Robert Blokker tries out a product to blacken PE, Brass and Copper from Birchwood Casey, aptly named Brass Black.

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If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Ola James

Thanks for putting the review online so fast. Hope it is usefull for everybody who plans on using this product in the future.

Thanks for the review Robert. It's very informative.
As it is a chemical agent, don't you think that plunging the parts directly into the bottle will in the end alter the chemical properties of the product hence its effectiveness?
Did you try it with Friul tracks?

Olivier

Bonjour Olivier

To be honest I don't really know if it will. I guess eventually it is unavoidable but I have used it quite a lot in the past 2 years and so far I haven;'t detected any difference in the way it works. But it is an interesting point and I will keeop an eye on it.

I did a test with friul tracks and there it doesn't seem to work. I will do another test soon as I have a vehicle that I have to make tracks for maybe it works if I put it in longer.

Thanks for the review Robert!




That was my first question as well. The work on brass stuff is impressive, but I would like to know if the same effect is possible on Friuls?

Mario

EDIT: OK, you probably answered just as I was typing. I guess white metal the Friuls are made of has different properties than brass and the stuff doesn't work as well. Thanks again for the review, mate.

This is very interesting - Birchwood Casey also make "cold bluing" products that are made for steel, so I wonder if one of those might work on the Fruils?

If the cold bluing products work, then they also make a "cold browning" product for muzzle loading rifles that could work even better on the Fruils.

Hmmmm... Some experimentation is definitely in order here...

I think I have some of the cold bluing left over from a bunch of carbine magazines that I re-built a while back. I think I now what I'll be doing up in the work room today!

Thanks for the review, Robert! This one belongs in the "Why didn't I think of that?!" category!

Ola Guys

I'm glad i could contribute and gave some ideas as well. When I first saw the achievements on the ship builders forum I was already sold on the effect and the quickness and as Mike showed us Birchwood Casey have some more good stuff in their arsenal to work on Friuls as well.

Mike thanks for experimenting further. I'll go ahead and order the other bottles as well.. .They are just a too good an addition not to have in the modelling toolbox

@FAUST – Robert,

Just as soon as I finish with posting this comment I’m going to order some of this magic brass and copper poison and a few other chemicals and definitely give each of these a try.

I saw the results on your latest build log that you did on the tools with this chemical and was most impressed. Thanks for taking the time to do a review on this product, for getting the word out and for sharing one of your techniques with all of us, really nothing comes close to looking like real metal but real metal.


~ Eddy

Ola Eddy
No problem I'm glad people think my review/article is usefull. I have used and enjoyed Brass Black for years and thought it was quite a usefull thingy for other people as well. Looking forward to your work with the stuff.

FYI for those looking into getting the Birchwood-Casey products:

"Brass Black" and "Aluminum Black" (a related product which you may be interested in for blackening those Alum barrels, and maybe also useful for rusting Fruil tracks...) are often available at larger gun-stores and the like here in the USA, so if near one of these, you can save on shipping. The stuff may even be available in larger Sears stores, and via the Sears catalog! Several larger on-line marketers (see Amazon.com for some listings and prices) will send it to you for around 12 USD and up all-up (in most states - there may be one or 2 which don't allow this stuff in!).

Other related B-C products which may be of interest to us modelers include the "gun bluing" products marketed at Academy Sports and other hunting supply places... These are cheaper and I suspect they may be of use as they too are surface-active metal stains. IF anyone has actually tried any of these, maybe post your experiences?

Cheers!

Bob W.