The stuff I use is Nickel Print by MG Chemicals.
You can get it at Amazon.com (among other places)
http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Nickel-Liquid-Container/dp/B008OA94T6Let me tell you a story about a repaired brass 4-8-4 I did for someone. Lacking enough electrical
pickups, I noticed that the front pilot truck could easily pick up current from at least one
rail if the wheelsets were the type that were "hot" on one side and insulated on the other.
Unfortunately, they were insulated on both sides (Plastic centers).
Worse, they were oddball 42" wheels. Not wanting to compromise on a brass engine with
wheels that were "close enough", I though I had the ingenious idea of using conductive paint
on the one side, on the back side of the wheels.
I used that "Bare" stuff.
Yes, it worked. I gained 2 wheels of pickup on that rail. It made a nice difference. It eliminated the last little
bit of occasional stalling this engine had.
The engine went back to its proud owner, who ran it with a decoder. He said it ran beautifully for hours,
until he was backing it through a turnout which had caused him some DCC/short issues before (with lots
of engines, not just this one).
A short occured at the turnout. Before the booster tripped, the short happened to conduct right
through the pilot wheels and bam! The plastic centers melted, hopelessly ruining the wheelsets.
Sigh.
I then contracted Northwest Shortline to turn me a bunch of sets of custom-made 42" wheels with
the axle size I needed, hot on one side. We replaced his wheelsets with those, and all was well.
Thus endeth my trust in "Bare" conductive paint.
Looking at the post mortem, what had happened was that the Bare stuff smoked and burned under the high
current. If it had promptly burned through and broken the circuit, that would have been okay.
But no... it unfortunately conducted with a little resistance, and generated lots of heat, before it
finally gave up.
As for Peteski's fears about the stuff chipping away or losing contact, yes that's always a possibility.
But the Nickel Print stuff seems to be a very hearty epoxy with nickel powder suspended in it. I have used it
on a bunch of wheels over the past year and haven't had any fail. In fact, some of the drivers in my
recent W-5 were repaired using that stuff (the Kato drivers that lose their contact on those little bronze fingers).
I think I would trust it.
It's VERY important to stir stir stir STIR until you can't stir no more.... or the stuff won't work.
You have to get the nickel thoroughly distributed through the mix before applying the stuff
or you'll get goo that doesn't conduct.
