elixir (other than that the frenzied endorsements shown on Cody’s video seem to suggest a vodka-based variant). The first is that if you use alcohol, or clipper oil, or any other liquid based wheel cleaner, I suggest not using the same spot on the layout over and over again for this purpose or you might find the surrounding scenery and ballast being affected, because over time it will loosen up the various cements and glues and things will get spongy. Probably better to have a dedicated piece of track mounted on a board, hooked up to the layout with alligator clips so you can use your regular layout throttles, such as the handheld DCC throttle shown here.
Observation #2 is that if you look hard enough you can find isopropyl alcohol at higher concentrations than 70% – I have seen references to 90%, 91%, and 99%, but what I find at Walgreens and other pharmacies, if I am lucky, is 91%. It has even less water and evaporates even faster. It isn’t there all the time. But it costs no more, or at least only pennies more, and I think it works even better, for all the purposes shown in the video (the madcap testimonials excepted of course).
Cody,
What is your trick to pop the shells of your “N” scale engines?
Great as always, but I couldn’t help notice this was the first production under MR Studios, and not PoppArt. Did I miss something, or are we using a different production name?
Either way, I hope David and Cody work together for a long time.
Keep up the awesome work!
Eric
i use magic elixir all the time great show cody
Yay for Magic Elixer!
Eric Hall from Arizona has a great question. How do you pop the shells off “N” gauge engines? Do you have a trick? Would you share? Thanks, Iggy.
Thank you for the Magic Elixir , this is better than brake fuild that I stripped paint from cars bodies in the past. and then cleaned with with water this is better too. Thank you for a very good show too.
Oh my! The Magic Elixir is back and haunting models everywhere! Anyways, great show Cody.
I have found that when rubbing alcohol dries it can leave a residue that can affect electrical pickup. For cleaning locomotive wheel sets I perfer to use mineral spirits and a thin piece of cloth. I then run the locomotive on the cloth as Cody did. Also when using 70% alcohol to wet out material before applying thinned white glue, be careful not to let any spray get on your finished structures as it can change the paint colors.
Another fun and informative show Cody! My son, who’s 4-1/2, loves to watch Cody’s Office each week and see the new trains.
My question for you is can you show us a similar method of cleaning steam locomotive drivers on an Elixir soaked paper towel? Would you run half of the drivers on the paper towel first, then turn the locomotive around and run the back half of the drivers? First thought is it would seem awkward to get the paper towel in place where it’s not affecting the electrical pickup of the drivers or the tender wheels.
Thanks to you and Dave for keeping model railroading fun for all ages!
Step 1. Admit you have an addiction. I just love these videos. It’s nice to see Andy and Jim’s videos as well. I’m hooked!
GLAD I STARTED TO SUBSCRIBE, THE VIDEOs WE GET TO WATCH ARE WORTH THE ADMISSION PRICE. THANKS!
OK… I’m hooked, (but not addicted). Is there any way we can download the “Magic Elixir” label???
I need to buy some Dr. Railroader’s Magic Elixer!