Bullfrog Snot and/or traction tires

Hello all,

In a topic at the ZFE board I found out about Bullfrog Snot ...

I also found some threads in other boards, but not (yet?) a realistic review for Z scale. Does anyone here test this material for a reasonable time to tell us how usable it is?

I did read that it should be kept away from low temperatures and Kryptonit

Interesting questions would be how easy it is to use, what are the results compared with no traction tires or with the usually used traction tires. Also how well, especially how long, does it stick to the wheels, and what about picking up any dirt from the tracks and reducing traction this way. And does it leave any residue on the track when used over longer periods?

Finally what about shelf time of a used jar. Of course it has to be kept closed while stored, but since the 1 oz jar would hold for many wheels except you have a half thousand of those it seems to be an important question.

Uwe, You are quite right. Many have said how great this product works, but I've yet to see a review after a couple of months of running. Hopefully someone will come forth. Cheers, Jim CCRR:S

What I've heard is that it gradually wears off the wheels, which begs the question: where does it go to? An obvious answer is the rails, but maybe it evaporates, or something....

If it ends up coating the rails you end up with another problem. How easy or hard would it be to get off the rails?

Another point that exercises my mind is this: if it forms a traction tyre on one driving wheel on each side of the loco, does this not have the effect of lifting the other driving wheels slightly? Would this tend to negate the improved traction obtained by the coated wheels? Or do you have to coat all the driving wheels?

I had a problem of loco traction up 4% grades when pulling all but very short trains. I was able to reduce the grades slightly, with only slight benefit, but I also resorted to a very light sanding of the rails with very fine sandpaper. Problem solved. It does mean keeping the rails clean, but that should be done anyway.

I have not tested Bullfrog Snot either but I did read the information on several links on the products web site. Yes it does wear off on the heavier scales but not as quickly on the lighter scales. It was essentially designed for N-scale and it but a film of about 5 and half thou on the wheel surface. (thats .0055 on an inch) When it eventually comes off it does not leave a residue on the rails but peals off. It does collect dirt from the rails and looses some of its original adhesion with the accumulated dirt. One of the users has figured out that it has a life of at least 100 hours on a locomotive and how many of us would use this time up in a year. He figured it would last at least 2 years running at shows where they were two days of a weekend. The writer also said it was easy to peel off with a hobby knife and when the tire starts to fail it is not deposited on the rail but shreds and you find it along side the track.

I suggest you visit the web site and read the testimonials available there and you might get a better idea of what this product can do wan what it can not do the pluses and the minuses. I also found it useful to google "Bullfrog Snot" and go through the links.

www.bullfrogsnot.com is the company's web site.

Bullfrog Snot works. I have been using it on various locomotives with varying results. My electric loc's have good results, the steam loc's have been mixed. It has solved problems going up my 2% grade with a few cars in the consist.

You have to be careful about the amount of Snot you put on the wheel. I have put too much on some wheels which caused the loco to vibrate. I ended up striping it off with a knife and starting over. The trick it to have the wheel running pretty fast while applying it to the wheel.

Overall I have been very happy with it.

Karl