the bag of black stuff that comes with a steam engine

[utdave]

on some steamers i have purchased .  theirs a bag of black stuff.      do we use it?   nothing in the paperwork says what to do with it.     do i sprinkle it on my pizza  LOL   .   by the way i read abount track cleanning on here and really found that using a pencil   really works great   now i clean my wheels also with it and its fast and easy.  great conductor  i had one place that seems to give me troubles  now its gone and can even creep through that spot.  thanks for the simple hint

  Dave

[Doneldon]

Dave-

The little plastic bag contains soot powder which you can use on your loco to make it look like it wasn't just built five minutes ago. Just
smear it on your loco. One would expect to see most of the material on the top of the boiler, particularly near the stack.

                                                                                                                            -- D

[utdave]

thanks   ive been going to ask that for a while   i will have to try it out on one .   do
  you use a small fine bristal brush or just some cloth or  you use something simple to get great results ?

[wjstix]

If it isn't a powder, but more like small bits of black stuff, it's meant to represent coal. You can use it on the tender deck or cab to represent a few pieces of loose coal lying about. Put down a light coat of white glue with a small brush, or matte medium, or Woodland Scenics "scenic cement", then sprinkle some of the coal on that area. The glue/adhesive will look white, but will dry clear. You can also add some coal to the coal piled up in the tender, so it doesn't look the same as everyone else's engine.